Throughout your journey, you’ll find traditional artefacts, fantastic jewellery, beautiful carvings, stunning beadwork, the world’s best coffee and tea, precious stones, furniture, beautiful cloth, excellent local music, wonderful modern art and so much more.
When will you have time to shop? Likely on the fly, and we suggest you buy the moment something strikes your fancy as it’s unlikely you’ll find the time to return.
Once you touch down in Africa you can choose to shop as much or as little as you like, of course. But before you go there’s also plenty of imagining you can do: What to wear on safari is not only something of a pop culture phenomenon but we’re a little obsessed with it, too, as this article shows. And if you’re so inclined to start building your safari wardrobe ahead of time, we invite you to peruse the carefully-selected apparel and gear available in our safari store.
South Africa, with its rich mix of cultures, has an abundance of artists and craftspeople producing works of high artistic quality and workmanship. Look for fine pottery, jewellery, hand-knotted carpets, painted fabrics, locally designed clothing and paintings. In rural areas, the traditional crafts abound, from Zulu beadwork to copper and bronze jewellery, baskets and woodcarvings. South Africa also has a rich antiques market of British treasures from the early 19th century, plus excellent specimens of Cape Dutch furniture.
In East Africa, among the wide variety of handicrafts available, one may find antique Maasai tribal ornaments and spears, Meerschaum pipes, hand-woven sisal baskets and bags of unique design, as well as a dazzling array of brilliantly hued batiks, delicate pottery and sleek ebony carvings. In addition, one sees a variety of darling handmade children’s clothes and toys. Elegant beaded jewelry, sparkling gems and exquisite coral are also plentiful and surprisingly affordable.
The Micato staff can provide suggestions for shopping adventures while on your luxury African safari trip, and assist in the packing and shipping of these treasures to your home at the trip’s end.
Bargaining is so at odds with our life in America that most of us don’t want to attempt it (or do so only halfheartedly), even when we know that it’s not only acceptable but expected. This is certainly the case in open-air markets, and often the case in shops—rarely is bargaining considered offensive. It is an art with roots deep in the African culture and regarded as an essential business skill. Opening prices are always an exaggerated gambit and considered the first step in a long process.
The real price is usually somewhere in the lower vicinity of half the initial price. How close you come to the real price is up to you. Bargaining can be a long and convoluted process, involving protracted negotiations. Westerners often find this frustrating, but it is an essential and always amicable custom. You may get a better price if you buy more than one item from the shop.
If you are in a hurry and need to move on, it is the usual practice to finalise proceedings by declaring your “absolute final price’” and asking for theirs. If you can both agree on a figure between the two then the deal is done.
From fizzy Cape Town to East Africa’s legendary game parks, this wide-ranging safari highlights the best of two distinctive and delightfully unique regions.
17 days from $29,350 per person Explore Southern Africa: South Africa, Zambia and East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania
Botswana’s astonishing contrasts—winding waterways, animal-rich savannahs, immense floodplains—plus the heart-stoppingly colossal cascades of Victoria Falls.
12 days from $19,700 per person Explore Southern Africa: South Africa, Botswana and Zambia
East Africa’s legendary savannahs: Amboseli, Maasai Mara, and the Serengeti, combined with many of its most magnificent resorts. An unabashedly indulgent, quintessential safari experience.
15 Days from $26,450 per person Explore East Africa: Kenya and Tanzania
A classic safari from Kenya’s dramatic Laikipia Plateau and the fabled Maasai Mara-Serengeti to Tanzania’s epic Ngorongoro Crater and Hemingway’s beloved Lake Manyara.
14 Days from $21,400 per person Explore East Africa: Kenya and Tanzania
Leisurely two-night stays in Amboseli, Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti, and the Maasai Mara—with five exhilarating flights to expedite travel—make this comprehensive African Safari one of our most popular.
16 days from $22,000 per person Explore East Africa: Kenya and Tanzania
East Africa’s most renowned game-viewing areas: Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater and the vast Serengeti and Kenya’s Maasai Mara, in a compact itinerary of less than two weeks.
12 Days from $16,500 per person Explore East Africa: Kenya and Tanzania
An exhilarating, luxurious safari to three of the planet’s richest animal kingdoms: the Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire National Park, and the Serengeti.
10 Days from $13,550 per person Explore East Africa: Tanzania
The natural and human splendours of Cape Town, followed by luxurious game viewing in Phinda Private Game Reserve and Sabi Sand Game Reserve, ending with a watery bang at world-wondrous Victoria Falls.
13 Days from $27,500 per person Explore Southern Africa: South Africa and Zambia
From the mesmerizing, miraculous Okavango Delta to mammoth Victoria Falls and the classic gamelands and safari experience of Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park.
14 Days from $23,600 per person Explore Southern Africa: Botswana and Zimbabwe
Beginning with Namibia’s vast and gorgeous wilderness, then to the urban delights of Cape Town and its salubrious Winelands, ending with superb game viewing in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve.
15 Days from $23,300 per person Explore Southern Africa: Namibia and South Africa