🌍Africa

Fifty four countries, and most American families are choosing between about six of them. This page is about choosing well

Continent Guide

Africa Family Travel Guide

“Africa is not a destination. Deciding between Marrakech and the Serengeti is like deciding between Lisbon and Helsinki.”

By Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor and Certified Travel Advisor · I traveled Egypt in 2006.

A safari tent camp pitched on the plains beside the Maasai Mara in Kenya

Nicole’s Perspective

I have stood in one African country, Egypt, once, in 2006. What I have is the planning side, and the planning side is where families go wrong with Africa. They start by picking a lodge from a photograph. Then they discover the camp will not take their eight year old, or that the month they booked is the wet season, or that the park fees add two thousand dollars, or that Kruger is a malaria area and they have a five year old.

So this page runs in the order the decisions actually happen. Which country. Do you want a safari at all. The malaria and age question, which is the one that quietly decides everything. What it really costs. Then the country guides underneath, each written the same honest way.

Explore Africa by Country

Five full guides so far, each one written the same way. Who it suits, who should skip it, what it costs and what nobody tells you. The order below is recommendation priority, not alphabetical.

South Africa

Egypt

Morocco

Kenya

Tanzania

Which Country First

This is the question I get more than any other about Africa and the answer is almost never the country people had in mind.

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First trip, children under ten, want a safari. South Africa. Malaria free reserves exist, English is everywhere, you can drive yourself, hospitals are excellent, and Cape Town at the end is one of the great family cities on earth. It costs roughly a third of East Africa. There is no close second for a first trip.

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Want history rather than animals. Egypt. Nothing else on the continent makes an eleven year old go silent the way the Great Pyramid does. Best done as a Nile cruise with a guide, in winter, with children seven and up.

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Want somewhere different without a punishing flight. Morocco. Seven hours from the east coast, under three from Europe, no visa, no malaria, no vaccinations, and a country that feels a world away from the moment you land. The gentlest entry point to the continent.

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Second safari, older children, budget is there. Kenya or Tanzania. This is where the imagined Africa lives. The Mara, the Serengeti, Ngorongoro, the migration. It is twice the price of South Africa, it requires antimalarials, and it is worth it once your kids are eight or older.

A dirt road winding between tall baobab trees in Madagascar

Madagascar. There is no guide for it here yet and that is an honest gap, not an oversight. It is high on the list

The Safari Question, Before You Book One

Almost every American family who goes to Africa goes for the animals. Worth knowing what you are actually buying.

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A safari day is not a relaxing day. Five thirty wake up, three hours in an open vehicle, back for breakfast, hot middle of the day, out again at four, back after dark. Repeat. It is thrilling and it is demanding, and four or five nights of it is the right dose for a family. Six or more and children start asking to stay at the lodge.

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Nothing is guaranteed and that is the point. You may not see a leopard. You will almost certainly not see a river crossing on a given morning. A guide who says otherwise is selling. What you are buying is time in a place where remarkable things happen without warning, and children handle that uncertainty far better than adults do.

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Private vehicle is the upgrade that matters most for a family. Not the room, not the lodge, the vehicle. It lets you set the length of the drive, turn back when someone has had enough, and stop for the small things children actually love, the dung beetles and the mongooses, without a stranger sighing behind you. It also unlocks lower minimum ages at many camps.

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Attach a beach. Zanzibar after Tanzania, Diani after Kenya, Cape Town after Kruger. Whatever you do, do not end a safari with a long flight home the next morning. The beach at the end is what turns it from an expedition into a trip.

Malaria and Minimum Ages, the Two Constraints Nobody Reads First

These two questions decide more African itineraries than budget does, and most families meet them after they have chosen a lodge.

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Malaria free Africa is a short list

The Eastern Cape reserves, Madikwe and the Waterberg in South Africa, plus Morocco and Egypt, which have no malaria risk at all. Kenya, Tanzania and Kruger all require prophylaxis. If you are not willing to give a young child a daily antimalarial, that list is your continent.

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Camp minimum ages are real

Six, eight, twelve and sixteen are all common minimums for game drives, buried in the small print. A private vehicle often removes the restriction. Ask before you fall in love with a photograph, in East Africa especially.

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Yellow fever is about your route, not your destination

Kenya and Tanzania require a certificate if you arrive from a country with risk, which includes transiting some African hubs. Check your exact routing, not just your final country, and see a travel clinic six weeks out.

