Family safaris travel guide

Family safaris run as both tailor made and small group trips. A tailor made trip gives you complete freedom to design your itinerary, with expert help from your vacation company in choosing lodges, game drives and other activities that suit you and your children.

Small group family safaris often cost a little less than tailor made and your children will have readymade companions for them to share and learn with. Some small group safaris are semi participatory, too, so older children will be expected to help with the washing up while camping, for example, but this can really enhance the sense of adventure and community – a unique element of a small group trip that may be lacking from a tailor made vacation.

In Namibia and South Africa self drive safaris are popular, letting you explore by car and even go on independent game drives, as you can enter Etosha and Kruger National Parks in your own vehicle. Simply park up by a waterhole and wait for the animals to arrive. It’s an exciting, flexible way to see wildlife with kids, but not for the faint hearted!

Many lodges, particularly in Kenya, cater well for families. They may have family chalets or adjoined tents, so you can all be together. Some will offer a range of low key extras for kids, too, from board games to the option of an early child friendly dinner. Others offer organised activities, from craft workshops to tracking lessons in the bush, and may encourage children to help cook camp meals, providing a really rounded outdoors education. It’s worth finding a lodge with a pool so the kids can let off steam after a game drive. Do check with your vacation company whether they have guides who are trained in working with children and know how to educate and entertain.

Older kids will love a camping safari, either wild camping or staying in simple campsites, and their parents will love the smaller price tag associated with these trips. In a lodge, you only experience the wild landscape while out on game drives or doing activities. When you camp, you’re in that natural environment 24/7, soaking up the sounds, smells and night noises – it’s a thoroughly intense experience. Some camping safaris aren’t advertised as family vacations, but will often have a minimum age of 12, so work for families with older children.

“We try to mix it up so the vacation is not just safari the whole time. We put something a bit more active in. In South Africa particularly, we visit Blyde River Canyon where you can go trekking, kayaking or snorkelling. We go to Kruger, but also other parks for very different wildlife spotting in each and that seems to be something young people respond positively to. The accommodation is also key. Camping works really well. Bush camps are often quite basic with a participation element so the young people are getting involved and taking responsibility for things, helping out, and there’s a nice independent element to it all. That’s also nice for parents to see. Look out for short journey times, too. Journey times in Africa can be long, but we’re conscious of breaking up journey times for family vacations, with more stop offs and not traveling great distances. South Africa is ideal. We visit three really quite different parks in terms of flora and fauna, but all within manageable distances.”

“We don’t have a minimum age for our family safaris because we don’t want to exclude a family group that includes just one very young child. Children aged 8+ can usually enjoy game drives, but then again I went on safari with my children, and my nine year old loved it but my four and 11 year olds were bored after two hours so it’s not straightforward. Know your own kids. If they’ve been lapping up Attenborough documentaries since they were four you’re probably OK.”

Simon Mills, from our supplier Native Escapes, has this advice:
"I think it works well. It means that children can enjoy time at the beach and on other activities after a safari, which can be tiring and a bit restrictive (you can’t venture too far on your own). We have a lot of families who combine a safari with another area of Africa – for instance in Kwa Zulu Natal, with great biking, horse riding and hiking. There are some good beaches there too."