Private Safari Questions

A private safari means you are never sharing a game drive vehicle with strangers. Your party — whether that is just you, a couple, or a small family group — travels with your own guide and vehicle throughout. This is not just a comfort difference; it affects what you see and how you experience it. A private guide learns your pace, your interests, and adapts the safari to you rather than to a group average. You decide when to stop, when to stay longer, when to move on. In a group safari, logistics and the comfort of other guests inevitably shape decisions that are yours alone to make in a private setting.

Yes, and solo safaris are among the most rewarding experiences we create. A solo traveller is not a limitation — it is a different kind of freedom. Without the need to accommodate others' preferences, your guide can follow the wildlife wherever it leads, you set the pace of every day, and the experience becomes deeply personal. Many of our most memorable safari moments have been for solo travellers who came alone and left feeling they had encountered Tanzania in a way that would not have been possible in a group. We have a network of solo-traveller-friendly ultra-luxury camps and can design an itinerary that is entirely yours.

Every private safari with Bobby Safaris uses a custom-built 4x4 safari vehicle — open-sided or closed depending on your preference and the season — with a dedicated, highly experienced guide. Our guides are not drivers playing the role of naturalist; they are expert naturalists who also happen to be exceptional drivers in rough terrain. Most have been guiding for 15 to 25 years and know individual animals and their behaviours intimately. For ultra-luxury trips, the vehicle will be equipped with quality optics, reference materials, a cooler with cold drinks, and whatever else makes the hours in the field comfortable and complete.

At the ultra-luxury tier, camps are small by design — typically 6 to 14 tents or suites — so the property never feels busy. Several of the properties we recommend are genuinely exclusive: Mwiba Lodge has just 4 suites; Risonare Suites has 5; some private conservancy camps have only 3 or 4 tents. You may share the bar or dining area with a handful of other guests, but you will never feel part of a crowd. If complete seclusion is what you want, we can prioritise properties that have only ever accommodated one booking at a time.

Private conservancies are wildlife concessions adjacent to or within the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem that are owned and managed by private operators rather than the Tanzanian National Parks authority. They offer several significant advantages for the ultra-luxury traveller. First, they allow off-road driving — your vehicle can follow a leopard through the bush rather than staying on a marked track. Second, they offer bush walks, which national parks do not. Third, they have dramatically lower vehicle densities — you may see no other vehicles during an entire morning drive. Fourth, conservancy fees support local communities and conservation directly, which matters to many of our guests. The wildlife is the same; the experience is categorically more intimate.

For some travellers, absolutely; for others, a small group experience is equally meaningful and more social. The case for a fully private safari is strongest when: you are travelling with a specific interest that others might not share (photography, birding, a particular animal behaviour); you want complete flexibility about when you eat, sleep, and drive; you are on a honeymoon or similar occasion where privacy itself is part of the experience; or you are a single traveller who wants the full weight of a guide's attention. We will be honest with you about whether the premium is worth it for your specific situation — there is no universal answer.

The migration river crossings at the Mara River (July–October) draw significant numbers of visitors, and at the most famous crossing points, you will not be entirely alone. That said, a skilled guide and strategic timing can create remarkable privacy even during peak season — crossing points are long, and most vehicles arrive at predictable times. The greater opportunity for genuine solitude is the calving season (January–March) in the southern Serengeti and the Nduta area, where the migration herds are spread across vast, lightly visited terrain. We can also take you to private conservancies where migration wildlife is present without the concentration at the public crossing points.