Expert Reviews
Chyulu Hills: Green Hills of Africa
Chyulu Hills National Park is one of Kenya’s most troubled parks. Each time I visit, I see more livestock within the park’s boundaries than I do wildlife – a few scampering Sykes’ monkeys are about it. The scenery is lovely (the Chyulus were Hemingway’s ‘Green Hills of Africa’) and...
A Volcanic Chain of Scenic Misty Green Hills With a Fantastic View of Kilimanjaro
The little-visited Chyulu Hills National Park is effectively a dispersal zone between the more famous Amboseli and Tsavo (East and West). But numbers of animals are not as great because of the Chyulu’s altitude (the highest peak is 2188 metres). On one visit, I attempted the steep four-wheel-drive...
Bush and Beach
This very underrated reserve is less than an hour’s 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...
A Short Excursion To See a Variety of Large Mammals Near the Coast
Shimba Hills is less than an hour’s drive from Diani Beach and is characterised by coastal rainforest and patches of rolling grasslands. It is home to a variety of large mammals and is best known for its herds of buffalo and elephant and for being the only place in Kenya to see sable antelope. Our...
Hilltop Retreat
This little jewel of a reserve is nestled among attractive hills just an hour’s drive inland from some of Kenya’s most popular beach resorts. It can’t offer the Big Five drama of Tsavo or the Masai Mara, but you will see plenty of wildlife – from Angola colobus monkeys in the forest clefts...
Herds of Sable Antelope, Close to the Indian Ocean
Despite being within easy driving distance of the hugely popular Indian Ocean resort of Diani Beach, Shimba Hills receives relatively few visitors. It’s a modest park, but I found it enjoyable for a quick visit, and a refreshing change from the coastal strip in every way – not least because...
Sables, Squirrels and Bush Babies
Shimba Hills doesn’t compare with Kenya’s finest in terms of overall game viewing, but this small reserve offers much to wildlife connoisseurs and it’s a great overnight add-on to a beach holiday, situated less than an hour’s drive from Mombasa and the resorts of Diani Beach. It is the only...
Hemingway’s Kenya
The volcanic Chyulus are Hemingway’s Green Hills of Africa. With their rolling summits capped by cloud forest they lie in the heart of Maasailand midway between Amboseli and Tsavo, with unrivalled views of Mt Kilimanjaro. You could fit the whole of the Mara into this little-known corner of Kenya;...
A Refuge for Sable Antelope
Shimba Hills National Reserve is only a short drive inland from the popular resorts of Diani Beach. The lush, forested terrain contrasts vividly with the surrounding lowlands, creating a haven for a variety of animals including elephants, buffalo and giraffes. The reserve’s flagship animal is the...
Characterised by Its Hills and Offering Easy Game Drives in Pursuit of the Big Five
This is one of the few parks in KwaZulu-Natal where self-drivers can see the Big Five, and I’ve had very rewarding game drives here. But it’s not the typical terrain of rolling plains that most people expect, and ‘hilly’ and ‘woody’ are the best words to describe the landscape....
Animal-Rich Grasslands Sheltered by Volcanic Hills
Thanks to its volcanic character, Tsavo West is hillier than Tsavo East. It is divided into two parts by the A23 road between Voi and Taveta. To the north of this road, and also bounded on the east by the Mombasa–Nairobi Highway (A109), is the ‘Developed Area’ where most of the lodges and...
Wooded Hills and Waterfalls
If you believe a safari just isn’t a safari if it doesn’t include a few Big Five encounters, Nyanga is unlikely to make your shortlist. To me, this park’s biggest appeal lies in its hiking potential. Naturally, hikers would argue that a shortage of large, dangerous animals is a distinct...
Ancient Hills in the Heart of Matabeleland
I felt a strong spiritual presence when visiting the dwalas, or eroded granite kopjes, of the Matopos. Many others, apparently, feel the same; some of the dwalas appear precariously balanced, as if held in place by supernatural forces, and the rock art that adorns their caves hints at age-old...
Mountain Gorillas, Chimps and Birds in Lush, Well-Watered and Incredibly Green Hills and Valleys
Most of the superlative descriptions you read about Uganda are totally true: it really is a place of shimmering lakes, lofty mountains and mysterious forests. Uganda is best known as the place to see mountain gorillas, and no safari to the country should exclude this magnificent experience. I’ve...
Kariega Game Reserve – Scenic Safaris in the Eastern Cape
Kariega Game Reserve, nestled in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, is a stunning example of the region’s Albany thicket vegetation, where dense, leafy bush intertwines with open savannah and rolling hills. The reserve is particularly scenic, with the Kariega and Bushmans Rivers winding through the...
