Package Safari or Tailored Itinerary? An Honest Comparison
Right, let's address the elephant in the room (or rather, the elephant you'll be stuck with for longer than you’d like because one of your fellow travellers hasn’t quite got the right photo yet).
I get asked this question a lot: "Should I book a package safari or go bespoke?" And whilst I could give you the expected answer—that custom safari itineraries are always superior because that's literally what I sell—as always I'm going to be straight with you.
Sometimes package tours make perfect sense.
But for most people reading this? Especially if you're considering a luxury African safari, celebrating something special, or have specific ideas about your perfect trip? Package tours are a bit like those "one size fits all" ponchos you get at festivals (or Victoria Falls). Technically functional, but nobody looks good in them.
What Actually Is a Package Safari? (And Why They Exist)
Package safaris—or ‘group set departures’ as they're sometimes called—are pre-planned itineraries with fixed dates, set accommodation, and a "here's what everyone's doing" approach. You'll see them plastered all over the internet: "10 Days Classic Kenya & Tanzania – from* £3,500" or "Botswana Adventure - Guaranteed Departures!" (*pay close attention to that ‘from’…)
They exist for a reason. Larger tour operators can negotiate better rates for bulk bookings, fill vehicles efficiently, and offer lower prices by essentially running a safari bus service. For some travellers (solo adventurers on a budget, first-timers wanting to meet people, younger adventurers used to communal living), they're brilliant.
For my typical client—usually couples planning a significant trip, honeymooners, families wanting flexibility, or anyone who values their holiday time too much to compromise? Not so much.
The Problems with Off-the-Shelf Safari Packages
Let me walk you through what actually happens on a package tour, based on stories from clients who've done both:
1. You're Married to Someone Else's Schedule
Fancy extending your stay at that stunning camp in the Okavango Delta because you've just seen wild dogs for the first time in your life and you're buzzing? Tough luck—the minibus leaves Tuesday morning because your next stop is fixed.
Want to skip the obligatory stop at the "craft village" (tourist trap) where the same mass-produced wooden giraffes cost three times what they should? Not happening. The tour operator gets commission, so everyone's going.
This is the bit that makes all the difference when planning bespoke safari itineraries for clients. Africa's wildlife doesn't run on a schedule. If there's a leopard kill nearby, you want the flexibility to stay an extra hour (or day), not to be herded back onto a vehicle because the group needs to reach the next lodge by 4pm for sundowners.
📸: Space is the greatest luxury on a private safari. San Camp, Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana
2. "Luxury" Means "Largest" (Not Best)
Here's what tour operators don't advertise: that "luxury lodge" in the brochure? It's usually the biggest, most commercial property that offered them the best commission rate. I know this because I've stayed at these places during my lodge site visits across Africa. Sometimes they are outdated relics of a previous age where bigger was considered better.
They're not terrible. They're often perfectly fine. Clean rooms, decent food, professional staff. But they're rarely the intimate, conservation-focused, genuinely exceptional camps I'd recommend for a personalised safari experience.
When I'm creating tailored Botswana safaris or custom Kenya itineraries, I'm choosing properties I'd happily stay at myself (and have). Places where the guides are extraordinary, not just adequate. Where the conservation work is meaningful, not performative. Where you might be one of ten guests, not sixty.
3. Your Fellow Passengers Are a Lottery
Look, I'm sure Gerald and Maureen are perfectly lovely people. But do you really want to spend eight hours a day in a vehicle with them for a week?
On a tailored safari, you have the option of a private vehicle. If you want to sit in comfortable silence watching a elephant herd, you can. If you want to ask your guide 47 questions about dung beetles, crack on. If you need to stop for a toilet break (no judgment—why shouldn’t you enjoy a beer on your evening game drive?), nobody's giving you the side-eye. If you would prefer to change vehicle (because every now and again you might not adore your fellow guests) a good lodge will move heaven and earth to accommodate you.
On a package tour, you're stuck with whoever else booked. The couple who bicker constantly. The bloke who insists on mansplaining every animal sighting to the professional guide. The photographer who makes everyone wait whilst he gets "just one more shot" of the same impala we've seen 600 times.
4. Zero Flexibility for What You Actually Want
Passionate about photography and need specific lighting? Keen birder who'd rather see a rare hornbill than another lion? Celebrating your 30th anniversary and want something genuinely romantic?
Package tours can't accommodate this. Everyone gets the same experience—which means everyone gets a compromised experience.
📸: Add as many experiences as you like! Balloon safari, Masaai Mara, Kenya
What Makes a Bespoke African Safari Different (And Why I'm Slightly Evangelical About It)
When someone contacts me about a tailor-made safari, I start with one crucial question: what do you actually want from this trip?
