TOP 10 FINE DETAILS YOU NEED TO KNOW WHEN PLANNING A GAME DRIVE IN AFRICA

 

Watching animals in their natural habitat with the cool air of the savanna whistling past your ears is a heavenly experience. That is why game drives which started in the 1920s in Africa are still the greatest tourist attraction to the continent. A perfect game drive is only as good as the park you drive through and the agency hosting you though, and that is where the complications come in.

Most game drives are all about hours of watching and waiting. You may want to carry your cup of coffee alongside your favorite time-passing drink while on the drive. Most of the animals that are seen in the open are warthog, zebra, buffalo, elephants, ostrich, and giraffe. The grazers will be there eating comfortably for hours and it may be days before you get to see anything worth filming. So, as much as a game drive is an opportunity to have the fun of a lifetime, it is also a real test of your patience, not to mention the depth of your pockets.

Most agencies only advertise game drives without giving you details of what the experience actually feels like at the time of your trip. Most people on game drives don’t get to see all the Big Five as they hope for when they book their trips. This article delves into the details you should address with your agent to avoid flying to Africa to watch a bunch of Zebras and wildebeest grazing peacefully with nothing to talk about when you go back home.

What you need to know about game drives in Africa

Africa is a vast continent, with game drives available in East, Central, and Southern Africa. Game drives vary with seasons because animals migrate and change their behavior depending on the availability of food and water. The best animal reserves for game drives include South Africa’s Kruger, Botswana’s Okavango, Kenya’s Maasai Mara, and Zambia’s Luangwa. If you prefer monkeys and mountain gorillas, then Rwanda and Uganda are the places to go.

A single national reserve may be the size of a small country, which is why you need to look at the details about when your safari will happen and the lodges you will stay at and then check the reviews for each before booking. It is almost impossible to see everything you would love on a single-day Safari which is why you should book for different days and different hours of the day for your game drives or multiple whole-day game drives. We recommend a six-day trip to different parks and even countries if possible because you get to combine more activities and experiences in one trip.

For a beginner, the best place to go for your drive is East or South Africa, the original homes of game drives with the best lodges, some nearly 100 years old. In this article, we will focus on East Africa because that is where most of the magic happens all year round and we have first-hand experience of everything that happens on the drives at different times of the year.

Kenya and Tanzania are along the equator which means you can go for game drives at any time of the year. Kenya is the most easily accessible Safari destination in East Africa with direct flights to Nairobi and Mombasa by most major airlines from the US, Europe, and the Middle East. From Nairobi and Mombasa, you also find a host of local chartered flights to and from the game reserves, as well as to Tanzania.


What to look out for when booking your game drive

Choosing your destination right

The destination determines the type of animals and the frequency of activity you will witness during your game drive. While large parks offer the opportunity to enjoy long drives and scenic views with more adventure, your drive may also end up being fruitless because there is too much ground to cover. That is why many people prefer parks where game is concentrated such as The Mara, Serengeti, Amboseli, and Tarangire.

All of these national parks now have official websites managed by the governments and filled with the details about when to visit, the charges, and the lodges open on site before you choose the park for your game drive, you should look at these details yourself and not rely on the scanty details given by the agents. You get to prepare yourself better when you know what to expect and that makes a game drive a lot better.

You should also choose the most visited parks listed above because they also get to have the best lodges. While trips are more expensive during the peak travel period between June and October, the most visited parks tend to adjust to the forces of supply and demand. You end up paying more competitively because the agencies spend less on each trip when moving more guests than they would when dealing with only a few guests to a hard-to-reach destination.

The season of your trip

In East Africa, you can have a game drive at any time of the year in all the national parks but that doesn’t mean that the experience is the same all year round. During the rainy season, the grass becomes very long and most of the grazers spread out over vast spaces. That makes sighting and photographing difficult. The roads through the parks are not paved either, and the last thing you want is to be stuck with a 4x4 in a swamp in the middle of nowhere. The rainy season starts in Late February until May in most places. You need to check with the park website to see the current state of the tracks.

The dry season brings the heavenly days of the game drive. The grazers eat their way through the tall grasses, and as they dry up, the animals congregate on the remaining green patches often close to natural springs, lakes, and watering holes. The predators also come out of their vast hideouts to find prey in the herds. The rangers and the guides will direct you on where to drive for most of the fun during the dry season because game is more predictable, unlike in the rainy season.

Logistics

Logistics is the greatest challenge when going for a game drive because the best animal viewing spots are located in the remotest parts of the jungles and getting there is no easy feat. The largest of the parks such as the Nyere, Tsavo, and Serengeti are the hardest ones to navigate unless you have a chattered flight which is a lot more expensive.

