Safari Accommodations — For all budgets, entrance fees to the parks are the same, and you can expect to have the same sort of game-viewing experience. But what you pay for an organized safari depends on the standard of accommodations and whether you choose to get to the parks by road or air. Generally, accommodations in the parks fall into three categories: top-end luxury tented camps, midrange large lodges, and campsites. Intimate tented camps usually comprise a dozen or so spacious tents under a thatched or wooden roof with their own terrace and sometimes extras such as a private plunge pool or outside shower. Cuisine and service are excellent, and game drives and other activities are all-inclusive. The benefit of these is that you are sleeping in the wild with animals close by, and you’ll have the personal service of knowledgeable guides. The large safari lodges in the parks also offer good service and are mostly in scenic locations, but with a large number of rooms in either hotel-like blocks or individual chalets, they can feel a little impersonal. Nevertheless, they offer reasonable value and have a full range of facilities such as restaurants, bars, and swimming pools. Camping safaris offer the best value but are the least comfortable, with cold showers, primitive toilets, and hard ground to sleep on. But the advantage is sleeping in unfenced campsites where you may hear the roar of a lion at night. Camping safaris usually have a cook who prepares meals over an open fire.
