Money
Priced whole, with terms that reward a longer stay
And a set of inclusions that differ enough between properties to make a headline comparison meaningless.
| Per person per night | What it buys |
|---|---|
| US$800 – 1,200 | Established camps in genuinely good locations, a private vehicle throughout, light-aircraft hops between parks rather than long road transfers, and guiding that is a profession rather than a job. The entry point to a safari that does not compromise. |
| US$1,200 – 1,800 | Camps on private land, where the rules change: off-road driving to a sighting, night drives, walking with an armed guide, and a cap on how many vehicles may attend anything. Usually the point at which people stop comparing safaris on price. |
| US$1,800 – 2,500 | The camps people name when they get home. Six to ten tents, an owner or manager who is present, a guide assigned to you for the stay, and food that would hold its own in a city. |
| US$2,500 – 4,000 | A guide who travels with you from park to park rather than being handed over at each one, private charters on your own schedule, and small camps taken whole for your party. |
| US$4,000 and up | Exclusive-use houses and villas with their own staff, mobile expedition camps built for your route, and private aircraft between countries. Bought for privacy and control rather than for thread count. |
Indicative planning ranges only, per person per night sharing, for a fully inclusive safari — accommodation, meals, park and conservancy fees, guiding, and transport between parks. They are what we see in the market, not a quote and not an official tariff. Your quote will be exact and itemised. International flights are not included.
On an exclusive-use booking, read those as the figure after dividing the whole-unit price by your party.
What is usually included
- Vehicles and guiding, on most houses and all buyouts — worth two or three supplements at a camp.
- A chef and full staff, cooking to your household rather than to a menu.
- Activities on the property, where the land permits them.
- Laundry, daily, as everywhere.
What is usually not
Park, reserve and conservancy fees, charged per person per day. Permits. Internal flights and transfers. Premium drinks at some properties. Staff gratuities, where the convention on a house with eight staff differs from a camp and is worth asking about up front rather than working out on the last morning.
Minimum stays and seasons
Three nights is the common minimum and four is not unusual. Christmas and New Year carry longer minimums, higher rates and the earliest booking deadlines of the year.
Season moves an exclusive-use price more than it moves a room rate, because the whole unit is discounted rather than a per-person figure. A property out of reach in August is frequently ordinary in a shoulder month, and that is the single most useful lever on this page.
How far ahead
Houses and buyouts book further ahead than camps because there is exactly one of each. A year out is not early for school holidays; for Christmas it is close to necessary.
Private mobile camps are the flexible exception — the camp is built rather than allocated, so the constraint is crew and equipment rather than a room.
What we itemise
Beds, fees, permits, flights, transfers and vehicle supplements, separately, and the same trip priced both ways where the party size makes it a genuine question. A bundled figure makes the comparison impossible, which is the one thing you actually want to do.
Ready to turn this into a real itinerary?
Send us your dates, who is travelling and roughly what you want to spend per person per night. Our Africa specialist comes back within 24 hours with a plan built around them and a costed quote.