A safari guide should make you feel as though you are slap bang in the middle of a David Attenborough documentary. Whether you are on a honeymoon adventure, a family expedition or a solo trip of self-discovery, safari guides will help you connect with the bush on a deeper level whether that be on foot, on horseback or in a rumbling 4x4. A good guide can make a massive difference to your experience, ensuring you see as much wildlife as possible while teaching you about the wider ecosystem too. They should be your guiding light as well as your encyclopedia, your zoologist and your bird book, and once you’ve been on one guided safari, there is no way you’ll go back.
- First-Timer vs. Seasoned Safari Goer
- Specialist Guiding
- Family Guiding
- Ethical Guiding
- Making a Mountain Out of an Ant Hill
First-Timer vs. Seasoned Safari Goer
Whether it’s your first or tenth time on safari, the experience of venturing out of camp into the cool morning air with an expert guide as the bush's dawn chorus chimes around you, is something you’ll never forget. As you explore together, your guide will point out the animals big and small that call these wonderfully wild landscapes home, from the flash of a lilac breasted roller’s turquoise tail to a sentinel cheetah scanning the grasslands looking for his next meal. Sitting watching a pride of lions as their teens play and cubs feed, while your guide studies the horizon for the trundling white rhino or lone leopard that you are so desperate to see, never gets old.
Image © Olivier Romano
Specialist Guiding
For those wanting to focus their safari experience on a niche interest, such as birding, photography or astronomy, having a dedicated specialist guide is invaluable. Having the right person at your side to provide a literal guiding hand, along with reams of expert advice, can take the experience to another level. When everyone has gone to bed, sit out under the heavens with your telescope and expert guide as shooting stars soar overhead. If stars aren’t your thing, head out on foot and fall into line behind your guide who is studying the ground furiously for animal tracks for you to study or dung for you to inspect. Whether you want to dive into a niche interest or simply take in the incredible animals that surround you, one of our expert guides is sure to make your safari experience utterly unforgettable.
Family Guiding
Safety comes first with children (and, in fact, anyone) on safari and a great guide will ensure parents never have to worry. They will also pack your days full of family-friendly and educational activities like dung identification (yes, really), paw/hoof print tracking and the medicinal properties of the local flora. Ticking off the ‘Lion King’ stars is always a priority as well when on a guided safari. Between game drives, while parents are napping or recovering from the excited squeals they’ve heard all morning, the wildlings will love heading out with a guide, plaster of Paris in hand, to find the very largest lion print to take a cast of. We reckon this is the most unique souvenir you’ll ever come across and is certainly one for show and tell back at school.
Image © Olivier Romano
Ethical Guiding
You wouldn’t be able to head out on a guided safari without animals and birds and the areas of wilderness that they live in. Therefore, the welfare of wildlife and habitats should always be at the fore of a good guide’s mind while out on a game drive. Too many vehicles crowding the animals, tourists littering, and disruptive driving routes should all be avoided, and educating about conservation should occur wherever possible. The very best way of exploring Africa’s wilderness without leaving a trace is on foot or on horseback. Head out with a guide into the bush where you will gain the ultimate insight into ‘life on the ground’. Seek out small-but-mighty dung beetles and busy termites, before tracking a rhino using the age of its dung.
Making a Mountain Out of an Ant Hill
Sometimes big game sightings can be few and far between, but rather than letting guests get frustrated, a good guide can bring the bush to life by focusing on the smaller details – something we salute, naturally. Making a colony of ants sound interesting to those looking for lions and elephants is no mean feat, but passion and knowledge will always shine through. Keep your eyes peeled for the ruby red beaks of little buffalo weavers perched on the stripey behinds of a dazzle of zebras or the toilet-brush-esque tails of a family of baby warthogs hurtling through the undergrowth. Of course, seeing the Big Five is a goosebump-inducing experience, but guided safaris allow you to appreciate that even the very smallest of creatures are just as important as the big ones.
Image © Olivier Romano
Written by Immy Kelly
Header Image © Faustine Poidevin