What a Safari Actually Costs
An honest guide to safari pricing in Greater Kruger, from public-park safaris to exclusive-use villas in Sabi Sands and Thornybush, and where the money goes.
“How much does a safari cost?” is the question we get asked most. It’s also the hardest to answer in one line. Two safaris in the same part of South Africa, on the same dates, can differ in price several times over, and both can be the right choice for the people taking them.
So here is the honest version, based on what our guests in Greater Kruger spend on average.
The short answer
These are averages per person 7 nights, excluding international flights:
Mid-range: around USD 5,000
Guided safaris in Kruger National Park and the public areas around it, staying in comfortable lodges. Meals and activities are not all included. You get the same Big Five landscape, with more vehicles at sightings and set gate times.
Luxury: around USD 15,000
All-inclusive stays in private reserves such as Sabi Sands and Thornybush. Game drives, meals, most drinks and a ranger and tracker are all included. Fewer vehicles, off-road tracking and night drives.
Ultra-luxury: around USD 25,000
Private charter flights, a private vehicle and guide, and exclusive-use villas. The safari runs to your schedule and nobody else’s.
All three are in Greater Kruger. The big difference between them isn’t the wildlife. It’s how you experience it.
What you’re paying for
Space. Sabi Sands and Thornybush are private reserves that share unfenced borders with Kruger National Park, so the animals move freely between them. The difference is how many people are watching. Private reserves limit the number of vehicles at a sighting and the number of beds on the land. Keeping visitor numbers low is the product, and it’s expensive to protect.
Guiding. In a private reserve you head out with a ranger and a tracker who know the area and the animals. They can leave the road to follow a leopard and stay with a sighting without a queue of cars behind you. This shapes your safari more than almost anything else.
Everything in one rate. At the luxury level the nightly rate usually covers meals, drinks, game drives and often bush walks. It looks high on paper, but it’s often closer in value to a mid-range trip with every extra added on than people expect.
Conservation. Some of what you pay goes to reserve levies, anti-poaching work and running the land. Low-volume, high-value tourism is a big part of why these reserves still exist as wild places.
Getting there. Charter flights into private airstrips save hours on the road, and they cost more. Scheduled flights into regional airports with a road transfer work well too, and cost less.
What changes the price
Season. The dry winter months (roughly May to September) are peak game-viewing time and peak pricing. The green summer season can mean better rates, newborn animals and excellent birding.
Number of nights. Many lodges charge less per night for longer stays, and fewer, longer stays usually make for a better trip than moving every two nights.
Number of camps. Each move adds transfer costs and takes time out of your safari.
Private vehicle. It’s worth it for families with young children, serious photographers or anyone who wants to set their own pace. Without one, you share the vehicle with other guests.
Travelling solo. Many lodges charge a single supplement.
Where we’d spend, and where we wouldn’t
If the budget is fixed, we’d rather spend it on the reserve and the guiding than on a bigger suite.
Good guiding in a quiet reserve is what makes a safari, and a plunge pool isn’t. We’d also rather book three nights in one great lodge than two nights each in two.
Where we would save: a mid-range stay in Kruger National Park makes an excellent start to a trip, or a great safari on its own for travellers who are happy with a less exclusive experience. It isn’t a lesser safari, just a different one.
The real answer
A safari costs whatever it takes to give you the experience you’re after. Our job is to work out what that is and build the trip around it, so you’re not paying for things you don’t need.
If you’re thinking about Greater Kruger, tell us your dates, who’s travelling and roughly what you’d like to spend.
We’ll show you what that buys.
Comments