Questions about the money

Because it divides its rent, staff, vehicles, fuel and flown-in supplies across eighteen guests rather than eighty, and because the lease that caps it at nine tents is held over an enormous area that has to be paid for regardless.

You are buying the land around the camp rather than the camp. That is the honest description of the product.

Within limits, and the effective levers are structural rather than cosmetic: move into a shoulder month, reduce to two regions, and keep three nights at each camp.

What does not work is a cheaper camp on public park land. That buys Botswana’s price without Botswana’s product, which is the worst of both.

For the Kalahari and the pans, emphatically — that is their season, when the rain brings grass, zebra and the predators behind them, and rates are at their lowest.

For the Delta it is more of a trade: lower water means fewer water activities, and some areas are harder to reach. Worth doing deliberately rather than by accident.

The mechanism is a lease with fees payable on it rather than only on occupancy, so a community-held concession is paid whether or not guests come. That much is how the structure works.

Whether any particular trust is well run is not something we are in a position to audit, and we will not vouch for it. Trusts generally publish their own arrangements and we would rather point you at that.

On a first safari with a fixed modest budget, quite possibly yes — more big cats, more variety, cheaper logistics and a deep field of camps at every level.

Go to Botswana when the emptiness or the water is the point, or on a second trip after East Africa. We are paid more on a Botswana booking, which is why that sentence is worth something.

Ten nights is the realistic minimum for two regions done properly, and twelve to fourteen for three. Almost every move is a light aircraft leg costing the better part of a day.

A seven-night Botswana trip spends too much of itself flying, and it is the length at which the country most often disappoints.

A Botswana safari is usually quoted fully inclusive: accommodation, all meals, park and conservancy fees, your guide and vehicle, and transport between parks. Most camps include soft drinks, house wine, beer and laundry.

Not included: international flights, visas or travel authorisation, travel insurance, tips, premium drinks, and extras like balloon flights and spa treatments.

For July to October — the migration months in the Masai Mara — six to twelve months is normal, and the best small camps sell out first. Christmas and New Year book up just as early.

For the shoulder months, three to four months is usually comfortable. Inside eight weeks we can still put a very good trip together, but you are choosing from what is left rather than from everything.

This site is a planning guide. When you send an enquiry it goes to Nomad Africa, our partner travel agency in Kenya, who prepare your itinerary and quote and handle the booking, the payments and you on the ground.

You deal with one team from the first email to the airport transfer home.

No. Sending your dates, getting an itinerary and getting a costed quote is free and carries no obligation. Money only changes hands when you decide to hold space at a camp.