Expert

Melissa Shales

Member of the SafariBookings Expert Panel

Country:: United Kingdom
Expert Reviews:: 42 Reviews
Website:: www.melissashales.co.uk

Melissa Shales was brought up in Zimbabwe by parents who were enthusiastic travellers and spent many of her formative years bumping across dirt roads in highly unsuitable cars, tent on roof, indulging her mother's passion for giraffes. Although she now lives just outside London in the UK, Africa is in her blood and she returns as often as possible. During a long career as a travel writer and editor, she has written some 30 guidebooks for companies from Frommers and Fodors to Insight, Michelin and Dorling Kindersley, including books on South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania, winning three best guidebook awards. Melissa is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, an Honorary Life Member (and former Chair) of the British Guild of Travel Writers and a Winston Churchill Fellow.

Expert Reviews 42 – Written by Melissa Shales

Botswana

Botswana country review

4/5
Botswana – A desert diamond
Chobe National Park

4/5
Chobe – home of ebony and ivory
Okavango Delta

4/5
The Okavango Delta – taking a punt on the Big Five

Kenya

Kenya country review

4/5
Kenya – middle earth
Aberdare National Park

3/5
The Aberdares – paradise in limbo
Amboseli National Park

4/5
Amboseli National Park – the weekend safari
Lake Bogoria National Reserve

3/5
Lake Bogoria – letting off steam in the Rift Valley
Lake Nakuru National Park

4/5
Lake Nakuru – rising water and rhinos
Lake Turkana

3/5
Lake Turkana – water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink
Masai Mara National Reserve

4/5
The Masai Mara – the million wildebeest march
Nairobi National Park

3/5
Nairobi – go wild in the city
Samburu National Reserve

4/5
Samburu – river of life in the thirsty plains
Tsavo East National Park

4/5
Tsavo East – pink elephants and man-eating lions
Tsavo West National Park

4/5
Tsavo West – go with the flow

South Africa

South Africa country review

5/5
South Africa – southern star
Addo Elephant National Park

4/5
Addo – elephants, penguins and the flightless dung beetle?
Amakhala Game Reserve

3/5
Amakhala (Private Game Reserve), South Africa
Augrabies Falls National Park

3/5
Augrabies – the place of Great Noise
Golden Gate Highlands National Park

3/5
Golden Gate Highlands National Park, South Africa
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve

4/5
Hluhluwe-Imfolozi – the Eden of rhinos
Ithala Game Reserve

3/5
Ithala – river deep, mountain high
Kruger National Park

5/5
Kruger – lion country
Mala Mala Game Reserve

4/5
MalaMala – the glamorous grand-daddy of game reserves
Mountain Zebra National Park

3/5
Mountain Zebra – haven from extinction
Phinda Game Reserve

4/5
Phinda – practically perfect private preserve
Pilanesberg Game Reserve

3/5
Pilanesberg – the Genesis project
Sabi Sabi Game Reserve

4/5
SabiSabi – natural luxury
Sabi Sand Game Reserve

4/5
Sabi Sand - safari de luxe
Shamwari Game Reserve

3/5
Shamwari – wild Africa reborn
Spioenkop Game Reserve

2/5
Spioenkop – battlefield tour with added animals
Ulusaba Game Reserve

4/5
Ulusaba – top of the world
Waterberg Biosphere Reserve

4/5
Waterberg – weekend wilderness

Tanzania

Tanzania country review

5/5
Tanzania – migration highway
Ngorongoro Crater

5/5
The Ngorongoro Crater – the lost world
Serengeti National Park

5/5
Serengeti – the great plains

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe country review

4/5
Zimbabwe – paradise in limbo
Hwange National Park

4/5
Hwange – the elephants’ stamping ground
Mana Pools National Park

5/5
Mana Pools – watery wilderness at the back of beyond
Matobo National Park

4/5
Matobo – a finely balanced world
Matusadona National Park

4/5
Matusadona – a drowned forest by a manmade sea
Nyanga National Park

3/5
Nyanga - Zimbabwe’s mountain playground
Zambezi National Park

5/5
The Zambezi - a thunderingly magnificent river