Top 10 Best Places To Visit in Africa in 2024

By Philip Briggs

Africa is home to dozens – make that hundreds – of national parks, game reserves and other safari destinations. Every last one of them has something to offer, whether it be a cast of charismatic large mammals dominated by the Big Five, the opportunity to track gorillas or chimpanzees, or more subtle pleasures such as looking for rare birds or colorful butterflies. But for first-time visitors wondering exactly where to go, the highlights on the list below stand out as perhaps the ten best places to visit in Africa.

11,276 African Safaris

1. Serengeti NP (Tanzania)

Best Places To Visit In Africa - Serengeti National Park

Topping many safari-goers’ list of best places to visit in Africa, the Serengeti National Park is Tanzania’s oldest and largest national park. It is inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage Site largely on account of hosting the world’s most spectacular annual wildlife migration, comprising up to 2 million wildebeest, as well as tens of thousands of zebra. The expansive plains host Africa’s largest lion population, estimated at 3,000 individuals. It is probably the most reliable place in East Africa for cheetah, while leopards are regularly observed in the central Seronera Valley. Other common wildlife includes elephant, buffalo, giraffe, spotted hyena, bat-eared fox and a wide variety of antelope.

When to visit Serengeti: There’s no bad time. June to October offers great general wildlife viewing and an opportunity to catch the wildebeest migration. The wildebeest calve in the southern Serengeti from late January to February. Many repeat visitors favor April and May, when the countryside is at its greenest, rack rates drop, and tourist volumes are lowest.
Where to stay: There are dozens of mid-range to upmarket lodges and tented camps in the Serengeti, as well as several campsites.

3,305 Serengeti Safaris

2. Masai Mara NR (Kenya)

Best Places To Visit In Africa - Masai Mara National Reserve

Essentially the Kenyan counterpart to the Serengeti, the smaller Masai Mara National Reserve is equally rewarding when it comes to wildlife viewing. Big cats are the star residents. Prides of up to 20 lions hog the spotlight, but it is also a very good place to see cheetah and leopard, along with elephant, buffalo, giraffe and – with a bit more luck – black rhino in the Mara Triangle. The Masai Mara comes into its own over late July to early October, when hundreds of thousands of wildebeest arrive from the Serengeti to cross the Mara River, the most spectacular part of the annual migration.

When to visit Masai Mara: Wildlife viewing is good throughout the year. Be there between August and October to be reasonably certain of catching the wildebeest migration. Any other time is preferable if low tourist volume is more important to you.
Where to stay: Dozens of mid-range to upmarket lodges and tented camps are scattered in and around the Masai Mara. Several campsites can be found on its borders. And there are exclusive camps and lodges in the private and community conservancies that border the main reserve.

1,250 Masai Mara Safaris

3. Bwindi NP (Uganda)

Best Places To Visit In Africa - Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

In two words: mountain gorillas. This lushly forested Ugandan national park is one of the best places to visit in Africa if you want to see these gentle giants – the world’s largest primate, weighing in at up to 200kg – in their misty mountain home. Staring into the liquid brown eyes of a giant silverback is undoubtedly the highlight of almost all visits to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. But it is also an excellent place to see forest dwellers such as yellow-backed duiker, l’Hoest’s monkey and a full 23 bird species endemic to the Albertine Rift, among them the gorgeous African green broadbill.

When to visit Bwindi: Gorilla tracking runs all year, but the drier months of June to August and December to February are best.
Where to stay: Each of the four gorilla-tracking trailheads is served by a selection of upmarket and mid-range lodges.

966 Bwindi Safaris

4. Amboseli NP (Kenya)

Best Places To Visit In Africa - Amboseli National Park

The world’s tallest freestanding mountain and heftiest terrestrial mammal are the key attractions of Amboseli National Park. It is from here that one obtains the most inspiring views of snow-capped Kilimanjaro as it towers above the animal-rich plains of East Africa. Amboseli hosts the world’s longest-running elephant study, established in 1975, and it is one of the best places to visit in Africa to see interaction between elephants, which are unusually relaxed around vehicles and impressively tusked here. It is also a great birding destination thanks to its combination of seasonal marshes and semi-arid acacia savannah.

When to visit Amboseli: Any time, but the dry months (June to October and January to February) offer the best wildlife viewing.
Where to stay: Several mid-range and exclusive lodges and camps operate within and around the national park.

