Expert Reviews
A Pretty Little Safari Park
If you happen to be in the vicinity of the Lake Nakuru National Park, then visiting is a worthwhile excursion for a day or two. There used to be over a million flamingos, but changing water levels have made the place far less attractive to these enigmatic birds. You will likely see some (maybe even...
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...
Nature’s Paradise
Linyanti is a private game reserve, close to the Chobe National Park, that exudes a very exclusive ambience. Invariably, you will fly to one of the handful of high-end lodges there, most likely on a private charter, after which you will be taken out on safari to see all there is to see. And boy, oh...
A Million Miles Away
It’s incredible how a slight delay can lead to some unforgettable moments. Our landing at the Kwando Concession camp in northern Botswana was anything but ordinary. Instead of the usual routine, we found ourselves circling above, waiting for a herd of reluctant elephants to clear the runway....
Away from the main tourist circuit, the devil’s in the detail
Large game sightings aren't as common here as in other protected areas – nor in the 1920s when the area was popular with European hunters - but suffice to say I have been charged by both forest and savanna elephants in Semliki! Dwarf crocodiles have recently been sighted by guide friends. A...
Queen Elizabeth’s reign continues in Uganda's best safari destination
If you only visit one National Park in Uganda, visit (what is colloquially known as) Queen. Measuring 1978 km² Queen Elizabeth encompasses crater lakes, savannah, forests, plains, forested gorges, and rivers. Oh yes, and the Equator runs through it. Not only is it scenically and geographically...
Pinch me, I’m on a Disney set!
Dismissed by some because it only has one habituated gorilla family, the tiny Mgahinga Gorilla National Park has many other unique draws. Fact: it is the only Ugandan National Park where you can track through bamboo forest to see both gorillas and the delightful golden monkeys. Add a backdrop of...
Get out of the vehicle
For a long time viewed by many as just a stopover on the road to the big name destinations of Bwindi (for gorillas) and Queen Elizabeth (for safaris), Lake Mburo has matured as a destination in its own right. Nubian giraffes translocated from Murchison Falls National Park are breeding successfully...
Perfect - if you’re a birder who likes roughing it
To be honest, there is little in Katonga Wildlife Reserve that you won't see elsewhere. However, if you’re looking for a wilderness experience that’s not too far off the main safari circuit, Katonga comes up trumps. You’re very likely to have the whole area to yourself. Broadly similar to...
A Work in Progress
On paper, Limpopo National Park is one of the most alluring safari destinations in southern Africa. A Mozambican extension of South Africa's world-famous Kruger National Park, it covers a vast area of 11,000km², making it the second-largest component (after Kruger) in the 100,000km² Great Limpopo...
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,...
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...
Walking with Elephants
It seems sacrilegious to say so, but after having heard so much about Mana Pools over the years, when I did finally get to visit this legendary park in 2023, the reality was slightly disappointing. To be fair, this is largely because my expectations had been raised sky high. One of my favorite parks...
Zimbabwe’s Great Forgotten Wilderness
Gonarezhou is Zimbabwe’s most underrated safari destination. Despite being home to all the Big Five, this Zimbabwean component of the 100,000km2 Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (which also incorporates South Africa’s Kruger National Park) is included on very few safari itineraries. This is...
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,...
Lush and Green
The impala jumped out of the bushes, narrowly missing a collision with our safari vehicle, and then stumbled and fell. Hot on her heels was a cheetah. Things didn’t end well for the poor impala, and as the ‘Circle of Life’ Lion King movie song played through my mind, the diminutive antelope...
Sanctuary Safari
Londolozi used to be a camp for big game hunters. It’s an irony that it is now one of the best-managed conservation safari locations in all of Africa. Based within the legendary Sabi Sands private reserve adjacent to the Kruger National Park, Londolozi offers its guests a superb upmarket wildlife...
Habituated wildlife galore
Imagine for a moment, if you will, a world where humans do not pose a threat to wildlife. A world where you can drive around and see all sorts of animals that have no reason to be afraid of you. In this world, lions would go about their daily routines and not even notice you were there watching...
Among the best safari offerings in Africa
I’m a professional wildlife photography guide, and when I get the option to take my guests to the superb MalaMala Game Reserve adjacent to the Kruger National Park, I know that absolutely everything is going to be fantastic. No one goes home disappointed – unless, of course, they are soulless...
Head for the ‘Wilder’ Side of the South African Giant
I’d often heard it said that this huge park (half the size of Switzerland!) is a tame option. Sure, there are huge camps with every amenity you can imagine (Skukuza Rest Camp even has a nail bar!) and there are tarmac roads that run like a thread – beaded with fuel stations – the length of the...
Chilled-Out Tuskers
I have stayed in both luxury accommodations and basic tented camps alongside the great Zambezi River in the Unesco World Heritage Mana Pools National Park, and have come to the conclusion that both have their merits. Of course, if staying in an upmarket lodge, one can expect scrumptious food,...
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...
