Safari & South Africa Budget Trip: How Much You Need

Hi friends, I’m back! After spending 14 days in South Africa, finally, I’m starting to get used to my normal routine. By the way, South Africa is FANTASTIC!! ❤️🤩💯

Before I went on the trip, a friend told me that safari and South Africa were on his bucket list. He asked if I could share how much I spent for the trip, so he could create a savings plan to realise the dream.

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Talking about safari, I know many people associate it with Kenya and think that they need to spend a fortune for the trip. Actually, there are many parks in Africa where you can do game drives aka safari.

Yes, guys, it doesn’t have to be in Kenya!

In this blog, I will share with you the breakdown of my South Africa trip (including safari) for your reference.

Clara’s Safari & South Africa Budget Trip: The Breakdown

Despite calling it as a ‘budget trip’, my safari and South Africa experiences were still expensive for me — a normal office executive who earns ringgit.

But compared to Kenya tour packages that I saw online and considering the whole experience, I could say it was money well spent.

I have no regret spending almost RM20,000 travelling to South Africa for two weeks.

Here’s the cost breakdown*:

• Tour package = RM8,925 (including 1 domestic flight, 13 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 9 dinners, 2 short safaris)
• Return flight = RM3,655
• Travel insurance = RM173
• Tourist visa = RM131
• 1-day Hotel extension near the airport = RM419 (expensive but I booked it for safety purposes)
• Personal spending = RM6,231 (including optional activities**, tipping, pocket money)
• Gelert waterproof + windproof jacket = RM165
• Reusable spork = RM9
• Hiking sandals = RM150
• Other spending = can’t remember

TOTAL = RM19,858 (around 4,205 USD)

**The optional activities that I did are:

• Marine Eco Big 5 Trip (cancelled due to poor weather)
• Monkeyland
• Tree Canopy Ziplining
• Star Gazing (cancelled due to poor weather)
• 10-hour Safari at Kruger National Park (x 2)
• Soweto Half-day Tour
• Cape Peninsula Day Trip

*The budget estimation above is counted with Wise’s currency converter at the time of writing.

Thank you, God, for blessing me through the company where I’m working at. The generous travel benefits for employees allowed me to reimburse quite a lot of money…

And since this trip had been delayed twice because of Covid-19, I made 2x reimbursements. So yes, I didn’t actually spend RM20,000 thanks to it 🙏🙏🙏

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Why You Should Go for This Safari and South Africa Budget Trip

For many people (including me), RM20,000 is a LOT of money. But I will still call it a budget trip considering the fantastic experiences and memory I have.

Again, if you have a limited budget, you don’t have to travel to Kenya or Tanzania for safari.

If travelling to South Africa and safari are on your bucket list, here are some reasons why you should consider the budget tour that I joined:

1. Reasonable price and great itinerary

First of all, this isn’t a paid post. I’m naming the tour operator because I want to share the good news to fellow wanderlusts and had a fantastic experiences with them.

In fact, many people from my tour group chose Expat Explore’s South Africa Escape because of its itinerary and price.

Some of them were wealthy but they weren’t looking for a luxury safari trip, they wanted to explore the country as much as they could. And this tour package ticked all the boxes.

✅ Nature

✅ Safari

✅ Wine tasting

✅ Wine & cheese pairing

✅ Outdoor activities

✅ Culture + history

✅ Great food + hotels + tour leader + bus driver

2. Great food, wine, views, outdoor activities

Been travelled to some countries, I thought Italy would always have a special place in my heart. But now, if I had to choose, I can’t decide between the two!

South Africa has everything that solo travellers and couples are looking for: high-quality food, great wine, breathtaking views, attractive outdoor activities, and wonderful accommodation.

All above, with reasonable and affordable prices!

If you’re earning ringgit and working in Malaysia, the food prices are similar but you will get better quality and bigger portions.

For example, you can get a huge grilled hake + fried calamari + french fries for around 150 rands (around RM40). Note that it’s hake, guys, not dory.

Steaks are around 250 rands (around RM65) but with much better quality. The water and the soil in this country are of high quality. All the animals eat only grass or natural food, so the quality of their meat is great.

Wine is overproduced here, so it’s very affordable. You could get a FULL glass of wine for less than RM10 and a bottle of wine for around/less than RM50 — no kidding!

3. Nice hotel, great inclusions

Although it’s a budget South Africa tour package, it didn’t feel as if it was a budget trip. For example… tell me, how could the spacious room above (with balcony) be called ‘budget’?

There were many things that surprised me but I will keep them for my upcoming blog posts. Let this be a teaser for you, hehe 😉

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Do I Ever Feel Guilty Spending A Lot on Travelling?

No, I don’t.

Here’s why:

1. Every month, I give myself a small allowance to cover my basic necessities
2. Every month, I save almost double the amount of #1 for travelling
3. Every month, I invest and save almost double the amount of #2 for retirement

“Spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t.”

– Ramit Sethi, personal finance advisor and entrepreneur

By basic, I don’t mean eating cup noodles or only vegetables 😅 It means less snacking, cafes, and going out.

If I don’t put aside some money for travelling, I could live comfortably every month. But I love travelling more than anything and feel content with what I have…

But.

My friends are buying houses or planning to buy one, while I haven’t planned for it yet…

I honestly have no plan to return to Indonesia but I also can’t afford to buy a RM1 million house in Malaysia (the govt.’s rule for foreigners).

Since I don’t have a safety net (my parents don’t own a house), sometimes I wonder where I would stay when I grow old and can no longer work… I can live as frugally as I can, but the rental cost may increase every year.

🙏🙏Lord, please give me a loving husband who can provide me a house 🙏🙏

Well… He says ‘ask and you will receive’, hehe! 😁

For me, I don’t need to have a house under my name. When I die, I can’t bring it with me anyway… I just want a decent place to live without paying monthly rent.

One day during lunch, my new travel friend shared with me his dream house — a stylish, small container home. What a great choice! I love small, stylish houses! ❤️❤️❤️

Then, I googled if this house type was available in Indonesia. It turned out, container homes are getting popular in Indonesia and I could afford one.

If I buy a small container house, I may still have some money for retirement. YAAAAY!!! 🤩🤩🤩

I’m very blessed to be working at a company that provides me monthly transportation allowance and lunches + dinners on weekdays. This way, I could use the money for something else, like investment, travelling, and (maybe) a house.

Thank you, God and Exness! 🙏🙏🙏

Before I end this blog post, I want to give a shout-out to my new friends, Willem Steenkamp and Abraham Botha (my tour leader and bus driver). Both of them delivered exceptional services and are amazing people, who turn into friends.

Also, all of the new friends that I made during the tour. They took care of me, were friendly, and treated me well. (Abraham was like, “Where’s the little one?” before driving away and others were like, “Is Clara here?”)

Baie dankie, thank you so much everyone, for making my safari and South Africa budget trip memorable! Take care, until we meet again ❤️🤗

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