10 Things to Avoid on Safari – What not to do on a safari in Africa
We will be discussing some etiquette to practice while on an African Safari. Under what not to do on a safari in Africa, and what to avoid on Safari so as not to fall into legal problems in our various safari destinations in East Africa.
Once you’ve planned your first African safari, you’re sure to have plenty of questions. That’s fine – it is totally normal for a first-timer! That’s why we created our African safari blog to keep inspiring and guiding you on what’s best for your holidays in Africa.
One of the questions we receive quite frequently is not what to do on safari, but in fact, what people don’t keep in mind is what not to do on a safari in Africa. This is a frequent question from our guests, and this helps them understand better how to behave and interact with people.
We have had so many cases from our park and wildlife authorities of how guests tend to misbehave or molest wildlife in certain ways just to see what will happen. Some other cases are when guests tend to threaten their lives by coming out of vehicles while on game drives.
So we will highlight some of the things to avoid on Safari, as well as what not to do on a safari in Africa, so that this can help you further.
What not to do on a safari in Africa – Etiquette Guide on safari
In case you are thinking of planning a safari in Africa that is more impactful and that makes a change, the best thing is to follow the best dos and don’ts of an African Safari. Below we will highlight 10 things that you should avoid while on an African safari holiday.
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Don’t wear bright clothes
While in your initial planning days, you should look for recommended clothes that you should pack for your safari in Africa. It’s recommended to carry dull or environmentally friendly clothes such as beige and jungle green outfits.
Bright clothes tend to attract wildlife’s attention, and hence, you, as a guest while on a game drive, will be the center of attention from wildlife. This can lead to dangerous attacks by wildlife such as the big cats and Big Five wildlife species.
Hence, we recommend dull-colored clothes that tend to match nature and earth colors. Wildlife won’t actually notice you easily.
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Don’t shout while on Game Drives
While on a game drive, don’t shout, call animals names, or make noise with music, stories, or laughing out loud. These noises make wildlife a bit uncomfortable as well as create attention, making them want to follow the noise, or rather know what’s distracting them.
We know it is so an exciting and happy moment to spot the animal of your dreams, such as a lion, leopard, or cheetah, or a rare sighting like a melanistic leopard. Don’t be tempted to shout or make noise.
While on a sighting, please keep quiet; your guide will switch off the engine and let you enjoy the sighting with ease. If you want to talk, we recommend doing so in a low tone or whisper.
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Don’t come out of your vehicle while on game drives
It’s so easy to forget and just come out of your safari vehicle while on a game drive. All our East African Parks and reserves have designated places where you are allowed to alight, maybe to take a short call or stretch, or for your bush breakfast or lunch.
Getting out of the vehicle is actually dangerous, and risking your life is not something you would want to do. The wild has so many kinds of wild animals, including reptiles and insects. Apart from the big cats, it’s easy to get bitten by a snake or anything while outside the vehicle.
What not to do on a safari in Africa while on a game drive is get out of the jeep. Most big cats are camouflaged, and it’s easy not to notice a lion in the grass or a leopard up a tree while you alight, and you might be risking your life by just alighting anywhere in the parks or reserves.
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Show respect to the locals
As much as you love and enjoy interacting with the locals or anyone else, please keep in mind to respect the locals and their culture. As part of our ‘What not to do on a safari in Africa’ note, you should understand that African cultures and behaviors are strictly followed, and it would be bad to disrespect them.
A good example applies when on a safari in East Africa and visiting a Maasai Community Village. These community still practice their ancient traditional values and cultures up to date. If in case you disrespect one of them, they might as well not approach you in a friendly manner.
We advise our guests to enjoy these traditional practices, try to merge, and try to show interest in learning them, and you will leave that place with a heart full of happiness and satisfaction.
