NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Big 5 in two game drives!
Sabi Sands is a great private park to spend your dollars. The rangers are really good en you can go off road and see all the animals up close! We stayed here for three nights and did 6 game drives. The first 2 game drives we saw the big five! We stayed at Cheetah Plains for 2 nights and 1 night at Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge.
It is a shame it's nog easy to go from one lodge to another through Sabi Sands. We had to go out via de Gowrie Gate, drive south en go back in via Shaws Gate. That took us 4 hours! Tip: Book your safari experience at one lodge!
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A quiet park with lovely scenery
This tranquil little park in the Eastern Cape is one of the few places you can see its namesake: the Cape mountain zebra. The population of these animals dropped to zero in the 1940s, but through a very successful reintroduction programme, the park now boasts more than 700 Cape mountain zebras.
(Burchell’s is the most common zebra in southern Africa. The Cape mountain zebra is smaller than its common cousin, and has bigger ears. Its stripes are bolder than the Burchell’s, and its belly is white. There are no shadows on the stripes, as with the Burchell’s.)
Mountain Zebra National Park is also home to cheetah (which I didn’t see) and a lot of plains game: hartebeest, buffalo and black rhino, springbok and blesbok. When I visited, there were only two roads you could drive on – both one-ways, which take you along the beautiful open plains of sweet grass that stretch off into the distant hills. There are, however, a few 4x4 trails, and some walking trails too.
The night skies out here on the edge of the Karoo are exceptionally clear, so take a star-gazing reference book or download a night skies app, and take your safari into another dimension. There is an overwhelming sense of tranquillity in Mountain Zebra National Park, and while game-viewing doesn’t compare with many of South Africa’s other parks, it is a wonderful place to put your feet up, take out a good book and soak up life in the lovely Karoo.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
One of the best places to view wildlife in KwaZulu-Natal
One of my favourite parks in South Africa, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi has so much to offer visitors. It’s excellent Big Five territory, and the landscape, which varies from gentle woodland savannah to rugged flood plains, is beautifully wild.
Years ago, Hluhluwe and Imfolozi were two separate parks. Imfolozi became known as being ground zero for Operation Rhino, Dr Ian Player’s very successful initiative to bring the white rhino back from the brink of extinction. Today still, the park is a very good place to see white rhinos. Also in the Imfolozi section of the park are the famous wilderness trails, where you go out on multi-day walks through areas accessible only on foot. These walks are not for the faint-hearted, but should be on the top of every serious nature-lover’s bucket list.
Hilltop Camp, in the Hluhluwe section, is the park’s flagship camp. It feels something like a resort, with a busy restaurant (with incredible views out and down over the park) and shops, and there is a variety of accommodation available here. Throughout the park, there is a variety of accommodation that suitable to different size groups: rondavels, cottages and what once were warden’s houses.
The last time I was at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi I came across five collared wild dogs that had recently been released. They’d just killed an impala, and the twilight battle between the dogs and three hungry hyenas will always stick in my mind as a true indication of survival in the wild.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The park to visit for once-in-a-lifetime game-viewing experiences
If you want to visit a park where you’re virtually guaranteed of seeing the Big Five, as well as incredible sightings of other animals, MalaMala is the one to choose.
Luxury is central to your time at MalaMala, and so when you’re not enjoying the facilities at the exquisite lodge, you’re required to sit back, relax and let someone else take care of the driving. Guests are taken on game drives in open game-viewing vehicles, and are accompanied by a ranger and a tracker. The rangers are in constant radio contact with each other, and calls are sent out when “special” animals are sighted.
Because MalaMala is a privately owned area, you’re allowed to be out in the park after dark, and the usual drive-only-on-the-road rule doesn’t apply. Once you get over the shock of your first true bundu-bashing experience, you’ll realise that being able to look for and track animals off-road drastically increases the quality of your game viewing. Over the course of a few days, I found myself literally in the middle of a herd of 300 buffaloes; hot on the heels of two lionesses as they chased and then killed an impala; and spent almost an hour sitting under a tree while a leopard ate her kill.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A safari experience that's accessible to all types of travelers
The beauty of South Africa’s flagship park is that it’s accessible to almost anyone – whether you’re travelling alone, in a large group, a 4x4 or in a small sedan. The extensive road network is very well maintained.
It’s a park that has so much to offer – from walking trails in very remote wilderness areas to mountain biking trails, 4x4 trails, camp sites, luxury accommodation and regular cottages. Of course, this park boasts the Big Five, but you really will experience so much more of the bush if you take time to go on a guided walk (ask at your camp’s office about guided walks and night drives) and stop to notice the small things: the insects, grasses and bird calls.
