Expert Reviews
Iconic Africa with a few surprises
My eyes started to wobble in their sockets as I tried for all my worth to capture a herd of Grevy’s zebras on my camera. Those closely spaced stripes really do confuse the senses, and I was able to appreciate how their ‘camouflage’ disorientates predators and tsetse flies alike. There are...
Not to be missed!
I’d heard such amazing reports about Murchison Falls “the world’s heaviest waterfall” that I was worried whether the famous waterfalls would live up to expectations. Spoiler alert: they did. The light spray from the waterfalls and the force of the River Nile pounding the hard rock beneath...
An Exciting Off-the-Beaten-Track Gem
Zinave is a national park with a troubled past but great prospects for an exciting future. Situated half-a-day’s drive inland of the popular beach resort Vilanculos, it protects a large tract of pristine bush bounded by the Save River to the north and dotted with shallow pans including...
A Tanzanian Ark
Rubondo Island is not your typical African safari destination. Proclaimed as a game reserve in 1966 and upgraded to national park status in 1977, it protects the hilly 240km²/93mi2 island for which it is named, along with another 11 islets in the southwest corner of Africa’s largest freshwater...
Less frenetic than Mara National Reserve
The Mara Triangle is located in the southwestern part of the Masai Mara. It can only be accessed via the Oloololo Gate or the New Mara Bridge, and because of its limited access, it’s far less crowded than the rest of the National Reserve. It is renowned for its predators, including lion, leopard,...
Luxury, conservation, and the Big Five
As a conservation success story, the Shamwari Game Reserve in South Africa’s Eastern Cape is nothing short of a fairy tale. Once, this relatively small 250-square-kilometer reserve was little more than a farm stocked with sheep and cows, crisscrossed with fences, and lacking in wildlife. Now,...
Zimbabwe’s Best-kept Secret
Gonarezhou National Park exceeded all my expectations. As this was our first visit to the park, we had set aside a week to explore every corner of this underrated wilderness area. On the first day, we entered the park in the south and traversed all the way to the Chipinda Pools area in the north....
Unadulterated Drama
When 1.5 million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebra make their way north from Tanzania’s Serengeti and into Kenya’s Masai Mara, they must cross rivers, all of which harbor monster-sized crocodiles. It’s a spectacle I have witnessed numerous times, but it always leaves me feeling a...
On the Hunt for Tree-climbing Lions
So, I went to Queen Elizabeth with the desire to see those world-famous tree-dwelling lions. Typically, lions are not adept at climbing; they are heavy and cumbersome and tend to fall out from the branches even if they try. Most monkeys in Africa know this and will laugh at lions as long as they do...
Endless Space & Seasonal Plenty
Botswana’s Central Kalahari Game Reserve (often abbreviated to CKGR) covers a staggering 52,800km2, making it Africa’s second largest national park. With this amount of space – it’s larger than the Netherlands – you might expect crowds of safari-goers. In fact, this is one of the least...
Eerie Desolation & Profound Beauty
Skeleton Coast National Park, stretching over 500km/310mi from the Ugab River in the south to the Kunene River and the Angolan border in the north, is one of the most desolate and starkly beautiful places I have ever been. The cold Benguela Current running along the coast clashes with the hot air of...
Avoid the Masses
The Masai Mara is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding safari destinations in all of Africa. It has classic rolling savannahs, abundant big cats and hosts the greatest show on Earth: the wildebeest migration. But sadly, mass tourism is at risk of spoiling the national reserve, compounded by the...
Conservation Success Story
Akagera National Park has undergone a massive transformation in the past few years making it one of Africa’s inspirational conservation success stories. As a result of various reintroduction programmes, Akagera is now home to the Big Five (elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo). You can...
Punting in the Panhandle
Most visitors to the Delta opt for the Moremi Game Reserve or one of the private concessions bordering it, where the Big Five roam (though you’re highly unlikely to spot rhinos) and luxury lodges abound. On a recent trip I had the opportunity to head north to the Panhandle. The wildlife watching...
A Remarkable Wilderness Area Close to the City
Just a few hours north of the hustle and bustle of Pretoria, the Waterberg Region has been a popular weekend-getaway destination for South Africans for a long time. The area is known for its rugged mountain scenery and patchwork of animal-rich bushveld savannah reserves. Since 2001, 15,000 km2 of...
Self-driving in North Luangwa
North Luangwa is the big, off-the-beaten-track sister park of South Luangwa, Zambia’s most popular wildlife destination. The park has a very limited road network and only a few very rustic, but high-end, camps. Most people fly in and the focus is on walking safaris. Wildlife is a bit more skittish...
The heart of the Luangwa Valley, away from the crowds
Luambe is one of Zambia’s smaller national parks. It is located in the wildlife-rich Luangwa Valley sandwiched between the better-known South and North Luangwa National Parks. Poaching has been a problem here and wildlife viewing isn’t really on a par with South Luangwa – Zambia’s most...