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Don’t buy animal products
Cheetah Safaris respects and protects wildlife. We are a serious environmentalist and a sustainable safari company. We don’t support wildlife poaching and killing. We try our best to practice sustainable safari practices and educate, create awareness in our local communities, and show them how wildlife is important to us and to our future generations.
In that case, we fight daily and advocate for wildlife rights. One of these is not buying or possessing a wildlife product, or carrying a wildlife piece, or taking any wildlife with you back home. This can lead you to be arrested and serve long terms in jail.
If you buy any animal product, you will actually support wildlife poaching, which is truly killing our wildlife species, such as elephants and rhinos, and our future generations won’t enjoy seeing them as much as we do. For them to enjoy themselves, we have to protect them.
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Respect Your Safari Guides
Our Safari Guides are the most important people you will have in your entire safari holiday with us. Safari guides spend more than 80% time with you while on safari. The relationship you build between him and you dictates how your entire safari holiday will be.
By respecting them, you encourage them to work better and even do some amazing services for you that could cost you on the way. They know better than anyone, and respecting what they tell you not to do, please respect that.
Our Safari guides are all silver and gold guides. Be sure to have a very engaging, amazing, and interactive African Safari Holiday with us at Cheetah Safaris.
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Don’t expect to see lots of wildlife
Wildlife in Africa lives in its own natural habitat, where it is born and grows naturally. They are wild, and they move from one place to the other easily. Some spend time in the shade, up trees, and others in holes and caves. Hence hard to spot them.
The best time to visit East Africa and enjoy wildlife sightings is between January and March, and July to October of every year. Even though these are the best seasons, at times you wouldn’t be lucky to spot lots of wildlife.
We, therefore, advise guests to understand that on game drives, you might be lucky to spot 4 pride of lions and in the evening not see a single lion or cheetah for 2 to 3 hours, which is normal, and can easily happen even for 2 to 3 days.
So, while on game drives, don’t expect to see lots of cheetahs hunting or lion pride busking, just enjoy the beauty of nature and be happy with the beautiful scenery.
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Don’t rush your safari guide
While visiting Africa for a safari, you might be in the company of your friends or family, or even colleagues. In this scenario, you might be having 2 or more safari vehicles on game drives. And when enjoying sighting in different areas within the park, one of your family members calls you, they have sighted a lion.
Don’t rush your guide to go and see the lion. They know better and might know when best to visit the sighting in order for you to have a premium spot to see. They understand better how wildlife behaves and where they can spot others.
The best way to ensure you maximize your wildlife sighting is you have a list of wildlife you would love to see while on a game drive, and share the list with your guide. He will try his best to see if they will spot anything that is on your list.
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Don’t leave your mineral water and snacks
A game drive can be at times exciting and long due to some interesting sightings such as a hunt. This can take up to 3 hours while you wait to see what happens. In the long run, you can get hungry, thirsty, or need something just to bite.
We recommend you have some snacks and drinks to keep you full while on game drives. At Cheetah Safaris, we offer snacks and drinks to our guests while on game drives, and they are available all throughout your safari.
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Rushing about from one sighting to the next
As we have seen above, don’t rush from one sighting to the other just because others have seen something interesting. There is the beauty of just being alone in a different sighting. It’s not good to go to a sighting where vehicles are crowded.
If in case you hear of a sighting, and it’s a bit far from where you are, better just to stay around and check the other sighting as just a missed one. You might go from the current sighting to the other only to waste a lot of time, and miss it.
The best way is to plan with your guide on what you would want to see the next day, and the guide will advise you on where you will start off from the crack of dawn. This will help you plan your itinerary accordingly to avoid mishaps and quick movements.
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Don’t feed the animals
This is the most common rule that is found in most parks and reserves. Don’t feed the animals. This is because animals will start depending on you for food, instead of letting them be independent and be natural in how they find food.
Sometimes, whatever is fed to animals becomes so bad for them that they fall sick or even die due to changes in their food. We discourage our guests from feeding wild animals to maintain their independence in survival in the wild.
