Most safari companies talk as if there's one product — a vehicle, a guide, a checklist of animals. In practice, what actually shapes a trip is two separate decisions stacked on top of each other: the kind of experience you want inside the bush, and the kind of group you're travelling as.

The first — activity type — covers everything from how you physically move through a park (on foot, by 4x4, by boat, in the air, after dark) to what you actually spend the day doing, whether that's chasing the best light for a photograph, slowing down for a spa afternoon, or riding along with a conservation team. The second — traveller type — is about who the itinerary is built around: solo, as a couple, with children, or as a fully private group. Almost every package we run is a combination of one or two from each list, not a single box ticked.