By Emily Hancock, Safari Specialist
We know the first quarter of the year for many of you is travel planning time. With that in mind, our planning team wanted to share a few tips from our insiders’ playbook to help you make the most of your safari planning for 2026, 2027, or even 2028.
Safari guests on game drive with their guide and tracker at Okavango Origins camp, in Botswana’s iconic Okavango Delta.
Take Advantage of Off-Peak Seasons
We find that almost every year, the December through May timeframe (exception being February in Tanzania) in some prime destinations have camp space available. If you are itching to go on safari as soon as possible, there are often premium locations and camps in Botswana, Kenya and Tanzania that have space available. These are considered shoulder or low season months in many areas but can provide brilliant opportunities to have more exclusive experiences with less vehicles and great pricing. For example, December through March in Botswana can offer some of the best value for money in the safari world – in our selected locations you can have about 85% of peak season wildlife viewing experience for 50 to 60% less cost compared to peak season pricing.
In Kenya, we are enormous fans of February and March safaris in the Masai Mara where there are far less visitors than the American peak summer months, there is outstanding resident wildlife, and the Loita herds (Mara resident wildebeest) are calving in great Conservancy areas where we can off-road and night drive. We have our Legendary Kenyan guide team of Ping, Peter, and Paul who are typically fully booked from June-October, but have lots of availability in these low season months.
Tanzania in the month of March is another secret specialty that we love to plan for new and repeat safari travelers alike. Many folks are scared off (especially from late March) by the prospect of rain; however, it is our team’s favorite time to travel to Tanzania for the calving season, for a number of reasons – you can avoid the much busier tourist time of February, the grasses are green and lush from the short rains which have brought the Migration to the Ndutu area, and the bulk of the calving has occurred by late March meaning the number of both young and mature animals you can see is unmatched (more than 400,000 new calves are roaming the plains of Ndutu and the Southern Serengeti by this point). Along with the life affirming numbers of herbivores to see, the predator action is unmatched during this time with the glut of new prey.
Finally, our last secret of traveling during this time in Tanzania is visiting the Northern Serengeti, where the camps are offering excellent deals to fill their beds, as the River Crossing season is the big tourist draw from June-October for this area. Almost no one else visits this region in the Calving Season – a travesty, in our experience, as the big cats and resident wildlife are outstanding, and you may not see another vehicle all day!
Green season in the Serengeti offers a vibrant landscape, dramatic skies and outstanding wildlife.
Score With Last-Minute Deals
Along with finding space at some of your favorite camps which might be packed during peak season, and scheduling with your favorite guide, planning late in the game can offer some epic deals. For example, certain operators offer heavily slashed rates across the board for bookings made within 30 days of travel, and others are willing to negotiate special deals with us based on longstanding relationships and priorities to obtain low season guests. We also are involved in our own camps in Botswana, Tanzania and Kenya where we can offer flexibility to fill last minute space. Work with our planners to customize a safari that hits your budget level with great values often available exclusively to last minute and green season travelers.
Plan Now for 2027 Peak Season
Our advice if you are particularly interested in the peak travel season of June through October? Plan ahead for 2027. Planning over a year in advance will give you the choice of camps, guides and dates that allow you to craft your safari exactly as you wish. Popular camps often fill up at least a year out, so planning far ahead will take the stress out of trying to secure those perfect camps, dates AND flights that line up just right.
Consider Organizing a Family, Friends, or Specialized Group Safari
The biggest trend we have seen over the last 3 years is more people traveling together in their own group. This rise has included a lot of multi-generational family groups, and a lot of groups of friends choosing to share the safari experience together. With such groups our planning process remains the same: fully tailored to the unique interests and needs of your party. There can also be cost advantages to forming your own safari group. Shared costs, such as guide/vehicle, are split across more people, lowering the cost per person. It might be possible to have a private charter flight, rather than shared. There are often discount advantages to having a bigger party, and many camps offer big savings for children.
Traveling as a group of friends, multigenerational family, or for a special interest like photography or wellness, is a great way to share costs while still customizing your trip. (All photos feature and are courtesy of TWS travelers in March 2024: Tom and Deb Ryon, Dee Townsend, Kevin Meekin, Donna Keeler and Terry Welch)
We also offer custom planning services for trip leaders of photography groups, yoga and wellness retreats, and women only adventures – just to name a few of the specialty groups we have planned for. Because we are a fully custom operator, we can tailor itineraries to pretty much any kind of specialty group, along with the handful of pre-planned group safari departures with The Wild Source that we offer.