Africa’s unknown wildebeest migration
For me, it was love at first sight when I arrived at Liuwa Plain. I hadn’t seen anything like it in Zambia. Fresh grassy plains covered in spring flowers stretched out as far as I could see. The sky was filled with dramatic stormy cloud formations. We’d come here at the beginning of the Wet...
Secret retreat in the Luangwa Valley
One of Zambia’s older and smaller national parks, Luambe is situated in the heart of the Luangwa Valley, sandwiched between South Luangwa and North Luangwa National Parks. Unlike these two better-known parks, Luambe extends eastwards from the Luangwa River, but in most other respects it is very...
Zambia’s only Big Five safari destination
This remote and relatively little-visited northern counterpart to the ever-popular South Luangwa National Park is bounded by the Luangwa River to the east and the Rift Valley escarpment to the west. North Luangwa supports a similar range of wildlife to its southern neighbor, including plentiful...
Dry scrub and lush wetlands
Lochinvar is a national park of two halves: the dusty, scrubby bit to the south, and the wet bit to the north. Coming by road from Monze (a junction town about 30 minutes’ drive from the entrance gate), you’ll drive for about 40km through a tract of dry grassland and miombo woodlands that is...
Fossas and baobabs
Not to be confused with the more southerly national park of the same name, this small privately managed forest reserve and research centre 65km north of Morondava is widely billed as the most reliable site for seeing the fossa, Madagascar’s largest carnivore. Based on our one visit, the reputation...
Prolific wildlife, stunning landscapes
The Okavango Delta is probably the best safari destination in Africa – for the sense of wilderness that’s increasingly hard to come by, its stunning waterway-laced landscape, and its incredible wildlife. Predators and prey gather around water sources making it possible to see wild dogs taking...
Superb wildlife, but way too many people
Known for its prolific big cats and the dramatic Great Migration river crossings, the Maasai Mara is probably one of the most famous wildlife destinations on the planet – and it shows. The national reserve is suffering a bad case of overtourism, with far too many vehicles hemming in the wildlife...
Rewilded, scenic park, just two hours from Kigali
In the past few years, Akagera has burst on to the safari scene, first being successfully rewilded with the Big Five and then with its first luxury camp (Magashi) opening in 2019. Considering its relatively short development as a safari destination, I’ve had amazing wildlife viewing there –...
Vast plains, rocky outcrops, migration herds
The great plains of the Serengeti are the quintessential safari landscape. There’s prolific predator action here – I saw several lions and leopards in the northern Serengeti (and even a serval sat calmly on the road); cheetahs are easier to see in the south. But the Serengeti is probably best...
Gonarezhou: Wild & Wonderful
Gonarezhou is a special place, exuding a sense of true, wild Africa. I’d been meaning to visit for years and when at last I did, I was kicking myself for not having gone sooner. I spent a week there but still wasn’t ready to leave. Our camp was the new mananga at Massasanya Dam, made of mud...
A North Star
North Luangwa is one of the most uncommercialized parks I’ve visited. There are only a couple of camps here along the banks of the Mwaleshi River. The main drawcard for North Luangwa compared to its bigger sister South Luangwa is the sense of bush solitude it evokes in a raw and genuine...
Elephants and special birds
Tembe is located in the far north of Zululand, bordering Mozambique, and interestingly is part-owned and run by the local Tembe tribe. There is only one lodge option, which is well-run and good value and we loved the staff singing to us on our arrival. Tembe is renowned for its big elephants,...
Rwanda’s Scenic Savannah
We have visited Akagera several times between 2000 and 2022, and it is heart-warming to see how this park has made a comeback from total neglect. The turning point was in 2010 when the non-profit African Parks took over its management. After fencing, they reintroduced lots of animals, most notably...
Rwanda’s safari secret
Akagera should be on every traveler’s itinerary in Rwanda, yet it gets surprisingly few international visitors. Even without the wildlife, the beautiful landscapes alone merit a visit – it always reminds me of a cross between England’s Lake District and a mini Serengeti. While the wildlife...
Rwandan Big Five
Rwanda is best known for its gorillas and, to a lesser extent, chimpanzees, but few people seem to realise that out in the far east of the country there’s also a Big Five savannah park. Way back in the 1980s, Akagera National Park was regarded as one of East Africa’s better savannah parks, but...
A wildlife utopia brings out the worst in tourism
Famed the world over for its magnificent wildlife, and site of the annual Great Migration, I had been looking forward for a long time to a safari in the Masai Mara. Massive numbers of grazers and browsers here support a huge population of predators and most visitors will have a wildlife sighting...
Shimmering desert elephants and black rhino
Damaraland is a photographer’s dream – with its stunning rocky, desert landscapes, contorted rock formations and huge flat-topped mountains. It is a harsh, unforgiving place, with miles and miles of “nothing” except wilderness and silence. At first glance Damaraland appears devoid of much...
