ENCOUNTERSAFRICA
8-Day South Africa Family Safari

South Africa - Fly-in safari

8-Day South Africa Family Safari

Duration
8 days
Countries
South Africa
Suited to
2-8 guests
Pricing
From USD 13,880

The journey

Updated on 23 August 2026

Madikwe was proclaimed in 1991 on worn-out cattle farms against the Botswana border, then restocked under Operation Phoenix, which moved more than 8,000 animals of 28 species into the reserve. It carries the full Big Five across roughly 75,000 hectares, and at around 1,000 metres it is malaria-free in every month. For a family that is the whole argument: Big Five game viewing without a prescription, an hour from Johannesburg by light aircraft rather than a day in a car. The safari half is built around exclusive use rather than a lodge timetable. Morukuru River House is three bedrooms on the Marico River, taken by your family alone, with a private chef, guide, tracker and vehicle. That last point is what parents actually need. A private vehicle removes the minimum age most lodges apply to shared drives, so a four-year-old can ride, and you can turn back after ninety minutes without disappointing strangers. The second half moves to Cape Town for four nights in a two-bedroom Waterfront apartment with a kitchen and a laundry. Penguins at Boulders, the cableway, the aquarium and a beach day. April to May and September to November suit both halves best.

Your camps, day by day

Stay 1

Your Own Front Door

You land at Johannesburg and cross to the light aircraft terminal for the hour-long hop north-west to Madikwe. A guide meets the plane and drives you to Morukuru River House, three bedrooms above the Marico River, yours alone for the next three nights. Lunch is whenever the children are hungry. The first game drive leaves when you say so, and the vehicle carries nobody but your family.

Stay 2

Spoor and Kalahari Sand

Coffee and rusks on the deck, then out with your own guide and tracker. Because the vehicle is private there is no minimum age and no fixed turnaround time, so you stop when a child wants to look at a dung beetle. Madikwe holds one of South Africa's strongest wild dog populations. Back for a swim, then a late-afternoon drive and dinner by the fire.

Stay 3

Kidz Backpack Day

Morukuru hands the children a Kidz Backpack with spoor cards and a magnifying glass, and the tracker turns the morning into a treasure hunt for prints, droppings, feathers and beetles. Wet weather moves everyone into the kitchen to make pizza. If the family is up for it, ask about the sleep-out platform above a waterhole, where elephant come down to drink through the night.

Stay 4

Bush to Beach City

One more drive at first light, then breakfast and a short run to the airstrip. The light aircraft lands you back in Johannesburg in time for the two-and-a-quarter-hour flight south to Cape Town. Your apartment sits at the V&A Waterfront, two bedrooms and a kitchen, five minutes on foot from the aquarium. The fridge is stocked, so supper can be early and quiet.

Stay 5

Penguins and Cape Point

A private guide collects you for the peninsula. Boardwalks at Boulders carry you over the dunes to a colony of African penguins that nest within a metre of the rail, which is the photograph every child comes home with. Lunch in Simon's Town, then Cape Point, the funicular up to the old lighthouse, and baboons on the verge on the drive back.

Stay 6

Cable Car and Fish Tanks

Up the cableway early, before cloud settles on Table Mountain, in a car that rotates a full turn on the way so nobody has to fight for the window. Dassies sun themselves on the summit rocks. Down by mid-morning, then the Two Oceans Aquarium, where the predator tank and the penguin feed hold small people longer than anything else in the city.

Stay 7

Canopy Walk or Camps Bay

A day with nothing booked. Kirstenbosch has the Boomslang, a steel walkway curving out through the tree canopy, and lawns for a picnic under the eastern slope of Table Mountain. Or take the coast road to Camps Bay for the beach, the tidal pool and ice cream. The apartment laundry runs while you are out, so you pack clean clothes tomorrow.

Stay 8

Homeward From the Cape

Breakfast in the apartment, then a last hour at the Waterfront before the twenty-five-minute transfer to Cape Town International. Most long-haul departures leave in the evening, which leaves the morning free. The children will have ridden in their own game vehicle, walked among penguins, and slept in the same bed four nights running, which matters more than parents tend to expect.

