Walking Safaris
Slow, quiet and close to the ground. The purest way to read the bush, pioneered in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley.
Safari Types
Choose Your Kind of Safari
Five ways to be in the wild. Each changes what you see, what you hear and how close you get.
Most first-time travelers choose a country first and a style of safari second. We think it works better the other way round. The way you move through the bush — on foot, by canoe, in an open vehicle — shapes the whole experience far more than which side of a border you are on.
How to choose
Start with three questions:
- How close do you want to be? A game drive covers ground and gets you near big animals safely. A walk or a canoe trip puts you inside the landscape, with fewer sightings but far more intensity.
- How much comfort matters? Mobile and fly camps trade en-suite luxury for remoteness. Permanent lodges give you both, at a price.
- How fit and how patient are you? Walking safaris suit people who enjoy slow detail. Game drives suit anyone, including children and travelers with limited mobility.
Most good itineraries combine two or three styles: a few nights of game drives to see the big animals, then a river or walking camp to slow down. If you are unsure, our first-time safari guide walks through the decision step by step.
At a glance
| Style | Best for | Where it shines |
|---|---|---|
| Walking | Detail, tracking, birds, silence | South Luangwa (Zambia), Mana Pools (Zimbabwe) |
| Canoe & river | Elephants and hippos at eye level | Lower Zambezi, Okavango Delta |
| Game drives | Big cats, first safaris, families | Serengeti, Maasai Mara, Sabi Sand, Etosha |
| Mobile | Remoteness, following the season | Botswana, northern Tanzania |
| Luxury wilderness | Comfort without losing the wild | Okavango, Laikipia, private concessions |
Five ways in
The safari types
Canoe & River Safaris
Drift past elephants at eye level. Rivers like the Zambezi and the Okavango reveal what roads never reach.
Game Drives
The classic, done well: an open vehicle, a patient guide and the freedom to follow a story as it unfolds.
Mobile Safaris
Camps that move with the season and the animals. Simple canvas, real remoteness, nothing between you and the night.
Luxury Wilderness
Exceptional comfort in genuinely wild places — where the design serves the landscape, not the other way round.
Free guide
Planning Your First African Safari?
Get The First-Time African Safari Planner: when to go, which country suits you, what it really costs and what to pack.
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