Safari Cost Guide 2027: Real Prices Per Day

01

Where a safari budget is won or lost

You want one number for the whole trip. Before you get it, here’s where the money actually moves.

The fare$161–$2,483/dayPer person, sharing, before international flights, on the named trips we priced.

The biggest swingComfort levelA tent and a shared truck versus a private camp. The country matters less.

Park fees$42–$200/dayKruger at the low end, the Mara July to December at the top. Often in the fare.

Tips$10–$35/dayPer person, from G Adventures’ and Asilia’s guidance. Micato includes them.

Bush flights20 kg, soft bagsFederal Air’s Johannesburg–Sabi Sabi hop is R8,781 one way, about $530.

Pay by56–120 days outAfrica trips collect the balance earlier than most tours.

02

Four ways to pay for the same savanna

You’re choosing a comfort level more than a country. The gap between a tent and a private camp is bigger than the gap between Kenya and Botswana.

~$160–$370a day, on the trips we priced

Overland and camping safaris

Shared trucks or 4x4s, tents, long road days and a hand with camp chores (G Adventures calls it participation camping). The cheapest way to see the big parks.

Contiki Kruger & Eswatini Safari: 7 days, $1,125 (November 2026)
Intrepid Zanzibar to Nairobi: 12 days from $2,040, mostly two-person dome tents, up to 22 travelers
G Adventures Uganda Overland: 9 days, $3,299 with an $800 gorilla permit inside
Look elsewhere if a tent most nights is a dealbreaker

Fares per person sharing, before international flights, from each operator’s own page in October 2026; Intrepid, Wilderness and Micato don’t state the year. One Tanzania safari company’s 2026 guide frames it the same way: about $180–$400 a day on budget group trips, $400–$800 mid-range, $800–$1,500 luxury and $1,500–$3,000-plus beyond.

03

Fourteen real trips, divided by their days

Per day is the only fair way to compare a 7-day trip with a 15-day one. Here’s the whole range.

From-price per person, per day, before international flights

Contiki Kruger & Eswatini Safari, 7 days~$161

Intrepid Zanzibar to Nairobi, 12 days (camping)~$170

G Adventures Uganda Overland, 9 days (gorilla permit in)~$367

Trafalgar Best of South Africa, 15 days~$373

G Adventures Serengeti Safari Adventure, 11 days~$454

Cosmos On Safari in Kenya & Tanzania, 11 days~$540

Globus Kenya & Tanzania Safari Expedition, 13 days~$657

A&K Kenya and Tanzania Safari Adventure, 12 days~$1,166

Tauck Kenya & Tanzania: A Classic Safari, 13 days~$1,345

A&K Ultimate Botswana Safari, 10 days~$1,390

Tauck Great Migration, 10 days~$1,649

Wilderness Floodplains & Predators, 6 nights~$1,868

Micato Heart of Kenya & Tanzania, 12 days~$2,083

Micato Botswana’s Timeless Wilderness, 12 days~$2,483

Fare divided by days, from each operator’s own page. Tauck’s fares include flights within the trip; Micato’s include park fees and tips; Wilderness counts nights, not days. G Adventures’ Uganda price is the regular fare; its December 2026 sale took it to about $275.

Read the bars as a starting line, not a finish. A cheap fare that leaves out tips, fees and flights can close a lot of the gap.

At Micato, for example, about $2,083 a day already includes every tip and the park fees. On a $540-a-day group trip you’ll still add tips, and maybe more.

04

The lines the fare leaves out

Your quote has an exclusions list. These are the lines on it that change the total most.

Extra	What it costs	Usually in the fare?
Park and conservation fees	Mara $200/day Jul–Dec, $100 Jan–Jun; Serengeti ~$82.60 per 24 h (high season, with VAT); Ngorongoro ~$70.80 plus $295 per vehicle into the crater; Amboseli $90; Kruger R692 (~$42) from Nov 1, 2026	Often on group tours; check
Private conservancies	Mara conservancies about $80–$120 a night	Ask the camp
Bush flights	Federal Air Johannesburg–Sabi Sabi R8,781 one way; Serengeti hops about $200–$500 one way	In Tauck and Cosmos fares; ask others
Bag limits	20 kg soft bags at Federal Air and Mack Air (Mack’s includes hand luggage); Tauck charges $230 per extra bag Kasane–Maun	Overweight fees
Guide, driver and camp tips	Asilia: guide $10–$20 + camp $5–$15 per guest per day; Rhino Africa: guide ~$25 + tracker ~$20 per couple per day	Only Micato includes them all
Visas (US citizens)	Tanzania $100; Kenya eTA from $30; East Africa Tourist Visa $100; Zimbabwe $30; none for South Africa, Botswana or Zambia on short stays	Extra
Zanzibar insurance	Mandatory local cover: $44 adult, $22 child	Extra
Travel insurance	Varies by policy; see our insurance pages	Extra
International flights	Your city, your season; we price them with the tour	Extra

Park fees: TANAPA’s schedule and Tanzania safari companies; Narok County via Kenyan press; KWS via its October 2025 notice; SANParks via ATTA. Kenya gazetted mandatory visitor health insurance in July 2026, then a court suspended it in August; ask us for the current status before you fly. Botswana is reviewing its park fees, so treat any figure there as a range.

