Named after the Swahili word for journey, safaris have evolved over time. Where once they largely involved hunting and “roughing it” in the wilderness, these days they’re mostly about watching/photographing wildlife and come in every level of luxury and budget you can imagine.
Wildlife safaris have become a global phenomenon, but Africa remains among the best continents for nature and wildlife lovers to explore.
1. Masai Mara, Kenya
Picture just one safari destination and chances are it’s this one – if only because many a TV documentary has made Kenya’s teeming savannahs, flat-topped acacias and lazing predators emblematic of a continent.
The Masai Mara is a northern extension of Tanzania’s Serengeti, and the huge herds of wildebeest and other grazers that arrive from July to October dominate the park’s ecology in a similar way. This jaw-dropping spectacle is a magnet for predators; there is no better place to notch up lion and cheetah in double-quick time, helped by the open terrain and the cats’ ease around vehicles. Other draw-cards include elephant, giraffe and rare black rhinos.
2. Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
The Serengeti is arguably the best-known wildlife spectacle on the planet. Everything that applies to the Masai Mara – its northern extension – applies here, from the scale of the great migration to the ease of sighting predators. Except that the Serengeti, at nearly 15,000 sq km, is nearly ten times bigger, which means that its plains are that much more ‘endless’ and there is a greater habitat variety. It also means that visitors are a little thinner on the ground than in the Mara. The centre of the park, around Seronera, is often busy but private concessions in the north and west offer more exclusive options.
3. Kruger National Park, South Africa
Some purists argue that South Africa’s premier national park is too crowded and managed. Certainly, its tar roads and large camps are not to everybody’s taste. But its 22,000 sq km mean room for all comers, with enough backroads and bush camps to satisfy those with serious wilderness cravings. The upside of development is choice. From exclusive lodge to large public camp, and from night drive to wilderness trail, Kruger really does offer everything. First-timers and budget travellers will probably find this Africa’s easiest and most rewarding safari destination.
4. Chobe National Park & Moremi Game Reserve Botswana
Botswana is a dry land yet, paradoxically, some of its best game viewing is by water. Come the dry season, wildlife throngs the riverfront in the far north of Chobe National Park, where boat cruises pass countless elephants and buffaloes. Lions and hyenas roam the loop roads, while sable are among the many herbivores. Victoria Falls is just a day-trip away.
Further south, the Moremi Reserve protects the eastern fringes of the Okavango Delta, where seasonal waterways lure prolific game numbers from the surrounding mopane woodland. Predators, including wild dog, are abundant. Boat cruises across the lagoons or mokoro (dugout canoe) trips down the narrow channels offer plentiful big game and bird life.
