Affordable African Safaris

A safari is nearly always more than you want to spend. Faced with this reality, sometimes you may decide to increase your budget but that may not be possible. Here are some of our more affordable safaris and less expensive safari lodges and camps…

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Overview

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What on earth do we mean by “Affordable African Safaris”? Elsewhere we’ve talked about how a safari is often more than you want to spend. And that's true. So on this page, we focus on lodges and areas which are on the affordable side of this spectrum.

PRO TIP: Make sure you budget considerably more for your nights on safari within a trip. You may want to economize in other ways - See our page on Africa Safari Pricing for some rough per night prices - in order to know what to budget for good private game reserves.

Below are some of our more affordable African safaris and less expensive game lodges and camps.

These tend to be - though not exclusively - in South Africa or Namibia, Here the Rand is relatively weak versus the world currencies giving you better value for your money. Also our sample South Africa safari tours usually include non-safari areas such as Cape Town or the Garden Route. This naturally brings down the overall cost.

(Plus you can easily opt to self-drive in the Cape which brings down the cost still more.)

What do you get at OUR affordable game lodges?

In this world of online travel sites, it’s easy to get confused as to why a game lodge is comparatively inexpensive. All game reserves are NOT created equal. So if a game lodge seems very reasonable, you need to ask why? When choosing an affordable African safari, we steer clear of the lesser game reserves. (They may say they are Big Five reserves but how many of each species do they really have? And are they free-roaming?)

You are looking for a proper safari and not a zoo experience.

Instead we focus on the affordable game lodges which are in good game-viewing areas. The accommodation will be simpler, the food not so elegant. Yes, the guiding may be a little less refined. But you will be on safari in the same terrain as much more expensive lodges, tracking the same wildlife.

Similarly some of the lesser known game reserves in remote areas offer a fantastic safari experience. That's why you need to talk to the safari experts! (End of small rant.)

As long as you have the correct expectations, these affordable lodges can be every bit as good as their pricier cousins.

Note: Below we highlight affordable game lodges for their area.

Download our Insiders Guide to Namibia Safaris

Major Game Reserves, Sample Tours & Camps, plus the low-down on Best Time to Visit! Get our Free Guide here
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Exceeded our expectations
"We absolutely loved EVERYTHING and our trip absolutely exceeded our expectations. Thank you so much for your help in planning our trip and organizing it as well as you did. " - Mrs Elena G, UK
Great itenerary
"The service that Cedarberg provided for us was outstanding. The itinerary that they put together worked seamlessly, all the pick ups were as they had stated and whenever we had a query about any aspect of the trip they came back to us quickly and provided all the information that we needed. I cannot recommend them highly enough . " - Mr Kevin Wilson
Great to deal with
"Cedarberg were really great to deal with. The Drakensberg mountains were spectacular. We most enjoyed Victoria Falls that literally took your breath away.  The river boat cruises at Livingstone were well worth it.  Also getting so close to the animals at Umlani in the Timbavati, even the lions and leopards. " - Mr Martin Butler, UK
High satisfaction with Cedarberg
"We just returned from our third African safari booked with Milandi. I cannot say enough about our high satisfaction with Cedarberg and, particularly, Milandi. Milandi has always worked with us, making recommendations based on our preferences, and together we “tweak” the itinerary until it is perfect for us. Milandi is efficient, highly responsive, knowledgeable, friendly, and seems ..." - Mrs Shirley Spain
Enjoyed the charm of the accommodation
"I want thank Mari for helping us create a vacation tour that worked for my husband son and myself. We got to see everything we would like to see that worked within our budget. " - Mrs Janouska, USA
 
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Kate Bergh

AFRICAN TRAVEL SPECIALIST

Hi I'm Kate, I'm here to help you plan your ideal holiday experience GET IN TOUCH