The six
Not the destination. These.
Couples almost never disagree about which country. They disagree about the texture of the days, and nobody asks until it is too late to design around.
Early starts
Drives leave between 5.30 and 6.30 because that is when the animals move. No camp changes this and no rate buys around it.
What a great many people discover is that they do not enjoy doing it eight days running — and almost nobody says so in advance, because it sounds like being difficult about a once-in-a-lifetime trip. It is not difficult. It is a scheduling input.
How much moving
One of you wants four places in twelve nights; the other wants to unpack twice.
Both positions are defensible. Moving shows you more country and costs roughly a day each time — a morning drive lost, a packing, two transfers and a flight. Staying put means the guide learns you and the third morning is better than the first.
Other people
At a small camp you will eat with the other guests unless there are separate tables, and on a hosted table you will do it every night.
This is a genuine preference difference rather than a matter of manners. Some people come home saying the best evening was the one where a couple from Colorado talked for three hours about a leopard. Some come home saying the best evening was the one on their own deck.
What comfort means
Ranking the bed, the bathroom, the food, the view, the guide, the wildlife and the quiet produces more surprises between couples than any other question here.
It is also the most useful answer for a specialist, because it enables trades: spend on the guide at the first camp and on the room at the second, rather than averaging both at both.
Money
Two numbers, and it is the second one that matters: what would you be uncomfortable exceeding?
The gap between two people’s answers to that is the most common unspoken tension in honeymoon planning. It is much easier to resolve before there is a draft, because once camps have names the conversation stops being about a number and starts being about which camp somebody is losing.
The one thing
Something you want that you have not said out loud. It is usually smaller and more achievable than either of you expects, and it is nearly always easy to build in if somebody knows about it.
More from our Africa guides
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