Matusadona National Park, located in the heart of Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley on the shores of Lake Kariba, offers some of the country's most rewarding game viewing opportunities and is often best explored on foot. Walking safaris are the perfect way to investigate the ruggedness of Matusadona's wilderness which ranges from shoreline grassland and mopane woodland to mountain acacia woodland on the escarpment.
Although Meru National Park was made famous by Joy Adamson's "Born Free" books, it remains largely undiscovered and untamed. With its rugged jungle, rivers, swamps and grasslands, game viewing opportunities are excellent. Neglected on safari bucket lists for years, it has been restored to its former glory while evading the hordes of safari visitors.
Moremi Game Reserve is one of Botswana's best Big Five wildlife destinations. The lodges in the Moremi Game Reserve typically offer a combination of 4x4 game drives and boat trips on the waterways of the Okavango Delta. Excellent land- and water-based game viewing and its close proximity to Maun make Moremi Game Reserve a wonderful Southern African safari destination.
Ngorongoro is a Tanzanian must-see. The Ngorongoro Crater, a caldera or collapsed volcano, while only covering 260 km², includes a diverse range of habitats including montane forest, grasslands, acacia forests, a salt-lake and swamps. The diversity of the habitat provides refuge to an incredibly wide range of birds and animals, including the Big Five, in a concentrated area. Accommodation around the rim of the crater provides spectacular views and easy access to the crater.
One of Tanzania's top safari spots, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area offers safari-goers and wildlife enthusiasts outstanding wildlife sightings and breathtaking scenery. A game drive on the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater with its incredibly diverse range of birds and animals including the Big Five is a bucket-list experience on any Tanzanian safari itinerary.
Accommodation and park fees within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area can be high. Just 20 km out of the park lies the bustling town of Karatu, surrounded by beautiful coffee plantations. It is here that comfortable, affordable accommodation in spectacular settings can be found. The area enjoys easy access to Ngorongoro, with its breathtaking scenery and teeming wildlife, especially at Ngorongoro Crater.
Straddling Zimbabwe to the east and South Africa to the south, the Northern Tuli Game Reserve is one of Botswana's best-kept safari secrets. Teeming with game and offering some of the best elephant and leopard sightings in Africa, Northern Tuli Game Reserve is the perfect destination for wildlife enthusiasts who are looking for an intimate, personal and uncrowded safari experience in a spectacular setting.
One of Namibia's most exclusive safari destinations, Ongava Game Reserve shares a boundary with Etosha National Park. Dedicated to conserving the area's natural biodiversity, Ongava is home to both black and white rhinos and the rare black-faced impala alongside other large game such as lion, elephant, zebra and giraffe which regularly visit the waterholes dotted throughout the reserve.
Phinda Private Game Reserve is not far from the well-known iSimangaliso/Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Phinda offers you abundant wildlife, courtesy of its incredibly diverse habitats. There, a handful of private lodges share excellent game sightings in a 23,000-hectare wilderness. Within easy distance of the warm Indian Ocean and its pristine beaches, Phinda makes for an ideal "bush and beach" safari destination.
Framed by three concentric rings of hills rising from the surrounding plains, malaria-free Pilanesberg National Park in North West Province is one of South Africa's most popular game reserves. Located in an ecologically diverse transition zone between the Lowveld and the Kalahari, Pilanesberg attracts visitors looking for an easily-accessible Big Five safari experience close to Johannesburg that offers a wide range of accommodation options.
In the heart of Tanzania where the Zambezi miombo woodlands meet the Tanzanian/Kenyan savannahs, lies Ruaha National Park. This vast park, with its few camps, offers visitors an uncrowded glimpse of untouched Africa, with its huge diversity of game, birds and landscapes. It's an area known for its incredible animal sightings, including large herds of elephant and plenty of predators.
Bordering Kruger National Park, the Sabi Sand Game Reserve is a collection of privately-owned game reserves which have dropped their fences by mutual agreement. There is also no fence between the Sabi Sand Game Reserve and Kruger, allowing the free movement of animals through the reserve. Sabi Sand is without a doubt South Africa's top luxury safari destination and the best place in the world to see leopards in the wild.
Set alongside the Ewaso Nyiro River, Kenya's biggest northern river, Samburu has the lion's share of wildlife. Besides big cats and African wild dogs, you're likely to see some of the rare northern species such as Grevy's zebra, the Somali ostrich, reticulated giraffe, the long-necked gerenuk, Guenther's dik-dik and the beisa oryx, collectively known as the Samburu Special Six.
Selous Game Reserve in southern Tanzania covers over 45,000km² and is one of the country's three World Heritage Sites. The reserve is world-renowned for its unspoilt bush and vast numbers of game, including elephant, lion, hippo and over 440 species of bird. Incredible scenery and the option to enjoy the African bush not only on game drives but game walks and boating safaris, too, make Selous an incredible safari destination.
Covering a vast area in northwestern Tanzania, the Serengeti National Park is an absolute bucket-list destination. With over 70 mammals, including huge populations of lions and other predators and over 500 bird species, this is a wildlife viewing paradise. Beyond the incredible Great Wildebeest Migration that moves through the area seasonally, the Serengeti is an incredibly beautiful park with diverse flora and fauna.
A sweeping, fertile valley sculpted by the Luangwa River, South Luangwa National Park is best known for its diverse and wealthy wildlife and the superb quality of its guides. It's a great destination for walking safaris and one of the best places to see leopards in the wild. South Luangwa National Park is definitely high up there on the list of favourites among true safari enthusiasts.
Tarangire National Park is traversed by the Tarangire River which never dries up. Being the only source of water during the dry season from July to October, it draws hundreds of animals to the park, making for spectacular wildlife and bird spotting. The landscape is varied, with grassy savannahs, swamps, hills and spectacular baobabs.
The Timbavati Game Reserve is most famous for its white lions, which are still spotted in this area from time to time. The Timbavati is a collection of privately-owned game reserves which share an unfenced boundary with the Kruger National Park. It is a vast Big 5 game reserve situated to the west of Kruger, and to the north of the Sabi Sand Game Reserve. The bush and game viewing in the Timbavati is similar to what you will find in the Kruger National Park.
Kenya's biggest, yet most underdeveloped national park, Tsavo is bisected by the main Nairobi-Mombasa highway. Wild, uncrowded and authentic, Tsavo is famous for its red elephants. Tsavo National Park is easily combined with Amboseli and coastal Kenya for an unforgettable bush and beach safari experience.
South Africa's largest malaria-free private game reserve, Tswalu Kalahari in the Northern Cape, offers a luxury safari experience against a backdrop of sweeping grasslands, red dunes and towering mountains. Cheetahs, the famous black-maned lions of the Kalahari, white rhinos, desert black rhinos and smaller mammals such as aardvarks, pangolins and African wild cats are some of the game you can expect to encounter on this beautiful game reserve.
Why not chat to one of our safari experts who can answer all your questions and help you design your dream trip to Africa.
