A game drive is a drive through a national park or reserve to see wild animals, in a safari vehicle with a guide at the wheel. "Game" is the old hunting word for wild animals, and the name stuck long after the rifles gave way to cameras. A safari day is usually built around one game drive in the morning and one at the end of the afternoon.
You drive the park's tracks slowly, with the roof of the vehicle popped up. Your guide watches, listens and reads the tracks. When he sees something, he stops, switches off the engine and waits. You stand up in the vehicle and look out over the roof.
You do not get out, except at places where it is allowed. Inside the vehicle you are safe, because the animals see it as one large shape and not as prey.
Type | When | Why |
Morning | From sunrise to around nine or ten | Cool, predators still active, soft light |
Afternoon | From half past three until sunset | The animals start moving again |
Full day | With a packed lunch | For big parks such as the Serengeti, where distances are long |
A good game drive comes down to the guide, not the vehicle. He knows where a pride of lions has lain these past few days, which riverbed had fresh tracks this morning, and where waiting pays off. He positions the vehicle so the light falls well and you are not looking into the sun.
And he knows when to stay put. With a cheetah sitting and watching, perhaps nothing happens for an hour, and then everything happens in ten seconds.
In a shared vehicle you ride with whoever else is in it, and the group decides when to move on. With us the vehicle is always yours alone. You decide how long you stay.
A game drive is the foundation, but not the only way:
How many days you drive in which park, and where you sleep in between, is set out in each of our itineraries.