What Makes a Great Safari?

The safaris travellers describe most warmly afterwards tend to share three features. They moved less than the itinerary could have allowed. They had a guide who was interested. And they left room for nothing to happen.

Trying to see five parks in eight nights produces a photo album and very little else. Three nights somewhere, properly, beats one night in three places every time.

A good guide changes everything: what you notice, what you understand, whether the third lion sighting is boring or fascinating.

And the unplanned hours are usually the good ones — sitting with a herd for forty minutes, watching a storm cross the plain, coffee somewhere with a view.

Great safaris are designed with space in them. That is mostly what I do.