4 reasons to travel with a private safari guide

Travelers can benefit from the services offered by private guides. First, you will have one guide for your entire trip. Moreover, they allow sufficient time for you to see whatever you wish. Third, they can move at your speed. Finally, they contain loads of information.

How is that related to the idea of ‘safari’?

To start, they familiarize themselves with you as a traveler. They will note that there is one person who reaches for his or her binoculars, another who wants to track the road, and even someone who will spend more than an hour sitting and watching a lion.

A certain kind of relationship can add a lot to your overall experience, whether you are travelling with family or friends.

1. One guide throughout

The same guide traveling with your group means that after a few days they know what you have seen so far, what you might like to see, and what has already impressed you. A few days into the journey, they will probably know who wants to stop to make a note of every bird and who is still hoping to see a pack of wild dogs.

In a series of camps or countries, your guide can be a constant in your changing environment, drawing on their knowledge of previous game viewed in other locations and noting items of interest along the way. As you travel from Botswana to Zimbabwe, for example, you will experience a variety of wildlife, routines and terrain.

The conversations continue too. The sighting of a wild animal in Botswana might help explain a sighting or behaviour your group witnesses several days later in Zimbabwe. A question over breakfast can inspire what you look for on your afternoon game drive. After a while, your guide becomes part of your group’s memories

Over time, that familiarity builds trust as your guide becomes part of your group’s memories.

Even a guide who has spent decades in the bush can still experience unexpected surprises. You may observe behavior they rarely witness or locate an animal in a surprising location.

Those are the moments when the whole car gets excited. It is significantly meaningful to find something together.

2. Your interests have more room

Regardless of whether together or alone, every individual goes on safari for different reasons. There’s someone who wants to photograph every insect. Another friend or family memeber takes an interest in the tracks on the ground. One friend watches elephants for hours, while another wants to know how a honey badger survives a snake bite. And there’s usually somebody who is just happy to be there and see what occurs.

A private guide can learn about these different interests and incorporate them into the journey. Bird feeding stops can lead to conversations on the trees they are feeding in, the insects and animals that share the same habitat. Whatever works!

At times, we learn we have an interest in things unknown. Your first lesson in tracking may be a footprint. Learning one bird call may have you on the lookout for it everywhere. An understanding of elephant behavior might change what you notice at every sighting after

Taking those interests further

Where permitted, and with an appropriately qualified guide, an interest in tracks might lead to a walk. Night drives can reveal another side of animal behavior, while time in a hide offers opportunities to sit watch.

Activities depend on the area, conditions and local regulations, but discussing your interests in advance can help to create a safari that suits your group.

That curiosity is not limited to just the safari regions. Around Cape Town and Cape Point, your group’s focus might shift to coastal trips, birds, hiking, flowers or fynbos.

Sometimes when you start a trip, you might arrive knowing exactly what interests you. Sometimes the trip may open you up to new possibilities or even change your mind entirely.

3. Your own pace

The longer you stay, the more interesting a sighting becomes.

Imagine, as you begin to drive away from a sleeping lion, there is a rustling behind him, and your private guide stops your car in time to see a cub emerge from the dry grass and pounce at its father.

There’s more opportunity to give those moments time with your own group and private guide.

Maybe there is somebody waiting for a better photo, or you have just spotted the animal you’ve been hoping to see for the entire week. When your group needs to make a decision, it can be a reflection of that shared interest.

Pace yourself and don’t be afraid to change plans.

New tracks in the road or a noise in the vicinity could lead your guide to stop and explore. Things can happen in the morning that are different from what you expected after breakfast.

Sometimes, the group may also want to take it easy. A later breakfast may be appreciated after a few early starts, or time spent at camp. If it is suitable to your group, your guide will factor it into the journey.

The same would be true of private tours in the Cape. Your group may want to spend more time at a viewpoint or more time on a walk than your morning was busy, or spend a quieter afternoon.

The day is still subject to wildlife, weather, park regulations and travel plans. Within those practical limits, private guiding will leave you with more space to enjoy the experience together.

Sometimes, it’s about moving on. On occasion it involves waiting another 10 minutes and seeing what occurs.

4. Experience behind the interests

A guide’s words when advertising birding, photography, or big cats are generally years of work.

These are topics that many guides have been studying for a large part of their careers. They share with guests as a result of time in the field, formal training, and continued learning.

A birding guide can offer more information than the name of the bird in front of you. They may give you insight into why it is there, what it is eating, and the behavior to look out for.

A predator watcher may have seen a shift in your focus that you would not have, or could not have, seen. What they’ve seen can help you understand why staying with a seemingly simple sighting is worth your experience.

That knowledge is helpful for the photographer before ever holding the camera. Knowing what an animal is thinking or doing will guide you on the right path to foresee a moment, whereas knowing what the setting is will guide you to think about light and position.

Another dimension is added to a guide’s experience when he walks.

Tracks, wind direction, sounds, and the vegetation surrounding them are all part of the reading on the foot. The necessary professional qualifications and experience are required, especially if potentially dangerous wildlife is involved.

It is not just about picking a guide who shares a hobby. Consider their experience with their interests, locations they can identify, and how they approach guiding.

You may already be as excited about a topic as they are, or you may have very little knowledge about their field of expertise, and have only more questions to ask every day.

So, who is the right guide for you?

There is no one private guide who is right for everyone.

You may need someone who has something to say about big cats all day, or someone who will pull over for the rare bird. Maybe your group would like to learn about it on foot, behind the camera, or with a mix of wildlife and time spent in Cape Town and Cape Point.

Begin with the destinations and the experiences you want to have. Afterwards, learn about the individual behind the experience. They may have other credentials and methods that convey more information than just a set of destinations.

If you’re looking for a private guided safari package, ask the guide if he or she will be there for the entire trip or if it’s just for specific parts. This aids you to understand how the journey is going to work.

Don’t be concerned if you don’t have a special interest. You could go out and come back talking about the morning you learned to read leopard tracks. You may start not knowing much about birds, and end up knowing almost as much as the guide!

The right guide can make you love the things that you already love and introduce you to the things that you never thought to look for.