If you are travelling from North America, short trips to South America are relatively feasible. The flight connections are not always smooth, but at least there is no jet-lag. Options include a week in Galapagos, Machu Picchu, Pantanal or Patagonia.

7-11 nights 

If you are able to deploy two to three weeks, then it becomes possible to combine two, three or more locations into a trip, providing greater variety and sense of exploration. All countries become a possibility, although some combinations do require longer.

12-21 nights 

We absolutely love putting together trips of 22 to 50 nights, or even longer. Sometimes we are lucky enough to work with guests who are taking a sabbatical from work or who are retired and just love to travel. In these trips, the possibilities become almost infinite and can include a half dozen or more countries.

22-50 nights 

Tanzania

Set on the East Coast of Africa, Tanzania is a truly remarkable place, the richest and most diverse safari country, with far more than its fair share of Africa’s crown jewels, including Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar.

This is the place to head if you are looking for a truly diverse African experience, usually an overland journey, with equal parts of epic wildlife, majestic volcanic scenery, authentic tribespeople, farms, villages and towns.

It’s also top of the list if you want to combine safari and tropical beaches.

In all honesty, Tanzania alone is worth several trips.

Trips from USD 4500

Kenya

Also on the East Coast of Africa, Kenya is the second most visited safari country on the continent, a place of great diversity, with popular reserves including the Maasai Mara, Amboseli, Tsavo and Samburu, as well as some much more remote wilderness areas and an extensive tropical coastline.

Unfortunately, the better known reserves in Kenya can get very busy in core areas, so we need to tread carefully to deliver a quality safari.

If you are looking towards the upper end of the budget range, then trips can be remote and fabulous. But if you are looking for value, you may be better off looking at Tanzania or countries further south. 

Trips from USD 5000

Botswana

Moving to the south of the continent, Botswana is widely considered to offer the highest quality safari in Africa.

The experience is not as diverse as Tanzania, but the remoteness and purity of the bush experience is unsurpassed.

If you are looking for either an easy vacation or a deeply immersive wilderness experience, this is the place. We just need to be careful about the very high prices during the Jun-Oct dry season.

Botswana is great in combination with Victoria Falls, the Cape or the tropical beaches of Mozambique.

Trips from USD 6000

Our safari experts have incredible 
first-hand knowledge and an average
of 12 years experience building great 
trips.

Expertise and experience

Since 1999, we have created over a million sample  trips and helped over 120,000 guests fall in love with  safari Africa.

A proud history

Over the years we have polished our operation to be super-reliable. Arranging your trip should be almost as much fun  as going on safari. 

Seamless and fun

Your trip should cost no more than if 
you had booked all the components directly. You effectively get our services for free.

Delivering value

Every single trip that we build is unique. Your trip will be precisely tailored to meet the exact requirements of everyone in your group.

Supremely tailor-made

The first safari company on the internet, we helped to shape the modern safari and we continue to be the prime innovators in our field.

Original innovators

Tell us your whatever you know about your ideal trip. Whether you're drawn to specific wildlife, particular regions, or have preferences about the style of accommodation, the more we understand, the better we can help you to craft the perfect experience.

Share your ideas

South Africa

South Africa is by far the most popular location for safari. It is a vast and incredibly diverse country, with far more highlights than could ever be included in a single trip.

The primary trip shape is a combination of safari in Kruger, with time in Cape Town, the Whale Coast and the Cape Winelands.

There is a huge choice of safari accommodation, right across the price spectrum, including some of the best lower cost options in Africa, so this is often the place to head on a lower budget.

However, South Africa is a much more developed country than those further north and the safari experience can feel significantly less pure and wild.

Trips from USD 3500

Zimbabwe

Also in the southern part of Africa, Zimbabwe is best known for the Victoria Falls, but also offers some of the most earthy, authentic, heart-pumping safari on the continent.

If you are looking for a short safari of 3-5 nights, then Hwange has some great value options.

Otherwise, Zimbabwe is a relatively high-priced location, which appeals most to experienced Africa travellers, who appreciate the extremely high levels of safari guiding.

The walking safari here can be truly extraordinary, with deliberate approaches onto elephants and lions. 

