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Of all the holidays you can have, the African safari is the one that will stay with you the longest.
It is the holiday that dreams are made of, if your dreams consist of wildlife, trekking through the bush, sometimes on foot, staying in the most luxurious lodges, and being so far away from the ding of notifications and crowds of people that you might just think that you have stepped back into a time when very few people walked the continent.
The first time I went on a real safari, I was in my late 20s.
Growing up in Africa and spending most of my childhood weekends in the Kruger National Park, I was more than familiar with the self-drive experience, but I didn’t really know much about a guided tour.
When I eventually treated myself to a safari, I was surprised at how different the experience was.
Being in the company of a professional guide and being taken along roads that I would not have taken had I been driving myself, had me rethinking what I thought I knew about safaris, and then I started wondering, how many others have asked, “What is a safari in Africa really like?”
How does an African safari work?
You’ve probably paged through online itineraries and seen where the trip will take you, but the one thing that might come across as a little bit vague is, “How do safaris work?”
There are two kinds of safaris: self-drive or guided.
Self-driving is simple.
You rent a vehicle from a rental company, many of which often have cars at the airport, and then, with GPS and a map in hand, you take to the road that will lead you to your safari destination of choice.
Self-drive tours can be pre-planned and booked through a travel company. They will plan your route, book your safari and take care of your accommodation, but you will drive yourself from one place to the next.
But when travellers ask how safaris work, they are usually referring to the far more comfortable and common option, which is the guided experience.
Game drives will most often take place in a modified safari vehicle, which can be either open or closed. Open vehicles are the quintessential safari mode of transport, and they are built to give you the best views of the wild.
All safaris have early starts
You can expect your day to start bright and early, just as the first light of dawn appears.
During these early hours, the air is cool, and wildlife are at their most active. It is also the time of day when you are most likely to see predator/prey interactions, and the light is perfect for photography.
Depending on how your tour is structured, you can spend about 4 to 5 hours, from dawn to about 11 am, on safari.
I chose to do a morning-only game drive, and it turned out to be one of the best wildlife experiences I’ve ever had. In just a few hours, I saw a herd of elephants, a hyena mother and her pups, impala, kudu, and a pride of lions!
If you are signing up for a couple of days, you can expect at least 2 game drives a day, usually one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
There are plenty of excellent African safari tours available, each of which caters to a variety of different travellers.
The kind of experience you want to have is going to depend on what you want to do, what you want included and what you are willing to pay.
Private safari game drives, where it is usually just you and your family or friends’ group, cost more than a conventional guided tour, which includes a mixture of people, all sharing the experience in one vehicle.
And it should go without saying that a luxury African safari is also going to cost more than the other options. Luxury safaris are high-end in every way, and you can look forward to having the very best of the best of everything.
There are multiple, easily accessible destinations
Although most travellers and bloggers will say that safaris are exciting all the time, some might find that after 3 days in one place, the experience can become a little boring.
Personally speaking, I never get tired of being in the bush.
No matter how many times you see a giraffe walking past your car or watch a herd of elephants crossing a road, it’s always special.
But, understandably, some trips can become a little long in the tooth, so to speak.
The best way to beat any boredom is to spread out your tour so that it covers more than 1 destination.
You could start in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in South Africa’s Kwa-Zulu Natal, where you are almost certain to see the Big 5, and then travel to the Kruger for a couple of nights, before indulging in utter luxury in Sabi Sands.
This way, you’ll have the authentic safari you’ve always dreamed of, while also getting to see a variety of places.
This is What a Day on African Safari Really Looks Like
5:30 am: Early Wake-Up Call
A day on safari starts much earlier than you might expect, and yet somehow it never feels like an imposition.
A safari morning starts with a soft knock at the door, a tray of freshly brewed tea or rich, warming coffee, and the call of a night-jar, making its final song before the sunlight appears.
It is best to dress in layers, because although the early morning is quite cool, by about 8 am, when the sun is up, the heat returns.
It helps to lay your clothes out the evening before so that not a single minute of the morning is lost.
6 am – 9 am: Morning Game Drive
The open game vehicle moves through the half-light as the dawn chorus builds around you; the early morning bird song, uninhibited by the sounds of city noises, the roar of a lion, announcing his presence on the savannah, and the light bristle of leaves being blown about in the breeze.
Predators are finishing the business of the night; lions settle into the shade as the light grows golden and warm, while leopards retreat to their private, tree-top sanctuaries with the elegance they are known for.
Elephants move in a slow, majestic procession toward the waterhole, their reflections caught perfectly in the mirror-still surface of the water, and antelope emerge from the grasses, the mist and dew lightly touching their fur.
Midway through the drive, your guide will find a spot to stop and serve tea or coffee, poured from a flask in the middle of the bush.
9 am – 11 am: Lavish Lodge Breakfast
By mid-morning, the heat has begun its slow, golden rise, and the animals have largely retreated to the shade to wait it out.
You will do something similar by returning to the lodge for a generous breakfast served at a beautifully laid table.
