Africa’s most famous safaris – and the cut-price alternatives

Elephant encounters for £11 a night? Spotting leopards for £40? Adam Edwards explains how

From dining with giraffes to sharing your pool with a thirsty elephant, Africa is full of unique wildlife encounters, most of which cost a small fortune. But there are ways to enjoy these experiences on a (relatively) low budget.

Eating breakfast with giraffes

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Every influencer worth their salt has posted photos of themselves sharing breakfast with Giraffe Manor’s resident herd of Rothschild’s giraffes – which poke their heads through open windows.

A visit to this impressive colonial mansion-turned-breeding centre, a wood-panelled fantasy of rolltop baths and glistening gramophones on the edge of Kenya’s Nairobi National Park, has exploded in price since it became Insta-famous, with a night’s stay starting from £850pp (thesafaricollection.com).

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The Giraffe Centre, next door to the manor, charges non-guests £8 to feed the animals from a platform, but if you want to enjoy breakfast on a terrace as the giant animals nibble from your table, there’s Guesthouse Voigtland in Namibia. It offers a Giraffe Manor-type experience – for less than £150pp a night (giraffecentre.org).

This old ranch house, just outside the Namibian capital Windhoek, is sprinkled with period features, and when you’re not cooing over giraffes, you can hike through the bush and go quad-biking. Four hours’ north, meanwhile, is Etosha National Park, which is home to lions, elephants and rhinos.

Witnessing a lion on the hunt

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Contrary to what David Attenborough may have led you to believe, it’s incredibly difficult to see lions hunting. To boost your chances, the travel company Expert Africa asks its guests to record the animals they see each day, and where – before publishing the findings on its website.

That being said, the best place to see lions isn’t necessarily the best place to see lions hunt, says Chris McIntyre, the managing director of Expert Africa. For this, you need to go somewhere “where you’re allowed to drive off-road, to follow a pride hunting”, which many of the most well-stocked reserves, such as the Serengeti, do not allow. You also need to go to a park that allows safaris at “dusk, dawn, and into the evening”, when predators are most active.

McIntyre suggests Botswana’s Lebala Camp, which employs guides who are “very good at tracking lions and the other large predators across the bush – maximising your chances of finding them and of following a hunt”. Expert Africa has an eight-night all-inclusive safari that visits Lebala from £8,120pp (expertafrica.com).

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Night drives and off-roading are also possible at South Africa’s predator-rich Madikwe Game Reserve. Its awardwinning guide Jonny has worked at the park so long he can tell you about the lions’ bowel movements (a useful piece of information as it reveals when they last ate and when they may hunt again).

It costs £195pp a night to stay at the park’s Mosetlha Bush Camp & Eco Lodge, which includes two game drives each day and meals (thebushcamp.com).

You can also go on night-time safaris at the Mara Naboisho Conservancy, which borders Kenya’s renowned Masai Mara National Reserve – and boasts one of the highest densities of lions in Africa. Responsible Travel has four nights’ full board from £1,801pp, including transfers but not international flights (responsibletravel.com).

Coming face to face with a gorilla

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Getting close to a silverback and his family isn’t cheap. Most gorillas live in countries that are not exactly on the tourist trail – think Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Luckily, one of Africa’s safest countries, Rwanda, has really embraced the poverty-alleviating potential of gorillaspotting, building hyper-luxe jungle resorts such as the One&Only Gorilla’s Nest, where you’ll relax in an outdoor bathtub after a day trekking the forested slopes of Volcanoes National Park.

Close encounters are guaranteed at Africa’s oldest national park, where Dian Fossey famously pioneered the conservation of the great apes.

There are 10 families in Volcanoes National Park today, with some numbering as many as 25 individuals, including babies.

Black Tomato has a nine-night trip combining a stay at One&Only Gorilla’s Nest with stays at other super-swish hotels from £19,950pp; flights extra (blacktomato.com).

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If you can’t afford Rwanda, Uganda might be the best cut-price alternative. Gorilla permits there are less than half the price charged by the Rwandan government, at £625, and there is a lot more budget accommodation, as well as camping options to choose from.

The Adventure People (theadventurepeople.com) has an eight-night trip staying mostly in tents for £2,279pp, including flights, gorilla permits and most meals. You’ll go gorilla-spotting in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, track chimpanzees in Kalinzu Forest, and even go whitewater-rafting on the Nile (for an extra £112).

Stalking a rhino

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More than 10,000 rhinos have been killed by poachers in the past 20 years, which has made getting close to these skittish three-ton beasts harder than ever. You’ll have no such trouble at Kwandwe, at the end of South Africa’s Garden Route, however.

This private reserve allows you to join conservationists as they track down, sedate and tag some of the 200-plus rhinos in the wider area. You’ll get up close to the sleeping giants as they’re fitted with devices to help thwart poachers. It costs £2,950 to book the rhino-conservation experience for up to eight people, through Cartology Travel, while three nights’ all-inclusive accommodation costs an extra £2,000pp (cartologytravel.com).

Alternatively, you could join armed rangers on anti-poaching patrols in Namibia’s Damaraland region, as part of a broader nine-night adventure with Aardvark Safaris; from £3,960pp, all-inclusive (aardvarksafaris.com).

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If you’re happy to roll your sleeves up, South Africa’s Sibuya Game Reserve could have the holiday for you. It offers one-, two- or three-week volunteer programmes, during which you will play an active role in rhino protection efforts. You can also help erect and repair perimeter fences, search for snares, participate in beach clean-ups, and elephant-monitoring patrols; prices start from £799pp, full-board, for a week, excluding flights (sibuya.co.za).

If that sounds a bit too much like hard work, Africa Sky (africaskysafari.com) has a seven-night Uganda safari from £2,895pp, including UK flights and transfers, during which you’ll visit the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and get to walk with rangers within close proximity of white rhinos. Alternatively, Much Bet

i A giraffe joins guests for breakfast at Giraffe Manor, on the edge of Kenya’s Nairobi National Park h The madding crowd: zebras intermingle with thousands of wildebeest on the Mara River, during the great Masai Mara migration

h On the waterfront: lunch by the river at Sibuya Game Reserve in South Africa, where you can muck in on volunteering programmes ii Game on: a safari drive in South Africa’s Madikwe Reserve i One big happy family: mountain gorillas in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest