The Rise of Solo Safari Travel: Meet Yourself in the Wild

It starts with a moment — maybe in an airport lounge, maybe at your desk — when you realise you’ve been waiting for someone else to join you on your dream trip. Waiting for a friend’s schedule to align, for a partner’s enthusiasm to match yours, for the stars to line up just so. And then, one day, you stop waiting. You book it. You go. Alone.

In recent years, solo safaris in Tanzania have gone from rare curiosity to quietly booming trend. And it’s not hard to see why. In a world that seems louder and more crowded every year, the thought of being somewhere vast, wild, and free — with no one else’s timetable dictating your day — is intoxicating.

Lone Safari Vehicle

Freedom in every footprint

When you’re on your own, you can spend an entire afternoon watching a single elephant herd, waiting to see if the matriarch will lead them across the river. Or you can call it a day early and curl up with a book under the shade of a baobab. Your time is yours. The bush rewards this kind of slow attention: a cheetah’s twitching tail in the grass, the low hum of cicadas, the sound of wind in the acacias.

Strangers who don’t stay strangers

Solo travel doesn’t mean lonely travel. Safari camps are some of the most social places on earth. You arrive knowing no one, and by dinner, you’re swapping stories with guests from three continents. Morning game drives become shared adventures, and campfire evenings turn into impromptu storytelling sessions under a sky stitched with stars.

Bush Campfire - the perfect place to meet other guests

Safety in solitude

It’s natural to wonder about safety. But here’s the thing: on safari, you’re never really alone. From the moment you land, professional guides and camp staff are there to look after you. These are people who can spot a leopard in a tree at 200 metres, who know which buffalo tracks are fresh, and who also happen to be world-class storytellers. Some will even mimic bird calls or lion growls — not because they have to, but because it’s fun.

Solo Sundowners are Macigal

The self you meet

A solo safari strips away distractions. There’s no one to fill silences but you, no one else deciding when to linger or move on. It’s just you and the wild, with space to notice your own thoughts again. And somewhere between the dawn chorus and the soft glow of an African sunset, you might just realise that the person you came here with — yourself — is excellent company.

📍 Best solo-friendly spots: Serengeti National Park, Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater.