Affordable African Safaris

A safari is nearly always more than you want to spend. Faced with this reality, sometimes you may decide to increase your budget but that may not be possible. Here are some of our more affordable safaris and less expensive safari lodges and camps…

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Overview

What on earth do we mean by “Affordable African Safaris”? Elsewhere we’ve talked about how a safari is often more than you want to spend. And that's true. So on this page, we focus on lodges and areas which are on the affordable side of this spectrum.

PRO TIP: Make sure you budget considerably more for your nights on safari within a trip. You may want to economize in other ways - See our page on Africa Safari Pricing for some rough per night prices - in order to know what to budget for good private game reserves.

Below are some of our more affordable African safaris and less expensive game lodges and camps.

These tend to be - though not exclusively - in South Africa or Namibia, Here the Rand is relatively weak versus the world currencies giving you better value for your money. Also our sample South Africa safari tours usually include non-safari areas such as Cape Town or the Garden Route. This naturally brings down the overall cost.

(Plus you can easily opt to self-drive in the Cape which brings down the cost still more.)

What do you get at OUR affordable game lodges?

In this world of online travel sites, it’s easy to get confused as to why a game lodge is comparatively inexpensive. All game reserves are NOT created equal. So if a game lodge seems very reasonable, you need to ask why? When choosing an affordable African safari, we steer clear of the lesser game reserves. (They may say they are Big Five reserves but how many of each species do they really have? And are they free-roaming?)

You are looking for a proper safari and not a zoo experience.

Instead we focus on the affordable game lodges which are in good game-viewing areas. The accommodation will be simpler, the food not so elegant. Yes, the guiding may be a little less refined. But you will be on safari in the same terrain as much more expensive lodges, tracking the same wildlife.

Similarly some of the lesser known game reserves in remote areas offer a fantastic safari experience. That's why you need to talk to the safari experts! (End of small rant.)

As long as you have the correct expectations, these affordable lodges can be every bit as good as their pricier cousins.

Note: Below we highlight affordable game lodges for their area.

We will certainly use Cedarberg again
"All the arrangements worked perfectly – no hiccups at all. We will certainly use Cedarberg again and will recommend the company to others. We were particularly impressed by the fact that the grou ..." - Ms Sandra Clark, UK
Thank you for arranging such an excellent trip!!
"I would like to thank you for arranging such an excellent trip to see the wildflowers in the Cape, and especially for selecting our guide. He was perfect in all respects. He knew where to take us, ..." - Mr Bell
Once more million thanks for organizing and supervising our trip of the lifetime.
"Once more million thanks for organizing and supervising our trip of the lifetime. I am glad with choose to stay in multiple lodges and locations as every one of our five stops was absolutely ..." - Mr & Mrs Yuly
WHAT AN AMAZING SAFARI! An outstanding job!
"WHAT AN AMAZING SAFARI! What an outstanding job you did! From the arrival of the guests to the end of the safari. I’ll speak on my behalf and let the other guests speak for themselv ..." - Mrs Carol Ndungu
Holiday of a lifetime
"Just wanted to write a quick note to say a big thank you for all your help in arranging what was a fantastic trip for the three of us. My dad loved every minute of it. And said it was a holiday of ..." - Jo & Family
 
Find me the best in for
A varied and fantastic holiday that we will never forget
"Milandi interpreted all our needs perfectly and the tailor-made holiday was way beyond our expectations. As a first time visitor to South Africa, we were quite apprehensive about safety, but all th ..." - Mr Andrew Thompson
Your prices better than the bigger companies
"Brian came home with your attractive brochure and we started looking at possibilities. We both thought Cedarberg would be too expensive for us but were pleasantly surprised to find your prices bett ..." - Dale Family, UK
A quite outstanding holiday
"We have just returned from a quite outstanding holiday. Milandi listened to what we wanted and organised it perfectly. The standard of the whole trip was even better than we expected and the itiner ..." - Mr Allan Cole
It was a fabulous holiday
"I have booked through Cedarberg before and this is why I came back, as I was highly satisfied. This time it was a bit more complicated as Peter had less experience with Uganda himself and he had to ..." - Mrs Monika Maintz
Delivered the goods
"Cedarberg took on board what we wanted and delivered the goods!! Accommodation everywhere was fantastic we couldn’t have asked for any more! Preferred safari at madikwe as saw loads more because ..." - Mr Eastwood, UK
 
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Kate Bergh

AFRICAN TRAVEL SPECIALIST

Hi I'm Kate, I'm here to help you plan your ideal holiday experience GET IN TOUCH