Each destination has its own set of pages covering costs, timing, comparisons and preparation, structured the same way so they can be compared against each other.
The most accessible way into a first safari, and the destination where the budget is decided by one choice: self-drive Kruger or a guided private reserve. The two differ by a factor rather than a margin, and both are legitimate trips. Flights from Europe are the second-largest line, and the gap between departure hubs is wide enough to plan around.
See the full breakdown →
A self-drive country, where the cost driver is distance rather than accommodation. Sossusvlei and Etosha sit far apart, and the vehicle decision affects the total more than which lodges you book. Long stretches have no fuel, no signal and no shops, so preparation carries more weight here than anywhere else.
See the full breakdown →
The most expensive destination covered here, and the one where understanding what you are paying for matters most. The Okavango Delta is a fly-in, water-based trip with real remoteness attached to a real price. Chobe is drive-in via Kasane, land-based, and materially cheaper for elephant numbers that are hard to beat anywhere.
See the full breakdown →
A trip built around a single line item. The gorilla trekking permit dominates the budget to a degree that has no equivalent in the other destinations, and everything else is secondary to securing one. Permits are limited and sell out well ahead, so the booking window is the constraint rather than the price.
See the full breakdown →
Not a single destination, but three real ways to combine countries already covered here: Namibia + Botswana self-drive, Uganda + Kilimanjaro + Zanzibar, and South Africa + Victoria Falls. Combining adds a layer none of the single-country trips carry — visa fees and border charges that stack per crossing, and a routing order that changes the total more than any single stop does.
See the full breakdown →
Chile's flagship trek, and the one where the calendar matters more than the money. The O and W circuits book out within days of the season opening, refugio by refugio, so the real cost of going cheap is going in the wrong month or not at all. Puma tracking is the one add-on worth pricing separately — it isn't included in a standard trek.
See the full breakdown →
Argentina's trekking capital, built around free trails to Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre with no permit required — the real cost driver is the day trip to Perito Moreno glacier and how you get there. A FlexiPass covers both ends of Los Glaciares National Park on one ticket, which most visitors don't realise until they've already paid twice.
See the full breakdown →
A self-drive road trip through Chilean Patagonia, not a single stop — 1,000+ km of mostly gravel, three ferry crossings with limited daily capacity, and long stretches with no fuel. The one-way drop fee for ending somewhere other than where you rented is the line every self-drive budget misses.
See the full breakdown →Each region also has a paid guide: every live destination in one file, with route maps and a booking directory, for reading offline or planning a multi-stop trip in one place.
42 pages. Six destinations in one file, with ten route maps and a booking directory.
About this guide →53 pages. Six destinations across Chile and Argentina, with seven route maps and a booking directory.
About this guide →