Not "what does everyone want" or "what's popular"—what do you want?
It's Built Around Your Rhythm (Not a Tour Operator's Logistics)
Early riser who loves dawn game drives when the light's perfect and predators are active? Let's do that every single day. Prefer leisurely mornings with coffee overlooking the river before afternoon adventures? Also fine. Want three nights somewhere to properly settle in rather than the usual two-night hop? Your holiday, your rules.
This is the entire point of privately guided safaris. You're not being moved around like chess pieces on someone else's board.
Every Property Is Personally Vetted (Often Obsessively)
I've walked through the camps I recommend. Met the guides. Tasted the food (important research, obviously). Assessed everything from mattress quality to whether the loo has a view to whether the conservation credentials are genuine or just greenwashing.
When I suggest a lodge for a bespoke Botswana safari or custom Tanzania itinerary, it's because I genuinely believe it's exceptional. Not because they're paying me the highest commission (they're usually not).
📸: Plunge pool or big pool, you choose! Cheetah Plains, Sabi Sands, South Africa.
Exclusive Experiences That Package Tours Can't Touch
Walking safaris with legendary guides who've been in the bush for 30 years. Private photographic hides overlooking waterholes. Helicopter flights over the Okavango Delta. Time with anti-poaching units. Gorilla trekking in Uganda with expert trackers who know every family group.
These experiences exist, but you won't find them in a package brochure. They're arranged through relationships I've built over 28 years of African travel—from my backpacking days sleeping in tents to now planning luxury safari holidays.
📸: Walking safari in Zambia
Logistics That Actually Make Sense
A made-to-measure safari means private transfers, no waiting around for other travellers, and itineraries designed with actual travel time in mind.
I've learned the hard way which routes work and which sound brilliant on paper but involve seven hours on corrugated roads that'll rattle your fillings loose. (Pro tip: that "scenic drive" from Kasane to Maun via Chobe? Only scenic if you enjoy vibrating.)
The Cost Question (Because Obviously)
Right, let's talk about money, because this is usually the deciding factor.
A bespoke safari costs more upfront. Sometimes significantly more. I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
But here's what I tell clients who are weighing up package tours vs tailored safaris: you can't get your holiday time back.
If you've got two weeks in Africa—perhaps your only two weeks in several years—do you want to spend them in a minibus with eight strangers, stopping at overcrowded viewpoints, eating buffet lunches at lodges chosen for operational convenience rather than character?
A tailored African safari costs more because you're paying for:
Accommodations I'd happily stay at myself (and have)
Guides who are genuinely extraordinary (not just trained adequately)
Flexibility to follow wildlife, weather, and your own whims
My 28 years of knowledge about which routes work and which don't
The peace of mind that if something goes wrong, I'm a WhatsApp away and in roughly the same timezone so that if something needs fixing I can expedite it asap
When Package Tours Actually Make Sense
I'm not completely dogmatic about this. There are situations where package safari tours are perfectly sensible:
Solo travellers on a budget: A small-group safari with a reputable operator can be brilliant. You'll meet interesting people, split costs, and have a perfectly good time. If you're under 35 and sociable, you might love it.
Quick business trip add-ons: If you're in Nairobi for work and want to add three days in the Maasai Mara, a short package makes logistical sense.
First-timers who want company: Some people genuinely prefer travelling in groups. If that's you, and you find a small-group tour (6-8 people max) with a good operator, go for it.
But if you're:
Celebrating something special (honeymoon, anniversary, significant birthday)
Travelling as a couple or family
Have dreamed of Africa for years
Value your limited holiday time
Want to see specific things or have particular interests
Would rather eat your own arm than spend a week with strangers
...then don't settle for off-the-shelf. You deserve a custom safari experience designed around your actual interests and travel style.
📸: Private lunch in the middle of the Zambezi River, Zambia
The Bottom Line (From Someone Who's Seen Both Sides)
After six years designing luxury safari holidays professionally—and 22 years before that travelling Africa in every way imaginable—here's what I've learned:
The lodges and camps I use for bespoke safaris aren't typically on the package tour circuit. They're too small, too remote, or too focused on individual experiences rather than group logistics. Which rather proves my point about the difference.
When clients come back from a tailored safari I've planned, they're buzzing. Not just "it was nice"—properly buzzing. They'll spend an hour telling me about the guide who knew every bird call, the night they sat by the fire with just two other guests, the morning they stayed with a leopard for three hours because they could.
That's what you're paying for with a bespoke safari: the ability to have your trip, not someone else's idea of what a safari should be.
Africa is extraordinary. Your safari should be too—not just "fine" or "adequate," but genuinely, unforgettably perfect for you.
And that's something no package tour can deliver, no matter how many discount codes they email you.