Shapes, not packages
Most disappointing honeymoons were not badly chosen. They were badly sequenced.
The country was right and the camps were good, and the trip still felt rushed — because there were four of them in ten nights, or the beach came first, or everywhere got two nights and nowhere got three.
- Minimum per camp
- Three nights, not two
- Order
- Bush first, coast second. Always.
- Maximum bases
- Three, in fourteen nights
- Cost of one move
- Most of a day, plus a flight
By length
Four routes, and what each one fits
Each published night by night, with the reason for every decision attached to the night it affects.
Seven nights
One country, two camps, no third. Four and three, or six in one place and fly home. Do not attempt two countries.
The seven-night shape
Ten nights
Six in the bush and four on the coast, one flight between. The commonest honeymoon we plan, and it earns the position.
The ten-night shape
Fourteen nights
Room for a second country. The only combination we would push is gorillas plus plains game, because they are nothing like each other.
The fourteen-night shape
The five rules
Three nights per camp, bush first, three bases maximum, contrast over coverage, and nothing scheduled on the anniversary.
Why routes work this way
What a move costs
Half a morning, a packing, two transfers, a flight and an afternoon. Call it most of a day, every single time.
The cost of moving
What routes cost
Where the money goes on a route as opposed to at a camp — and why the joins surprise people who budgeted per night.
Route economicsHow to use these
Shapes to argue with, not packages to buy
Nothing on this site is bookable as published. Every route is a shape, and the most useful thing you can do with one is push back on it specifically.
Not "can we see other options" — that produces another shape you will feel the same way about. Say "can we do this with two bases instead of three", or "which move would you take out", or "is the fifth beach night better than the third safari night". Those are questions a specialist can answer, and the answer improves the trip.
- "Can we do this with two bases instead of three?"
- "Which move would you take out?"
- "Is the fifth beach night better than the third safari night?"
- "Where on this route would a private guide change the most?"
Free download
The Route Book
Six routes, night by night, with the reasoning for each decision — published as shapes to argue with rather than packages to buy.
- Why the shape matters more than the camps
- The five rules every route here follows
- Seven nights: one country, two camps
- Ten nights: the workhorse
- Twelve nights: two contrasting regions plus a coast
- Fourteen nights: adding gorillas, or a second country
- What each move actually costs you
- How to argue with a route
- Turning a shape into a quote
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 shape
Why three nights per camp and not two?
Because two nights is one full day. You arrive in the afternoon, you have one proper day, and you leave after the morning drive.
The second full day is reliably better than the first — you know the ground, the guide knows what interests you, and you have stopped photographing the first zebra. At two nights you never get there.
Can we not do the beach first?
You can, and we would advise against it. A safari costs you sleep and a beach gives it back, so bush first means the second half repairs the first.
There is a secondary reason: going from a hammock to a 6am game drive is a shock, and going from a game drive to a hammock is the best afternoon of the trip.
Is three camps in ten nights really too many?
Usually, yes. Three camps means two moves, and each move costs most of a day plus a flight. That is two days of a ten-day honeymoon spent in transit.
Two safari camps and a coast is three bases with two moves, which is the practical limit for ten nights.
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.
Start planning
Tell us how many nights and when
Those two facts produce a route. Add a per-person-per-night figure and it comes back with named camps and a price.
If one of the shapes on this site is close to what you want, say which and what you would change about it — that is the most efficient brief you can send.
- A route built around your dates, not a standard circuit
- The reasoning attached, so you can argue with it
- Named camps, with the land each one sits on
- 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 East Africa specialist replies within 24 hours with a costed plan built around your dates.
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