What It Costs, Continent Wide

Africa is not one price. The spread between a Moroccan riad week and a Serengeti fortnight is bigger than the spread between any two European countries.

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Morocco and Egypt are the value end. A family of four can do ten good days in either for three to six thousand dollars on the ground, and the food, drivers and guides are cheap enough that you upgrade rather than economise. Egypt with the pound where it is currently delivers more per dollar than almost anywhere I sell.

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South Africa sits in the middle and it is the bargain of the continent. Eight to fourteen thousand for a family of four for two weeks including a proper safari, a rental car and Cape Town. The rand makes restaurants and wine feel almost free.

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Kenya and Tanzania are the expensive end and there is no way around it. Fifteen to thirty thousand for a family of four for ten to fourteen days, before international flights. Park fees alone run to thousands. A cheap East African safari is a bad East African safari, which is the honest reason I steer first timers to South Africa.

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The costs people forget. Park and conservancy fees per person per day, charter flights between camps, guide and staff tipping which runs to hundreds over a week, visas or travel authorisations per person including children, vaccinations, antimalarials and evacuation insurance. Add fifteen to twenty percent to any lodge based estimate.

Getting There

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North Africa is closer than you think. New York to Marrakech or Cairo is seven to eleven hours. From Europe it is two to four. If you are already going to Portugal or Spain, adding Morocco costs you a short hop and no jet lag.

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Southern and East Africa is a long haul and the time zones are kind. New York to Johannesburg direct is around fifteen hours. Nairobi is a similar length via Europe or the Gulf. But almost all of Africa sits within a few hours of European time, so from the east coast of the United States you land six or seven hours off and the jet lag is mild. It is a long flight, not a wrecked week.

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Fly open jaw wherever you can. Into one city and out of another. Johannesburg in, Cape Town out. Nairobi in, Mombasa or Zanzibar out. Backtracking across these countries costs a full day every time.

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Watch the internal luggage limits. Safari charter flights in Kenya and Tanzania cap you at fifteen kilos per person in a soft bag with no wheels. This catches almost every first timer. Camps launder daily. Pack accordingly and leave the hard case at the city hotel.

Victoria Falls on the Zambezi river at sunset

Victoria Falls on the Zambia and Zimbabwe border. Another one with no guide here yet. The list of gaps is longer than the list of pages and that is honest

When to Go

There is no single African season. The continent straddles the equator, so the north and the south are in opposite years and the middle runs on rain rather than temperature.

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North Africa. Winter and shoulder

Egypt is November to February, firmly. Morocco is March to May and September to November. Both are dangerous heat in July and August inland, and Upper Egypt in summer is not safe for young children.

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East Africa. Dry season or calving

June to October is the classic dry window with the migration in the Mara from July. January and February is the calving season in the southern Serengeti and it is the better value family window. Avoid the long rains in April and May.

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Southern Africa. Winter for game, summer for the Cape

May to September is southern winter, the best game viewing and the lowest malaria risk. November to March is Cape Town at its best and busiest. Late September is the compromise that makes both halves work.

The Regions of Africa at a Glance

North Africa. Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya. Mediterranean and Arabic speaking, no malaria, short flights from Europe, and the two great civilisational trips on the continent. This is where a family that has never been to Africa should start.

East Africa. Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia. The safari heartland and the most expensive part of the continent. Rwanda and Uganda add gorilla trekking, which has a hard minimum age of fifteen and a permit price to match.

Southern Africa. South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique. Big wildlife with good infrastructure. Namibia is the great self drive country, Botswana the Okavango Delta at premium prices, and Victoria Falls sits between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

West Africa. Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Ivory Coast. Culturally rich beyond words, very little tourism infrastructure aimed at families, and rarely a first trip. Ghana in particular is growing fast for travelers tracing family history.

The islands. Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Cabo Verde, Zanzibar. Wildly different from one another. Madagascar is a wildlife destination that exists nowhere else, Mauritius and the Seychelles are beach trips with African prices attached to European standards.

Doing Africa With Children

Poppy marks the family parts. Wherever you see her, that section is written for travelling with children.

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Six is the working floor for safari and eight is where it gets good. Below six you are paying a great deal for a child who will sleep through the lions. North Africa is more forgiving, and Morocco in particular works at any age if you base somewhere calm.

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Sort the health admin early. Travel clinic six weeks out, not two. Antimalarials are dosed by weight for children. Yellow fever depends on your routing. Evacuation insurance is not optional in remote camps and many lodges require proof of it.

