Travel by overland safari truck is the safest, most sociable and cost effective way to have an African safari holiday. We go to areas where public transport is unreliable, roads are rough, personal security is hard to guarantee and finding accommodation can be difficult.

Our East and Southern Africa regular departures are guaranteed departures. Once you have booked and paid a deposit the price is guaranteed - we don't surcharge.

However , they are not tour guides, so at many sights we use local guides for a more detailed and in-depth view.

We operate with one crew member as it gets you involved in the day to day running of the trip and also gives you more personal independence. We feel people come to Africa to experience it; so our safari trips encourage people to; join in, go shopping in the markets and mix with locals. 33 years of running trips this way have convinced us this is what our passengers want.

We aim to provide affordable adventure holidays in Africa and our low prices are maintained by keeping our overheads at a minimum whilst not cutting costs on our service or equipment provided. You will benefit from the services of a trained crew, well maintained vehicles and equipment. We feel it is important that everyone gets the most out of their journey and we encourage you to get involved in all aspects of the expedition.

We currently run 60 different African and Middle East adventure tours regularly; covering 26 countries with a departure for most trips every month. Our budget adventure safaris range from our 5 day Masai Mara trek to our epic 43 week Trans Africa overland - London to Istanbul via Capetown.

Our safari trucks are equipped with:

• - tents with fly sheets
• - comfortable sleeping roll mats
• - all cooking equipment
• - coach seats for a comfortable ride with wide aisles to move around in and configured with front, rear and sideways facing seats.
• - tarpaulin sides with clear windows providing unparalleled all round game viewing and photography.
• - storage lockers for your backpack and a communal safe for your valuables
• - medical kit for emergency use
• - enough fuel, food and water to allow us to offer adventures off the beaten track away from civilisation.
• - speed limiters and an environmentally friendly electronic fuel control.
• - most of our fleet now have modern disc brakes with ABS and engine brakes, to make your trip safer
• - most of our fleet are high quality Swedish made Scania trucks
• - air suspension giving a smooth road - friendly ride so that you feel more refreshed after long drives.

In the last two years African Trails has invested heavily in getting all their fleet up to the 4 series of Scania trucks, made in Sweden – these trucks are a high quality build with reliable, brakes, good fuel economy and exhaust emissions falling within the EU guidelines.

Our days on the road can vary from 100km to 600km; the average travel is 150 km. We aim to have one long drive day and then a few short ones. There are days where we don't go anywhere; such as Zanzibar, Lake Malawi, Victoria Falls and Swakopmund. At Lunch normally visit small eating houses so that you can try the local food and mix with the locals, however if there is nothing available on the road we eat off the truck.

Read more about a day in the life on an African Trails overland tour