I know, I know, I know — how do you even begin to compare these extraordinary safari destinations? It would be unfair of me to judge each one purely on my own experience. But when you’re reaching for your wallet, it’s more than fair to ask: which safari is right for you?

For what it’s worth, I’ve travelled to each of these destinations many times, and I’ve called both Botswana and South Africa home for most of my life. But surely my preferences are shaped by my own likes and dislikes? Believe me, I carry a few travel quirks in my baggage. Here are some of my bugbears:

• Tsetse flies. One bite and I run for the hills… yet I’ve watched less-ardent safari-goers take them in their stride, as if they were only a minuscule menace.
• Loud radios. A guide with the vehicle radio on full volume is a killer for me. Happily, many camps now use small earpieces to keep the chatter away from guests.
• The rushed sighting. Oh, don’t get me started on guides… What about the guide who radios in a new sighting before the guests have even settled in and had a moment to take it in?
• The breakfast platter. And then there are the safari camps that serve chicken sausages with eggs. Aaarrgh! (Yup, skip breakfast and wait ’til lunch.) Yes, there’s a story behind that one.

So either you’re reading my list and thinking I’m a little strange, or you have no idea what I’m on about. If you’ve never been on safari, why would you know about loud radios, or guides calling their friends into a sighting before telling their own guests what they’ve found? You may have heard of malaria, but how could you possibly know what a tsetse fly is? As for the chicken sausages, let’s not even go there…

This is where we come in. At Safari Guru, working out your travel preferences — including the ones you didn’t know you had — is part of the journey.

With all of that in mind, you’re still wondering: Botswana vs Kenya vs Tanzania vs South Africa, which safari is right for you?

It would also be unfair to leave out Zambia and Zimbabwe, as both deliver outstanding safari experiences. Without making this article 100 pages long, I’ll add a few tidbits along the way to put their offering into perspective too.

Because we’re not tied to one safari operator, one region or one country, we can look at all of these destinations from above, at the level where the real decisions are made.  That’s a view no single-country operator can offer, however good their camps!

BOTSWANA: THE EXCLUSIVE SAFARI EXPERIENCE

As many of you know, I once called Botswana home, so I’ll own up to a little bias. That’s probably fair, given I spent most of my time there at Mombo Camp, which Travel + Leisure named the best hotel in the world in its 2013 World’s Best Awards. To be honest, I’ve always thought that was a terrible label. With fewer than a dozen tents between Mombo and Little Mombo, it is certainly not a hotel. It’s a luxury lodge, or, even more to the point, a luxury safari camp.

Mombo sits within an exclusive concession of the Moremi Game Reserve, on the northern tip of Chief’s Island, in the heart of the Okavango Delta. The island was once the royal hunting ground of the Batawana chiefs; today it’s dedicated to wildlife and photographic safaris. Botswana banned trophy hunting in 2014, then lifted that moratorium in 2019, so hunting now takes place under quotas in designated areas. The prime photographic concessions of the Delta, like Mombo, are for watching wildlife, not hunting it. If ethical, photographic-only wilderness is high on your list, there’s your first box ticked.

So why does this area resonate with me so deeply, beyond the obvious?

Zooming out from Mombo, I see Chief’s Island. Zoom out further and I see the whole Okavango, then north into the private Linyanti concessions and Chobe National Park. These are some of the most pristine waterways on the planet, supporting the world’s largest elephant population and an extraordinary diversity of other wildlife. Think of these vast wetlands as giant filters, delivering gin-clear water into an otherwise parched corner of the world: the Kalahari. To me, the Delta is a marvel of nature, and it’s little wonder it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014, the 1,000th site on the list.

For all its wonder, this is a relatively compact wilderness compared with some of East Africa’s great ecosystems, such as the Serengeti. Its saving grace has been Botswana’s “high-value, low-volume” tourism model: fewer beds, fewer vehicles and more space for wildlife. When choosing camps in Botswana, an experienced safari specialist knows how to make travellers feel as if they’re the only people in Africa, and that the safari is all about them.