Kidepo Valley – Wildlife stronghold of the north
Slammed into the northeast corner of Uganda, and jutting up against South Sudan, Kidepo Valley is unique in Uganda. It’s probably my favourite park in the country and in my top 5 in East Africa. Two enormous savannah valleys enclosed by rows of jagged mountains are often shrouded by thunderclouds....
Kruger: South Africa’s Most Prolific Park
Kruger belongs in the elite of African wildlife parks and experiences. At once a byword for abundance and hugely accessible, Kruger is a brilliant place for first-time safari-goers. The infrastructure of paved roads is classic South Africa, and there are numerous guided activities, and excellent...
A Zambian Wilderness Rediscovered
This remote protected area offers one of the finest wilderness experiences in Zambia, if not Africa itself. Frankfurt Zoological Society has done a phenomenal job of protecting and resurrecting this iconic national park. There are only a couple of seasonal fly-in bush camps (focusing on first-rate...
Wild, Undeveloped and Ravaged
This unknown national park, located on the eastern escarpment of the Luangwa Valley between the North and South Luangwa parks, is amongst the least visited in all of Zambia. It is truly wild, unmanaged and undeveloped. Only the most determined 4×4 adventurers will make the effort to mount a...
Nkasa Rupara: Echoes of Linyanti
There’s something about Nkasa Rupara (Mamili NP) that sets it apart from the other Zambezi Region parks. For a start, it lies well south of the region’s major population centres, removing it nicely from the clamour further north. It’s also just across the water from the wildlife-prolific...
Joy and solitude
Shaba is perhaps best known as the park where Joy Adamson, of Born Free fame, met her demise at the hands of a disgruntled employee. The maverick conservationist, then working to reintroduce a hand-reared leopard, now gives her name to Joy’s Camp, an upmarket safari lodge. The park, which also...
Uganda’s remote valley
Kidepo Valley National Park is by far the most remote park in Uganda. Most people fly here, but we drove the long bumpy road north, which made us appreciate its remoteness even more. The open grassland surrounded by mountains makes a stunning setting for a wide variety of animals including cheetah,...
A vast tract of undisturbed bush in the valley of the mighty Luangwa River.
The sister park to South Luangwa is very rarely visited as access isn’t easy and there are very few seasonal camps. I was lucky enough to experience North Luangwa on an adventurous self-drive safari and loved the solitude, varied landscapes and the sense that I had this vast piece of Zambian bush...
A world of adventure and natural splendour
“The hooded vulture is a very good indicator of the near presence of predators,” My experienced bush-hiking guide told me as we observed several large birds descending into the thick brush ahead. We were in the beautiful game-rich South Luangwa National Park, on a multi-day on-foot camping...
Everything, Everywhere, All at once
The very first elephant I ever saw in the wild was in Tarangire National Park in North-Eastern Tanzania. I was hoping for just a handful, but what I witnessed was beyond my wildest imagination. Hundreds upon hundreds of these magnificent beasts drifted across the golden-brown landscape like a fleet...
The pinnacle of iconic African everything…
Kenya has a reputation as the primary African Safari destination, and I can’t find myself arguing against that. If you yearn, as I do, for vast open landscapes dotted with acacia trees under which cheetahs lounge and lions roar, then the Maasai Mara is a top pick for you. The country boasts a...
Africa 101: Uganda's winning blend of nature, climate and people
When I moved to Uganda 15 years ago, the country seemed quite small. In my first year, I covered a lot of the country: I climbed Mount Elgon, I went on safari in Queen, I spent Easter on an island on Lake Bunyonyi, but was worried I would have quickly "done everything." Fast forward a few years and...
Watch the Wildlife … but Hunt the Wilderness
With vast populations of all iconic wildlife (albeit dwindling rhino numbers), South Africa deserves its top-billed ranking among the most popular safari destinations on the planet. Facilities are fantastic and there are reserves and accommodation that can satisfy the most stringent budgets … or...
Bush and Beach
This very underrated reserve is less than an hours drive from Diani Beach, the biggest beach resort in Kenya, and is ideal for an easy morning game drive. True the wildlife variety and concentrations don’t come close to Kenya’s big name parks and reserves but for a break from the beach and a...
The Wild North
The twin sister (alongside Buffalo Springs) of the more famous neighouring Samburu National Reserve, Shaba is the connoisseurs safari destination. Wildlife here doesn’t grow on trees (which is lucky because there aren’t that many) and you need to work harder for your sightings than in Samburu...
Birds and swimming antelope
I have a real soft spot for the highlands of western Kenya. I love the greenery, the cool temperatures and the muddy little agricultural towns and villages where everyone seems to drink milky tea and wear welly boots. Kitale is one of my favourite such towns and Saiwa Swamp is one of the main...