Types of safari
Air safaris , using internal flights to get around, will add enormously to the cost and comfort of your trip and give you spectacular views but a much less intimate feel of Africa. On the other hand, long bumpy drives to meet the demands of an itinerary can be completely exhausting (and impossible for the physically infirm) while hours of your time are eaten away in a cloud of dust. Note that the " balloon safaris " you see advertised are short balloon flights, not complete tours. They take place at dawn and last a couple of hours at most. They can be done in several parks, most popularly in the Maasai Mara, and the bill is a big one - around £250/$360.

Many safaris take you from one game park hotel (known as lodges ) to another, using minibuses with lift-up roofs for taking pictures. Make sure you have a window seat and ask about the number of passengers and whether the vehicle is shared by several operators or is for your group only.

The alternative to a standard lodge safari is a camping safari , also in a minibus, where the crew - or you, if it's a budget trip - pitch your tents each day. With this kind of trip you have to be prepared for a degree of discomfort along with the self-sufficiency: insects can occasionally be a menace, you may not get a shower every night, the food won't be so lavish and the beer not so cold.

It's common on camping safaris to spend the hot part of the day at the campsite. While some are shady and pleasant, that's not always the case and, where there are lodges with swimming pools, cold beer and the rest nearby, there's no reason not to spend a few hours in comfort. Similarly, if you want to go on an early game drive, don't be afraid to suggest you skip breakfast, or take sandwiches. In too many companies, interpretations of what customers want are passed from management to drivers and cooks and rarely questioned.

On the best camping safaris, you travel in a fairly rugged vehicle - a four-wheel-drive land cruiser or even an open-sided lorry - giving more flexibility about where you go and how long you stay. The more expensive camping safaris come very expensive indeed and tend to model their style on images culled from Out of Africa ; they can easily cost over £200/$280 a day.

Pre-booking at home
Most travel agents can fix you up with brochures for the more mainstream tour operators whose packages generally (though not always) fall into the more expensive lodge and minibus category. For more off-beat adventure trips , or a better selection of camping safaris, you should contact the operator directly. Note that the single-person supplement tends to be high on conventional beach and safari packages and somewhat less (or you can share) on the more adventure-spirited trips, where prices are per person, but depend also on the size of the group, which can make things extremely expensive if there are only two or three people.

The minibus safaris fitted into most of the inexpensive Mombasa-based charter packages venture no further afield than the three national parks easily accessible from the coast - Tsavo East, Tsavo West and Amboseli (trips up to Samburu or west to Maasai Mara are more expensive, and therefore cheaper if arranged from Nairobi)

Booking in Kenya
Independently choosing a safari company to spend your money on can be fairly hit or miss. Unless you have the luxury of a long stay, your choice will probably be limited by the time available. Remember, though, that you may be able to use this to your advantage; if you ask, many companies are willing to discount a trip in order to fill unsold seats if you're buying at the last minute. Some outfits will also give student discounts if you ask. In fact, any angle you can employ to get a good deal, you should use.

This is not to recommend the very cheapest outfits. As the competition in Nairobi becomes more cut-throat, some budget camping operators, not all of them licensed, are pushing safaris at the very bottom of the market in a price war which completely undercuts the legitimate firms. Any safari which is offered at less than £40/$60 per day is likely to be cutting corners. The easiest way for disreputable operators to cut costs is to avoid paying park entry fees, which threatens the preservation of wildlife in Kenya. Give these fly-by-night companies a miss.

We've listed a number of recommended operators but it's notoriously difficult to find a company that's absolutely consistent (if they're a member of KATO, that's a good sign, and at least you have somewhere to complain to). Group relations among the passengers can assume surprising significance in a very short time and other unpredictables such as weather, illness and visibility of animals all contribute to the degree of success of the trip. More controllable factors like breakdowns, food, equipment and competence of the drivers and tour leaders, really determine reputations. The companies we've listed all have pretty good records and get regularly mentioned in readers' letters, but even they turn up the occasional duff trip. Give them a try unless an alternative sounds especially good and reliable. The Nairobi grapevine is probably your best guide on this.

If anything goes wrong , reputable companies will do their best to compensate on the spot (an extra day if you broke down, a night in a lodge if you didn't make it to a campsite, partial refunds without demur). If your grievance is unresolved, you might want to contact the Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO), PO Box 48461, 3rd floor, Hughes Building, Kenyatta Ave, Nairobi tel 02/225570, fax 218402, kato@africaonline.co.ke, who can intercede with their members.

Staff relations and tipping
When on your trip, it's important not to take a passive attitude. Although some of the itinerary may be fixed, it's not all cast in stone, and daily routines may be altered to suit the clients easily enough if you ask.

As long as they know there will be reasonable tips at the end of the trip, most staff will go out of their way to help. Tipping on budget trips, however, can often cause days of argument and misunderstanding between the clients, who are usually expected to organize themselves to give collective gratuities on the last day. Good companies make suggestions in their briefing packs. Something like Ksh1000-1500 per employee per week from the whole group is not excessive and would be greatly appreciated.