Clients often ask whether some wildlife experiences are better done as private, custom tours. The answer is yes—absolutely. Certain encounters are so special, so intimate, that the size and flexibility of your group can completely shape the outcome.
Swimming with humpback whales is strictly regulated, which is wonderful for the whales, but it does mean limits for visitors. Only four snorkelers and a local guide can be in the water at one time. Whale boats carry eight guests, so you rotate in two groups. If other boats are nearby, you may need to rotate with them as well.
Whales, especially mothers with calves, often move off after a short while, so you might not enter the water at every sighting. It can be extremely frustrating and heartbreaking, when people come back to the boat raving about their incredible experience and you’ve missed it!
Swimming with humpback whales when they are nursing their calves is a life-changing, deeply moving experience. If it’s within your budget, choosing a custom private tour gives you more flexibility, more water time, and far greater opportunity for meaningful encounters.
In dense rainforest, such as Costa Rica, wildlife spotting is a challenge. Looking up through thick canopy to find fast moving animals, such as monkeys or birds is virtually impossible for more than just a very small group. In larger groups, only a handful of people may actually see the animal before it disappears. With just a few people, everyone has space to see, and the jungle feels immersive rather than crowded.
Tasmania’s wildlife is unique and elusive. Creatures like the Tasmanian devil, platypus, echidna, wallabies, and wombats are small and cautious. They’re far more comfortable and likely to hang around when approached quietly on foot by just a few people.
To find small creatures you really need to move slowly through their habitat and pay close attention. This isn’t possible from a vehicle. Being on foot also makes the encounter feel more intimate.
Meerkats are highly social, curious and entertaining. With just a few people, they are likely to approach closely, even climbing onto you to use you as a lookout post. In larger groups, they tend to keep their distance.
Having a charismatic creature such as the meerkat choose to interact with you is a privileged experience.
Meerkat mobs, when they feel relaxed, go about their daily routines right in front of you, digging for insects, grooming one another, playing, and taking turns standing guard.
I have had meerkats ignore me completely when I am by myself or just a couple people. It’s as if you are just part of the scenery. Moments like this, when you’ve briefly been accepted into an animal’s world, are a wildlife photographer’s dream!
An African safari is one of the very best experiences to do solo or with your family or just a couple of friends. With your own vehicle and guide, the day is entirely yours — you move at your pace, in your own direction. If you want to spend an entire day with an elephant family, watching their wobbly calves trying to control their unruly trunks as they chase each other around, you can. If you want to sit it out with a sleeping lion, waiting for it to begin a hunt, there’s no one rushing you to move along. You can stake out a leopard den and wait for cubs to wake and begin to play — it’s a true honor to earn the trust a of mother in allowing her young to emerge from where she’s hidden them.
A custom safari tour gives you the gift of time, and in the wild, time is everything. In a shared vehicle, you often move on too soon and miss the best moments.
You can also shape the itinerary around your own interests. Perhaps you want to witness the big game herds on the open plains of the Serengeti or the Masai Mara. Maybe you’d rather experience the waterways of the Okavango Delta where you can see elephants in their hundreds or the vast expanse of the Kalahari Desert in search of wild dogs. A private safari allows you to prioritize what appeals to you most.
The ultimate custom safari experience is a private gorilla trek shared only with family or close friends. Standard treks typically include eight guests, plus guides and trackers. In dense forest, that can feel like a crowd.
Private treks also allow you to choose the best gorilla guide and which gorilla family group you’d like to visit. For example, you can choose the group that has the largest silverback, the most babies, or a precious newborn. By choosing your family groups you can also exercise some control over the terrain, selecting families that live in more open habitat for better photography. You can also choose family groups that are more easily accessible, making your treks shorter and less arduous.
Meeting mountain gorillas is a once-in-a-lifetime, borderline spiritual encounter. The intimacy of a private trek allows you to fully experience it and it really is worth paying the extra.
When we design a custom private wildlife safari for solo travelers, friends or families. We focus on creating a deeper experiences for our clients. We select places that allow for genuine, meaningful wildlife encounters and skip the rest that give you a boiler plate “one-size-fits-all” itinerary, that always follow the same path and stop in the same places.
By limiting group sizes and choosing ethical, conservation-led operators, we avoid crowding, unethical practices, and provide you with more opportunity to see and experience intimate wildlife encounters.
More connection, more authenticity, and moments that stay with you forever!
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