05

Add it all up

Load a real safari, switch between sharing and solo, and overwrite any starting figure with yours.

All-in safari budget

Your safari, every line added

Load a real trip or type your own quote. The fare is the operator’s; tips, fees and extras are starting estimates you should change.

Start from a real trip

Fare, per person

Days

Travelers

Single supplement (solo only)

Tips, per person per day (Asilia: $15–35)

Park fees not in the fare (total)

Bush flights not in the fare

International flights, per person

Visas, per person

Travel insurance, per person

Extension: Zanzibar, Victoria Falls, Cape Town

Extra hotel nights and meals

Cosmos’s fare for June 19, 2027, including flights within the trip. Tips are our starting estimate from Asilia’s ranges.

Fares are per person, sharing, from each operator’s own page in October 2026. Many group fares include park fees and flights within the trip (Tauck’s and Cosmos’s include the flights); add either only if your quote lists it as extra. Trafalgar’s Victoria Falls version of Best of South Africa costs $2,655 more than the standard tour, our extension example.

For flights, use your own fare search; we don’t publish a guess. Insurance: our purchase window guide and Insurance Fit tool help you pick and time it.

06

Traveling solo without paying double

You’re going alone and every price says “per person sharing.” That’s the fine print to read.

Solo safaris cost more mainly because camps price per person sharing. The supplement can be the single biggest extra, so ask first.

The adventure brands soften it. G Adventures charges no single supplement on its Classic Kenya & Tanzania trip if you share with a same-gender roommate, and sells a My Own Room upgrade: from $659 on its seven-day Journeys Tanzania trip and from $119 on the Uganda overland. Intrepid works the same way.

Higher up, it’s a discount, not a waiver. Tauck cut its Africa supplement by up to $600 on select 2026 departures; G Adventures’ Signature trips charge one; Micato doesn’t publish its figure.

Put the supplement in the calculator above before you compare tiers.

Company	Solo rule we found
G Adventures (Classic)	No supplement if you room-share
G Adventures (Signature)	Supplement applies
Intrepid	Room-share, or pay for your own
Tauck	Up to $600 off, select 2026 departures
Micato	Not published; ask

07

The cheaper months, and what they cost you

Flexible on dates? That’s the cheapest lever you have.

Where	Cheaper months	What changes	Peak for wildlife
Masai Mara, Kenya	January–June	Entry halves from $200 to $100 a day	Crossings usually July–October
Tanzania parks	March 15–May 15	Serengeti fee drops to about $70.80 with VAT	Calving Jan–Mar in the south; northern crossings from July
Botswana	About November–April	One seller’s 7-day Chobe & Okavango package: $7,120 green season vs $8,940 May–October	Dry season about May–September
Kruger, South Africa	Green summer	Private reserves offer value rates, a Greater Kruger seller says	Dry winter, June–September
Uganda gorillas	April, May, November	Permit $600 instead of $800, no rescheduling	Drier June–September and December–February

Cheaper months are cheaper for a reason. They’re wetter, roads get muddier, and the migration may be in the other country.

February shows how the two calendars cross. Calving in the southern Serengeti falls in Tanzania’s high-fee period, while the Mara sits in its cheap half of the year with the herds still in Tanzania. Pick the month for the animals, then check what it does to the bill.

08

Beaches, waterfalls and gorillas: the add-ons

Most people tack something on. Price it as part of the trip, because it usually is.

What an add-on costs, per person, on real trips

Rwanda gorilla permit (one trek)$1,500

Trafalgar: Victoria Falls version of Best of South Africa+$2,655

Globus: Zanzibar version of Tanzania, the Serengeti & Beyond (reseller)+$1,757

Uganda gorilla permit (one trek)$800

Zanzibar mandatory insurance$44

Trafalgar: $8,250 versus $5,595 on its own page. Globus: $8,801 for 12 days versus $7,044 for 9, as listed by a US reseller. Permits: RDB and UWA. Zanzibar insurance: State Department.

The cleanest way to price an extension is the operator’s own “with” version of the same trip. Trafalgar’s Victoria Falls version adds $2,655; Globus’s Zanzibar version adds about $1,757 for three more days.

Some trips build the beach in. Tauck’s Mountain Gorilla Safari spends two nights in Stone Town, its Botswana trip ends with three nights at One&Only Cape Town, and Roam by Tauck’s South Africa & Mozambique trip ($14,990, 10 days) finishes on Benguerra Island.

Arriving by sea? Our Cape Town cruise port guide covers the city end. For the gorilla half, see gorilla trekking in Rwanda and Uganda.

09

How to spend less without wrecking the trip

Every safari has a cheaper version. The trick is cutting what you won’t miss.

10

When the money is due

The total matters. So does the calendar, because Africa trips want the balance sooner.

