Essential Tips for Booking Your African Luxury Safari

• Whats’s Your Travel Style:

At Oluokos, we don’t cut corners nor do we sugarcoat our destinations so that we convince you. We’re more than happy to hear more from you regarding your preferred style of holiday. Your travel group matters too alongside other aspects like when and money.

Our experience designers have worked effortlessly to ensure that you’re never limited to the traditional travel style. Our safaris menu allow you to mix and match what suits your holiday quest.

At Oluokos, we believe that going on holiday is easy especially when you choose to work with our experience designers. They are not only designers but also accredited destination specialists who understand the inside out of this ever-dynamic industry.

• When To Go?

Before coming to Africa for your safari, one of the biggest query is when? When, is the question that we ask most and guests ask us most about the best time to come to Africa?

As much as Africa is amazingly a year-round destination, there are still genuine concerns that must always be addressed. Due to its vastness, different climates and with so diverse landscapes, wildlife, and experiences, it means you can always have a thrilling African getaway, no matter what time of year you choose to travel.

However, if you are following your special interests or a particular passion then, when you would want to visit Africa will be critical to us for you to get the best experience out of Africa. For example; if you are birder, you would love to visit when most of the migrant birds are in Africa and the same goes to wildebeest migration that will require you to be in the right place at the same time.

At Oluokos, we appreciate every season as it provides opportunities for witnessing different aspects of the wonder of nature in Africa. To us it’s not just a case of matching up your holiday expectations with the right locations and times but also billed to ensure that you are well informed about local wildlife movements in Africa especially during this era of the climate change.

• Cost Implications

It is well believed that an African holiday is a lifetime holiday, so it’s no surprise that the question we’re asked mostly by our guests: “How much does our safari cost?”

Based on our pure value added experiences and just like the safari experience itself – still varies greatly. This mainly attributed to the season, country or even the region you’ll be travelling in. And, just like any sort of holiday, the cost will depend on a range of other things, including your accommodation, activities to be taken and the length of your safari.

To be honest, we’ve organized shorter, cost-friendly safaris costing around U$ 1500 per person, right up to pure luxurious trips costing in excess of U$18000. All these come with different level of travelling, accommodation and a bunch more of experiences.

Oluokos Signature has longstanding relationships with our well-reputed suppliers and we are always in position get best properties at special rates.

With this in mind it means that you’ll pay the same price or even less than if you would book the same holiday directly with these accommodation properties.

• Travel Insurance

At Oluokos we believe that Travel Insurance is essential for any holiday, no matter what your destination.

We insist that all of our guests are covered by insurance for the duration of your time away, and recommend you take out a policy as soon as you’re ready to book.

Here in Eastern and Central Africa, the medical system is not free and good hospitals are not cheap – if you’re staying at a remote safari location, they’re not close either, so even getting to one can be not only expensive but a nightmare.

Choosing the right travel insurance provider for an African safari holiday is not a decision you should made purely on price – always consider the quality of coverage first.

We’re sorry to say that we don’t accept any booking without the Travel Insurance proof. Kindly consider that this as a must have requirement for your booking at Oluokos Signature.

• Accommodation While on Safari

Eastern and Central Africa is awash with diverse and stunning accommodation options to call home while you are on safari. Our choices of accommodation range from the classic tented safari camps and exclusively exemplary luxury lodges, to the hidden boutique hotels, fully inclusive resorts and private homes that are tucked away off the popular tourist routes. Whatever your taste is, we are sure that, the accommodation options are not limited to our taste of clients.

Our experiences have been crafted to offer truly unforgettable memories. We have designed them in an aspect that allows our guests to enjoy the mix of sleeping under canvas in a remote location before getting spoilt at a luxury city hotel or touching noses with an elephant at one of the luxurious wildlife camps. The detailed accommodation is provide on each itinerary so you’ll never get bored with amenities and each destination.

From the experience that we have gained over the years, we are happy to share that we have sampled numerous properties in Eastern and Central Africa. The ones we recommend to our guests are our favorite places and have been handpicked by us because we know they meet our average criteria of selections.

Most of these facilities are responsibly run and cater for just a reasonable number of guests. Oluokos accepts that getting absolutely away from the crowds is high on every guest’s safari wish list. Having this as our number one golden rule, inspection of our preferred accommodation choices continue on a regular basis to ensure the highest standards are maintained year in, year out.

• Permanent Safari Camps

Our selected tented safari camps or bush camps are enormous, fully equipped with most of the expected amenities and they incredibly come with high level of comfort. Although the quality varies as in, some are more rustic while on the other hand others will blow you away with their elegance and luxury.