When booking your trip to East Africa, the first stop will either be the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi or the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. It is always cheaper to fly through Nairobi because it has more direct international flights from Europe, the US, and Dubai/Doha. You can also connect with another 1-hour long flight to Northern Tanzania from the JKIA to land at the Kilimanjaro International Airport which assures you easy access to the top game drive destinations of the Serengeti, Kilimanjaro, and Tarangire national parks.

From Nairobi, you can book connecting flights to your tour destination right there in the JKIA or go to the neighboring Wilson Airport where most local flights to tourist destinations fly out. Wilson Airport has scheduled flights to Tsavo, Maasai Mara, Amboseli, and Samburu national parks. In Dar es Salaam, you can also book connecting flights to either the Northern or the Southern tourist circuits.

The best way to coordinate your travel, especially when visiting the largest parks such as the Tsavo and the Nyere is to book with a local travel agency that will handle the connecting flights and drives for you so that you don’t have to deal with the hurdles around moving between airports and the paperwork. Booking with the right agency may actually reduce your total costs significantly as everything is covered in a single package.

If you plan on visiting parks that are close to the main cities such as the Maasai Mara, Nairobi National Park, Arusha National Park, The Serengeti, and the Ngorongoro, it will be cheaper to rent a car and drive yourself to the park and only pay the entrance fee and a guide and get a game drive in the park’s safari vehicles which are well suited for the terrain. That way, you reduce your costs significantly.

Choosing the best lodge

Every national park has hotels and lodgings with the Mara, Serengeti, Tsavo, Nyere, Ruaha, and other large parks having hundreds of them located at different spots in the camp. The best five-star hotels in Kenya and Tanzania have actually partnered with governments and built some of their best lodges inside and around national parks. You can review each camp and lodge because they are private entities and the best of them will have websites and online reviews that can help you make your decision.

Parks also have budget camps and lodges which are a lot more affordable than five-star hotel lodges. Budget camps may actually offer a better experience than brick and mortar lodges because the camps may be temporary and set up according to the movement of game in the season. There is accommodation for different budgets so you just need to explain to your travel agency or check the websites for the different packages available for the different classes of accommodation.

The park website will tell you where the herds are headed in different seasons. For example, in the Serengeti, the closer you are to the Mara River in the peak season, the more likely you are to see game right outside your hotel room or camp. Spending the night under the stars is the dream vacation for most guests and it is quite affordable if you book at an established campsite or lodge.

Lodges closest to rivers, watering holes, and animal trails are the best to stay at. When booking your stay, you should ask your agent or the hotel for details on how far the lodge/hotel is from the watering holes and the trails. Lodges in national parks are well secured and they have armed rangers guarding them so you don’t have to worry about elephant herds trampling your tent while you sleep.

Full board vs bed and breakfast

Accommodation offered inside the national park will be a lot more expensive than booking a regular hotel in the city. If your game drive destination is within an hour or two of a major city or town, you would be better off booking your accommodation there if you are on a tight budget. As for on-site lodges, you should only for accommodation in the park if your game drive will keep you in the park until late or if you plan on multiple days of game drives because otherwise, it will be unnecessarily expensive.

The best parks are far from civilization though, which is why booking a hotel or budget camp in the park is the best thing to do. The options you get are full board meaning three meals per day, half board which includes two meals (breakfast and dinner), and bed and breakfast. If the full board includes drinks and laundry, then you have a great package. Otherwise, it is smart to just book bed and breakfast and charge other meals from pocket because you get to enjoy better food and more flexible terms.

Most game drives end by 6 pm unless you are doing a night game drive which can be fruitful but it is not always the best. The best game drives happen in the morning before it gets too hot and then you can come back for another one in the late afternoon after the heat of the midday sun subsides. While on a safari, you will have most of your meals on the move, so the only meal you will take at the hotel is probably breakfast and dinner which is why half board is the most popular option.

Why private exclusive game drives are the best

After the accommodation, the second most important thing on a game drive is the package you have for the vehicle when driving. While driving in a group gives you more eyes to spot different activities on every side of a trail, a crowd in the van makes spotting and photographing a little hard. Most tour vans are designed to accommodate six to eight passengers but the pop-up roof can only take two people at a time.

That means, driving on a safari with a full van will be too much of a crowd, and driving alone can be monotonous as well. You need to have four to six people on the drive, whom you understand well and who will help you with locating, spotting, and photographing game. On your trip, you may have a ranger and guide with you or just one guide in the van depending on your requests at the park when you enter.

A private exclusive game drive means that you have full control over who comes in the vehicle with you and therefore you get to go with family and friends. A private exclusive drive also means you get to choose where you go and how long you stay out there. You can save money by having a single private exclusive drive that gives you the best experience of the destination than multiple short shared drives that may not offer much.

What animals will you see on a game drive?

