Not just the catalogue
Planning a first safari, or even a fifth, raises a lot of practical questions. Below, our safari designers answer the ones we hear most often, from timing and budgeting to packing and entry requirements. If your question isn’t covered here, speak to our team directly, every trip we build starts with a conversation, not a form.
Uganda’s gorilla trekking permit costs $800 per person compared to $1,500 in Rwanda. Uganda also has more habituated gorilla families across four sectors of Bwindi, offering more flexibility in permit availability. The trekking terrain is generally more challenging, the forests denser, and the experience less polished, which many travellers find more compelling rather than less.
For travel during peak season (July to October, and the December to early January holiday period), six to twelve months in advance is recommended, since the best camps and conservancy tents sell out well ahead of these dates. For shoulder and green season travel, three to six months generally allows good availability. If you’re set on a specific camp or a particular migration-season experience, earlier is always safer.
The dry seasons, June through September and December through February, offer the most comfortable trekking conditions, with firmer underfoot ground and clearer forest visibility. That said, gorilla trekking is possible year-round, and some travellers prefer the low season for its quieter trails and occasionally lower permit availability competition.
Yes, and this makes for a particularly rewarding itinerary, pairing Uganda’s primate encounters and wilderness character with Kenya’s private conservancies or Tanzania’s migration plains. The combination gives a journey genuinely different registers: deep-forest intimacy followed by wide-open savannah drama.
Requirements vary by nationality and change periodically, so we always recommend checking official government sources before booking flights, but as general guidance: Kenya replaced its traditional visa system with an Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA), applied for online before travel, while Tanzania generally requires a separate visa or e-visa. If your trip spans both countries, you’ll need to meet each country’s entry requirements independently. Our safari designers will outline exactly what your itinerary requires once your route and nationality are confirmed.
This depends on where you’re travelling from and which countries your itinerary includes. Yellow fever vaccination is generally required if you’re arriving from, or have recently transited through, a yellow fever endemic country, and travellers moving between Kenya and Tanzania on a single trip are often required to show proof of vaccination for the Tanzania leg specifically, even if it wasn’t required on arrival into Kenya. We strongly recommend confirming current requirements with your doctor or a registered travel health clinic well ahead of departure, since rules can and do change.
Most of our itineraries move between regions either by scheduled light aircraft or by private 4×4 Land Cruiser, depending on the distances involved and the experience you’re after. Flying saves time and adds its own scenic value, while road travel turns the journey itself into part of the safari, passing through changing landscapes and local communities along the way. Many of our itineraries combine both.
On every Trevaron safari, yes. We don’t put unrelated travellers together in shared vehicles or run fixed group departures. Your vehicle, and your guide, are exclusively yours for the duration of your trip, which means your day can adjust around a good sighting, a request to linger somewhere, or simply your own pace.
Neutral-coloured clothing (khaki, olive, tan) works best for game drives, alongside a warm layer for early morning starts, which can be genuinely cold even in dry season. A wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and high-SPF sunscreen are essential given the equatorial sun, and a good pair of binoculars makes a meaningful difference to your wildlife viewing. If your itinerary includes activities like gorilla trekking or bush walks, waterproof hiking boots and a light raincoat are worth packing specifically for those days. Most camps offer a laundry service, so packing light is generally easier than travellers expect.
Yes, and Kenya in particular has a long-established, family-friendly safari infrastructure. Many camps offer family tents, child-specific activities like guided bush walks, and flexible game drive timing built around younger travellers. That said, some camps and activities (gorilla trekking, certain conservancies) have minimum age requirements, so it’s worth confirming these with your safari designer when building a family itinerary.
National parks and reserves are government-managed, open to any licensed operator, and generally allow a higher volume of vehicles at a sighting. Private conservancies, many of which border these parks and reserves, are managed independently, often in partnership with local communities, and strictly limit the number of beds and vehicles permitted within their boundaries. This generally means more exclusive, unhurried wildlife encounters, along with privileges like off-road driving, night drives, and walking safaris that aren’t permitted within most national parks and reserves.
Every Trevaron journey starts with a conversation about who’s travelling, what you’re hoping to see and experience, and the pace you want. From there, our safari designers, who have personally visited the camps and conservancies we recommend, build an itinerary specifically around that conversation rather than offering a fixed package. We refine it with you until it’s right, then handle every detail of the booking.
Every itinerary in our collection is a starting point, not a fixed product. We’re happy to adjust the pace, swap camps, change the route, or build something entirely from scratch based on your interests. Tailor-made is genuinely how we work, not a marketing phrase.
This varies by itinerary, but most of our safaris include private 4×4 Land Cruiser transport with a dedicated driver guide, full-board accommodation, game drives as specified, and all relevant park or conservancy fees. International flights, visas, gratuities, and personal expenses are generally not included. Every itinerary we send you carries a clear, itemised breakdown of what’s covered.
This page covers the questions we’re asked most often, but every traveller’s situation is a little different. Speak to our safari designers for advice specific to your dates, your group, and the journey you’re imagining.