• Mobile Safari Camps

The Teso, Busia region hosts 0 of the all Important Biodiversity Areas (IBAs)  in Kenya. This has led to poor understanding of bird species outside Kenya (IBAs) and has created a gap between nature and conservation.

• Luxury Safari Lodges

Our choice of lodges are tucked away in sensational locations, where our favorites not only blend into the environment but also value and practice sustainable tourism as much as they value the comfort and satisfaction of their guests. If you’re staying in a lodge, expect a permanent construction built using materials such as stone, wood, bricks and thatch. Most rooms will have en suite bathrooms with running hot and cold water plus all the other creature comforts you’d expect in a luxury hotel, including, in many cases, air conditioning, plunge pools, Wi-Fi and much more.

• Private Houses and Villas

To ensure that you enjoy your safari experiences beyond the parks, reserves and the community owned wildlife sanctuaries, our choices of accommodation in East Africa also offers unmatched exclusive-use private houses and homes, for the ultimate in privacy and seclusion. These can be found from cities and mountains to islands and beaches – and, of course without losing the touch of the safari experience. Our selections of houses have been creatively handpicked and they are set in locations that command some stunning views in East Africa’s pristine locations.

• Being On Safaris With Oluokos

At Oluokos, we take you on a very different and unique African safari. When it comes to exceptional, authentic wildlife experiences, our experience stands out as second to none. We have chosen to shift away from the traditions of game-viewing activities by offering our guests a wide range of variations according to destination, wildlife behavior, migration trends and the season. This allows us to share with our guests experiences as crafted by our finest in-house Experience Designers. Below, please find how we handle our day on safari:

• Early Mornings

This presents the best chance to see wildlife when temperatures are cool and animals are still interestingly, very active. The price that you must pay here is to wake up early! The wake-up call will be between 5am and 6 am for a quick snack of tea, coffee and biscuits. The morning can be freezing in these early hours so dress warmly but also in layers, so you can peel off clothes as you warm up.

It warms up pretty quickly if you’re doing a walking safari, but should you get chilly on a 4×4 game drive or boating safari; the vehicles and vessels are always packed with blankets.

From our morning wildlife viewing, a beautiful breakfast or brunch will be waiting for you when you get back to camp/lodge.

• Midday & Early Mornings

When you get to the camp or lodge after a morning game activity, you can relax and escape the heat of the day for a couple of hours before. This is the time to read a book, visit a souvenir shop, take a siesta, swing on a hammock, cool off in the pool or indulge in a spa treatment. This is the hottest time of the day, so we recommend you copy the animals by taking it easy. Later, at around 3 pm, you might have another little snack before heading out on an afternoon wildlife drive.

If you’re feeling super active, after lunch is a great time to spend with the camp/lodge conservation team or get an insight into African life with a visit to a local village.

• Late Afternoons & Early Evenings

Wildlife drives in the afternoon are amazing because the light is so fantastic. In addition, as the day cools down, the wildlife becomes more active again – predators start to stir and their prey prepares for another nervous night in the Africa’s wilderness. Apart from well great wildlife-viewing opportunities, sundowners do complement the day too!

On our way to the camp, we will stop at a picturesque spot and admire a beautiful African sunset. Arriving at the camp/lodge just before dark, in good time for a shower before pre-dinner drinks.

Back at the camp or the lodge it’s dinner time, so you won’t miss out! This may be even be served al fresco, under those incredible African skies. Afterwards, you might care to share stories and over drinks around a campfire with fellow guests.

Please note that once it starts to get dark on a game drive it’s not safe to stop for any “bush loo relief”. So make sure you stop before the sunsets or you’ll have to hold on until you return to camp or the lodge– which might be some distance away!

• Night Game Drives

For those staying at a private reserve, it’s likely you’ll be offered the chance to head out on a night-time game drive. Don’t miss this unique opportunity. It’s a completely different perspective of Africa’s bush and will round off your safari experience absolutely.

Heading out into the endless bush, the only lights you’ll see will come from the stars in the sky, your vehicle’s headlights and a spotlight. This will be held by the expert tracker sitting at the front of the vehicle, constantly on the lookout for wildlife.

Thanks to their knowledge, instinct and brilliant eyes, you might get to spot nocturnal creatures such as chameleons, owls, leopards and, if you’re really lucky, perhaps even a pangolin or aardvark. Then it’s back to camp to enjoy a hot drink before falling asleep to the sounds of the night and dreaming of your next promising day on safari.

We always recommend to our guests to consider this experience at least one night drive, but be aware that it can be cold and, in terms of animal action, slow. It’s more about the pleasure of spotting nocturnal creatures, and the sounds and serenity of the night than the day time wildlife drive.