How to Combine Safari Regions

What a move costs you

Before deciding how many regions, it is worth knowing what each additional one takes out of the trip.

The morning drive on departure day, and the afternoon on arrival day — most of a day, in effect
A light-aircraft leg, which at this level is a real cost line
A packing and an unpacking, which on a holiday is not nothing
The relationship with a guide who was just starting to learn what you like

Combination	Why it works	Length
Mara conservancy + Laikipia	Plains game then walking, riding and altitude. Nothing repeats.	7–9 nights
Mara conservancy + Samburu	Green savanna then red desert, and species you see nowhere else	7–9 nights
Serengeti + Ngorongoro + Zanzibar	Scale, then the Crater, then the sea. The classic, deservedly.	11–14 nights
Okavango water + Linyanti	Mokoro and birds, then elephant in extraordinary numbers	7–9 nights
Volcanoes + a Kenyan conservancy	Gorillas then plains game — two entirely different halves	9–12 nights
Any safari + four nights on a coast	The honest answer to "and then what?"	Add 4–5 nights

Masai Mara + northern Serengeti. One ecosystem with an international border through it. You will fly for two hours to see the same grass.
Two Delta camps of the same kind. Two water camps, or two land camps, is a missed opportunity — take one of each.
Botswana + a beach. There is no coast in reach. Victoria Falls or Cape Town is the honest second half.
Three countries in ten nights. The flights will take three of them, and you will spend the trip in airports.

Nights	Regions	Shape
7	One, or two at a push	One country. Four and three, or six and fly home.
10	Two, plus a coast if it is close	Three and three and four is the workhorse
12	Two or three	Four, four and four — or two safari regions and a longer coast
14	Three, comfortably	Room for a second country, or gorillas added to plains game