African Honeymoon Checklist

Start twelve to fifteen months before you travel if your trip includes safari in July to October, Christmas or New Year, or gorilla trekking. Eight months is enough for most other months. The constraint is not flights — it is that the best safari camps have between eight and twenty rooms in total and physically cannot add capacity when they sell out.

Three deadlines on this page are immovable: gorilla permits, peak-season camp availability, and a passport name change. Everything else has some give in it.

15–12 months before

• Agree the two numbers: total budget per couple and number of nights. Every other decision follows from these. See what an African honeymoon costs for realistic bands.
• Pick the month, then the country — not the other way round. The same country is a different trip in February and August. The best time to travel guide covers all four climate regions month by month.
• Check both passports. Six months of validity beyond your return date, and at least four blank pages. If either needs renewing, or either of you is changing surname, start now — this is the deadline that most often derails a trip.
• Book gorilla permits if you want them. Rwanda caps them at 96 per day. Permits before flights, always.
• Enquire and compare itineraries. Two or three specialist proposals, not one.

12–9 months before

• Confirm the itinerary and pay the deposit. Peak-season camps for July to October will be gone by now if you wait.
• Buy travel insurance the same day you pay the deposit. Cancellation cover runs from the purchase date, so a year of exposure starts now. Check the evacuation limit is at least US$250,000 and that your activities are named — details in the health and safety guide.
• Book international flights. Once camps are confirmed, not before.
• Say you are on honeymoon, in writing, now. Most camps will do something — an upgrade, a private dinner, a surprise on arrival. Almost none will if they find out at check-in.
• Set up a honeymoon fund if you are using one instead of a gift list. It needs to be live before invitations go out.

6–4 months before

• Apply for visas that require advance application — Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Seychelles Travel Authorisation. Use official government sites only. See the visa guide.
• Book the travel clinic appointment for roughly two months before departure. Book the appointment now; the appointment itself is later.
• Confirm what is and is not included in your quote, in writing: park and conservation fees, permits, private vehicle supplements, drinks, internal flight baggage allowance. These routinely add 10 to 20% when they are not.
• Ask whether your operator subscribes to a regional air-rescue service, and get the answer in writing.
• Book any add-ons — balloon safari, private vehicle, a specific guide, diving. Balloon slots in the Mara and Serengeti sell out in peak months.

8–6 weeks before

• Go to the travel clinic. This is the real deadline — several vaccines need more than one dose, and rabies is a three-dose course. Take your full itinerary with you, not just the country names.
• Order antimalarials and start any course that begins before departure.
• Get the yellow fever certificate if your route touches more than one country. Carry the physical card.
• Check your luggage against the 15kg soft-bag limit for internal safari flights. If you are taking camera equipment, raise it with your operator now — the answer is occasionally an extra seat. See what to pack.
• Buy anything you are missing: binoculars, the right plug adaptor, neutral clothing, reef-safe sunscreen.

4–2 weeks before

• Pay the final balance — usually due 60 to 90 days out; check your own terms.
• Order US dollars in clean, small, undamaged notes. Worn or torn notes are refused and pre-2013 notes are rejected in several countries. Budget US$30–45 per couple per day for safari tipping, plus on-arrival fees.
• Tell both banks you are travelling and check the cards are on different networks.
• Save offline on both phones: insurance policy number and emergency line, flight and camp confirmations, visa approvals, embassy contacts. Camps often have no signal and patchy wifi.
• Download offline maps and any entertainment for long transfers.
• Confirm dietary requirements and any allergy directly with the camps. Remote kitchens order supplies weeks ahead.

The final week

• Check your government’s travel advice for the specific regions on your itinerary, not the country as a whole.
• Reconfirm internal flights and transfer times door to door. A “two-hour flight” often means a road transfer plus a light aircraft with two stops.
• Pack the soft bag for the bush leg and identify the case you will leave at the first city hotel.
• Split medication and cash across both bags.
• Photograph both passports and store the images somewhere you can reach without your phone.
• Leave the itinerary with someone at home.

The five things couples get wrong

1. Booking the beach first. Safari has far less availability. Lock the camps, then build the beach around them.
2. Doing the beach before the safari. Safari means 5.30am starts. Put it first and use the beach to recover.
3. Underestimating internal transfers. Ask for door-to-door timings, not flight times.
4. Assuming quoted prices are all-in. Park fees, permits, private vehicle supplements and drinks are routinely excluded. Ask in writing.
5. Not saying you are on honeymoon at the time of booking. The upgrade happens at the booking stage or not at all.