In my humble opinion, after 15 years of camp management, private concessions and reserves are among the most valuable things to weigh up when comparing safari offerings. Some safari camps and operators seem to believe that ticking off the Big Five in 30 minutes is the measure of a great safari. Any guide worth their weight in gold will instead give you longer, more meaningful sightings, while ensuring the entire journey is part of the memory.

Listening, learning and watching wildlife interactions as animals go about their day, unhurried and relaxed: that’s what safari is all about. Botswana delivers this on every count.

Some of Botswana’s key safari operators include Great Plains Conservation, Desert & Delta, Wilderness Destinations, Natural Selection and African Bush Camps. Each has a strong presence in the country, with fabulous wildlife concessions focused on private game viewing. Between them, they span a broad range of styles and levels of service, but under the high-value, low-volume model they all sit at the upper end of the market. 

There are also some newcomers worth watching, such as Wild Expeditions and Cha Cha Metsi. We’ve recently partnered with them to bring a back-to-basics, authentic safari feel to the heart of the Delta.

LEARN MORE AS WE COMPARE BOTSWANA’S KEY SAFARI CAMPS AND OPERATORS…

SERENGETI–MARA: EAST AFRICA’S GREAT MIGRATION SAFARIS

Is East Africa’s Serengeti–Mara only good for the Great Migration? No, it’s not only about the Migration, but when it comes to the Migration, this is what springs to mind! Many first-time travellers talk about seeing the Great Migration, made famous by National Geographic and the early adventurers. But is it for everybody? No.

The Great Migration is certainly one of nature’s great spectacles and well worth seeing, but it comes with its catches. As well as more than a million animals, it can attract tourists in their thousands. Luckily, the Serengeti covers thousands of square kilometres, and the herds spread across tens of kilometres. In high season, though, the focus falls on the famous river crossings. It’s the crossings that draw the crowds, but there’s a lot more to the story.

Is the Great Migration on your bucket list, and do you want to know the best way to see it? Here’s the full migration story.

Straddling the border between Tanzania and Kenya, the Greater Serengeti–Mara ecosystem stages the largest overland wildlife migration on Earth. Beyond the main Serengeti National Park and Maasai Mara National Reserve lie quieter, more secluded private concessions. Two of Safari Guru’s favourites are Grumeti, in the Serengeti’s western corridor, and Kenya’s Mara North Conservancy.

Why do we love Grumeti and Mara North? Because they follow the rhythm of the Migration. Grumeti typically welcomes the herds, and their Grumeti River crossings, around June and July, before Mara North takes centre stage from roughly July to October. Both limit guest numbers and offer activities such as walking and night drives, which aren’t permitted in the main parks. You experience Africa’s greatest wildlife spectacle on your own terms, not from a queue of vehicles.

Take the Great Migration out of the equation, and what else does the Greater Serengeti–Mara offer?

The landscape. Across such a vast area, the scenery changes dramatically, from rolling hills and granite kopjes scattered across open plains to crocodile-filled rivers and forested ravines. On the Kenyan side, the Oloololo (Siria) Escarpment rises above the Mara Triangle, offering fantastic views over the savannah – best viewed with a beer in hand from another favourite: Angama Mara Camp. In Tanzania, the open grasslands are what gave the Serengeti its name: the Maasai word for “endless plains”. Kenya and Tanzania also offer some of Africa’s most impressive balloon safaris, which are not available in Botswana or South Africa.

The birdlife. More than 500 bird species live in the Serengeti, year-round or seasonally, and five of them are found only in Tanzania. Highlights include the secretarybird, kori bustard, southern ground hornbill and a wide range of raptors and vultures.

The cats. The open plains, especially the short-grass plains in the south, are among the best places in Africa to see cheetah, with an estimated 225 in the Serengeti. They share the plains with one of the continent’s largest lion populations.

The rhinos. Rhinos are another flagship species of the ecosystem. Sightings are never guaranteed, but the Maasai Mara National Reserve has around 50 black rhinos, up from just 11 in 1984, and Grumeti reintroduced nine eastern black rhinos in 2019.

