Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
If you’re planning an Africa safari vacation and doing research online, you’ll come across various types of tours: private, tailored, set departures and scheduled. The difference between these tour types isn’t always obvious and is made trickier by industry jargon. The reason you need to know the difference is simply to make sure you book a tour style that is right for you.
Broadly speaking, there are two main tour categories: tailored and scheduled. Both types offer packages with varying inclusions (like meals, accommodation, activities and transfers), different comfort levels, and assorted added-value extras. The biggest difference between the two categories is how much freedom you have to choose what happens when while on safari and the other people with whom you’ll share those included activities and meals.
If you’re weighing up a scheduled tour against a tailored tour, our expert definitions will help you work out which one is right for you.
Tailored
If you’ve decided to go on vacation to Africa, you probably have an experience or destination in mind – a focal point for your itinerary. To help you understand what other attractions and experiences work well with your focal point, we publish tours and safaris put together by our experts. Once you see a combination that you like, our experts adapt the itinerary around your dates, preferences and other important factors, like travelling with children or grandparents, or celebrating a special anniversary.
Our tailoring service doesn’t cost you anything extra – it’s the value you get when you book through a quality travel company like Go2Africa. Our safari experts match your proposed dates, preferences, needs and budget to the most suitable accommodation and activities, make sure you’re informed about easy add-ons and that you’re getting the best value for your time and money.
Tailored
If you’ve decided to go on vacation to Africa, you probably have an experience or destination in mind – a focal point for your itinerary. To help you understand what other attractions and experiences work well with your focal point, we publish tours and safaris put together by our experts. Once you see a combination that you like, our experts adapt the itinerary around your dates, preferences and other important factors, like travelling with children or grandparents, or celebrating a special anniversary.
Our tailoring service doesn’t cost you anything extra – it’s the value you get when you book through a quality travel company like Go2Africa. Our safari experts match your proposed dates, preferences, needs and budget to the most suitable accommodation and activities, make sure you’re informed about easy add-ons and that you’re getting the best value for your time and money.
Tailored Set Departures
There are a handful of exceptional safari experiences that operate on set or fixed departure dates. The ones we recommend include luxury train journeys on Rovos Rail or the Blue Train, and mobile safari expeditions in iconic destinations like Botswana. While these tours happen on set dates, we tailor-make the rest of your itinerary. Most importantly, we know from firsthand travel experience that these iconic experiences are absolutely worth the constraint of set departure dates.
Scheduled Tours and Set Departures
Generally, scheduled tours depart on set, non-negotiable dates, feature a circuit of popular attractions bundled around a theme, and are designed for medium to large groups of strangers travelling in a bus or similar vehicle with a driver-guide. These tours are not customisable but are often the cheapest option. An example of this tour type that you may be familiar with is a Contiki tour – in Africa you’ll find a wide range of this type of tour using various vehicles, group sizes and covering a wide range of destinations. Scheduled and set departure tours definitely offer the most cost-effective way to see many attractions in a single tour but we don’t believe that this is the best way to explore a destination as complex, rich and diverse as Africa. What you save in cash, you lose in freedom to do your own thing.
Seasonal Departures
It’s worth noting that certain safari events depend on natural, seasonal factors, like rainfall, which means you have to travel at specific times of year to experience them.
Two highly recommended seasonal safaris:
The wildebeest migration is Africa’s greatest natural spectacle
The green season offers the best value for money in East Africa and a chance to see the zebra migration in the Kalahari, Botswana
Scheduled Tours and Set Departures
Generally, scheduled tours depart on set, non-negotiable dates, feature a circuit of popular attractions bundled around a theme, and are designed for medium to large groups of strangers travelling in a bus or similar vehicle with a driver-guide. These tours are not customisable but are often the cheapest option. An example of this tour type that you may be familiar with is a Contiki tour – in Africa you’ll find a wide range of this type of tour using various vehicles, group sizes and covering a wide range of destinations. Scheduled and set departure tours definitely offer the most cost-effective way to see many attractions in a single tour but we don’t believe that this is the best way to explore a destination as complex, rich and diverse as Africa. What you save in cash, you lose in freedom to do your own thing.