Trips from USD 4500

Zambia

Set in southcentral Africa, Zambia is a delightful backwater, also best known for the Victoria Falls, but with a handful of superb safari reserves.

The camps here have a reputation for intimacy, authenticity and a pleasantly homespun feel, many with a marked leaning towards walking safari, which is always a good sign.

Zambia is a mid-to-high price safari environment, which tends to appeal most to experienced safari travellers in search of new frontiers and first timers who are specifically looking for somewhere unusual for their safari. 

Trips from USD 5000

The November to February season is the only period for Patagonia and is good throughout Argentina and Chile. Further north, this is the rainy season in Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, although Galapagos remains good.

Nov-Feb 

The March to April period is a transition season, with Patagonia in the deep south becoming cold and inaccessible, whilst the rain is decreasing fast in most tropical areas to the north. A nice quiet time to get into Salta, Atacama and Machu Picchu.

Mar-Apr 

The April to October season is the tropical dry season in Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, the best time to travel, although more busy Jul-Sep. This is the winter in the south, with Patagonia being closed, but the northern parts of Argentina and Chile being cooler but pleasant.

Apr-Oct 

The month of October marks a transition period across the continent, with the deep south starting to warm and open up, whilst the tropical north is starting to get hotter and more rainy. A nice quiet time though, with low visitor numbers. This is the only period in which Galapagos is not so good.

October

Your dedicated safari specialist will work with you to build a selection of sample trips. We'll discuss seasonality, wildlife movements, logistics, lodge options, activity levels, whatever is necessary. And we will keep on refining until we are all confident that we have reached the perfect trip.

Crafting your trip

Everything is arranged. All you need to do is turn up. You probably won’t even need to show your paperwork, you will simply glide from one group of friendly and efficient local hosts to the next. And our support team remains on hand throughout, leaving you free to focus entirely on the extraordinary experiences ahead.

Travel with confidence

Many of us here at ATR have travelled extensively with our own kids, so we know for a fact that adventurous travel is great for families.

This is the kind of trip that guarantees to generate memories that you will share for the rest of your lives.

However, there are significant issues to consider in most safari areas, so we need to proceed with caution.

The main concern are the tropical areas, centred on the Amazon Rainforest, where health issues can be significant. We only tend to recommend these areas for kids of 12 years and older.

The other issue is security, with some parts of the main cities being potentially dangerous, but we can easily get around this by exercising sensible precautions, as you might do back home, or we can always provide a guide.

Family trips 

Travel can be an inherently romantic experience that can be endlessly tailored to suit you.

We have been helping guests to build awesome honeymoons for many years. We have intimate knowledge of some of the wildest and most romantic places in the world.

Perhaps the most important piece of advice is to be yourselves. Please don’t feel it is necessary to fit into the usual romantic tropes if they’re not for you. Just focus on having a great trip.

We very much understand the importance of these trips, we know that your honeymoon needs to really hit the heights and be a truly life-punctuating experience.

Honeymoon trips 

In adventure travel, luxury means different things to different people.

The most conventional meaning is that the accommodations are extremely comfortable, with elevated levels of hospitality. This is relatively easy to deliver, there are lots of luxury lodges.

However, simply inserting more luxurious lodges into your trip is no guarantee of a better wilderness experience. In fact, the opposite can be true.

For us, the hallmarks of a truly high quality safari are a suitably slow pace, wonderful remote locations, superb safari guiding, exclusive and intense wildlife interaction, precisely tailored experiences and considered attention to detail. We can do that.

Luxury trips 

Trips to South America are surprisingly pricey. You can expect to spend anywhere in the range USD 500 to 2000 per person per night. Twelve night trips can range from USD 5000 to 20000 per person.

We are more than happy to work across this range of prices. The only important thing is that we help you find the very best safari to suit your budget.

The main problem is a shortage of accommodation across the board. There are more good lodges in the Serengeti than in the whole of South America. Tourism here is much less developed and there is a severe shortage of decent options in most locations, especially at the lower and upper ends of the price spectrum.

If you have a higher budget, we will help you determine which camps do actually deliver elevated levels of service and experience. We will also highlight other subtle ways in which your trip can be raised to another level, including the use of private guides and vehicles, helicopter explorations of remote areas etc.

