Safaris are genuinely safe, and saying so is easy. What follows is why, and what is on you rather than on us.
Yellow fever is the only vaccination required for entry. Everything else is a conversation with your doctor, not a border condition.
Malaria is present in Africa but not evenly. Prevalence is low in Moshi and high in Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam. Mosquitoes carrying it cannot survive above about 1,500 m, so Ngorongoro — at over 2,000 m — has none. Ask your doctor about prophylaxis for the parts of your trip that need it.
Worth packing: insect repellent, antiseptic cream, painkillers, an anti-diarrhoeal, antihistamines, motion-sickness tablets, rehydration salts, sun block, and any prescription medication in your hand luggage with a copy of the prescription.
No — and the reason is worth knowing rather than just being reassured about. Seated in the vehicle, you and the car read to wildlife as a single large object. To a lion, the people are components of that object, not prey. Wildlife here is used to vehicles and does not associate them with food. That holds as long as nobody steps out.
On walking safaris the calculation is different, so those run in areas chosen for low risk and an armed ranger walks with the group the whole way.
Our guides are trained continuously on animal behaviour as well as on safety, which is the actual reason a good guide matters.
Kilimanjaro is walked, not climbed, and that is exactly why people underestimate it. The risk is altitude, and the answer is going slowly enough to acclimatise — which is why a longer route is often the easier one.
Our mountain guides are trained in first aid and in spotting the signs of altitude sickness early, run daily health checks on the way up, and know the shortcuts down. Descending is the treatment; a guide who calls it early is doing their job, not giving up on yours.
AMREF Flying Doctors air-ambulance cover is included on every trip booked directly with us — rapid evacuation by an equipped aircraft and a specialist team, which in remote parks is the difference that matters.
It is not travel insurance, and it does not replace it. Take out comprehensive cover for cancellation, delays, loss and theft, medical treatment and emergency transport. We will ask you for the policy details before you travel.
Tell us. A medical condition, a mobility question, travelling with young children — we would rather plan around it than have you discover the problem on day three.
No deposit and no obligation — we reply with a suggested route, the lodges at your tier and the real per-person price. We do not pass your details to anyone else.