Depending on your lodge, breakfast could be a full cooked spread, a lavish continental selection, or something in between, and it is always fresh, abundant, and served with that particular warmth that the finest African hospitality is known for.
There is a very specific pleasure in sitting down to a proper meal after hours spent in the open air, the morning’s sightings still vivid in your mind and the light already growing soft and bright.
11 am – 3 pm: Rest, Explore, and Restore
The middle hours of the day are entirely and luxuriously yours to do with as you please.
Some guests like to drift to the pool with a novel and a cold drink, settling into a sun lounger with no particular intention other than to be fully in the moment.
Others book a treatment at the spa, choosing something restorative and wonderfully indulgent after the early start.
And for those who prefer to stay close to the bush, a guided walking safari during these quieter hours is a rare and intimate experience that’ll bring you closer to nature than you’ve ever been.
Lunch is served at a gentle pace, and an afternoon nap afterwards is just the way to spend the rest of the warmest hours of the day.
This is, after all, exactly what rest is supposed to feel like.
4 pm – 7 pm: Afternoon Game Drive and Sundowners
After a long day of baking heat, the temperature begins to drop with the setting sun, and soon enough, wildlife reemerge from their hiding spots.
The late afternoon game drive is an exceptional time for wildlife sightings, particularly of wild dog, lion and other predators, who come out yawning and stretching. Antelope, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and other plains game are also common sightings during this late time of the day.
About midway through this game drive, you’ll usually stop to enjoy one of the most memorable safari traditions, the sundowner. Your guide will choose a safe spot, and you’ll step out of the vehicle for a drink, usually a beer or a glass of wine, served safari style, on the hood of the car.
If you are travelling in one of the private concessions, like Sabi Sands, your afternoon drive will turn into an evening trip, where you’ll see a variety of nocturnal animals.
7:30 pm: Dinner under the stars
After a busy day spent outdoors, you’ll have worked up an appetite.
Sitting around the boma, with its warm fire lulling you into the deepest sense of relaxation, or dressing up for an elegant plated affair at a beautifully adorned table, with the sounds of the bush as your backdrop, the food on safari is invariably exceptional.
Thoughtfully prepared, locally inspired, and served with an indulgent warmth, it is the kind of meal that you find yourself describing to people long after you have returned home.
At some lodges, staff gather in the boma to sing and drum in the firelight, adding something sacred to the whole experience.
9 pm: Early Evenings
Safari days end early, and gratefully so.
With the morning drive just hours away, most guests like to retire by nine, slipping between cool, crisp sheets as the African night settles in around them.
The sounds that find you here, like the low, resonant call of a lion somewhere out in the darkness, the whoop of a hyena carrying across the stillness, the chorus of frogs rising from a nearby waterhole, are unlike any lullaby you have known.
There are no decisions left to make, no notifications to check, no noise beyond what the wild world gives freely and generously.
You close your eyes, and you feel it, that particular, irreplaceable sense of being exactly where you are supposed to be.
An African safari will leave you with a satisfaction and a longing that stays with you long after the safari has ended, and it is, perhaps, the most honest reason why Africa calls people back.
Being away from responsibility and in a place where you can truly be free, is quite possibly what makes an African safari such an indulgent and addictive holiday, and an experience that you deserve to have.
A safari in Africa is an interactive experience that moves between exhilarating game drives and long, unhurried stretches of rest and stillness. Days follow a natural rhythm shaped by the wildlife and the light, beginning before sunrise and winding down gently after dinner beneath the stars. It is equal parts excitement and tranquillity, and most travellers find it unlike anything they have experienced before.
A typical African safari day includes two game drives, one in the early morning and one in the late afternoon, when wildlife is at its most active. Between drives, time is yours to fill as you please, whether that means a spa treatment, a guided bush walk, a swim, or simply resting with a good book. Morning and afternoon refreshments, breakfast, lunch, and a multi-course dinner are woven through the day, making it feel wonderfully full without ever feeling rushed.
Absolutely. African safari lodges and camps are designed to make guests feel entirely at ease from the moment they arrive, with experienced guides, attentive staff, and well-considered itineraries that take the guesswork out of everything. First-time travellers often find that the structure of a safari day, far from feeling restrictive, is one of the most relaxing aspects of the experience.
Your first game drive is likely to be one of the most memorable mornings of your life. Setting out before dawn in an open vehicle, with a knowledgeable guide reading the landscape around you, you can expect to see a remarkable variety of wildlife going about its natural business. Sightings vary by destination and season, but encounters with elephants, buffalo, lion, giraffe, and a wealth of birdlife are common across many of Africa’s finest reserves.
Most travel experts recommend a minimum of three to four nights at a single safari location to allow enough time to settle in, find your rhythm, and experience the full arc of bush life across different times of day. Many travellers choose to combine two or more destinations for a richer, more varied experience. A week to ten days is widely considered the sweet spot for a first safari, leaving enough room for both game viewing and genuine rest.
