So you’ve finally decided to take a walk on the wild side and immerse yourself in a once-in-a-lifetime African safari. You’re positively enthralled to seize the unique opportunity to journey through the magnificent African terrain. But before you embark on an exciting adventure into this raw African paradise, you must do your homework to ensure proper safari planning.

Taking the time to do careful safari planning is essential to ensure that you return home with a pocketful of unforgettable memories. Considering the massive size of Africa, approximately 2.5 times the size of the United States, you must tackle some preliminary preparation.

The bottom line is that most African safari participants plan ahead six to nine months in advance. This will give you enough time to organize and execute a spending allowance, an itinerary, as well as travel documents.

If your safari planning includes romantic honeymoon details, you might want to consider organizing your trip a year in advance, especially if you intend to travel during the peak season of November through February in South Africa, or July through September anywhere else.

First, you must decide upon your ideal destinations for your safari planning. Because it takes time to truly gain insight in any particular African region, two evenings in any one destination should be your minimum.

Other significant factors to take into consideration are weather, visa necessities, animal migrations, geography, inoculation, and the activity offerings of your chosen region. Since we know all of these considerations can be overwhelmingly daunting to many a traveler, we are here to help. However, one of the most common questions we always get is “How far in advance should I plan my African safari?” and our shortest answer is – six months is a good safari planning time frame for great results and optimum vacation enjoyment.