East Africa offers the ideal venue for a family holiday. 

Family on safari

Most safari lodges and tented camps welcome children and will provide cots or additional beds in the accommodation. Many also offer educational slide shows and video presentations as well as guided nature walks – either around the lodge or camp, or in the bush. 

Many hotels and tented camps offer babysitting (usually booked in advance), cots and extra beds. Some hotels also offer ‘Family Rooms’, which are either larger than normal or have adjoining bedrooms for the children. The larger groups also tend to offer ‘animation teams’, groups of specially trained young professionals who have been trained in keeping everyone (particularly the younger guests) ‘busy’. Pursuits include: nature walks, tennis, ping pong, volley ball, water sports and a whole range of ‘edutainment’. 

Tented camp experience

While children are welcome in many of the tented camps, parents should consider the fact that noise carries very easily in a tented environment and that, therefore, noisy children or crying babies may prove disturbing for other guests.

Family beach holidays

With warm water all year round, endless white sandy beaches and plenty of shade beneath the coconut palms, the Indian Ocean coastline is a children’s paradise. As for pursuits; there are plenty of water sports, environmental diversions (snake farms, nature trails, butterfly farms) and a wide range of cultural interaction (dancers, Maasai warriors, nature guides, visits to schools).