Granite Whalebacks and Invisible Leopards
“Go take a hike,” said my tour guide once we had set up our tents in the Unesco World Heritage Matobo National Park. “It's awe-inspiring territory out there”. He wasn’t wrong. The smooth granite hills that typify Matobo are easy to walk upon, and the scenery is to die for (especially if...
Unique Refuge by Lake Kariba
Matusadona is home to four of the Big Five (black rhinos are absent), and while lion numbers have declined of late, elephant and buffalo are common. The park’s remote situation between Lake Kariba and the Matuzviadonha Hills is stunning. The closer you get to the 700m summits, the wilder and...
A Conservation Success Story
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is a brilliant place to indulge in some fine accommodation and see some of Africa’s most coveted wildlife. It’s the kind of place where you go to bed to find a hot water bottle strategically placed under the covers, and fresh brewed coffee by your bedside in the...
As remote as it gets in Tanzania
With its soaring green hills abutting Lake Tanganyika and troop of habituated chimpanzees, Mahale Mountains National Park is often described alongside the more famous Gombe National Park. But, the much bigger Mahale is way more beautiful and remote and by far the more satisfying destination if you...
Scenically Stunning but With Only Limited Wildlife
Also referred to as the Matopos, this small national park and Unesco World Heritage Site was primarily established to protect a section of the Matobo Hills – the unique boulder-strewn landscapes of southern Zimbabwe. Extruded granite has been weathered and eroded over time to form the iconic...
Lost in a Lonely World of Granite
It was Mzilikazi, the first great leader of the Matabele, who called these bare granite summits the Matobo because to him they resembled a huddle of bald heads. Today these strange, brooding hills are still a holy place, riddled with caves whose walls are covered with prehistoric rock art, and...
The Park that Time Forgot
As your plane drops in towards Msembe airstrip the view from the air says it all. You see a line of broken hills, zebras stampeding across a yellow plain, and a mighty sand river bordered by flat-topped acacias with giraffes beyond, measuring the yawning distance of a park even bigger than the...
Crystal Waters in a Thirsty Land
From the foot of the Chyulu Hills all the way down to the Tanzanian border, Tsavo West is a wild and broken land of volcanic hills, black lava flows and dense acacia woodland that makes game viewing harder than on the open plains of the Masai Mara. Nevertheless, all the Big Five can be seen – if...
Rural Zululand’s Best-Kept Secret
Ithala Game Reserve is one of KwaZulu-Natal’s most underrated wildlife destinations. Tucked away in rural Zululand, the reserve feels wonderfully remote, with traditional villages scattered across the surrounding hills. Simply getting there is part of the experience, as the landscape gradually...
Not your stereotypical safari destination
There is much more to the ‘the country of a thousand hills’ than initially meets the eye. Small, compact and easy to travel around, friendly Rwanda has well and truly consigned the tragic genocide of 1994 to history. The country has reconciled and rebounded spectacularly from this tragedy and...
South Africa’s Northern Treasure
Unesco World Heritage-listed Mapungubwe is one of South Africa’s least-known but most spectacular parks. At sunset from the viewpoint that overlooks the Limpopo River, and the point where South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe converge, or amid the low-bouldered hills that dominate the park...
Big Cats in the Riverbeds
Mashatu Game Reserve lies in eastern Botswana at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers. It dominates Botswana’s part of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area – a cross-border park shared with neighbouring Zimbabwe and South Africa. The rugged landscape, punctuated with...
Blue Eyes in the Bush: A Pumba Adventure
Pumba Private Game Reserve is a great choice for a safari in the Eastern Cape. For the level of accommodation provided, Pumba delivers remarkable value. The suites are stylish and spacious, with private plunge pools, large decks overlooking rugged hills or a tranquil waterhole, and elegant interiors...
Bontebok Bliss: A Western Cape Escape
Bontebok National Park, nestled just outside the historic town of Swellendam in the Western Cape, is a small but enchanting protected area with a remarkable conservation story. Established in 1931 to save the bontebok from the brink of extinction, the park safeguards this striking antelope, known...
An Off-Beat Gem
Ruma National Park is probably the least-visited safari destination in Kenya. Partly this is because of its remote location in the Lambwe Valley, which lies close to the small port town of Homa Bay on Lake Victoria, far from any established tourist attraction. Partly it is because two of the Big...
A Rainforest Haven Bar None
At just over 1,000km2, Nyungwe National Park is unadulterated rainforest: no villages, no people, just a good tarmac road that winds up and round the hills towards the national park. I first drove this road on a moto (motorbike) one misty night. It was cold, we didn't know where we would end up,...