Safari highlights

  • Malaria-free Big Five, so no prophylactics for the children
  • Exclusive use of a three-bedroom house, just your family
  • Private guide, tracker and vehicle, so no minimum age on drives
  • Meal and drive times set by you, not by a lodge timetable
  • Boulders penguins, Cape Point and the Table Mountain cableway
  • Two-bedroom Waterfront apartment with a kitchen and laundry

What is included

Included

  • 7 nights accommodation, per person sharing
  • Light aircraft flights Johannesburg (OR Tambo) to Madikwe airstrip and Madikwe airstrip to Johannesburg
  • Regional flight Johannesburg to Cape Town
  • Private road transfers Madikwe airstrip to Morukuru River House, and Cape Town International Airport to the V&A Waterfront and return
  • Exclusive use of Morukuru River House with a private chef, private guide and tracker, and your own game drive vehicle
  • All meals and local beverages at Morukuru, served at whatever times suit your children, plus laundry
  • All meals in Cape Town, taken in the apartment or at reserved restaurant tables, with the fridge stocked on arrival
  • Two guided full days in Cape Town by private vehicle, covering the Cape Peninsula, Boulders penguin colony and Cape Point
  • Table Mountain Cableway return tickets, Two Oceans Aquarium entry, Table Mountain National Park conservation fees, the Morukuru conservation and community levy, South African VAT and the tourism levy

Not included

  • International flights to and from Africa
  • Visas and any visa processing fees
  • Comprehensive travel and medical insurance, including evacuation cover
  • Premium spirits, champagne and imported wines
  • Babysitting, spa treatments, curio purchases and additional Cape Town excursions
  • Gratuities for guides, trackers, chefs and house staff
  • Items of a personal nature

Frequently asked questions

How much does an 8-day South Africa family safari cost?

This programme starts at USD 13,880 per person sharing for two adults in shoulder season, rising to about USD 15,780 in peak season. That covers three nights of exclusive use at Morukuru River House in Madikwe with a private chef, guide, tracker and vehicle, four nights in a two-bedroom Cape Town apartment, all meals, the light aircraft flights to and from Madikwe, the Johannesburg to Cape Town sector and two guided days in the Cape.

Are international flights included in the price?

No. International flights to and from Africa are excluded and quoted separately, so you are free to use miles or book them yourself. The price does include the light aircraft sectors between Johannesburg and the Madikwe airstrip, about an hour each way, and the Johannesburg to Cape Town flight, which takes about two hours and fifteen minutes. Most families fly overnight into Johannesburg and connect to Madikwe the same morning.

Is Madikwe malaria-free?

Yes. Madikwe sits at roughly 1,000 metres in North West province, outside South Africa's malaria transmission zone, and is classed malaria-free all year, so children need no prophylactics. It is worth checking this against the alternatives. Phinda in KwaZulu-Natal is often suggested for families but is not malaria-free; it lies in a low-risk zone where tablets are sometimes advised. Kwandwe, Shamwari and Samara in the Eastern Cape are malaria-free.

What is the minimum age for children on safari game drives?

On shared vehicles most South African lodges set six as the minimum and a number set twelve. A private vehicle removes the limit, which is why this programme uses an exclusive-use house. Morukuru states that children are welcome on all game drives, and your family has its own guide, tracker and vehicle. Jaci's Safari Lodge in Madikwe also welcomes children of all ages, and its Safari Suite comes with a private vehicle and guide.

How much do children pay on a family safari in South Africa?

At Morukuru the house rate is for exclusive use and already includes four guests, so two children sharing River House add nothing to the accommodation cost. Beyond four guests, additional children aged two to fifteen are R5,000 per night and additional adults of sixteen and over are R10,000 per night. Infants under two stay free. The conservation and community levy is R300 per adult per night and R150 for under-sixteens.

Is a family villa better than interleading rooms on safari?

For children under about ten, usually yes. A villa gives you a door between the bedrooms, a sitting room for the difficult hour before supper, and meals at your own times. Morukuru River House has three bedrooms and takes six adults and four children. If you would rather have a lodge, Jaci's Safari Suite in Madikwe has two double bedrooms plus two children's rooms and sleeps five to eight, and Kwandwe's Melton Manor is an exclusive-use family house in the Eastern Cape.

What is there to do with kids in Cape Town?

Boulders at Simon's Town puts boardwalks within a metre of nesting African penguins. The Table Mountain cableway costs R475 return for an adult and R230 for a child aged four to seventeen when booked online, and the car rotates so everyone gets the view. The Two Oceans Aquarium, the Boomslang canopy walkway at Kirstenbosch and the beach at Camps Bay fill the rest. All sit inside a forty-minute drive of the Waterfront.