What ages do you welcome?

Children of all ages — from babies to teenagers. Children aged 6 to 12 sharing with an adult are charged at 50% of the adult sharing rate; a child must share with at least one adult per tent. See the rates page for the per-night figures.

Can young children join game drives?

Children under six do not join the camp's scheduled shared game drives. If you would like the family on a drive together, we arrange a private vehicle at an additional cost — mention this in your enquiry and we will quote against your dates. Younger children otherwise enjoy a busy camp-based day with the team while the adults are out.

Is it safe for children?

Yes. The camp is enclosed by an anti-predator electric perimeter fence, and animals naturally avoid built-up areas. The team is experienced with families and reads the bush around camp continuously. Parent supervision day and night is still required — the surrounding bush is wild, not a hazard, but not a context that allows children to roam unsupervised.

Do you cater for kids' diets?

Yes — Chef Pitso and Kabelo manage every dietary need as standard, and a children's menu sits alongside the adult one. Tell us in advance and the kitchen plans around it.

A Family Safari at Sausage Tree

Your kids are sceptical. “Educational” usually means boring, and they want to know about the Wi-Fi. Here is what fourteen years of hosting families has taught us: kids care about the Big 5, but what changes them is experiencing the bush. When a nine-year-old tracks a leopard from broken twigs, or a teenager fills a journal with sightings, something shifts. Nature becomes personal.

What different ages tend to get out of it

Children of all ages are welcome. Different ages get different things out of a safari, and we shape the days around what suits your family:

Babies and toddlers thrive on the slower rhythm of camp life — the waterhole at the bottom of the camp, the team they get to know across a stay, the pace of a place where nothing is rushed. If you would like the family on a drive together, a private vehicle is the path — see Game drives with under-6s below.
Younger primary-school children turn the camp into a working bush base — tracking lessons close to home, the pool through the heat of the day, time with our front-of-house team while the adults are out. A private vehicle is also the path here if you would like a younger child on a drive with you.
Older primary-school children are the prime age for game drives proper — old enough to sit still, curious enough to ask brilliant questions, ready for Track & Sign sessions, a visit to Daktari Bush School, the Panorama Route, Moholoholo rehabilitation centre, or a Blyde Dam boat trip.
Teenagers are the sceptics who convert. Give them responsibility — first to spot, a behaviour to photograph, an hour leading a walk with a guide — and box-tickers can become genuine nature lovers.

What works for which age changes by family, by attention span, and by what the bush is doing that week — talk to us at booking and we will sketch a workable shape.

Game drives with under-6s

Children under six do not join the camp’s scheduled shared game drives — the pace and length of a standard drive do not suit very young children, and other guests’ sightings are not a context to interrupt.

The path for a family who would like everyone on a drive together is a private vehicle, available at an additional cost on top of the standard rate. A private drive moves at your family’s pace, can be shortened or rerouted around the children’s stamina, and gives the youngest the same access to the bush that the rest of the family has. Mention private-vehicle availability in your enquiry and we will quote against your dates — current pricing lives on the rates page.

Younger children otherwise enjoy a busy camp-based day while the adults are out: the waterhole at the bottom of camp, the pool, tracking lessons close to home with the team, and the quiet moments of camp life that most adults envy by day three.

What hooks kids

Track & Sign sessions (an hour, and suddenly they are trackers, not tourists). Visits to Daktari Bush School, where conservation becomes real. The night sounds — elephants and hyenas calling, chameleons and bush babies by torchlight. And boma dinners around the fire, where they absorb more in an hour of guides’ stories than a day of school.

The practical questions parents ask

Safety. The camp is enclosed by an anti-predator electric perimeter fence, animals naturally avoid built-up areas, and the team is experienced with reading the bush around camp. Parent supervision day and night is still required — this is not a hazard, but it is a context that does not allow children to roam unsupervised.

Malaria. Olifants West is a low-risk area. With prophylaxis, repellent, and sensible cover, children are well protected. Consult your travel doctor four to six weeks before you travel.

Food. Chef Pitso and the team handle every dietary need — vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, allergies — and make real food kids want to eat, not grudging alternatives.

Practicalities and rates

Children aged 6 to 12 sharing with an adult: 50% of the adult sharing rate. A child must share with at least one adult per tent. View current rates for the per-night totals; the sharing-rate maths is on the rates page.

We suggest at least three nights so kids settle in — by day three, they are bush veterans.

Every booking with Sausage Tree contributes R50 to Daktari Bush School and Wildlife Orphanage.