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Prime them. Africa is the continent where twenty minutes of preparation transforms a child’s experience. Names of animals, what a pyramid was for, what apartheid was, how a medina is laid out. A child who arrives knowing something arrives curious instead of overwhelmed.

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Children are welcomed here in a way they are not everywhere. Across every country on this page, from a Marrakech souk to a Kenyan camp, your kids will be greeted, fed, fussed over and taken seriously. It is one of the real reasons to bring them rather than wait.

The Visas, and the One Certificate That Matters

Africa is not one visa regime, it is fifty four of them. Here is what actually applies to the countries in this guide, and it is less painful than people expect.

🇿🇦 South Africa. Nothing to file. US passport holders are stamped in for ninety days on arrival. Bring at least two completely blank facing pages in every passport, children included, because South Africa enforces that one and people get turned around at check in for it.

🇲🇦 Morocco. Nothing to file. Ninety days on arrival. This is a large part of why Morocco is the gentlest way onto the continent for a first trip.

🇰🇪 Kenya. An Electronic Travel Authorisation, applied for online, currently around thirty two dollars per person, children included. Apply at least three days ahead. It is single entry, so if your route pops over to Tanzania and back you need to think about that before you book.

🇹🇿 Tanzania. An e visa, and US passport holders pay one hundred dollars while most other nationalities pay fifty. That is not a mistake and it is not a scam site. Americans are issued a twelve month multiple entry visa by reciprocity, so the higher price buys you more. For a family of five that is five hundred dollars of visas, so put it in the budget on day one.

🇪🇬 Egypt. An e visa online for around twenty five dollars, or a visa on arrival stamp at Cairo for the same. Get the e visa. Standing in the arrivals hall buying stamps with three tired children is not the start you want.

💉 Now the certificate. Yellow fever is the one piece of paper that can actually stop you boarding. Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda all require a yellow fever vaccination certificate if you are arriving from, or have transited through, a country where yellow fever is present. That includes long layovers. A connection through certain African hubs can turn a trip that needed nothing into a trip that needs the card. Uganda requires it of everyone regardless of route.

The vaccine is a single dose, it is good for life under current guidance, and the yellow card is only valid ten days after you get it. So this is a six weeks out task, not a two weeks out task. Get it at a travel clinic, keep the card with the passports, and photograph it.

🦟 And the pills. Antimalarials are a prescription, they start before you arrive and continue after you leave, and the paediatric dosing depends on weight rather than age. Book that appointment at the same time as the yellow fever one. There is more on malaria and minimum ages further up this page.

The Luggage Rule That Catches Everybody

If your safari involves a bush flight, and most of the good ones do, this single rule will shape what you pack more than anything else.

The small planes that move you between camps in Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and Zambia are usually twelve or thirteen seat Cessna Caravans. The standard allowance is fifteen kilos per person, which is about thirty three pounds, and that is your total. Checked and carry on together. Camera bag included.

It has to be a soft bag. No wheels, no frame, no hard shell. Duffel style, so it can be squeezed into a curved hold that is not much bigger than a car trunk. Some operators allow twenty kilos, some are stricter, and a few will weigh you as well as your bag because the pilot is running a real weight and balance calculation, not making a point.

What this means in practice for a family. You cannot bring a suitcase per person. You bring one soft duffel each and you plan to do laundry, which every decent camp does daily and usually includes. Three or four outfits is the whole answer. Wear your heaviest boots and your bulkiest jacket onto the plane rather than packing them.

💡 The workaround nobody tells you is that most city hotels in Nairobi, Arusha, Johannesburg and Cape Town will store your excess bag for free while you are in the bush. So you can travel to Africa with a normal suitcase, repack into a duffel the night before the bush flight, and pick the rest up on the way home. Ask me to arrange the store and the repack night, because it removes the entire problem.

🐕 One more. Binoculars are the single thing families under pack and most regret. One pair per child, not one pair for the car. A cheap pair each beats one good pair fought over, and it changes a child’s whole safari from watching adults look at things to looking at things.

The Africa That Is Not A Safari

Most families arrive at this continent thinking safari, and safari is wonderful. It is also expensive, age restricted and seasonal, and it is not the only door in.

Cape Town is a city holiday that happens to sit under a mountain. Beaches, a cable car, penguins at Boulders, wine country an hour away for the adults and the V and A Waterfront for the kids. No malaria. Costs a fraction of what safari does. If your children are too young for a game reserve, this is where I would send you instead of waiting three years.

