Expert

Philip Briggs

Member of the SafariBookings Expert Panel

Country:: South Africa
Expert Reviews:: 106 Reviews
Website:: philipbriggs.wordpress.com

Philip Briggs is a South African based travel writer with more than 20 years experience travelling in and writing about Africa. He acquired the African travel bug whilst backpacking between Nairobi and Cape Town in 1986 and has been exploring the continent on-and-off ever since. His first book was the Bradt Guide to South Africa, published in 1991, less than two years after the release of Nelson Mandela.

Over the subsequent decade, he authored a succession of pioneering Bradt Guides to destinations then uncharted by the travel publishing industry, among them the first standalone guidebooks to Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana and Rwanda. He still updates these books on a regular basis, but more recently has authored Bradt Highlights Guides to Kenya and South Africa, a Bradt guide to East African Wildlife, and a new Bradt Guide to Somaliland, published in March 2012.

He has also worked on the Insight Guides to Namibia, Tanzania, Senegal & Gambia, East African Wildlife, South Africa, Cape Town and Kenya, and various other books published by Dorling Kindersley, AA Guides, Struik/New Holland, and regularly contributes to specialist travel and wildlife magazines including Africa Birds & Birding, Africa Geographic, BBC Wildlife, Travel Africa and Wanderlust.

Philip now lives in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg region together with his wife, the travel photographer Ariadne Van Zandbergen, his son John, and three dogs and a cat.

Expert Reviews 106 – Written by Philip Briggs

Botswana

Botswana country review

4/5
The thirsty Kalahari and swampy Okavango
Central Kalahari Game Reserve

4/5
The Great Thirstland
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

4/5
Desert splendours
Mashatu Game Reserve

5/5
Southern Africa’s best-kept game viewing secret
Okavango Delta

5/5
Southern Africa’s greatest inland swamp

Ethiopia

Ethiopia country review

4/5
Historical sites and endemic wildlife
Abijatta-Shalla National Park

3/5
Flamingo central
Awash National Park

3/5
A compelling volcanic landscape
Bale Mountains National Park

4/5
Multiple visits
Chebera-Churchura National Park

3/5
Tracking elephants on foot
Lake Ziway

3/5
Birding among the vineyard
Nechisar National Park

3/5
A tale of two lakes
Senkele Swayne’s Hartebeest Sanctuary

2/5
A one-trick pony
Simien Mountains National Park

4/5
The spectacular roof of Ethiopia

Kenya

Kenya country review

4/5
The home of the safari
Aberdare National Park

3/5
Life in the Treetops
Amboseli National Park

4/5
Giant tuskers in the shadow of Kilimanjaro
Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve

3/5
Home of Kenya’s largest ‘lost city’
Buffalo Springs National Reserve

4/5
Samburu’s southern twin
Hell's Gate National Park

4/5
Hike or bicycle through a valley full of wildlife
Kakamega Forest National Reserve

4/5
Kenya’s top birding site
Kora National Park

2/5
A little visited wilderness
Laikipia Plateau

4/5
Ranchland reclaimed for wildlife
Lake Bogoria National Reserve

3/5
The flamingos’ holiday home
Lake Nakuru National Park

4/5
Lake of birds and land of rhinos
Lake Turkana

4/5
The world’s largest desert lake
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy

4/5
Africa on horseback
Marsabit National Park

3/5
A forested island
Masai Mara National Reserve

5/5
Big Cat Diaries made flesh
Meru National Park

4/5
The Phoenix park
Nairobi National Park

3/5
A top safari experience bordering the capital
Ol Pejeta Conservancy

4/5
Laikipia’s main tourist focus
Saiwa Swamp National Park

4/5
Kenya’s smallest and most pedestrian friendly park
Samburu National Reserve

4/5
A river runs through it
Shaba National Reserve

3/5
Samburu’s wilder eastern cousin
Shimba Hills National Reserve

3/5
Sables, squirrels and bushbabies
Solio Ranch

3/5
Rhino overload
Tsavo East National Park

4/5
Kenya’s largest wilderness park
Tsavo West National Park

4/5
Kenya’s greatest wilderness park

Madagascar

Madagascar country review

4/5
A world apart
Amber Mountain National Park

4/5
Chameleons great and small
Andasibe-Mantadia National Park

4/5
One-stop lemur shop
Andohahela National Park

3/5
An enjoyable forest walk
Anja Community Reserve

3/5
A rewarding community reserve
Ankarafantsika National Park

4/5
Forest of rarities
Ankarana Special Reserve

4/5
Mountains of pins
Berenty Private Reserve

3/5
A contrived ‘spiny forest’ primer
Isalo National Park

4/5
A sandstone jungle
Kirindy Forest

4/5
Fossas and baobabs
Ranomafana National Park

4/5
Top lemur viewing and hiking
Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park

