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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 country review
The thirsty Kalahari and swampy Okavango
- Central Kalahari Game Reserve
The Great Thirstland
- Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Desert splendours
- Mashatu Game Reserve
Southern Africa’s best-kept game viewing secret
- Okavango Delta
Southern Africa’s greatest inland swamp
- Kenya country review
The home of the safari
- Aberdare National Park
Life in the Treetops
- Amboseli National Park
Giant tuskers in the shadow of Kilimanjaro
- Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve
Home of Kenya’s largest ‘lost city’
- Buffalo Springs National Reserve
Samburu’s southern twin
- Hell's Gate National Park
Hike or bicycle through a valley full of wildlife
- Kakamega Forest National Reserve
Kenya’s top birding site
- Kora National Park
A little visited wilderness
- Laikipia Plateau
Ranchland reclaimed for wildlife
- Lake Bogoria National Reserve
The flamingos’ holiday home
- Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake of birds and land of rhinos
- Lake Turkana
The world’s largest desert lake
- Lewa Wildlife Conservancy
Africa on horseback
- Marsabit National Park
A forested island
- Masai Mara National Reserve
Big Cat Diaries made flesh
- Meru National Park
The Phoenix park
- Nairobi National Park
A top safari experience bordering the capital
- Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Laikipia’s main tourist focus
- Saiwa Swamp National Park
Kenya’s smallest and most pedestrian friendly park
- Samburu National Reserve
A river runs through it
- Shaba National Reserve
Samburu’s wilder eastern cousin
- Shimba Hills National Reserve
Sables, squirrels and bushbabies
- Solio Ranch
Rhino overload
- Tsavo East National Park
Kenya’s largest wilderness park
- Tsavo West National Park
Kenya’s greatest wilderness park
- Malawi country review
Land of the Lake…and some wildlife too!
- Kasungu National Park
Peaceful bush retreat with low wildlife densities
- Lengwe National Park
A engaging but low-key gem for self-drivers
- Liwonde National Park
Archetypal African river setting
- Majete Wildlife Reserve
Rising star of the south
- Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve
For the hardcore only
- Nyika National Park
A hiker’s paradise
- Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve
Super-accessible elephant and hippo viewing
- Mozambique country review
Beaches, history…and a bit of safari
- Gorongosa National Park
Mozambique’s conversation flagship
- Maputo Special Reserve
Elephant and bird nirvana
- Niassa National Reserve
As remote as it gets
- Namibia country review
Land of open spaces
- |Ai-|Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park
Land of the mutant plants
- Damaraland
Desert-adapted elephants and rhinos
- Etosha National Park
A photographer’s favourite
- Kaokoland
The harsh home of the enigmatic Himba
- Namib-Naukluft National Park
Gemsbok on the Dunes
- Skeleton Coast National Park
Coast of ghost-ships
- Tsau //Khaeb National Park
Namibia’s Forbidden territory
- Rwanda country review
East Africa’s phoenix state
- Akagera National Park
A resurgent gem
- Nyungwe Forest National Park
Superb forest all-rounder
- Volcanoes National Park
Gorillas in the mist
- South Africa country review
A World In One Country
- Addo Elephant National Park
Elephants up close and personal
- |Ai-|Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park
Land of the mutant plants
- Amakhala Game Reserve
The Big Five and the N2
- Augrabies Falls National Park
Place of Great Noise
- Balule Nature Reserve
Important Member of a Vast Unfenced Ecosystem
- Camdeboo National Park
Desolate Karoo landscapes
- Djuma Game Reserve
Solid Sabi Sands favourite
- Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Cliffs of gold
- Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve
Home of the Rhino
- Ithala Game Reserve
Hill country
- Kapama Game Reserve
Home of the elephant-back safari
- Karoo National Park
Sea of fossils
- Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Desert splendours
- Kruger National Park
South Africa’s most iconic national park
- Kwandwe Game Reserve
The Eastern Cape’s last wilderness
- Londolozi Game Reserve
Protector of all living things
- Madikwe Game Reserve
Malaria-free Big Five viewing
- Makalali Game Reserve
Canned game viewing
- MalaMala Game Reserve
South Africa’s top private reserve
- Mapungubwe National Park
Lost city on the Limpopo
- Marakele National Park
Large Mammals & a Scenic treat
- Mountain Zebra National Park
Endemics hideaway
- Phinda Game Reserve
Big Five viewing in Zululand
- Pilanesberg Game Reserve
The closest Big Five destination to Johannesburg
- Sabi Sabi Game Reserve
Stark sophistication in the bush
- Sabi Sand Game Reserve
Best for a quick Big 5 fix
- Shamwari Game Reserve
Big Five and more in the Albany thicket
- Singita Sabi Sand Game Reserve
Sabi Sands in style
- Spioenkop Game Reserve
Low-key game viewing in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg foothills
- Tembe Elephant Park
Southern Africa’s largest tuskers
- Timbavati Nature Reserve
Home of white lions
- uMkhuze Game Reserve
Photographers’ and birders’ paradise
- Waterberg Biosphere Reserve
A Diverse Area of Reserves & Wildlife
- Zulu Nyala Game Reserve
Zululand travel base
- Tanzania country review
Africa’s greatest safari destination
- Arusha National Park
Below Mount Meru
- Gombe National Park
Jane Goodall’s chimp reserve
- Katavi National Park
A forgotten wilderness
- Lake Manyara National Park
Tanzania in microcosm
- Mahale Mountains National Park
Primate Nirvana
- Mikumi National Park
An underrated gem
- Mkomazi National Park
In the shadow of Kilimanjaro
- Ngorongoro Crater
Nature’s greatest natural stage
- Ruaha National Park
The connoisseur’s choice
- Saadani National Park
Where the beach meets the bush
- Selous Game Reserve
Southern Tanzania’s ultimate wilderness
- Serengeti National Park
Plains of Plenty
- Tarangire National Park
Baobabs and elephants
- Uganda country review
Gorillas in the mist – and much else besides!
- Budongo Forest
The forgotten chimpanzee reserve
- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Rare birds and gorillas in the mist
- Kibale National Park
Monkey Nirvana
- Kidepo Valley National Park
Uganda’s forgotten savannah reserve
- Lake Mburo National Park
Hilly gateway to the western safari circuit
- Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Volcanoes in the mist
- Murchison Falls National Park
Thundering waters and smirking shoebills
- Queen Elizabeth National Park
Oasis of biodiversity
- Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve
Uganda’s forgotten Valley
- Zambia country review
Adventurer’s Africa
- Kafue National Park
Africa’s largest national park
- Lower Zambezi National Park
Canoeing the mighty Zambezi
- Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park
The Smoke That Thunders
- South Luangwa National Park
Africa’s best night drives
- Zimbabwe country review
Adrenaline capital of southern Africa
- Hwange National Park
Zimbabwe’s top all-round safari destination
- Matobo National Park
Land of giant boulders
- Nyanga National Park
Rhodes’s former estate in the Eastern Highlands
- Zambezi National Park
The southern side of Victoria Falls:
Most Popular Blog Posts – Written by Philip Briggs
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