One To Watch
In a world in which even the protected areas are under threat, it's always reassuring to hear of somewhere that's bucking the trend: Rwanda's fourth national park pieces back together two severely neglected patches of land, which were ironically once Rwanda’s biggest forests. If my first visit to...
A Wildlife Nirvana on the Shores of Lake Kariba
Matusadona is one of southern Africa’s most remote and beautiful national parks. It extends southward from Kariba, the world's largest humanmade lake, and most game viewing takes place on the wide grassy floodplain that divides the lakeshore from the wooded mountains of the Zambezi Escarpment. As...
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....
Black Rhinos & Cantankerous Camels
I have always been of the opinion that camels are both bad-tempered and cantankerous creatures with bad teeth and even worse breath. As such, I must admit to not being all that keen on them, so when I was given the opportunity to tour the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and its surrounds as a guest on a...
A lesser-known gem on Tanzania’s Northern Circuit
Named after the river that runs through its heart, Tarangire National Park is one of the smaller members of the celebrated Northern Circuit family and probably the quietest, but it’s a lovely park with a lot to offer, including one of the highest densities of elephant of any park in Africa, a...
Rwanda’s Phoenix Forest
Gazetted in 2016, Gishwati-Mukura is not only the newest national park in Rwanda, but also by far the smallest and the most affected by human encroachment. Despite this, the very existence of the park represents an exciting development in Rwandan conservation and ecotourism, as it was motivated in...
Beautiful Landscapes and a Sanctuary for Black Rhinos
Laikipia County is in the middle of Kenya. The conservancies here (mostly former ranches) are leading the way in black rhino protection, with around half the country’s population in their care – and more. Ol Pejeta Conservancy, for example, is home to the last two northern white rhinos in the...
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 –...
Malaria-Free, Big Five Safari
Madikwe is a malaria-free reserve about five hours’ drive from Johannesburg. I’ve had incredible rhino viewing here – both white and black varieties. The rest of the Big Five is present, too. Leopards are hit and miss – I’ve seen one, but apparently that was lucky. Wild dogs are frequently...
Wilderness in Tanzania’s Second-largest National Park
Visitors are often surprised to learn that Ruaha is bigger than the Serengeti. At more than 20,000km2/7,700mi2, this is Tanzania’s second-largest national park (after Nyerere) and one of those safari destinations that tends to attract the ‘best-kept secret’ epithet. It’s true that for such a...
Wild, remote Ruaha – the land of lions
Ruaha is the star of Tanzania’s lesser-known Southern Circuit. Not only is it wild and remote, it’s home to East Africa’s highest population of elephants and 10% of the entire continent’s lions, with some 28 lion prides roaming its plains. Don’t be surprised if your guide gets out a...
A Chance To Get Your Feet/Wheels/Hooves Into the African Dust
It was already early evening when I drove into the hills of Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary. Covering just 46km2/18mi2, Mlilwane doesn’t take long to drive across, but I had to keep stopping to gawk: the highland landscape was spectacular with the gold-tinted flank of Nyonyane Mountain looming above...
Pristine Wilderness in the Swazi Highlands
Malolotja Nature Reserve is one of southern Africa’s most striking and underrated wilderness areas – a place where dramatic mountains, deep river valleys, and sweeping grasslands create a sense of untouched beauty. Although the reserve is very easily accessible from the main road between Mbabane...
A Primate’s Paradise
Every time I visit Nyungwe, I’m overwhelmed by its scenic beauty. The main road bisects the park and even before you get to your destination, you’ll get some incredible views across the never-ending rainforest extending over rolling hills into the distance. With 15 trails available, you can hike...
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...
A Story of Success
Majete, in southern Malawi, is beautiful with its gentle rolling hills, lush miombo woodlands and majestic Shire River forging its way to the Zambezi. But if you’d have visited 20-odd years ago, you’d have seen very little wildlife – it had almost been poached out. Now, thanks to the efforts...
A Resurgent Gem
When I first visited Akagera in 2000, it was barely functional, suffered badly from encroachment and poaching, and seemed destined to become one of those forgotten African parks that exist only on maps and in the statute books. The situation deteriorated over the next few years, but was reversed in...
Leopards and Rolling Grasslands
With its highlands scenery at 2,000m-plus above sea level, the Nyika Plateau is a hit with landscape photographers and travellers who want to escape from the lakeside crowds – and are prepared to brave the corrugated road to the lodge, camp and campsite at Chelinda. Visiting this distinctive part...
Live like Tarzan
The first time I visited Nyungwe National Park, within the space of 24 hours I watched a habituated troop of colobus monkeys frolic in the branches of great rainforest trees, stared in wonder at a beautiful lime-green snake, was wowed by the iridescent colours of sunbirds hovering above tropical...