3/5
A tiny and easily accessible gem

Malawi

Malawi country review

3/5
Land of the Lake…and some wildlife too!
Kasungu National Park

2/5
Peaceful bush retreat with low wildlife densities
Lengwe National Park

3/5
A engaging but low-key gem for self-drivers
Liwonde National Park

4/5
Archetypal African river setting
Majete Wildlife Reserve

4/5
Rising star of the south
Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve

2/5
For the hardcore only
Nyika National Park

4/5
A hiker’s paradise
Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve

3/5
Super-accessible elephant and hippo viewing

Mozambique

Mozambique country review

3/5
Beaches, history…and a bit of safari
Gorongosa National Park

4/5
Mozambique’s conversation flagship
Maputo Special Reserve

3/5
Elephant and bird nirvana
Niassa National Reserve

4/5
As remote as it gets

Namibia

Namibia country review

4/5
Land of open spaces
|Ai-|Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park

4/5
Land of the mutant plants
Damaraland

4/5
Desert-adapted elephants and rhinos
Etosha National Park

4/5
A photographer’s favourite
Kaokoland

4/5
The harsh home of the enigmatic Himba
Namib-Naukluft National Park

4/5
Gemsbok on the Dunes
Skeleton Coast National Park

4/5
Coast of ghost-ships
Tsau //Khaeb National Park

3/5
Namibia’s Forbidden territory

Rwanda

Rwanda country review

4/5
East Africa’s phoenix state
Akagera National Park

4/5
A resurgent gem
Nyungwe Forest National Park

4/5
Superb forest all-rounder
Volcanoes National Park

5/5
Gorillas in the mist

South Africa

South Africa country review

4/5
A World In One Country
Addo Elephant National Park

4/5
Elephants up close and personal
|Ai-|Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park

4/5
Land of the mutant plants
Amakhala Game Reserve

3/5
The Big Five and the N2
Augrabies Falls National Park

4/5
Place of Great Noise
Balule Nature Reserve

4/5
Important Member of a Vast Unfenced Ecosystem
Camdeboo National Park

3/5
Desolate Karoo landscapes
Djuma Game Reserve

4/5
Solid Sabi Sands favourite
Golden Gate Highlands National Park

4/5
Cliffs of gold
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve

4/5
Home of the Rhino
Ithala Game Reserve

3/5
Hill country
Kapama Game Reserve

4/5
Home of the elephant-back safari
Karoo National Park

3/5
Sea of fossils
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

4/5
Desert splendours
Kruger National Park

4/5
South Africa’s most iconic national park
Kwandwe Game Reserve

4/5
The Eastern Cape’s last wilderness
Londolozi Game Reserve

4/5
Protector of all living things
Madikwe Game Reserve

4/5
Malaria-free Big Five viewing
Makalali Game Reserve

3/5
Canned game viewing
MalaMala Game Reserve

5/5
South Africa’s top private reserve
Mapungubwe National Park

3/5
Lost city on the Limpopo
Marakele National Park

4/5
Large Mammals & a Scenic treat
Mountain Zebra National Park

3/5
Endemics hideaway
Phinda Game Reserve

5/5
Big Five viewing in Zululand
Pilanesberg Game Reserve

4/5
The closest Big Five destination to Johannesburg
Sabi Sabi Game Reserve

3/5
Stark sophistication in the bush
Sabi Sand Game Reserve

4/5
Best for a quick Big 5 fix
Shamwari Game Reserve

3/5
Big Five and more in the Albany thicket
Singita Sabi Sand Game Reserve

5/5
Sabi Sands in style
Spioenkop Game Reserve

3/5
Low-key game viewing in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg foothills
Tembe Elephant Park

3/5
Southern Africa’s largest tuskers
Timbavati Nature Reserve

4/5
Home of white lions
uMkhuze Game Reserve

4/5
Photographers’ and birders’ paradise
Waterberg Biosphere Reserve

4/5
A Diverse Area of Reserves & Wildlife
Zulu Nyala Game Reserve

3/5
Zululand travel base