If you have a medium budget, the best ways to keep a lid on costs are to carefully choose lower-priced lodges. You can also reduce the number of core safari nights and deploy time in more cost-effective beach, town and rural locations. We will help you understand where to trim and where to splash, in order to achieve the best overall experience.

If you have a lower budget, we can focus on fundamentally less pricey safari countries, like Peru and Argentina.

Argentina

The second largest country in South America, Argentina is dominated by relatively featureless flat grasslands, but fringed by an incredible array of remarkable landscapes, from bucolic winelands, to extreme high altitude deserts and the great ice-sheets and glaciers of Patagonia in the deep south.

The country is easy to get around and offers a fabulous range of places to stay, notably including a good range of authentic farmsteads and characterful small lodges.

Argentina is commonly combined with Brazil, with the famous Iguazu Falls marking the border between the two. It also shares an extremely long border with Chile, with which it is also combined. The Brazil, Argentina and Chile combination notably offers the enticing combination of jaguars and pumas.

Trips from USD 3500 

Brazil

The largest country in South America, Brazil is a vast tropical land, dominated by the Amazon Basin and a seemingly endless tropical coastline.

Ironically, although the majority of the Amazon Basin lies within Brazil, it is usually best visited in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, since the higher altitudes are richer and more productive.

The two best known areas in Brazil are the iconic Rio de Janeiro and the fabulous Iguacu Falls. However, our favourite area is Pantanal, a vast wetland which offers genuine safari experiences, notably including reliable sightings of jaguars and giant anteaters.

Brazil is most commonly combined with Argentina and Chile, especially during October, the best month for combining jaguars and pumas.

Trips from USD 4500 

Chile

Set on the west coast of South America, Chile is an extremely long and skinny country which contains an incredible range of climates and landscapes from searing deserts to enormous glaciers.

It’s a very friendly country, with excellent travel infrastructure and some great lodges. It also offers the best puma viewing in the Americas, in the iconic Torres del Paine area of Patagonia.

However, Chile is famously expensive. Accommodation is mainly in larger purpose-built lodges, which are polished but touristic, making the experience more polished but less earthy compared with Argentina.

Chile is often combined with Argentina, usually to keep the overall cost down, but also because the glaciers are more accessible. It is also possible to fly from the south down to Antarctica.

Trips from USD 6000 

Bolivia

Set in the heart of South America, Bolivia is an incredibly diverse country, which ranges from the vast glacier-covered volcanoes of the high Andes, all the way down to the tropical rainforest of the Amazon Basin.

Despite being so very cool, the number of people visiting Bolivia is a mere trickle. It does demand some serious commitment, usually being best visited by private guided overland safari.

When it comes down to it, the remote Salta area of northwest Argentina, which is very similar, is better serviced, is more accessible and yet is also a more remote way to access the high Andes.

However, the pilgrimage to the famous silver mountain of Potosi and the legendary islands on Lake Titicaca remain particularly alluring.

Trips from USD 4500 

Peru

Set on the west coast of South America, Peru is a remarkably diverse country, dominated by coastal deserts, the Andes Mountains and the Amazon Rainforest.

The ancient history here is on a par with Egypt. The Inca ruins of Machu Picchu are almost new compared with the ancient civilisations of the coast, with the famous Nasca Lines and several vast ancient cities.

Travel infrastructure is well-established in the more popular areas, travel is relatively easy and organised, sufficient to enable genuine exploring. There are lots of fabulous lesser-known places to explore, enough to fill at least two or three totally different trips.

Trips from USD 3000 

Ecuador

Set in the northwest of South America, Ecuador is a small but ridiculously diverse country, centred on the gorgeous high valleys of the Andes Mountains, flanked either side by the Amazon Basin and the tropical Pacific coastline.

The country also includes the fabulous islands of Galapagos, where tourism is thankfully very well-controlled. They are usually best explored on a small boat cruise of 4-7 nights.

The great thing about Ecuador is that you can combine the mountains, the jungle and the islands easily into trips as short as 12-17 nights in country, with direct flight connections from US cities including Miami, making it such an easy and exciting option.

Trips from USD 4500