Private Group Safaris, tailor-made for you

Yes, we handcraft our group safaris for you and your group of friends, family or colleagues. These trips are not offered to anyone who is not personally invited by you.

Small private groups of roughly three to eight travellers are the most cost-effective configuration because the vehicle and guide are shared among everyone. The same logic applies to privately guided safaris: splitting the cost of a high-end professional guide between six or eight people is far more manageable than one or two travellers carrying it. Above six or eight, the arithmetic shifts again — you will usually need a second vehicle and guide, at which point exclusive-use properties start to compete on price.

Most private group safaris we arrange host four to twelve people. We can accommodate up to sixteen and still maintain the quality control we are known for, and larger groups are possible by special arrangement, subject to exclusivity limitations. Be aware that the larger the group, the fewer lodge and experience options remain available to you.

Exclusive use - a lodge takeover - is worth serious consideration for large multi-generational families, milestone celebrations and corporate retreats. It delivers privacy, personalised service throughout, private safari guides and chefs, and activities run entirely to your group's timing. For smaller groups, a safari villa or dedicated family unit in a lodge achieves much of the same privacy at lower cost. The deciding factors are usually group size, whether children are travelling, and how much your group values having common areas to itself.

Once a group passes roughly eight travellers and is large enough to fill most of a small lodge, a takeover starts to look like value rather than an indulgence. You are paying for beds you would have booked anyway, and benefiting from private vehicles, private guiding and a schedule nobody else influences. Because many luxury lodges in prime wildlife areas hold up to sixteen guests, groups of twelve to sixteen are often the natural fit. Our travel planners will price a takeover against individual rooms so you can compare the two directly.

Rather than a fixed list, think in terms of three formats. Safari villas and dedicated family units generally sleep six to eight. Small lodges, particularly in the Okavango Delta and Kwando/Selinda and Linyanti in Botswana, suit groups of eight to sixteen. Many luxury lodges in the best wildlife areas accommodate up to sixteen guests in total, which is what makes takeovers viable for ten- and twelve-strong groups. Availability in these properties moves quickly, so we match your group to a specific lodge at the time of enquiry rather than in advance.

Charter economics depend on the aeroplane type, group size, the route between camps and the season, so the honest answer is that it needs pricing rather than a rule of thumb. For example, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan can take 12 passengers. As a group grows and starts filling most of the seats on a light aircraft, a private charter begins to compete with paying individual seat rates, and it also buys back time and flexibility on remote routings. We price both options against your itinerary before you commit.

A private guide travels with your group for the whole trip rather than being handed over at each camp, which means the guiding builds over the days and the pace is set by your group alone. Privately guided group safaris are available across most African safari countries. Separately, we can hire a specialist to host your trip; a predator researcher, a professional photographer or a birding expert, which suits photography clubs, birding groups and conservation donor trips especially well.

This is one of the strongest arguments for a villa or a lodge takeover with private vehicles. Younger children can take shorter drives of one to two hours, go on exploratory walks near camp, take boat rides, attend art classes, baking lessons, bow-and-arrow making, animal tracking, and tree identification, while the adults head out on a full morning drive. Teenagers can move up to adventure activities: rafting or bungee jumping at Victoria Falls, sandboarding and quad biking at Sossusvlei, and ballooning over the Maasai Mara. Note the age thresholds: gorilla trekking from fifteen, walking safaris from sixteen, and some lodges restrict game drives to twelve and over unless a private vehicle is hired.

For a first group safari, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa combine strong wildlife with reliable infrastructure. For adventurous groups, Zambia, Namibia and Congo-Brazzaville. For luxury and exclusivity, Botswana, South Africa and Tanzania. For exclusive-use properties specifically, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa have the deepest choice. Rwanda and Uganda suit groups of eight or fewer, since gorilla permits cap trekking parties at that number.

Group safaris typically cost from US$700 per adult per night, depending on comfort level and activities, and that rate usually includes accommodation, all meals, game drives, experienced guides, airport transfers and 24/7 support from our team. Booked as one group, costs that would otherwise be duplicated - vehicles, guiding, transfers - are shared. All-inclusive rates also look higher per night than à la carte but usually work out better value once meals, drinks, activities, park fees and laundry are counted, and they remove the surprise costs that accumulate quickly across a large party.

Families do best with a mix: junior ranger programmes, bush treasure hunts and cultural village visits for children, with adult drives running in parallel. Groups of friends tend towards themed trips and long days -extended walking safaris, gorilla or chimpanzee trekking, ballooning, mokoro outings, a star-bed night or a salt-pan sleepout. Corporate groups need the schedule to breathe: we build in time for meetings and work sessions, then anchor the trip with a celebratory bush dinner, a conservation project visit or a surprise sundowner stop.

The dry seasons are the safe choice - May to October in Southern Africa, and January to March plus June to October in East Africa -when sparse vegetation and animals gathering at water make for excellent viewing. Green season has its own case: Botswana from January to April, or the East African short rains in November and December, bring lower prices, fewer crowds, migratory birds and newborn animals. On timing, peak-season group bookings need 12–18 months of advance planning, while trips outside peak season can be arranged 6–9 months ahead with better rates and availability. You pay a first deposit at booking, with the final payment due about 105 days before you travel.