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.

Tailor make it all to suit
"Peter got it from the start of my gabbled explanation of reason for trip and abnormal itinerary. He pieced it all together and I always felt confident, even before the trip. " - Mr & Mrs Leake, UK
Delivered the goods
"Cedarberg took on board what we wanted and delivered the goods!! Accommodation everywhere was fantastic we couldn’t have asked for any more! Preferred safari at madikwe as saw loads more because ..." - Mr Eastwood, UK
Special memories
"I would like to thank you for the very full and comprehensive travel documents you put together for us – it made our trip so easy! The organisation was perfect and it was so helpful to have c ..." - Mr Mo Hemsley, UK
We honestly had the trip of a life time and it was a magical time for our whole family.
"We honestly had the trip of a life time and it was a magical time for our whole family. From the animals in the Serengeti to the palm fringed perfect beaches of Zanzibar it was two weeks we will ne ..." - Jos Palmer
Your prices better than the bigger companies
"Brian came home with your attractive brochure and we started looking at possibilities. We both thought Cedarberg would be too expensive for us but were pleasantly surprised to find your prices bett ..." - Dale Family, UK
 
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Exceeded all expectations
"Cedarberg was professional, responsive, and personable. All flights, all transfers, all accommodation, all activities, and the safari itself went exactly to plan. The experience, end-to-end, exceed ..." - Mr Michael Barnard
Very helpful discussions
"Very helpful discussions beforehand to give us lots of options. The personalised website was really good. The pre-holiday booklet was really useful as well. " - Mrs Rachel O'Connell, UK
Superb holiday
"Peter put together a superb holiday for us. He found out what sort of things we liked and then tailored the holiday for our needs. Whilst working the logistics out! " - Mrs Helen Severs
Ginny made excellent suggestions
"Ginny made excellent suggestions for our holiday ensuring we had a good variety of things to do which suited the whole family. " - Mrs Mary Creayen, UK
Outstanding holiday
"The arrangements worked well. Many thanks for all the hard work. " - Mr Bund, UK
 
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Tasha Eygelaar

AFRICAN TRAVEL SPECIALIST

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