Expert Reviews
Not Just a Safari Destination
South Africa boasts an array of attractions. It's home to renowned Big Five national parks like Kruger, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, Addo, and Pilanesberg, as well as exclusive private reserves such as Sabi Sands, Phinda, Madikwe, and Shamwari, all of which offer unparalleled tourism services, including fine...
Alone in the Desert
Most visitors to the Namib-Naukluft National Park will head straight to Sossusvlei, where enormous mountains of sand rise hundreds of meters above the desert floor. Here, you can witness magnificent vistas of a seemingly endless dune sea, whilst nearby, you will find the iconic location of Deadvlei,...
Gorillas in the Midst of Tourists
The topography of Bwindi is not for the faint of heart. After an hour of relentless uphill climbing, I found myself gasping for breath at a junction where tea plantations and villages give way to a towering wall of jungle. The forest lay before us, lush green and alive with the sounds of myriad...
Eswatini’s Biggest Park
Hlane means ‘wilderness’ and the 220km2 Hlane Royal National Park is Eswatini’s largest reserve and home to decent herbivore herds, along with four of the Big Five. With only buffalo absent from this Lowveld park, lovers of big beasties will feel right at home in Hlane. The guest huts at...
Lion King Country
The Serengeti would have to be my favourite safari destination in all of Africa. It is the Lion King brought to life (if only Disney didn’t give the hyenas such a bad wrap)! The Serengeti is breath-takingly beautiful with sweeping grassy plains, stuffed full of wildlife. This reserve is of course...
Bush, baobabs and cultural significance
Getting to Mapungubwe is an experience in itself: driving along the Zimbabwe border on the empty Rte 572, you encounter shimmering mirages, troops of baboons and surreal baobab trees. The park is an extraordinary place, covering 28,000 hectares in the sweltering Limpopo River valley, with viewpoints...
Lost city on the Limpopo
Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, this relatively new national park is not primarily a wildlife destination, so it ranks quite poorly judged on those terms. Its centrepiece is Mapungubwe Hill, site of the medieval capital of a wealthy trade empire that supplied locally sourced gold,...
Crowded Crater, Empty Highlands
On my most recent visit to Ngorongoro Crater, two decades after the last, I found that this extraordinary natural phenomenon still presents the same paradox. On the one hand, it is enormous. The extinct volcanic caldera comprises some 269km2/104mi2 of savanna within its looming crater walls. On the...
All that shines is gold
The Free State’s only national park, Golden Gate is renowned more for its scenic beauty than its wildlife. That said, you can still spy eland, zebra and black wildebeest roaming around the hillside. The real attraction is the spectacular wind sculpted sandstone bastions, which glow against the...
Ghost Towns and Windswept Sandscapes
The park’s old name (‘Sperrgebiet’), which means ‘forbidden place’ in German, may be off-putting, but anyone attracted to austere desert landscapes will be intrigued by this remote stretch of southwest Namibia. For most of the 20th century, this region was cordoned off for diamond mining,...
Herds in the Heat Haze
Namibia’s flagship park, Etosha, is easily one of the finest places in the world to watch wildlife, and one of my personal favourites. I’d recommend spending several days here. The park’s dominant feature is the 120km-wide Etosha Pan, a dramatic swathe of sunbaked salt fringed by unspoilt...
Mapungubwe: History at the Meeting Point of Three Countries
Mapungubwe National Park rewards visitors who are interested in history, landscapes and a quieter kind of wildlife experience. With its World Heritage status, the park protects one of the most important archaeological sites in the region, Mapungubwe Hill. Morning and afternoon guided tours to the...
Ol Pejeta: A Photographer’s Dream
Ol Pejeta Conservancy is one of the larger and more popular game ranches on Laikipia Plateau, and for good reason – game viewing here is exceptional. However, unlike some of the other ranches in the area, it feels a bit too farm-like for my taste, with fences, power lines, and farm sheds at every...
Sunset Magic
Although not containing any of the Big 5 and no large predators, the flip side to this park is the hiking trails. This means you can really get out and see some African wilderness under your own steam. I have seen plenty of antelope here while wandering around the grasslands, including rhebok as...
The Serengeti and so much more.
Tanzania is “the” classic safari destination and should be top of every Africa lover’s wish list. The starting point for most visitors is the northern safari circuit, comprising the iconic Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater, with Lake Manyara and Tarangire national parks en route. Having dreamt...
A World in One Country
South Africa is my home and I love it. I’ve been traveling the highways and byways of this diverse country for almost 30 years, and I never tire of it. As a tourist destination, I can’t think of a more diverse country. From white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, stark deserts and fairy forests...