Safari 2027: How It All Started

How do you even begin planning a safari? It’s a question we spent months trying to answer.

As of December 2025, we’re planning a safari for 2027. What began as a 2028 trip to celebrate my wife’s 50th birthday was moved up due to work schedules, with an initial plan to travel in July. After a lot of research—and advice from a close friend who had safari experience across southern and eastern Africa—we quickly narrowed our focus to Botswana.

Botswana stood out for one reason: nowhere else offers the same combination of land and water safaris, especially in the Okavango Delta.

Once we started researching lodges, we were surprised by the dramatic seasonal pricing. In peak season (June–September), some lodges cost nearly four times more than during shoulder months. That realization pushed us to rethink timing and value.

Like many first-time safari planners, we initially gravitated toward the “big names”—Sandibe, Jao, King’s Pool, Vumbura Plains. Incredible lodges, but we had to ask: are they the right choice for a first safari?

That question led us to Africa Travel Resources, which opened our eyes to camps offering exceptional wildlife experiences at lower cost—often in private concessions with fewer restrictions and more flexibility.

We shifted to April/May, a sweet spot for great game viewing at roughly half the peak-season price. Even booking 16 months out, availability was shockingly tight. Eventually, a rare four-night opening at Selinda Explorer Camp appeared—and that became the anchor for the entire trip.

From there, we added Kwara Camp and decided to finish the journey in Namibia, trading water and wildlife for the iconic red dunes of Sossusvlei. While our original choice, Little Kulala, was booked, we pivoted to &Beyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge—farther from the main dunes, but with stunning design and its own private desert experience.

This is just the beginning of our Safari 2027 story. More to come.