At Big Wild, we believe children are never too young to truly enjoy a safari! Watching children explore and discover nature, and sharing magical safari moments together guarantees huge amounts of family fun and memories that will last for life. Not to mention…sometimes the things of storybooks you encounter on safari – tall giraffes, giant ant mounds, enormous elephant will ignite a child’s curiosity and imagination, and a passion for travel, for nature, for exploration.

Powerful questions about important themes – extinction, conservation, sustainability, the circle of life… While some safari destinations and lodges have a minimum age limit (usually 6 years old), there are still many destinations and lodges geared towards welcoming young travellers – with everything taken care of from travel cots, child minders, child-friendly menus, to amazing fun children’s activities in and around the lodges. Tracking footprints, a ‘dudu’ safari walking looking for and identifying different insects, baking biscuits in the safari lodge kitchen, taking a dip in the pool and more!

For families with children on safari, we highly recommend staying at an exclusive property. Exclusive properties are usually for groups or families of 6 or more guests. Here, you will have complete control of your timing and flexibility around your day-to-day schedule, and this is the best for peace of mind and relaxation, quality of the safari experience, and tailoring each day to accommodate the whole groups’ needs. From timing activities around nap times and children’s concentration spans, to planning early kids dinner and a minder to play with the children quietly while the adults have supper. You have total free reign, and do not need to worry about disturbing any other guests.

If staying at a non-exclusive property or lodge, we recommend at least securing an exclusive vehicle for game drives – this allows you to easily tailor the game drive experience, and to head back to the lodge when it suits you and your children best.