January 30, 2025
When you think of a safari in Africa, you probably picture the “classic” safari experience: cruising through the savannah in a 4×4, your driver/guide getting you as close to the amazing array of wildlife as possible. Daily game drives in the morning and evening are balanced with relaxing afternoons back at your camp or lodge—you’ll have time to dip into your infinity pool, go for a massage, or simply soak in the scenery from your private deck.
We’ve been lucky enough to enjoy the “classic” safari game drive experience on several trips, including in South Africa for our honeymoon and in Kenya. But we fell for Africa so hard we’ve gone back many times since—and expanded our exploration to other, more out-of-the-box styles of safaris.
If you want to explore beyond the typical game drive—or add a more unusual type of safari to your more traditional trip—here are three specialty safari experiences to consider:
Gorilla Trekking in Uganda or Rwanda
We went gorilla trekking in Uganda in 2022, adding it onto a trip to Tanzania. Gorilla trekking is very different from a traditional safari experience.
For one, you’re not cruising through the bush in a vehicle—you’re hiking through the jungle on foot. This makes the experience feel much more immersive and intimate; there’s really nothing between you and the gorilla families you’ll encounter (besides an armed guard). It’s exhilarating for sure, though you do enjoy a greater sense of security on a traditional game drive.
And while a traditional safari typically involves days and days of wildlife spotting, both morning and evening, gorilla trekking usually is only a one-day experience. Since the permits for gorilla trekking are very expensive, most travelers only do it once on their trip.
When we arrived for the start of our gorilla trek, we were broken into different groups based on fitness level. Lucky for us (ha!), we were placed in the more “advanced” group—which meant instead of a short stroll over a dirt road to meet a gorilla family, we had to hike through a thick tangle of jungle for three hours to meet ours. Once there, we got to observe the family for about one hour before hiking out again. The verdict? Totally worth it.
The Great Migration in Tanzania or Kenya
You’ll find many classic safari experiences in the Serengeti, which spreads across Kenya and Tanzania. But this region is also where one very special phenomenon takes place: the Great Migration, when millions of wildebeest and other animals make the treacherous annual trek across the savannah in search of fresh water sources.
We traveled to Tanzania in 2022 to witness the Great Migration for ourselves. The goal of a Great Migration safari is different from a typical safari—you’re not just driving daily to hunt out different animals. Yes, you’re still able to see the gamut of wildlife – lions, cheetah, giraffes, rhinos, etc. – but the main activity is lying in wait for the moment when the wildebeest surge across the river, surrounding your 4×4 in a thunderous stampede. It’s an awe-inducing moment for sure—but it’s not guaranteed to happen on your trip. The wildebeest are unpredictable, and there’s no telling when or exactly where they’re going to make their big move.
We were very lucky to experience the moment on our Great Migration safari. Outside of that, though, it was a lot of waiting, and waiting … and waiting. You also get less downtime back at the camp like you would in a traditional safari, since all that waiting takes place in your 4×4 over the course of the day. Still, it’s worth it if this once-in-a-lifetime moment is on your bucket list. We’ve experienced nothing like it on any of our trips to Africa.
A water safari in Botswana
Botswana is home to the Okavango Delta, a vast network of wetlands teeming with wildlife. You can go on a “traditional” 4×4 game drive in some areas of Botswana, but in the Okavango Delta, it’s all about the water safari.
Jon went on a water safari himself in 2006. His small group climbed into a traditional dugout canoe, and then their guide navigated them through the delta. Similarly to gorilla trekking, this style of safari feels more immersive than 4×4 drives—the water is right there, all around you. The animals you encounter are different as well. Here, it’s all about water-dwelling and -loving creatures like hippos, crocodiles, and elephants. It was an exhilarating twist on the traditional safari experience for sure.
We’d recommend any of the above styles of safari for travelers who’ve either done a more traditional safari before, or those who want to combine a traditional game drive experience with one of these specialty safaris.
Ready to design your own spell-binding safari experience? We’d love to plan it all for you—connect with us on a complimentary consultation call to get started.
