Best family safari tours

• Where's the best place for my first safari? For your first time, South Africa is a brilliant place to start. Blessed with a wonderful climate, great food and wine, iconic beaches and good wildlife viewing opportunities, South Africa has it all. With prices at the lower end for a safari and its surrounding private reserves, Kruger National Park offers excellent possibilities to see the Big Five.

• Where do I have the best chance of seeing the Big Five? It should be possible to see the Big Five in many countries that we operate safari tours to – including Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. Our personal favourite has to be Botswana, for its year-round abundance of wildlife in its vast national parks and reserves allowing for a more personal viewing experience without the crowds. Elephants in particular abound here, and Chobe National Park is known for its elephant population. One of the features of our family safari holiday in Botswana is the opportunity to wild camp in the heart of Moremi National Park surrounded by wildlife; it’s a magical experience. You don't have to worry about safety, as our highly experienced crew are on hand day and night looking after us.

• How demanding is a safari? Expect early starts, and some pretty bumpy drives, but the most physically demanding thing you’ll do each day is getting in and out of your custom safari vehicle (stools are provided to give shorter legs a boost!). Learn more about our safari holidays here.

   

  

• Is a safari suitable for young children? Our minimum age is 7+ for these family safari tours – but you may find some younger children struggle with the early starts and long drives that are an integral part of any safari adventure. We build in plenty of downtime in the heat of the day to relax around camp or have a nap. These safari trips are most suitable for pre-teens and teenagers.

• What standard of accommodation do you get on a family safari with Explore? Categorising the accommodation we use on our family safari holidays is not cut and dried. It's very subjective as properties in sub Sahara Africa don’t quite fit the mould of a standard hotel and each lodge or property will have different standards and expectations for facilities. Choices are based on what's available in the places we want to stay and experiences we want to have; we choose our stays to suit the itinerary, not the other way around.

• Do you offer luxury safari tours for families? These are not luxury trips, as our focus is providing a rich wildlife encounter at an affordable price, so expect to stay in mid range lodges, as well as a wide variety of other accommodations such as a house boat, fixed permanent safari tent, cabins, rondavels and even the odd night wild camping (in Botswana). We've answered more questions about your first small-group adventure here.

• Wildlife highlights: elephants, lions, leopards, crocodiles, birdlife
• Minimum age: 7+, but be aware this may be more suited to teenagers. Please read the itinerary carefully to check younger travellers will still have fun!
• When to go: The Botswana winter months run from May to September, these are the best months for wildlife viewing and fall over the Northern Hemisphere's school summer holidays. The wildlife is generally more active in these cooler months and as the rains have long subsided the grass starts to die back allowing better visibility of game.
• Accommodation: There's a mixture of lodges, unforgettable camping and two nights on a houseboat through the Okavango Delta.

• Wildlife highlights: The Big Five: lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, and rhinoceros. Optional whale watching or turtle excursion.
• Minimum age: 7+
• When to go: January and February makes a great escape, but for whale sightings between June and November is best.
• Accommodation: a mixture of comfortable and premium lodges, with two nights in rondavels (traditional thatched huts, but with all the mod cons including showers, toilets, and outdoor swimming pool).

Apart from the convenience of a not having to organise all your safari permits and game drives, a small group gives you plenty of benefits. Explore leaders are not only wildlife experts finely tuned to spotting the animals, but our family leaders are skilled at attuning to the whole groups needs, regardless of age.

We’ll travel as a group, sharing wonderful wildlife encounters with between two to four other families. Our reservations team can even give you rough ages of any other travellers already booked on, so you can make an informed choice about the ages of the other children on your tour and maximise your chances of finding a new best friend! Read our travel guide for single parent family holidays here.

“Joe was the best guide with so much knowledge of African wildlife and also tracking and finding the animals. This trip was great thanks to him. Great driver who took us through the bush and delta and sharing all his knowledge. He was very keen to show us everything and he even found 8 hunting wild dogs. He was great with kids and engaging with them at all times.” – Feefo customer review, from our Family Botswana and Zimbabwe Safari Adventure

What vaccinations might be needed?

We would recommend protection against malaria, hepatitis A, tetanus, typhoid and polio. Consult your travel clinic for full information as there may be more up to date information available from them.

What camera gear is worth bringing on a family trip?

“I'd go for a lens with a zoom up to 300mm - for the occasions when the wildlife is a bit further away, and to capture birds. But you'll actually be surprised at how close you get to the big animals, so you shouldn't often need to zoom in much further. The ideal is a lens with versatility, so you can go wider when the wildlife is up close, and for those breathtaking landscape shots across the plains.

With the bumpy roads and dust, you'll need to make sure you protect your camera gear well. Get a good UV filter for your lens and make sure you've got a good camera bag to store it in while you're travelling, that can keep out the dust. And of course, a good lens wipe!

If a digital SLR camera isn't in your budget right now, don't worry - you'll not miss out by just using your phone! The camera technology in smartphones now is incredible, and with wildlife up close, a phone camera can be just as good as a fancy digital camera. I'd recommend attaching a string to it to go around your neck, or use a good grip, so that you can keep hold of it on the bumpy roads.”

- Helen Pettitt, Digital Content Manager and keen photographer who travelled to Botswana in 2025

How much time is spent in vehicles?

You should be prepared for several hours of driving each day, and you should be prepared for some long travel days between reserves to be able to reach the best areas. Long travel days will always be broken up with rest stops, lunch breaks, or places of interest along the route, but we recommend bringing music or games and a battery pack to keep everyone entertained.