And you can go on a Kruger tour for a week or more for only $70 per day and less. Here's how...
The Cost Breakdown - Spend No More Than $70 Per Day on a Kruger Tour
Self guided safaris really are the most affordable way to go on an African wildlife trip and you can save literally hundreds of dollars a day by doing it yourself and it has other advantages apart from great affordability:
- Independence - You can do your own thing where as with a guided tour you just go along for the ride and don't have much control over what is happening.
- You learn more - Because you don't have a guide to spoonfeed you information, you will have to find things out for yourself. These guidelines are a great way to start the learning process.
- Interact with the locals - A guided safari often has the effect of insulating you in a self-contained cocoon of luxury that separates you from the local populace but on a self guide you can choose to interact more with the locals if you want.
On a guided kruger tour you really get spoiled and your every whim is catered to. You get waited on hand and foot and all you have to do is turn up, eat, sleep and enjoy the wildlife.
Also, because the safari guide knows the area intimately he will know which areas will provide the best likelihood of spotting the animals you want to see. But in this guide I show you how to find wildlife in the Kruger Park as effectively as a safari guide so you are likely to see just as much on a self guided tour if you follow the guidelines.
So the question you need to ask yourself is whether you want to pay hundreds of dollars more every day for the luxuries of having everything served to you on a silver platter.
If the answer is yes, contact me here and I will let you know who the top safari operators are for a Kruger tour.
I live in the area so I have access to most of the safari companies and the trip reports that I receive at the African Safari Journals website gives me inside and unbiased information into what their service is really like.
If you want to save money and still enjoy an incredible wildlife experience with some more work on your part and less luxuries here's exactly what it will cost you...
The costs are based on a Kruger tour six night self guided camping safari for two people sharing (you drive yourself, do the cooking, washing etc., just like any other holiday) but exclude the cost of flights to get to the Kruger National Park.
Most guided safari packages exclude flights and will still cost you from $150 to $600 per day.
I cover how to get the cheapest flights to Africa in the next installment of this series.
I've listed all the costs here in the local South African currency (Rand) to enable you to calculate the cost with the current exchange rate.
In this example I used an exchange of $1 = R7 (2007 average).
Please note that these are the prices at the time of writing (Nov 2007) but that they can change at any time so this cost estimation might not be exactly accurate when you read this but it will be in the ballpark.
(I make every effort to keep them up to date.)
- Camping accommodation for 2 people = R120 pd
- Food and drink for two people = R195 pd
- Car hire = R230 pd
- Camping equipment hire = R70 pd (or bring your own)
- Fuel = R116 pd (R7 per litre for 200km per day/ 12km to a litre)
- Conservation fee = R264 pd for two adults. (Get the Wild Card if you are visiting for more than six nights and save)
- Total in US$ for two people sharing (for 6 days) = $853
- Total in US$ per person (for 6 days) = $426.50
- Daily Total in US$ per person= $71.08
Just use the information above to do the math and work out how much different lengths of stay will cost you.
Or The Daily Conservation Fee - The Longer You Stay the Less You Pay
The daily conservation fee is a standard tariff that all visitors must pay on admittance to the Kruger National Park.
This is standard practice in most of the national parks in Africa including the Masai Mara and Serengeti and the management use the money to run the parks efficiently.
But this tariff really does increase the overall cost of your safari and currently (2007/08) the daily rate for foreign nationals is R132,00 (approximately US$20) per adult and R66,00 (approximately $10) per child under 12 per day.
Fortunately, I know a way to minimise this cost if you are going to be on a Kruger tour for more than six nights. It's called the Wild Card and it works like this...
Instead of paying the daily conservation fee for every day you spend in the park you can purchase what's called an "all clusters" Wild Card which effectively means you are free from paying the fee after the six nights that you need to spend in the park to qualify for this card.
If you want to go for less than six nights then you simply pay the normal R132 daily fee.
But it really starts to save you money if you stay longer than six nights because if you have the card the fee drops away completely. That's why the longer you stay the less you pay per day.
The Wild Card costs (year 2007/08) R840 for an individual, R1475 for a couple (any two persons) and R1990 for a family. Divide those Rand amounts by the current exchange rate to get the US Dollar or Pound rate.
The card also gives you free entrance to over 80 other parks in South Africa and Swaziland, including the Addo Elephant and the Kgalagadi National Parks.
Just remember that it is only valid for a year. You can order a Wild Card online too. While you are there take a look at all the cashback rewards you can get with over 2000 merchants, because it functions as a smartcard also.
I haven't really made use of those rewards but the savings that the card gives me on a Kruger tour and the free entry to all those other parks more than justifies the cost.
And talking about cost, now that you know how to shave more than $20 off the daily price of your safari if you stay for more than six nights.
NEXT: How to spot the most wildlife on your Kruger tour...
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