Company	Deposit	Final payment
Micato	30% of the fare	120 days out
Tauck	$600	90 days out
Globus and Cosmos	$250 ($500 with Botswana; +$800 for a gorilla permit)	90 days out on Africa trips
Collette	$349	90 days out
G Adventures	$350 ($750 Signature)	60 days (90 Signature)
Intrepid	$400	56 days out
Uganda gorilla permits	Full payment to hold	At booking, since March 2026

Safari balances come due early. Plan for the balance three to four months before you fly, and check your insurance’s purchase window from the day you pay the deposit. Our how far ahead to book guide covers the windows.

11

Which tier is yours?

You know your budget and your limits. Let the tier follow from them.

Matcher

Find your safari tier

Four taps. We match your budget, bed, transport and vehicle against the four tiers on this page.

Budget per person per day, before flights

Where you’ll happily sleep

How you’d rather get between parks

Who’s in your vehicle

Go ahead if

You’ve priced the whole trip, not just the fare
Your month matches the animals you want to see
You know what’s in the fare: park fees, flights, tips
You’re solo and found a room-share or a reduced supplement
You can pay the balance three or four months out

Pause if

The cheapest fare spends most days on the road
You picked the cheap month without checking where the animals are
You’re comparing a tips-included price with a tips-extra one at face value
The supplement would double your cost and no room-share exists
Your insurance won’t cover the country at its current advisory level

Our take

Safari prices look chaotic until you sort them by comfort level. Then they line up: roughly $160 to $370 a day camping, $370 to $770 in group lodges, $1,150 to $1,650 in small-group camps, and more for private fly-in.

Pick the tier, then the month, then the company. That order saves more money than any discount code.

And price the whole trip before you compare. A fare that includes tips and park fees can beat a cheaper one that doesn’t.

12

Where to go from here: pick your country

Start hereAfrican safaris: where and whenCountry by country, season by season.Read the guide →CountryTanzania safarisSerengeti, the crater and the migration.Read the guide →CountryKenya safarisReserve or conservancy, and when to go.Read the guide →CountrySouth Africa safarisKruger, private reserves and Cape Town.Read the guide →CountryBotswana safarisThe delta, fly-in camps and the dry season.Read the guide →PrimatesGorilla trekkingRwanda or Uganda, permits and fitness.Read the guide →CompaniesSafari companies comparedSixteen sellers on their own terms.Read the guide →OperatorAbercrombie & KentThe safari name with its own camps.Read the guide →

Free · No obligation

Want your safari priced all-in?

Tell us your month, your budget and who’s going. We’ll price two or three real trips with every extra added, from park fees to the Zanzibar nights, so you can compare like with like.

Get a free quote Book a free 30-minute call

No fee to compare operatorsMost tour companies pay our commission; we’ll tell you if yours doesn’tReply within one business day

13

What safari planners ask us about money

How much does an African safari cost per day?

On the guided trips we priced for 2026–27, from about $161 a day (Contiki’s Kruger & Eswatini Safari) to about $2,083 a day (Micato’s Heart of Kenya & Tanzania), per person, sharing a room, before international flights. Mid-range group trips from Trafalgar, G Adventures, Cosmos and Globus ran roughly $373 to $769 a day.

What’s usually not included in a safari price?

International flights almost always. Beyond that it varies by company: guide and driver tips, park fees on some trips, bush flights on some, visas, travel insurance, and extensions such as Zanzibar or Victoria Falls. Micato includes park fees and all tips; Wilderness includes park and concession fees but not tips. Ask for the exclusions in writing.

How much should I tip on safari?

Asilia, a camp company, suggests $10 to $20 per guest per day for your guide and $5 to $15 for the camp staff tip box. Rhino Africa suggests about $25 per couple per day for the guide and $20 for the tracker. On G Adventures’ Classic Kenya and Tanzania trip, it’s about $5 a day each for the CEO and driver. Micato includes every tip.

How much are safari park fees?

Examples per adult: Masai Mara $200 a day July to December and $100 January to June; Serengeti about $82.60 per 24 hours in high season including VAT; Ngorongoro about $70.80 plus $295 per vehicle to drive into the crater; Kenya’s Amboseli $90; Kruger R692 (about $42) from November 1, 2026. Group tours often include them, so check before you add them.

What’s the cheapest month for a safari?

It depends on the country. The Masai Mara’s entry fee halves January to June; Tanzania’s park fees drop from March 15 to May 15; Botswana’s green season, roughly November to April, brings lower prices; Uganda cuts its gorilla permit to $600 in April, May and November. The cheaper months are wetter, and the migration may be elsewhere.

Is there a single supplement on safari?

Often, but not always. G Adventures charges no single supplement on its Classic Kenya and Tanzania trip if you share with a same-gender roommate, and sells a My Own Room upgrade on some trips (from $659 on its seven-day Journeys Tanzania trip). Intrepid works the same way. Tauck cut its Africa supplement by up to $600 on select 2026 departures.

How far ahead do I pay for a safari?

Earlier than most tours. Micato takes 30% at booking and the balance 120 days out. Tauck, Globus, Cosmos and Collette take final payment 90 days out on Africa trips. G Adventures’ Classic trips run 60 days and Intrepid 56. Uganda now holds gorilla permits only once they’re paid in full.

Sources · 49 links · checked October 2026

From $161 to $2,083 a day: where safari money goes