Travel Glossary · Safari & Africa
Night Drive
Definition
Night Drive: A night drive is a guided game drive after dark that uses a spotlight to find nocturnal animals, permitted mainly in private reserves, concessions, conservancies, and some national parks.
After sunset, a different cast emerges. Night drives can reveal bushbabies, genets, civets, porcupines, hyenas, owls, and, with luck, an aardvark or a leopard on the hunt. A tracker or guide sweeps a spotlight across the bush, often with a red filter to reduce disturbance, and keeps the beam off prey animals so predators gain no unfair advantage.
Rules depend on where you stay. Many national parks restrict or prohibit night driving, one reason travelers choose private reserves, concessions, and conservancies, where night drives are often part of the daily program. Zambia’s South Luangwa is known for night drives inside the national park, and South Africa’s Kruger offers guided night drives run by the park itself.
Night drives are usually short extensions of the afternoon drive, often after a sundowner. Bring a warm jacket, since open vehicles cool quickly. See South Luangwa and our first safari guide.
Go deeper
- AfricaSouth Luangwa Safari GuidePlan South Luangwa in Zambia: the home of the walking safari, leopards on night drives, seasonal bush camps, the best dry-season months and flights to Mfuwe.
- AfricaKruger & Sabi Sand Safari GuidePlan a Kruger and Sabi Sand safari: private reserves vs the national park, leopard viewing, the best months, malaria advice and flights from Johannesburg.
- Travel GuidesYour First Safari: How to Plan an African SafariPlanning your first African safari: where to go, how long to stay, lodges vs tented camps, what a safari day looks like, packing, health and tipping.
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