BOOK THAT SAFARI · THE WILD WORLD
Wild places, dawn light, the drive of a lifetime.
Reviews of the best safaris and game drives on earth, country by country. Dubai red dunes and Serengeti dawns, leopards in Yala and the Maasai Mara plains, the camel trains of the Sahara and the elephants of South Africa. We sort through the listings so you book the right drive.
Worth the airfare
Three safaris that belong to one corner of the world.
You can find a game drive in plenty of places now. But the red dunes at golden hour outside Dubai, the migration crossing the Serengeti, and a leopard draped over a rock in Yala happen here and nowhere else on earth.
Dubai
Red Dunes at Golden Hour
An hour out of the city the sand turns deep red and the dunes rise in long ridges. A 4x4 drops the tyre pressure and carves down the faces, then you swap to a camel, try a sandboard, and end the night at a desert camp with a barbecue and the whole sky overhead. Quad bikes, falcons, henna and a belly-dancer round it out. It is the most-booked safari on earth, and Dubai does it better than anywhere.
- 1 Dubai: Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Camp
- 2 Dubai: Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride and Sandboarding
- 3 Dubai: Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride, and Buffet Dinner
Tanzania
The Serengeti and the Great Migration
Out of Arusha the plains open up and do not stop: a million wildebeest on the move, lions in the long grass, cheetahs on the kopjes, and a balloon drifting over it all at first light with a champagne breakfast to land on. Add the Ngorongoro Crater, a collapsed caldera packed with game, and you have the safari every other safari is measured against.
- 1 Balloon Safari & Bush Breakfast in Serengeti – Miracle Experience
- 2 4 Days Group Camping Safari
- 3 5 Days Group Camping Safari
Sri Lanka
Leopards in Yala
Yala has one of the highest densities of wild leopard anywhere, and a dawn jeep through its scrub and lagoons gives you a real chance of seeing one draped over a rock or crossing the track ahead. Elephants, sloth bears, crocodiles and peacocks fill the hours in between. A short hop from the south-coast beaches, it is the wildlife day that makes a Sri Lanka trip.
- 1 Full day Safari – Yala National Park – 04.30 am to 06.00 pm with – Janaka safari
- 2 Yala National Park: Morning or Afternoon Golden Hour Safari
- 3 Yala National Park Wildlife Safari/ Game Drive – by Ajith Safari
The safari everyone books
If you only do one drive.
More travellers reach for this one than any other on the site. A safe first booking in a place you are still getting to know.
The classics
The World’s Most Popular Safaris
Dubai, the Serengeti, the Maasai Mara, Yala, Kruger. The desert drives and game days travellers reach for first, in the wild places they most want to see.
Where to go
Pick your wild place.
The Arabian desert for red-dune drives. The Serengeti for the migration. The Maasai Mara for big cats, Sri Lanka for leopards, South Africa for the Big Five, the Sahara for camel trains. Each one, with the safaris it does best.
Which kind of safari
What kind of safari are you after?
The kind of drive matters as much as the place. Three ways to spend it, depending on the time you have and what you want to come home having seen.
Dubai & the Emirates
The desert puts on the best show at dusk.
An hour from the skyline the sand turns deep red and the dunes roll out to the horizon. A 4x4 drops its tyre pressure and carves the faces, then you trade it for a camel, try a sandboard, and end the night at a camp with a barbecue, a fire and the whole sky overhead. Quad bikes, falcons and henna fill the rest. It is the most-booked safari on earth, and the Emirates run it like clockwork.
See the best safaris in the UAE →Tanzania
The plains every other safari is measured against.
Out of Arusha the Serengeti opens up and does not stop: a million wildebeest on the move, lions in the long grass, cheetahs on the kopjes. Drift over it at first light in a balloon with a champagne breakfast to land on, then drop into the Ngorongoro Crater, a collapsed caldera packed with game. The great migration, the big cats, and the trip you will measure every holiday against afterwards.
See the best safaris in Tanzania →The best part
The whole vehicle goes quiet at once.
A great drive is never just the scenery. It is the strangers in the row behind you, the guide who reads a flicked ear or a fresh track and kills the engine, and the moment a lion steps out of the grass and nobody breathes. You come back dust-covered and wide awake, knowing a wild place a little, and the people you shared it with.
Browse every safari →South Africa
The Big Five, a short drive from the city.
Lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino, the five animals the old hunters feared most and the ones every drive sets out to find. South Africa makes them easy: malaria-free private reserves with ranger-led drives, Kruger on its own terms, and full-day Big Five trips within reach of Cape Town and Johannesburg. The densest game on the continent, with a glass of something at the sundowner stop.
- 1 From Cape Town: Big Five Game Reserve with Lunch
- 2 From Johannesburg: Pilanesberg Nature Reserve Game Safari
- 3 From Cape Town: 2-Day Safari at Garden Route Game Lodge
By time in the field
How long do you want to be out?
Some trips you want an afternoon on the dunes and a barbecue under the stars. Some you want a full day in the park chasing the cats. And some you want a few days on the move through the great reserves. Pick the trip, we will point you at the drive.
Half a day
An afternoon on the dunes.Out into the desert as the heat drops: dune bashing in a 4x4, a camel beside the sand, a barbecue under the stars and back to your hotel by night. The easiest, biggest-bang safari there is.
A full day in the park
Dawn till dusk after the cats.A pre-dawn start in an open jeep, a guide who reads the tracks, and the long patient hours that put a leopard or a lion in front of you. The full game-drive day, in one park.
Several days out
String the great parks together.The Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater and the migration over a few days on the move: the trip of a lifetime you plan a whole holiday around and talk about for years.
A night in the dunes
The Sahara is best slept in, not just seen.
From Marrakech the road climbs over the Atlas and down to the edge of the sand, where a camel train walks you into the Erg Chebbi dunes at Merzouga as the light goes gold. You sleep in a desert camp, eat under a sky thick with stars, and climb a dune to watch the sun come up over Africa. A long day-trip or several days on the move, it is the desert safari at its most romantic.
See all 6 safaris in Morocco →By region
Pick a place and set out.
Dubai for the red dunes. Arusha for the Serengeti and the crater. Nairobi for the big-cat plains. Cape Town for a Big Five day drive. Yala for the leopards. Jaisalmer for a camel into the Thar.
By country
Every country worth the trip.
From the Arabian desert to the East African plains, the leopard parks of Sri Lanka to the reserves of South Africa. Browse by the country whose wild places you most want to see.
Dawn to dusk
A perfect day on safari.
First safari and want to know how a day flows? Here is the shape of it, from the cool pre-dawn drive to a sundowner as the light goes.
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