Victoria Falls is a two country stop that works as a bolt on. Livingstone on the Zambian side, Victoria Falls town on the Zimbabwean. Highest water is roughly February to May, best visibility is later when the spray drops. There is a lot for teenagers here, from the gorge to the river, and it pairs naturally with Botswana or with a Cape Town trip.

Zanzibar is where the safari week goes to lie down. Two hours by air from the Serengeti and a completely different country in feel, with Stone Town, spice farms and a long stretch of beach. It is the standard second half of a Tanzania trip for a reason. Note that the tide goes a very long way out on the east coast, which matters when you are choosing where to stay with small children.

Gorillas are a separate category of trip. Rwanda charges fifteen hundred dollars per person for a permit and Uganda charges eight hundred. Both set a minimum age of fifteen and neither bends on it. It is a serious hike at altitude, it is an hour with the family once you find them, and everyone who has done it describes it the same way. If you have a teenager and a real budget, this is the one to build a trip around. Younger family in the group can do golden monkey trekking or a chimp trek instead on the same days.

And Morocco and Egypt are their own thing entirely. Both are further up this page. Neither needs a vaccination, a permit or a dry season, which is exactly why they are the two I point most first time families toward.

Money, Tipping and Staying Connected

Two practical things that surprise people, and one that saves an argument on day one.

Bring more cash than feels sensible, in US dollars. Camp and lodge tipping across East and Southern Africa is done in cash, and card machines in the bush either do not exist or do not work. A week of guide, tracker and camp staff tipping for a family runs into the hundreds. Bring clean, unmarked bills printed in the last decade or so, because older or torn notes get refused in Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Small denominations, since nobody is making change for a hundred.

What is normal. Your safari guide is the big one, then the tracker, then a communal staff box for the camp, and then porters and drivers separately. Any decent camp will hand you a printed guideline on arrival and there is no shame in asking your lodge directly. Ask me before you go and I will give you a number per day per family so you can count it out at home rather than doing arithmetic in a tent.

Get an eSIM before you fly. South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Morocco and Egypt are all well covered, it costs a few dollars for the week, and it means the group chat works the second you land instead of after a queue at a kiosk. Camps run on satellite internet that is fine for a message and hopeless for a video call, and that is part of the point.

Plugs and power. South Africa uses its own large round three pin plug that your universal adapter may not cover, so check that specifically. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda use the UK style three pin. Morocco and Egypt use the European two pin. Bush camps often run on generators or solar with limited hours, and some tents have no socket at all, which is worth knowing before you rely on charging a camera overnight.

Where I Would Actually Start

If you handed me your family and one African trip, this is the order I would go in and the reasons.

1. South Africa

The best first Africa trip that exists for a family. Malaria free safari is possible, you drive yourself, everything is in English, the medical infrastructure is real, and Cape Town is the reward at the end. It also costs a third of East Africa, which means you can afford to go now instead of in five years.

2. Egypt

The trip your children will describe to their own children. Do it as a Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan with a private Egyptologist, in January, with kids seven and up. Remarkable value right now.

3. Morocco

The gentlest way onto the continent and the shortest flight. No visa, no vaccinations, no malaria, and it works with any age of child provided you do not base in the middle of the Marrakech medina.

4. Kenya

The safari of the imagination, and the conservancy model beside the Mara is the best family wildlife product in Africa. Go when your children are eight or older and the budget is there. Add Diani at the end.

5. Tanzania

The biggest version. The Serengeti and Ngorongoro have no substitutes, Zanzibar is the best beach finish on the continent, and it is the most expensive trip on this list. Save it for when you already know your family loves this.

The gaps are real and I am not going to hide them. There is no guide here yet for Namibia, Botswana, Madagascar, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe or Ghana, and several of those are trips I would recommend without hesitation. They are being written. This grid is built to absorb them.

Combine It With

Europe

Morocco is under three hours from Lisbon and the ferry from Tangier to Spain takes an hour. A week of Europe and a week of North Africa is one of the best value two continent trips there is.

Asia

The Gulf carriers connect East Africa to Asia efficiently, and if you are routing through Dubai or Doha anyway a few days on either side costs you almost nothing.

South America

The other long haul continent with different wildlife. If Africa is out of budget this year, the Galapagos and the Amazon do something similar for a child at a different price.