             

It is difficult to predict the animals you will see on a game drive which is why it is so amazing. The rangers may know where the animals are, but they can never predict what animals you will encounter on the tracks. The one thing you will never miss is the grazers, especially buffalo, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, and antelopes. Ostrich and warthogs are also easy to spot in the dry season.

The big cats which give the most thrill on game drives are elusive and only come out when they are on the hunt or moving in prides for different purposes. Cats tend to hunt in the morning and the evening when the heat is not at its peak and that is also the best time to go for your game drive. Most predators actually do most of their hunting at night, and that is difficult to film so you have to be patient if one day-time drive doesn’t give you much.

When visiting during the great migration or targeting to photograph animals at the watering holes, then you are bound to see more activity because crocodiles, lions, and cheetahs are always on the hunt for thirsty grazers. Leopards are the most elusive cats, most frequently viewed in the rocky and tree-covered patches of the park. In most parks, you may drive for a whole week without sighting a leopard. There are huge prides of lions and cheetah in the grasslands though so you are sure to meet them at one point but not necessarily while they are actively hunting.

The best game drive is achieved when you get to see action between the most elusive cats and the grazers. Ostriches and cheetahs are also spectacular guests as they may approach your vehicle if they are not too preoccupied with their daily activities. You should never get out of the vehicle without security and always avoid physically interacting with any animals.

Choosing your perfect game drive

There are four main game drives in parks all over Africa. The most sought-after drives are the morning drives that start early in the morning and end before noon. The biggest attraction is the predators, especially lion prides which stake out the grazers on their tracks ready to capture them as they get out to graze or get a drink. The actual captures may happen out of sight or in a cloud of dust so you may not be able to capture everything but you will have the whole story of the hunt. In most cases, you will find the predators finishing off the night’s catch or just enjoying the morning sun.

You can choose to be out in the wild all day, meaning the entire eight hours of daylight in what is called full-day game drives. You have to carry your packed lunch and snacks when going for the whole day and also ensure your electronics are properly charged. Full-day game drives are the best for peak movement seasons such as the Great Wildebeest Migration because the action there continues all day and it may be at different sides of the river which requires you to change destinations abruptly.

The third type of game drives is the afternoon to early evening game drive which continue until 6 pm. The evening game drives have the best ambiance as you enjoy watching the herds munch on their last bites of the day as the sun sets and the chill comes in. As the temperatures fall, the predators also come out to hunt while nocturnal animals also come out of hiding. While you can see cheetah, hyenas, and lions in the morning, the evening game drives is the time when you find them at the peak of their action.

The night game drives is for the true fans of the tracks and it requires an experienced guide, proper lighting on the vehicle, and special cameras with the ability to take perfect images in the dark. You can see hyenas, lions, and cheetahs racing after grazers in the dark. In most cases, you will find them on the hunt or while they are eating their prey.

The animals you are sure to see at night are wild dogs, porcupines, hyenas, and other nocturnal animals that are not very elusive. The big cats often keep their distance from humans and the most experienced guides will help you set up camp at the right spot and wait for them to come to you.

The vehicle you take on the drive

In the African game parks, there are no paved roads, so only vehicles that are equipped for off-roading will get you to the deepest part of the savanna where the fun is. The vehicle may be provided by your tour agent, or you can rent a vehicle with a driver and a guide at the park. Modified 4x4 SUVs, especially Land Cruisers and occasionally, range rovers are the best vehicles for game drives.

You can choose the size of the vehicle depending on the number of people you are taking on the drive. If you are booking through an agent, your agent will tell you the type of vehicle available. Some parks have modified minibusses that have 4x4 capability and are able to carry more passengers.

The Guides

The law requires tour guides to be registered before they can be allowed to lead you on game drives. Most people that have a bad experience on their game drive is often because they got an unprofessional or unqualified guide. In Kenya, your guide should be certified by the Tourism Regulation Authority while the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism does the same in Tanzania. You need to check and ensure that your guide is actually qualified and authorized.

Your guide should most importantly be able to speak your language and be experienced with the park they are proposing to you. Getting a qualified guide is the only way to ensure that you will spend your day out there with a professional. Some scammers will play you and try to score more money out of you while on the drive or after the drive.

You should get to know your guide before you even reach the park and interview them by asking them all the hard questions about the park and the game activity at the destination. If you are choosing a guide at the park, it is best to agree on the price and the period of the drive before you take off to avoid any misunderstanding. Some may try to extort money off you if you didn’t book your trip as part of an agency package. Always remember to tip a good guide if you can because their job is not an easy one.

When booking through an agent, your package should cover the tour guide as well as the park entrance fees. If you are going in alone, you can get a guide assigned to you by the park, who could also be the driver of your tour van. You can also hire the services of armed rangers but that is rarely necessary unless you are going for a night game drive.