So How Much
Will A South Africa Self
Drive Safari Cost?
South Africa
is the ideal
country for a self drive safari because many of the game reserves and
national parks were designed specifically with independent safaris in
mind. Hundreds of thousands of people take advantage of this fact
annually.
The road
network countrywide is generally in good condition and because public
transportation is not as well developed here the self driver is well
catered for. The total length of the roads in South Africa is
approximately 752 000 km (467 271 mi) with a large
proportion of that being gravel which is suitable to be driven on by a
normal two wheel drive sedan vehicle. A self drive safari has the
advantage of independence and flexibility that a guided safari lacks
and it's also a very cost effective way of seeing the wildlife that
Africa has to offer. In many instances a guided safari will be double
the price. To help you work out just how much you can actually
save and answer the question of how much a self drive safari will cost
you in the final analysis, I've set up a spreadsheet below (please
be patient, it takes a little while to open) which contains
all the main expenses associated with each particular park and game
reserve in South Africa. The areas covered are the
Kruger, Addo, Mountain Zebra and Kgalagadi National Parks, Pilanesberg,
Hluhluwe-Imfolozi (formerly Umfolozi), Ithala and
Mkhuze game reserves.
South
Africa
Self Drive
Travel Budget Spreadsheet
After 25
years and hundreds of my own South Africa self drive safaris I've
managed to get the budget to within 5% of the actual amount that I
spend every time by using this spreadsheet. So you can calculate your
budget with a great degree of accuracy too. I have listed all the major
costs involved for each wildlife area with the relevant links which you
can click on to find the applicable expense or tariffs for the November
2007 to October 2008 season. Then type that amount in on the
spreadsheet itself where it says "add the total cost
to this block". After completing all the
relevant cost blocks, add the duration of your safari and the total
number of people going to the relevant blocks. The spreadsheet will
then automatically calculate your total self drive safari budget per
person, per day in Rand, US Dollar, Pound and Euro. You can then use this amount
to compare with quotes received from guided safari companies to
determine just how much more cost effective guiding your own safari
really is.
South Africa Distance
Calculator
| Use the distance calculator
on the right to find the distances and approximate travel times from
the main centers in South Africa to the game parks and between the
parks themselves (based on an average travelling speed of
110km/h,
or 68mi/h)... | |
Guide
Your Own Safari
The cost
effectiveness of a South Africa self drive safari is clearly evident
when you do the
budget calculation but you will still need a little guidance to be able
to successfully plan and carry out your own self drive.That's where the Guide
Your Own Safari ebook comes in handy because it's chock full
of 248 pages of local self drive safari knowledge that I've accumulated
over more than 25 years. The guide contains
everything you need to know about
self drive safaris in eleven of the top wildlife areas in Southern
Africa.
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