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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Remote and Rewarding Park
I should start this review by saying that I went to Ruma National Park, close to Lake Victoria in beautiful western Kenya, immediately following a full month in the magnificent private and community conservancies surrounding the Masai Mara. Ruma is a very little visited park and most people (few of...
Kenya's Forgotten Park
At one time, way back in the 1970’s Meru was one of the most famous and popular parks in Kenya. But, throughout the ‘80’s though it gained a reputation for insecurity and poaching which culminated in the murder in 1989 of George Adamson (of Elsa the lion and Born Free fame). Security has...
East Africa at its Exotic Best
Nowhere else sums up the East African dream like the Masai Mara. Always the best place in Kenya to see huge herds of grazers and a seemingly endless procession of carnivores big and small the Masai Mara is the one place in East Africa I could return to again and again and never get jaded or bored....
Kenya’s Ultimate Adventure
Let’s get some of the ‘boring’ factual stuff out the way first. Firstly, Lake Turkana per se isn’t a national park. However, there are three parks on or bordering the lake: these are Central Island National Park, South Island National Park and, on the northeastern shores of the lake, Siboli...
Classic Africa
What can be said about the Serengeti that hasn’t already been said? This is simply Africa as you always imagined it. Endless rolling bleached grasslands with scattered flat-topped acacia trees and animals everywhere. This is the Tanzania’ mirror image of Kenya’s Masai Mara and it’s...
Primeval Africa
This huge park, which consists of a mixture of dry woodland and huge expanses of grassland (which are actually dry lake beds though they turn into wet lake beds in the wet season) in the remote west is one of the best kept wildlife secrets in Africa. The park is best known for its enormous herds of...
Amazing Diversity
Uganda isn’t really thought of as a classic safari destination in the way Kenya and Tanzania are, but Queen Elizabeth National Park proves the doubters wrong. This large park offers extraordinary diversity in its wildlife, landscapes and experiences. You could watch lions climbing trees (one of...
Safari on speed
Kenya’s most famous and most-visited reserve was my first taste of African safari and in terms of game it was a great introduction. I saw the entire Big 5 on our first game drive and after a few days we’d seen so many lions I was beginning to get complacent. I wasn’t fortunate enough to see...
Where culture meets nature
My first safari experience was a tough act to follow. By day we spotted lions sheltering in emerald-green foliage and spent hours photographing a leopard napping next to the kill it had hoisted into a tree. By night, we were treated to a little Masai culture, with folklore tales and after-dinner...
The Quintessential ‘Out of Africa’ Safari Destination, but…
Yes, Kenya is the classic ‘Out of Africa’ safari destination, with sweeping savannah vistas and home to ‘Big Cat Diary’ and countless other wildlife documentaries. However some parts of Kenya are at risk of being overrun by mass tourism, so choose carefully where you go. The Masai Mara...
Perhaps Kenya’s greatest unexplored wilderness
To the south-west of Tsavo East, and on the opposite side of the Trans-Africa Highway, you find Tsavo West National Park. This park is one of the greatest wildlife spectacles that this remarkable country has to offer. Even compared with the spectacular Masai Mara the wildlife density at Lake Jipe...
As good as it gets
Talk about the Serengeti almost invariably revolves around the ‘great migration,’ where some 1.5 million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebras and other ungulates follow a primeval circuit in search of grass and water. No surprise, since this is one of the most incredible and, thanks to...
The iconic African Safari
If you only ever go on one safari, it should perhaps be to the Serengeti. Wildlife is here in abundance, but it’s best known for the greatest wildlife show on earth starring over a million wildebeest frantically racing for their lives on their annual migratory route to the Masai Mara. Every...
Migration madness in the Mara
As neighbour to Tanzania’s Serengeti, the obvious attraction of the Mara is the chaotic migration of thousands upon thousands of wildebeest and zebra during July/August and then in October as they follow the scent of greener pastures. I was there in early August, with the wildebeest swarming like...
A Blizzard of Bats
Kasanka is a tiny park in northern Zambia that few people have heard about and even fewer visit. It has some lush river scenery, reasonable general game and a few elephants, as well as excellent birding, but it’s real claim to fame is bats! I also rolled my eyes when I heard this for the first...
Migration Mania
Liuwa Plain in western Zambia is the answer for safari goers who’ve dreamt of seeing tens of thousands of wildebeest migrating across the wide-open plains without another vehicle or person in sight. If you’ve ever sat in the Masai Mara surrounded by minibuses and tried to imagine what the...