East Africa also pairs beautifully with Kenya’s Laikipia and coast, Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater, or a few barefoot days on Zanzibar.

EXPLORE OUR KENYA AND TANZANIA SAFARIS…

SOUTH AFRICA: WHERE THE SAFARI MEETS THE SEA

South Africa is unique in this comparison. It offers a very easy safari itinerary that connects seamlessly with time by the ocean in Cape Town, or in the Cape Winelands. East Africa can also be combined with the Cape, but the logistics are more involved. Botswana, by contrast, is a single direct flight from Cape Town or Johannesburg to Maun, just like the Kruger region, South Africa’s main safari area.

For first-time safari-goers who want to test the waters while still enjoying a well-rounded holiday, with a stay in Cape Town and perhaps Franschhoek (South Africa’s food and wine capital), South Africa is a sure bet. It ticks many boxes, and we often suggest it when the budget is a little tighter. The savings come from favourable exchange rates with the South African rand, simpler logistics, and fewer border crossings into neighbouring Zimbabwe, Zambia or Botswana.

When planning Kruger safaris, we focus on the private reserves that share unfenced boundaries with Kruger National Park, such as the Sabi Sand, Timbavati, Thornybush and Klaserie. The wildlife in these reserves is extremely strong, and if ticking off species is your drawcard, they’re superb. It’s quite possible to see the Big Five in a morning and still be back in time for brunch. That makes the Greater Kruger a wonderful first safari. Repeat safari-goers, on the other hand, tend to look for a deeper experience with mature, knowledgeable guides, and we choose camps accordingly.

South Africa is also a strong contender for families with young children, thanks to several excellent malaria-free safari destinations. Madikwe Game Reserve in the North West Province and Marataba, in the Waterberg’s Marakele National Park, both offer outstanding malaria-free luxury lodges within easy reach of Johannesburg. Further south, the Eastern Cape’s Shamwari, Lalibela and Samara are all fantastic malaria-free options, and easy to combine with the Garden Route.

SAFARI GURU JESS RECENTLY WENT EXPLORING THE EASTERN CAPE. LEARN MORE…

For Australian, American and European travellers, South Africa is easy to reach, with international flights into both Johannesburg and Cape Town, including direct flights from Sydney and Perth to Johannesburg. Using South Africa as a hub often means an overnight stop before connecting onward to safari destinations further afield.

DISCOVER OUR SOUTH AFRICA SAFARIS…

A WORD ON ZAMBIA AND ZIMBABWE

As promised, a few tidbits.

Zambia is the birthplace of the walking safari, and South Luangwa remains one of the finest places in Africa to explore on foot. It’s raw, authentic and wonderfully uncrowded. At this time, Australians don’t need a visa to enter Zambia, which makes it even easier to add on.

Zimbabwe offers Mana Pools, where you can canoe the Zambezi and walk among elephants on the floodplains; Hwange, with its big dry-season elephant herds; and, of course, Victoria Falls.

Both pair beautifully with Botswana. A fair warning from yours truly, though: this is tsetse country. Pack long sleeves in neutral colours, and avoid dark blue and black, which tsetse flies love.

EXPLORE ZAMBIA AND ZIMBABWE…

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT SAFARI: BOTSWANA VS KENYA VS TANZANIA VS SOUTH AFRICA

First and foremost, it’s about what resonates with you.

• Do you want to tick off as many species as possible on what might be your one and only safari?
• Do you long for a slower-paced, relaxed safari with luxury amenities and polished service?
• Would you like to add Victoria Falls to the journey, or perhaps some beach time with the children?
• Would you like to save some money and get more value from a green season safari?
• Do you dream of visiting multiple safari destinations in one extended journey?

