How park fees make an African safari expensive

18/01/14 12:12

Thankfully there are national parks and reserves to protect the wildlife and to preserve the African bush as much as possible. That needs manpower and material and is funded through the visitors of the parks. As civilization has become more and more a thread to unspoiled wildlife areas and in other areas former agricultural areas can be reverted into bush, the efforts had to be increased to protect and reinstate the natural conditions to let the amazing wildlife survive. That means in other words park fees have increase quite a lot.

The Masai Mara in Kenya park fee is USD 80 per person per day and in the Serengeti USD 60 per person per day. That is the price of an average hotel room per night or a budget flight to any destination in Europe. And it is charged for every day you are in the park, which makes it a main factor of your African safari holiday price. As a result lower priced safaris stay only shortly in the park to avoid the fees, which reduces overall the number of visitors to the park. That has the good effect, that the impact on the eco system is reduced.

However when planning your safari budget reserve an amount for park fees to keep it realistic and not to get disappointed when the fees increase the total rate. They are there for a good reason. Without the park there wouldn’t be any lion anymore.

Happy conservation minded safari travelling!