We’ve heard the same handful of lines about safaris for years, repeated so often they get treated as fact. Some have a grain of truth in them. Others are simply wrong. Since we spend the whole year in these parks, here’s what’s actually behind each one.
It’s true that wildlife tolerates a vehicle better than it would a person on foot. That doesn’t mean their space can be invaded without consequences. Parks set minimum distances for a reason, and an experienced guide knows how to read an animal’s behaviour and when to back off. Getting too close isn’t just disrespectful to the animal — with predators or mothers with young, it can genuinely be dangerous.
The mental image is relentless sun all day, but the reality has more range to it. Early morning game drives, when wildlife is most active, can dip to 10–12°C in some areas and seasons, especially near the Ngorongoro Crater because of the altitude. A light jacket for the first couple of hours is worth packing, even though the heat is real by mid-morning.
The animals live there all year, not just in high season. What actually changes with the season is how easy they are to find, and what else you might witness. The dry season (June to October) concentrates wildlife around water sources, making it easier to spot. But January and February — calving season in the southern Serengeti — bring a completely different kind of spectacle, with far fewer tourists around.
Inside a safari vehicle, wildlife tends to read the whole shape as one large, non-threatening object, rather than as an individual person. That’s why rule number one in any park is staying inside the vehicle except in designated areas. Following that rule, combined with an experienced guide, makes a vehicle-based safari one of the safer ways to be close to wildlife.
That used to be closer to reality years ago, but it’s changed a lot. Today you’ll find everything from simple camps to lodges with electricity, hot showers, comfortable beds and, in many cases, decent connectivity. The key is choosing well — not every property is the same, and that’s where the difference between a rushed booking and a properly planned itinerary really shows.
This is probably the idea that quietly costs people the most without them realising it. A shared safari with strangers on a fixed itinerary has little in common with a private one, with a dedicated guide and a pace built around you. The real difference isn’t always in the final price — it’s in what’s actually included. We go into this in more detail in our guide to private safaris in Tanzania.
It’s actually the opposite: lions sleep or rest for 16 to 20 hours a day, so they’re usually quite visible, stretched out in the shade of a tree or on a rock. The hard part isn’t finding them, it’s catching them active — which is why dawn and dusk game drives, when they hunt and move more, are the most sought-after.
The best properties — especially the smaller, more characterful ones — get booked out months ahead, particularly in high season. Arriving with nothing planned doesn’t mean you won’t get a safari, but it likely means missing out on the best options. On top of that, there are things worth sorting before you fly: your visa, health insurance, and, if Zanzibar is part of the trip, the mandatory health insurance requirement there.
If these eight myths have one thing in common, it’s the same underlying idea: that a safari is a generic product, the same however you book it. It isn’t. And that’s probably the best reason to be careful about who you plan it with.
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