699 Amboseli Safaris

5. Kruger NP (South Africa)

Best Places To Visit In Africa - Kruger National Park

One of the best places to visit in Africa for a self-drive safari, the incomprehensibly vast Kruger National Park would require at least two weeks to explore in its entirety. Most people focus on the south, due to its proximity to Johannesburg, but the more remote north is where to go if you want to get off the beaten track. Kruger supports 147 mammal species, the most of any African national park, including prodigious populations of all the Big Five (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino), together with cheetah, hippo, zebra, giraffe, warthog, baboon and 20-plus antelope species. It is also home to 517 recorded bird species.

When to visit Kruger: Any time, but wildlife viewing is best over the Dry season from May to September, and improves as the season progresses.
Where to stay: An impressive network of affordable and well-equipped rest camps offer camping and hutted accommodation. More luxurious are the many exclusive private lodges set in various concessions within the park and the private reserves that line its western boundary.

479 Kruger Safaris

6. Okavango Delta (Botswana)

Best Places To Visit In Africa - Okavango Delta

The vast inland delta created by the Okavango River as it sinks into the sands of the Kalahari Desert ranks among the best places to visit in Africa for close encounters with elephants, big cats, hippos, crocodiles and other aquatic wildlife. Most alluringly explored in a professionally poled mokoro dugout canoe, the Delta’s real attraction is its primal sense of wilderness.

When to visit Okavango: Any time, but July to October is best for wildlife viewing.
Where to stay: The delta is fringed by dozens of upmarket lodges, most of which operate within their own concession.

241 Okavango Delta Safaris

7. Etosha NP (Namibia)

Best Places To Visit In Africa - Etosha National Park

Namibia’s flagship reserve, Etosha National Park is dominated by the vast, saline and normally dry pan for which it is named. The pan is lined by a series of perennial waterholes – some floodlit at night – that attract large herds of antelope, giraffe and other grazers during the Dry season. It is also one of the more reliable parks in Africa for black rhino, which occur here alongside lion, leopard and elephant but not buffalo. Etosha is unusually well geared towards self-drive safaris.

When to visit Etosha: Wildlife viewing is good throughout the Dry season of May to October, and peaks over July to September.
Where to stay: In addition to the affordable government-run rest camps sited within the park, several more exclusive camps and lodges stand just outside it in the private reserves that lie to the east and south of the park.

121 Etosha Safaris

8. South Luangwa NP (Zambia)

Best Places To Visit In Africa - South Luangwa National Park

One of the best places to travel in Africa for a gritty walking safari, South Luangwa National Park is also renowned for its excellent night drives. Most lodges here offer expertly guided wildlife walks, but the real deal is a multiday trek between semi-permanent fly camps, soaking up the sights and scents of the bush without the distraction of a running engine. Although rhinos are absent, this is otherwise an excellent reserve, and it comes with an especially high chance of intimate leopard sightings.

When to visit South Luangwa: This park is the archetypal Dry-season reserve, and is best avoided during the rains (December to March). Peak wildlife-viewing months are July to October.
Where to stay: Several mid-range and exclusive lodges and camps border the national park. Many also operate fly camps within it.

70 South Luangwa Safaris

9. Mana Pools NP (Zimbabwe)

Best Places To Visit In Africa - Mana Pools National Park

Mana Pools National Park is one of the best places to travel in Africa for the adventurous. It is definitely where to go if you are looking for a safari destination that places no restriction on unguided and guided walking. Better still, it offers the thrilling opportunity to canoe through one of Africa’s most pristine wilderness wetlands in the form of the forest-fringed Zambezi River. Whether you paddle or walk, expect to see an abundance of elephants, hippos, buffalos, crocodiles and water-associated birds. It also harbors healthy populations of lion and leopard.

When to visit Mana Pools: The Dry season of June to October is best.
Where to stay: The park is serviced by several small, exclusive camps.

24 Mana Pools Safaris

10. Mahale Mountains NP (Tanzania)

Best Places To Visit In Africa - Mahale Mountains National Park

One of the most remote parks in East Africa, Mahale Mountains National Park protects a stretch of jungle-draped Rift Valley escarpment verging on the staggeringly beautiful Lake Tanganyika. Home to 800 chimpanzees, it is one of the best places to visit in Africa if you want to get close to humankind’s closest living relative in the wild. The chimpanzees of Mahale were habituated by Japanese researchers in the 1960s, and are so relaxed that it isn’t unusual to have a full-grown adult brush casually past, only a few inches away from you. Other primates and birds are also well represented, and the setting is absolutely sublime.

When to visit Mahale Mountains: Chimp sightings are most reliable from July to October, when the chimps favor the lower slopes. You may need to walk a lot further to find them at other times.
Where to stay: The park is serviced by one mid-range national park rest camp and two small luxurious tented camps.

Mahale Mountains Tours