A Long Forgotten Eden
Imagine a place that looks like the Mara-Serengeti but surrounded by jagged mountains; a place full of wildlife but without another person in sight and you’re on the right track. Kidepo is Uganda’s slice of quintessential East African savanna. The Narus Valley teems with wildlife in the dry...
Big Cat Diaries made flesh
The Masai Mara is where the BBC’s Big Cat Diaries were filmed, and unsurprisingly it ranks as one of the finest reserves anywhere in Africa for big cat sightings. Above all, I associate it with lions: I’ve often encountered four or five prides in the space of a day here, and it is the only place...
The legendary Masai Mara
Legendary Masai Mara is the most visited wildlife reserve in Kenya and it’s easy to see why. This 1,800 square km park supports a huge and diverse animal population and is one of the only places in the world where it is still possible to see vast herds of grazing animals. Attracted by the...
Elephant central
Your experience of Chobe will depend on which part of the park you visit. The waterfront area in the north, which is within a day trip of Victoria Falls, offers game viewing for the masses, with boats cruising up and down the Chobe River from many large lodges along the bank, and a busy network of...
Endless Space
The Serengeti remains the most famous park in Africa, with its annual migration of wildebeest and other hooved grazers routinely hailed as the most spectacular wildlife experience on the planet. My most recent visit took me to the central region a month or so after the migration had moved on and so...
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 Masai Mara, but you will see plenty of wildlife – from colobus monkeys in the forest clefts to Kenya’s...
Dry-country delights
Samburu, though popular, does not enjoy the fame – or receive the visitor numbers – of some of Kenya’s larger reserves. Nonetheless, this is an excellent park. Its dusty thorn bush and scenic mountain backdrop represent a last frontier before the barren lands of Kenya’s north, and have quite...
Pretty in pink
Lake Nakuru is world famous for its bird spectacle: namely the tens of thousands – occasionally up to one million – greater and lesser flamingos that turn the shores pink, plus a rich selection of other birds that share the water’s edge and surrounding savanna. Less well known is the...
Safari central
This famous park – a northern extension of Tanzania’s Serengeti – is responsible for perhaps more images of African animals than any other. And with good reason: it is chock-full of wildlife, and blessed with open terrain that makes game viewing easy. From August to November the park plays...
A timeless safari experience with a full complement of African animals
Kenya’s best-known reserve, it’s everything you’d expect of an African wilderness area; rolling plains, rocky outcrops, and deep green winding rivers full of hippos and crocs. Its animal diversity is one of the greatest in East Africa and all of the Big 5 is easily found. However I find it can...
Big Five delight
Die-hard safari enthusiasts may disagree, but I think South Africa’s Kruger National Park deserves a place in any top 10 list of safari destinations in Africa. It may not be as wild or as iconic East Africa’s Serengeti or Masai Mara, but it certainly ticks all the right boxes when it comes to a...
Cheap, cheerful and ideal for first-timers
Plenty of travel writers and tour operators can be a bit snobby about the Masai Mara. It’s East Africa’s most popular and best-known park, with easy access from Nairobi and a plethora of cheap accommodation options. All this combines to make it sometimes seem as though the tourists here...
Where Elsa the lion roamed free
If you’re longing for a Kenyan park which the crowds have yet to find, Meru is well worth considering. You have to work a little harder to see the animals here than in, say, Amboseli or on the open plains of the Masai Mara, but the feeling of discovery more than compensates. I really enjoy its...
Quintessential Kenyan safari destination, whatever the season
Grasslands dotted with graceful acacias, hundreds of big cats and enough natural drama to keep wildlife documentary film-makers busy year after year – the Masai Mara has it all. It also has some highly alluring and charismatic places to stay, perfect for a classic guided or self-drive safari....
Tanzania’s most underrated wilderness
Although it’s only a couple of hours up the road from Arusha, most tourists hurry on towards Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro with barely a second glance at the Tarangire turn-off; and in doing so they are missing the wildest park on Tanzania’s northern circuit. Elephants and baobabs – the giants...
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;...
Big Cat Heaven
No wonder Disney chose to film ‘African Cats’ in the Mara. This is Kenya’s finest big game reserve, 5,000ft above sea level and home to all kinds of animals, from 6-tonne elephants to tiny dik-diks. Cheetahs patrol its open grasslands and leopards haunt the shady forests beside the Mara and...
Northern Kenya in a Nutshell
Set in the land of the Samburu people, this pocket-sized game reserve enables you to experience everything that is best about the burning semi-deserts of the NFD – the Northern Frontier District, as this wildly beautiful and mountainous province used to be called. Samburu lies on the north side of...