The sound of hyenas crunching on bones is one Sophie Serrano will never forget.
The trip she heard it on was just as unforgettable.
Serrano, a 28-year-old travel content creator, went with her family on her first safari in November 2023. It was her mother’s bucket list vacation, she told BI, estimating that they paid $9,000 to $10,000 per person to spend 10 days at three luxury Tanzanian lodges (plus an additional three days in Zanzibar).
“It’s a trip we had talked about for many years, and realistically, it just wasn’t affordable for us in the past,” Serrano said. “We got together and discussed if it was a financial sacrifice we wanted to make last year, and we all said yes.”
Being surrounded by a group of monkeys was especially memorable — as was getting a massage during her stay at the high-end Siringit Serengeti Camp “with the sounds of the birds around.”
“I’ve completely fallen in love with Africa,” Serrano said. “I want to see all of it.”
She’s not alone — as of late, a growing number of travelers have been itching to go on a luxurious African safari, too.
Some operators and lodges are seeing a windfall
Luxury tour operator Abercrombie and Kent’s African safaris have always been among its best-selling vacations, the company told BI in an email. After the COVID-19 pandemic, interest has increased strongly.
The company offers dozens of these adventurous itineraries. Most first-timers book its 14-day Kenya and Tanzania program, which promises the opportunity to spot the “Big Five” — lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceroses, and Cape buffalos — starting at about $24,800 per person in 2025, it said.
Dennis Pinto, the managing director of high-end safari operator Micato Safaris, told BI in an email that demand for its vacations has been “stronger than ever.”
Micato’s bookings ballooned 21.4% from 2023 to 2024, he said. Looking forward, reservations for 2025 are already pacing 19% ahead of this time last year.
Custom itineraries have been especially popular among its customers, according to Pinto. Its most booked itinerary is a “glamourous, unabashedly luxurious” 15-day Kenya and Tanzania itinerary, which includes six flights, a hot air balloon ride, and two nights at the Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti (or a comparable hotel) — all for a starting cost of $37,000 per person in 2025.
If you prefer to plan your own high-end safari, there are countless lodges and camps to choose from. During your search, you’ll likely come across Singita’s chain of luxury eastern and southern African safari lodges, whose guests have included Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres.
Good luck booking them — Singita has seen 80% to 90% occupancy rates throughout 2024, mostly in Tanzania and Rwanda, a spokesperson told BI. It no longer experiences a low season, they said, and shoulder season “barely ceases to exist in the safari world.”
A one-night stay at its newest 10-guest Milele villa in Tanzania’s Grumeti Reserve will cost upward of $35,000. The price is set to increase to $36,400 in 2025.
“Post-COVID-19, people said, ‘I am going to take that greatest-of-all-time trip,” Melissa Krueger, CEO of high-end travel wholesaler Classic Vacations, told BI. The company launched its African portfolio, which includes properties with safari experiences, in March. “They want to do something highly memorable. We’ll continue to see an increase in business.”
Some luxury travel agencies are noticing it, too
Luxury travel agency Indagare told BI in an email that safari bookings are “trending upward.
In 2023, the company sold 78 safaris, a 73% boost from the year prior.
For agencies like Scott Dunn Private — whose members must spend a minimum of $100,000 on travel annually — safaris have always been popular. Lately, Botswana has been a big hit, with bookings growing 75%, Julie Durso, a Scott Dunn Private travel manager, told BI.
The company’s safari-seeking clients — often honeymooners, empty nesters, and multi-generational families — are especially partial to higher-end options, spending an average of $1,500 to $2,000 per person and day, Jackie Roth, another Scott Dunn Private travel manager, told BI.
With such prices, some travelers might consider luxury safaris a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
For others, the first time is the start of a fixation
Misty Belles, vice president of global public relations for luxury travel agency Virtuoso, told BI that safaris have remained consistently popular among Virtuoso’s clients, some of whom are repeat visitors.
Take Serrano, for example. She’s going on her second safari at the end of November, a year after her first, and is already planning another Gorilla trekking trip.
Isabella John, a 25-year-old travel content creator and cofounder of social media management agency Nomad Social, has already been twice.
She called both experiences — the most recent a girls’ trip to Umlani Bushcamp in the Timbavati reserve in March — “humbling.”
“I was flooded with emotions of gratitude,” she told BI. She remembers crying alongside her friends as they saw their first herd of elephants and falling asleep to the distant sound of roaring lions as they spent a night in Umlani’s open-air tree house. “It was an emotional trip.”
“It is pricey, but it’s worth the sacrifice,” Serrano said.
She may travel for a living, but “nothing will compare to a safari.”
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