Africa has more than 200 national parks to chose from, each of which offers unique experiences, wildlife sightings and landscapes.
A number of factors will influence the park you chose for your safari, and you may even want to combine more than one depending on the length of your trip.
Wildlife
Different parks have different wildife viewing opportunities. Depending on the animals you want to see, you may chose to visit one or more national parks during your adventure.
Landscape
Another important factor is the difference in landscapes that you will encounter at each park. For example the Masai Mara is known for its vast green planes during the rainy seasons, while Amboseli is famous for the views on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain.
Season
It is also important to consider the time of the year when you are traveling. The Masai Mara gets very crowded during the great migration season (June to September) where you may have the chance to witness the migration of zebra and wildebeast. This does not mean however that the other months are not equally as great, if not better due to the less crowded park.
Amboseli is great between January and March, as well as June to October when the season is dry and you have good chances to see Mt. Kilimanjaro.
The dry season is also a great time to visit Tsavo and Samburu, which can offer you a unique safari experience.
Popularity
Some parks are more popular than others, for many reasons. This does not mean that you should rush to book the first park that appears in the popular travel guides. At Tukio we do our best to discover the best destinations and make them accessible to you, while providing the most transparent information we can about them.
Visiting less popular parks will give you the advantage of more authentic experiences as well as the sighting of wildlife that is more pure than the highly frequented parks.
Tsavo East and West, as well as Samburu are a few of our favorites. Less popular parks will give you a more authentic experience where you might get the chance to be the only car at a wildlife spotting, something that will never happen in one of the more crowded parks.
National Park or Conservancy?
Some of our lodges are actually outsed the main national parks and inside conservancies. What this means is that you will also be able to do game drives and other activities without entering the major game park if you do not want to. A lot of conservancies are privately owned and have their own rules. They will often allow for nature walks or night game drives, will have less crowds and may even have way lower park fees than the expensive national parks.
Conservancies are a great alternative to the crowded major parks, and especially in the ones that neighbor them, animal sightings will be the same as there are no fences separating conservancies from the national parks.
Cost
One of the biggest factors that will affect the overall cost of your safari will be the fees that the park on conservancy applies for each visitor. These fees are both the park fees that you pay when you enter the park, but also the fees lodges inside the parks are asked to pay for every guest. These are costs that are entirely dependent on the park, so it is worth considering when choosing your destination.
Starting point
Where you are starting your safari from may also influence your choice. Tsavo East and West are very close to the coast, and will make a great destination if your base is one of the coastal resorts.
