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
Most Popular Blog Posts – Written by Melissa Shales
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