At a glance:

If you want…	Consider
Exclusivity, water-based safaris and few vehicles	Botswana
The Great Migration and vast open plains	Tanzania and Kenya (Serengeti–Mara)
An easy first safari, with Cape Town and the Winelands	South Africa
Malaria-free options for young families	South Africa (Madikwe, Marataba, Eastern Cape)
Walking safaris and a raw, wild feel	Zambia and Zimbabwe
Gorillas as part of the journey	Rwanda, combined with any of the above

QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD BE ASKING YOURSELF

Which safari destination is best for a first-time safari?
South Africa’s Greater Kruger is often the easiest introduction: excellent Big Five viewing, simple logistics and an easy link to Cape Town. If your budget allows, Botswana or the Serengeti–Mara can make an unforgettable first safari too. It depends on what you most want to see and feel.

Is Botswana worth the higher price?
For many travellers, yes. Botswana’s high-value, low-volume model means private concessions, small camps and very few vehicles at sightings. You’re paying for space, silence and time with wildlife, not just a beautiful room.

When is the best time to see the Great Migration?
The Migration is a year-round cycle rather than a single event. Calving on the southern Serengeti plains usually peaks between late January and March, the western corridor typically sees the herds around June and July, and the Mara River crossings generally run from about July to October. The exact timing shifts with the rains each year.

Which safari is best for families with young children?
South Africa’s malaria-free reserves, such as Madikwe, Marataba, Shamwari and Samara, are ideal for younger children. Many camps elsewhere in Africa also welcome families with dedicated children’s programmes, though some have minimum age limits.

Is it better to book a safari camp directly or through a specialist?
A camp or operator can tell you everything about its own properties. A specialist cuts through the marketing blurb and tells you whether they’re the right properties for you, compared with every other option. With Safari Guru, you won’t pay more to use our services, and you gain someone who knows the camps first-hand and is there for you throughout your journey.

How many safari camps should I include in one itinerary?
Usually two or three camps on a 7–10 night safari, with at least three nights at each. That’s enough time for a camp and its guides to properly reveal themselves, without spending your safari in transit.

Can a bespoke safari cost less than a package?
Often, yes. Because we look across many operators, we can find long-stay offers, seasonal specials, green season value and camp combinations that a fixed package can’t. The goal isn’t the cheapest trip. It’s the greatest value for your budget.

What should I consider besides the lodge itself?
The location, the season, the guiding, vehicle numbers, the activities on offer (walking, boating, night drives), transfer times and how each camp fits the flow of your trip. A beautiful lodge in the wrong place at the wrong time of year is still the wrong choice.

Is it worth combining more than one safari country?
If you have 10 days or more, very often, yes. Pairing contrasting destinations, such as the Okavango Delta with Rwanda’s gorillas or Kenya with Zanzibar, gives you a much richer journey. The key is designing the route so the logistics feel effortless.

THE SAFARI GURU WAY: DESIGNED AROUND YOU

The questions are almost endless, and that’s exactly where Safari Guru comes in.

A safari operator will tell you, often brilliantly, all about its own camps. That’s its job. Our job begins where a single operator’s story ends. We’re not tied to one safari brand, one region or one country, so we can compare Botswana with Kenya, one concession with another, and one operator’s camp with the next, then recommend the combination that suits you.

We sift through each traveller’s wish list, their subtle preferences and their absolute no’s — such as chicken sausages and eggs on the same breakfast platter — and design a journey intended for them alone. We know which guides let a sighting breathe and which camps keep the radios discreet. We know when the water is high in the Delta, when the herds are in the western corridor, and which lodge chef will happily adjust the breakfast menu before you arrive.

That knowledge comes from years of managing camps, and from continuing to travel, inspect and host safaris across the continent. And it all comes at no extra cost to you.

One advisor, every operator. If you’re dreaming of Africa, your journey has already begun.

Read more about How We Design and Plan an African Safari That Feels Like Yours, or contact us to start planning yours.

About the author: Deon De Villiers is Safari Guru’s founder and an African safari specialist, with 15 years’ experience operating and managing safari camps in Botswana and South Africa, including Mombo and Little Mombo in the Okavango Delta. He now designs bespoke African journeys for travellers worldwide.