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...
Escape the Crowds on Safari
The 130,000-hectare Selinda Private Game Reserve is part of a much larger contiguous conservation area, which includes the Okavango Delta and the Linyanti Swamps. As such, it’s alive with wildlife, and whenever I go there, I always have amazing encounters with Africa’s iconic creatures. Selinda...
Heaven on Earth
“A nice place for ducks.” That’s what my first impression was of Botswana’s Okavango Delta as I flew above it in a small airplane. There was water everywhere. The flat expanse of flooded land below was a world of olive-colored islets, pea-green water channels, and sky-blue expanses of...
One of the Best Wildlife Destinations in Africa
An oasis of greenery in the vast parched wilderness of the Kalahari, the Okavango Delta attracts an abundance of wildlife and is probably the best place in all of Africa for a genuine safari experience. Moremi Game Reserve is arguably the busiest and most crowded area in the whole of the delta...
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...
Soaring Dunes, Desert & Star-filled Night Skies
With its vast, seemingly empty spaces and soaring dunes, Namib-Naukluft is not a classic safari destination, with a visit just as much about seeking the microscopic amidst the great expanses as about spotting larger wildlife. Geckos, desert beetles, scorpions (best spotted at night with a small UV...
A Conservation Success Story in the Making
Beautiful Gorongosa, with its mix of grasslands, lake and forest, is a completely unique safari experience. The park, once a gem on the southern African safari circuit, was plundered during Mozambique’s long war and it was only in the early 2000s, with the support of American philanthropist Greg...
Lesotho’s Most Accessible Hiking & Wildlife Destination
Although Ts’ehlanyane National Park doesn’t cut it as a conventional safari destination, it makes for a rewarding and comfortable stopover for those travelling through the west of Lesotho. Ts’ehlanyane is far more accessible from the capital Maseru than Lesotho’s other national park. It is...
A Giant’s Playground of Boulders & Rock Arches
Lesotho’s oldest national park, established in 1970, and incorporated into Unesco’s cross-border Maloti-Drakensberg World Heritage Site in 2008, doesn’t claim to be a conventional safari destination. But as one of the most remote conservation areas in southern Africa, 65km2/25mi2 Sehlabathebe...
Dependable Lion Sightings & a Rhino Programme
This 270km2/105mi2 reserve may share borders, as well as free-roaming wildlife, with two of South Africa’s most exclusive private reserves, Sabi Sands and Timbavati, but it’s run by the provincial government. That means you can pay a conservation fee at the gate and drive in for a few hours 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...
The Jewel in Botswana’s Crown
This is my favourite place in all of Africa, a breathtakingly beautiful watery wonderland. It is an expensive trip, with mainly high-end lodges and access by charter flight, but in my opinion worth every dollar. Depending on location and time of year, lodges offer a mix of game drives, nature walks,...
Salt Pans & Silence
Nxai Pan makes a great contrast to Botswana’s greener, wetter protected areas to the west. Pronounced “nye”, this is a vast open grassy area with scrubby vegetation (the shimmering white salt pans are further south in Makgadikgadi). After the rains there can be good numbers of herbivores,...
Beautiful Waterfront Setting
Linyanti is a private concession with just a handful of high-end lodges, so it feels very wild and you will see few other safari vehicles. The concession borders the western section of Chobe National Park and with no fences the wildlife is free-roaming. The landscape is varied with mopane woodland,...
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...
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 second-largest wildebeest migration
Reminiscent in some respects of the Serengeti, Liuwa Plain protects a vast grassy stretch of the Zambezi floodplain, punctuated by seasonal pans, permanent lakes, fields of wildflowers, and isolated tracts of woodland. The park has a very remote and wild feel: you need to cross a river pontoon to...
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...
The world’s biggest mammal migration
Kasanka is unique in several respects. The only national park in Zambia under private management (an NGO called the Kasanka Trust), it is also the only one anywhere in Africa, if not the entire world, where the main attraction is bats. The migration of up to 12 million straw-colored fruit bats to...
Multiple visits
It might not rank highly as a conventional safari destination, but Bale Mountains National Park, which rises to a maximum altitude of 4,377m in the southeast highlands of Ethiopia, would be a contender for my personal top 10 African wildlife-viewing destinations. Its geographic centrepiece, the...
Justifiably One of the World’s Great Wildlife Hot Spots
Mana Pools is hard to beat. Sure, rhino have become locally extinct in the area, but almost everything else you could hope to see is stunningly visible in these 2,196km² of riverine forest, savannah and baobab-studded bush on the banks of the mighty Zambezi. You’re almost guaranteed to see lion...
Wild Gorongosa Is One for Science, Conservation and Nature Enthusiasts
Gorongosa is a park for more experienced safari-goers. The wildlife here is still recovering after being hit hard by Mozambique’s 16-year civil war that ended in 1992 – the elephants are particularly nervous of people. But recovering it is, aided by rewilding efforts: wild dogs were introduced...
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...