Things worth doing
Game drives are the core of every safari. Add balloon flights, walking safaris, cultural visits and more — here is where each one is available.
Game drives
All year · Half or full dayThe core of every safari — a private 4×4, a roof that opens, and a guide who knows…
Hot-air balloon safari
June to March · About 1 hour aloftLaunch before dawn, drift low over the plains as the light comes up, and land to a bush…
Walking safari
June to October · Two to four hoursOn foot with an armed ranger, learning to read a landscape rather than drive through it.
Night game drive
All year · Around two hoursA spotlight, a different cast of animals, and the parks where it is actually permitted.
Time with a Maasai community
All year · Half dayA visit arranged directly with the family, on their terms, not a roadside performance.
Hadzabe and Datoga visit
All year · Half day, very early startOne of the last hunter-gatherer peoples in Africa, near Lake Eyasi.
Bush breakfast and sundowners
All year · Add to any dayBreakfast laid out under an acacia, or a drink on a kopje while the light goes.
Chimpanzee trekking
May to October · Half day, strenuousTracking a habituated chimpanzee community on foot in the Mahale Mountains.
Boat safari
June to October · Two to three hoursGame viewing at water level on the Rufiji — hippo, crocodile and elephant crossing in front of you.
Diving and snorkelling
June to March · Half or full dayReef, turtles and the atoll off Zanzibar’s north-east coast.
Climbing Kilimanjaro
Jan–Mar, Jun–Oct · Five to nine daysAfrica’s highest point, on foot, with the route choice that actually determines whether you get there.
Coffee farm and waterfall
All year · Half dayThe Chagga farms on the slopes of Kilimanjaro — picking, roasting, and a waterfall to walk to.
Most of these can be slotted into any itinerary.
Tell us which ones matter and we will build the days around them — some need booking months ahead, others need only a word to the camp the night before.