The audit
A beautiful PDF tells you almost nothing
Cover photograph, day-by-day narrative, eleven camp names, a large number at the bottom. Whether it is a considered plan or a template with your dates typed into it is not visible from the outside — but it is answerable, in nine questions.
How to read one
Four ways to test a plan you have been sent
All of them work on any itinerary from anybody, ours included. That is rather the point of publishing them.
The nine questions
Land type, nights per place, moves, vehicle, fees, inclusions, cancellation terms, ground operator, and why these camps.
Work through them
What the words mean
"Luxury tented camp", "near the Mara", "all inclusive", "private guide". Industry shorthand, all of it precise the moment you ask.
The glossary
Comparing two quotes
Different totals for the same trip are almost never margin. Five things that explain nearly every gap.
Rebuild both
What good looks like
Fewer places than you expected, three nights in most of them, and one thing you asked for politely declined with a reason.
The standard
What it should cost
What each nightly band genuinely buys, and the four lines that sit on top of it and are easy to miss.
The bands
Asking for changes
"Fewer places, more nights in each" is a normal instruction. So is "what would this look like cheaper?"
How to askThe tell
A plan that agrees with everything you said is a plan nobody thought about
This is the most reliable single test we know, and it costs nothing to apply. A considered itinerary contains at least one thing you did not ask for, and at least one thing you did ask for that has been declined with a reason.
Somebody who knows the ground will push back. They will tell you that three countries does not fit ten nights, that the camp you found is lovely and in the wrong place for your dates, or that the extra $400 a night you were about to spend would do more as a private vehicle.
An itinerary that reflects your wish list back at you, beautifully laid out, has been assembled rather than planned.
- Count the places. Fewer is usually the sign of more thought, not less
- Look for a sentence about why these camps, in terms of you
- Check whether the vehicle arrangement is stated at all
- See whether anything has been talked you out of
Free download
The Itinerary Audit
Nine questions, the glossary of phrases that mean less than they sound, and a method for comparing quotes written to be incomparable.
- Why a beautiful PDF tells you nothing
- The nine questions
- Phrases that mean less than they sound
- What should be itemised, and what usually is not
- Comparing two quotes fairly
- When a cheap quote is genuinely cheaper
- What good actually looks like
- How to ask for changes without starting again
No cost, no obligation. We ask for an email so we can send it and, if you want it, follow up once.
Before you ask
Questions about reading a plan
Will you tell me my itinerary is bad so I book with you?
We will tell you what is strong in it, which is usually a fair amount, and what we would ask about. Often the answer is that it is a decent plan with two questions attached, and the honest advice is to put those questions to whoever wrote it.
We would rather be useful and lose the booking than manufacture a problem. The nine questions are published here precisely so you do not have to take our word for any of it.
Two quotes for the same trip differ by thousands. Why?
Almost never margin. It is usually one of five things: a different land type, a shared rather than private vehicle, fees in or out of the headline, a different number of internal flights, or dates that fall in a different season band.
Rebuild both onto the same basis and the gap frequently closes to very little. Where it does not, at least you know what you are buying with the difference.
Is it rude to ask for an itinerary to be changed?
No, and anyone worth using expects it. Most good itineraries take two or three passes; the first one is a proposal, not a verdict.
"Fewer places, more nights in each" is a normal instruction, and so is asking what the same trip would look like at a lower total. The answer to the second is usually one fewer place.
What is the single most useful question to ask?
What land is each camp on, and where do its game drives actually go? It decides walking, night drives, off-road driving and how many vehicles reach a sighting — which is most of what a day feels like.
A one-sentence answer exists for every camp in Africa. An evasive reply is informative in itself.
Who actually arranges my safari?
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.
Second opinion
Send us what you have been sent
Paste it in or describe it. We will tell you what is strong in it, what we would question, and whether it is worth asking the original planner rather than starting again.
Our Africa specialist replies within 24 hours. If an alternative is genuinely warranted you will get one, itemised; if it is not, we will say so.
- A plain read of the plan you already have
- The questions worth putting back to whoever wrote it
- An itemised alternative only where one is warranted
- No deposit to see a plan, and no obligation at any point
Who answers
Nomad Africa, our partner travel agency in Nairobi, builds and prices every itinerary we send. You deal with one team, on the ground, for the whole trip.
Founded in 2017 as East Africa’s only dedicated travel magazine, Nomad still publishes — so the people planning your trip are the ones who write about these places for a living.
Get your tailored itinerary and quote
Our Africa specialist replies within 24 hours with a costed plan built around your dates.
More from our Africa guides
Specialist guides across our Africa network
Each of these is a focused guide we publish. Same Africa specialist behind every enquiry.