Eco safari review: the only one with the entrance fee inside

What “fee included” is actually worth

Let me do the arithmetic rather than assert it. The vehicle pass is charged once per car, not once per head, so what this inclusion saves you depends entirely on how many of you there are. Travelling alone, it is the whole thirty-five dollars off the gap between $215 here and $159 on the flagship wildlife tour. As a couple it is half that each. As a family of four it is under nine dollars a head and the gap barely moves. That is the honest range, and it is why I will not write the words “includes park entry” without immediately telling you what to divide.

Now the part that matters more. A tour covering the vehicle fee has not covered a non-resident’s surcharge, because the surcharge is $100 per person assessed against photo ID at the entrance station and it belongs to the person, not the car. A French or German reader who books this tour because the listing says park entry is included, and who then arrives at the gate, is going to have a conversation nobody warned them about. I have watched that conversation happen. Read the non-resident fee page, and if you are entering more than one park on this trip, price the international annual pass against it first.

Seven seats and a window each

The cap is the second reason to book this. Seven people in a 4x4 with roof hatches and sliding windows is a different morning from a full van: everybody gets a window, nobody shoots through somebody else’s head, and the guide can respond to what the group wants rather than running an average. Chris’s review makes exactly that point — the guide really seemed interested in finding what wildlife their group wanted to see, which is a sentence you can only write about a small group. Becky was with a guide called Ben, said he did an amazing job of helping them see all the animals, and recommended this shorter tour specifically. Wendi’s line is the shortest and the most useful: they saw so many animals in the four hour tour.

Judy’s morning produced bear, elk, bison, moose and antelope, which is close to a clean sweep of what this valley has to offer in one sitting. Patricia was with Bo, Jim with Sarah, and Amber is in the same pile. Scopes are aboard, and there are organic snacks, a light breakfast and hot and cold drinks, which for a four-hour dawn outing is more than the granola bar most people expect.

Thirty-five reviews, and saying so

4.9 from 35 reviews is the second-highest score on this site sitting on the second-thinnest base. Thirty-five people all having a good day is genuinely encouraging and I would book on it. It is not the same class of evidence as 695, and a couple of poor mornings would move this number in a way they could never move the flagship’s. If the weight of evidence is what reassures you, book the wildlife tour and pay the vehicle fee at the gate. If a seven-person cap and a window seat are what you are after, this is the only listing here offering them, and the wider comparison is on the wildlife tours page.

Who it is for

Solo travellers and couples, photographers who want a window and a roof hatch, families who would rather not share a van with fourteen strangers, and anybody who wants one fewer transaction at the entrance station. If you would rather put the money into evidence, the wildlife tour has 695 reviews behind it. If you want first light rather than a small group, that is the sunrise safari. And if you are only here to work out what the gate will cost you, skip the tours entirely and read where to buy park passes.

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