Frequently Asked Questions

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What type of vehicles are used on safari for wildlife viewing?

In southern Africa, as the camps are generally located in private concessions, you will be using open 4x4 Land Rovers almost exclusively during your safari. East Africa operates via covered-top 4x4 Toyota Land Cruisers and many safari camps are starting to use open vehicles. Local conditions in southern Africa are much more suited to open vehicles, while closed vehicles do protect you from the elements during some of the longer drives and road transfers in East Africa.

At most of the camps we use in southern Africa, game viewing camp vehicles normally have three rows of seats, plus seats for the driver and front passenger. Each of the three rows usually has three seats, so in theory the vehicles can seat 11 people including the driver. However, to maximize privacy and comfort the number of guests in a vehicle is usually limited to six guests. We believe that this enhances our clients' safari experience and is ideal for photographers.

All our tailor-made safaris are sold on a 'shared vehicle' basis. However, many of our guests have special interests, be it photography or birding, or perhaps they just want to be on their own so that they can dictate the pace without worrying about the interests of other guests, and will request a private vehicle. Private vehicles and guides can be arranged, at an extra cost. We can only guarantee a private vehicle and guide if this has been booked in advance, as some camps have restrictions on the number of vehicles they can operate by law and we cannot guarantee that the camps will have a spare vehicle and a spare guide available to book on arrival.

If you require a private vehicle, please inform us in advance and we will make the necessary arrangements.

In certain areas, wildlife may also be viewed from boats, mokoros (dugout canoes) or pontoons, via hot-air balloon, microlight, on horseback, elephant-back and camel-back, and even from elevated or sunken hides, depending upon the lodge or camp.