Nobody Warns You About How Much You'll Eat on Safari

Safari seems to operate on the principle that no person should be more than a few hours away from their next meal. There may be coffee and rusks before the morning game drive, a substantial breakfast or brunch afterwards, lunch, afternoon tea, snacks with your sundowner and then dinner.

The exact routine varies depending on the type of safari, camp or lodge. We've covered the rhythm of a typical safari day elsewhere. But the food deserves a conversation of its own, partly because it's one of the things first-time safari travellers consistently underestimate.

And partly because they sometimes arrive in Africa with some rather interesting ideas about what we're going to feed them.

Usually, very.

That's the short answer, and one that surprises some first-time visitors.

Safari food varies, of course. A national park safari where your guide does the catering is not going to offer the same dining experience as a high-end private lodge with an executive chef and kitchen team. Nor should it.

But Africa has no shortage of excellent meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, or talented cooks.

South Africa, in particular, produces exceptionally good beef, lamb, fruit, vegetables and wine. We export a great deal of it around the world, so really, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

And long before farm-to-table became something swanky restaurants put on menus, eating locally and seasonally was simply how things worked here. Depending on where you travel, safari kitchens may draw on locally grown produce, regional suppliers and ingredients brought in from larger towns and cities.

What makes the food remarkable isn't only its quality. It's what lodge chefs and camp cooks manage to produce in some extraordinarily remote places.

Perhaps that remoteness is partly why some first-time visitors worry about what they'll eat. We've heard the questions often enough: Will the food be safe? What will the meat be like? Perhaps I should just say I'm vegetarian...

Which brings us to Simon and the disappearing steak.

On our guided Kruger National Park safaris, we buy and plan the food according to the dietary information our guests give us. With smaller groups, our guides usually do the shopping and much of the catering themselves; for larger groups, we bring in our catering team.

Either way, the problem is the same: we need to know who actually eats what.

Imagine, for example, that we have six guests. Four have told us they're vegetarian and two eat meat.

One evening, we'll often have a traditional South African braai, our version of a barbecue, although calling a braai a barbecue in front of the wrong South African is a discussion best avoided.

Knowing there are two meat-eaters in the group, we buy steak for two.

Then the meat hits the fire...

It turns out that some of our "vegetarians" aren't vegetarians at all. They were simply unsure what the meat in Africa would be like and thought choosing the vegetarian option would be safer.

The steak looks excellent. It smells excellent. And suddenly, our four vegetarians undergo a remarkable change of heart.

The steak disappears.

Leaving the two people we actually bought it for wondering what happened to their dinner.

We can laugh about it, and we do, but there's a useful point here.

When we ask about dietary requirements, tell us what you actually eat.

If you don't eat red meat but happily eat chicken, tell us. If you eat fish but no other meat, tell us. If you generally prefer vegetarian food but would happily have a steak from the braai, that's useful information too.

You don't need to choose a dietary label because you're worried about the quality of food in Africa. And the more accurately you tell us what you eat, the better we can cater for everyone. 

At home, an unexpected dietary request might mean a quick trip to the supermarket.

That supermarket may be hundreds of kilometres away when you're on safari.

Some camps are reached only by small aircraft. Others receive supplies by road, sometimes over considerable distances and difficult terrain. Deliveries may be infrequent, and kitchens have to plan accordingly.

Something readily available in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Nairobi may be considerably harder to find in a remote corner of Botswana, Zambia or Zimbabwe.

That's why advance notice matters.

Vegetarian and vegan travellers generally eat very well on safari, and many lodge kitchens are remarkably inventive when catering for different diets. Gluten-free and dairy-free requirements can usually be accommodated too.

Religious dietary requirements such as halal and kosher may require more specific planning.

And this is where detail matters more than a label. For example, there's a difference between someone who is comfortable eating halal meat prepared in a shared kitchen and someone who requires a strictly halal kitchen.

We don't need travellers to understand the logistics behind every camp kitchen. We simply need to understand what you require so that we can check what's possible, make the necessary arrangements in advance or, where appropriate, recommend accommodation better suited to your needs.

A preference is one thing. A serious food allergy is another.

If you have a medically significant allergy, please tell your Africa Safari Specialist when you're planning your trip and be specific about its severity.

Safari camps can be extremely remote. Although lodges have procedures for dealing with emergencies, the nearest advanced medical facility may be some distance away.

It also isn't sensible to assume that every kitchen can guarantee the same degree of separation you might expect from a specialist facility at home.

This doesn't mean people with food allergies can't go on safari. They do, all the time.

It means we need accurate information early enough to ask the right questions on your behalf.

No.

You may encounter game meat, particularly in Southern Africa. Kudu, ostrich and springbok sometimes appear on menus, and they're well worth trying if you're curious. Good game meat is lean, flavourful and can be some of the best meat you'll eat here.

But nobody is going to insist that eating an antelope is necessary because you've spent the afternoon photographing one.

Beef, chicken, fish and vegetarian dishes are widely served, although what's available naturally depends on where you're travelling and the style of safari.

If you're adventurous, try something new.

If you're not, don't.

Food should be one of the enjoyable parts of your safari, not an endurance test.

There is a practical explanation for some of it.

Safari days start early. You're outdoors for hours. Meals fit around game drives rather than conventional breakfast-lunch-dinner times, and the result can feel like an endless succession of people appearing with plates.

But that doesn't entirely explain it.

Across much of Africa, feeding people is part of hospitality.

Food says: You're our guest. Sit down. Eat. Have some more.

And on safari, meals become part of the experience in ways you don't necessarily expect.

Breakfast might be served out in the bush. Lunch might overlook a waterhole. A sundowner may appear on the bonnet of the safari vehicle just as the sun dips below the horizon. Dinner might be served outside under the stars or around a fire.

On our own Kruger safaris, some of the moments people remember most happen around the table.

We've written before about how sharing a meal around a fire can turn a group of strangers into storytellers. People who had never met a few days earlier swap stories, tease each other about the day's sightings and laugh about things that happened on the game drive.

The wildlife may be why everyone came to Africa.

But somewhere between the first pre-dawn coffee and the last evening around the fire, food quietly becomes part of the safari too.

Just remember one thing.

If you want Simon's steak, tell us before he goes shopping.