About the word, and the work behind it

Ask what their standard itinerary for your country and length is — everybody has one — and then see whether your draft is that with two substitutions.

The stronger test: does the draft contain a camp you had not heard of, an unusual order, and a reason for both? That only happens when somebody worked from the brief.

The planning is free either way, and the trip can go in either direction. A brief that prioritises nights over famous names produces a cheaper trip than the circuit. A brief that asks for a private guide throughout produces a more expensive one.

The word itself has no price attached to it.

First draft within 24 hours. Two or three revisions over a week or two is normal, and most of that elapsed time is you deciding rather than us working.

That is a normal starting point and a perfectly good brief. Say what you would hate instead — long transfers, early starts, crowds, small aircraft — and what you would want to be true of one day.

Negative constraints narrow a route almost as fast as positive ones, and they are easier to be honest about.

Yes, and we publish a whole page arguing it. For a first safari of seven nights in one country in peak season, the standard circuits are usually cheaper and marginally better, and saying so is a worse sale and a better answer.

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.

A Africa 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.

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.