The Pros and Cons of Going on Safari Solo

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Taking a big trip can be overwhelming and it can be especially overwhelming for some people to do it solo. Going on safari definitely qualifies as a big trip, but going solo doesn’t have to be scary or overwhelming! I recently took a 15-day solo trip that spanned Kenya, Tanzania, and Qatar and had a blast so I wanted to share the pros and cons of going on safari solo!

PROS

PRO I think the biggest pro of going on safari solo is that you can do whatever you decide! The day I went and saw the Great Migration, my driver pitched it and said it was going to be a very long drive but it was up to me as to whether or not I wanted to do it. Now I was really tired of long days in the safari vehicle, but knew that seeing the Great Migration was a huge opportunity, so I immediately said yes! Had I been on a shared safari with a group of other people, we’d have all had to agree to make this far trek from Central Serengeti to Western Serengeti. Side note: trust your guide’s suggestions. They do this daily and they have intel from friends (other guides that they chat with on the radio).

PRO You get all the views. If you’re sharing a safari vehicle you’re typically limited to your seat and your window in terms of views. If you go solo and book a private guide and vehicle, you can move around as much as you want and see it all! This was especially important to me as a photographer because I didn’t want to miss a thing!

PRO The next pro is that you don’t end up sharing a vehicle and a dinner table with fussy, grumpy people or small children who aren’t made for long days in a bouncy safari vehicle. (I’m not a parent, but I feel like small children would do great on a fly-and-drive safari where you’re based in a single hotel for a few days and do shorter daily safari drives, but a point-to-point drive may be a bit much for them. You rarely get a chance to get out and stretch your legs, which I feel would be rough on the little ones!)

PRO Hot water wasn’t always super plentiful at the safari lodges I stayed at and since I was traveling solo I didn’t have to fight a roommate for the first shower to ensure it was a hot one. I know that sounds silly, but after long days in the Serengeti I was hot and tired and immediately being able to hop into the shower when I got to my room was a blissful thing!

PRO Fellow travelers were often shocked to find that I was traveling solo, but were always happy to chat. In fact, I had a wonderful experience at the breakfast following my hot air balloon flight where a Hungarian couple who was seated at the same table shared contraband Palinka (a strong Hungarian apple brandy they had brought from home in a water bottle) with me. At like 9 AM. In the middle of the Serengeti. They barely spoke English and I don’t speak a word of Hungarian, but with a little help from Google Translate, we made it work and had a blast. Between the hot air balloon flight and the camaraderie, it’s one of those travel moments that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. So I guess the pro here is that you’re free to chat with people and not locked into the same group you’re traveling with the entire time.

CONS

CON I’ll start with the big one that is an issue for solo travelers almost everywhere: it’s going to be more expensive. If you want to do a private solo safari, you’re going to pay more for the tour. And many of the safari larges have double occupancy pricing, so you’ll pay more for accommodations. For some people (like me), it’s worth it. For others, not so much!

CON If you take a solo safari and it’s just you in the vehicle, you spend A LOT of time with just your guide. You’re together all day in the car and at most lodges, you eat dinner together. I felt like by day four I had run out of things to say. Don’t get me wrong, my guide was wonderful, but for someone like me who is an introvert and typically lives alone, I was all talked out! In a way, I think it could be nice to have other people sharing your safari vehicle to have different people to talk to.

CON Depending on your personality, this could be a pro or a con, but for me, it was a bit of a con. Because groups are pre-arranged and together pretty much all the time, I found it tougher to break into groups. to make small talk at the lodges. Typically groups had their established and didn’t tend to mingle outside their groups. Solo travelers weren’t uncommon on safari, but they typically were mixed in with another group, so for me to be a solo traveler doing a private safari, it wasn’t something people were used to seeing. That being said, once I was able to break the ice, everyone was super friendly and happy to chat, probably even more so because they had a hundred and one questions about doing a solo safari!

CON The last thing I can see as a con for a solo traveler on safari is that you have to pack everything. I feel like if you were traveling with someone you could streamline your packing by sharing certain things (ie. one first aid kit, shared shampoo, etc) which would allow you a little bit more flexibility to pack other things. For me, packing was a particular challenge because I’ll always choose camera gear over clothing and even though I streamlined as much as I could, my bag was still overweight!

Conclusion

If you’re thinking of doing a solo safari, do not hesitate! I had a fabulous time and, hopefully, you’ll find these tips useful to decide whether or not you want to take a private solo safari or share with a group. Your tour operator can help you with both options, so don’t be afraid to ask them!

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