The park is one of the most popular tourist destinations in South Africa, and it can get particularly busy during the South African school holidays. That said, it’s usually the roads close to the camps that are busy, and the further afield you drive – and the further north you travel – the quieter the roads become.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Where the "wild west" takes on new meaning
The smaller and quieter of the two Tsavo parks, Tsavo West fits that old cliché: it really is an undiscovered gem. “Undiscovered” because, although together with Tsavo East it forms part of Kenya’s biggest park, Tsavo West seems to enjoy far fewer visitors than its larger cousin, and a drive through the park, particularly the further west you go, will have you believing you’re the only people for hundreds and hundreds of kilometres.
If you head to the far south-eastern border of the park, where Kenya meets Tanzania, you’ll find yourself in a very remote area on the shore of Lake Jipe. There is an abundance of wildlife in this area, and we saw huge herds of waterbuck, eland, gemsbok, elephants, and troops of baboons.
There is a camp site and bandas on the shore of the lake. We camped alongside a large herd of waterbuck; had hippo grazing past our tent in the evening, and woke in the morning to views of Kilimanjaro. A short drive along the lake, where we breakfasted on top of our Land Cruiser, we spent more than an hour watching a herd of elephants moving over to an island in the lake.
Within an hour, this park had become one of my favourites in all of Africa.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Great game viewing in a very accessible park
Straddling the highway between Nairobi and Mombasa, Tsavo East and West together form the biggest park in Kenya. At over 20,000 square kilometres, the Tsavos cover four percent of the country’s land, and together are larger than Israel.
Tsavo East is the busier of the two parks in terms of visitor numbers, and is especially popular with day visitors who’re staying in Mombasa or along the coast. Voi Gate is the best place to enter, and the areas around here offer fantastic game viewing. There is a plain around Aruba Dam that is teeming with wildlife; when I was there, I saw a herd of elephants, buffalo, zebra, impala and a troop of baboons – at the same time – as well as a very shy jackal.
Tsavo East is neatly divided into north and south by the Galana River. Two-thirds of the park lies north of the Galana, but this area is essentially off-limits to visitors. South of the Galana, however, there is plenty of wildlife and most animals seem to be used to vehicles, so you have some fantastic opportunities to get good wildlife photographs.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A bush experience on the borders of a bustling city
What makes this park so special is that it’s situated right on Nairobi’s city limits (in fact, the city is growing around the park) – and within a 20-minute drive from the airport, you can be watching rhinos graze contentedly or lions dozing under bushes.
The park is home to Kenya Wildlife Service’s headquarters; as a result the game is very well protected and Nairobi National Park has become something of sanctuary to rhinos, and there is a population of around 60. The park is mostly open grasslands, and you’re almost guaranteed of seeing hartebeest, zebra and giraffe. There is a healthy population of lions too, and one evening we watched a pride of about 15 – including many cubs – laze about as the sun set.
There are now two lodges within the park: The Emakoko, a very comfortable lodge set in small valley, with suites that look out through fever trees, and Nairobi Tented Camp, which is set in a beautiful forested ravine. If you’re travelling to Kenya for a safari experience, it’s well worth booking into one of these lodges, as you’ll not waste any time getting into bush mode.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Home to some of South Africa’s biggest tuskers
Tembe is known for its elephant population, and in this park you’re likely to see some of the biggest tuskers in South Africa. At the park’s reception area, be sure to pick up information on the well-known bulls of the area – there is a poster that shows their photographs and includes details of the length of their tusks, and their weight – as this will add interest and value to your game-viewing.
There are a few hides in the park, and you’re almost guaranteed of seeing elephants if you’re patient. Mahlasela hide is particularly good for game, and it’s not unusual to see elephants and lions here. It’s well worth packing a few snacks and drinks and arriving at the hide mid-afternoon, so that you can be sure not to miss anything during the water hole’s busiest time of day.
If you visit Tembe during the week, you’re likely to feel as though you have the entire park to yourself and you could spend an entire afternoon at a hide without seeing anyone else. Over long weekends, Tembe can be fairly busy as it’s a favourite destination for 4x4 clubs. You need to have a 4x4 vehicle to drive the roads of this park.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Where you’re guaranteed to have the classic African safari experience
It’s very easy to fall completely in love with Kenya: it is here that you’ll get to experience the classic African safari, and where, often, you can feel like you and your travel companions are the only people in the world. Of course, the more popular parks like Masai Mara (which offers some of the best game-viewing in the world) and Amboseli (where you’ll get classic postcard views of Kilimanjaro) have well-travelled roads, but go further off the beaten track to parks like Tsavo West and into the heart of Laikepia Plateau, and often you’ll not see another vehicle for days.
The most common way to get around in Kenya, if you’re on safari, is by light airplane – and your flights will usually be arranged by the lodges and camps you stay at. Only a handful of visitors seem to travel independently by road; it’s often very slow going between the parks because of the sheer distances, and the poor quality of some of the roads can turn what should be a two-hour journey into at least double that. Information on camping can be hard to come by and you’ll need to be self-sufficient as there are often no amenities in many of the parks’ campsites. Having said that, little compares to the joy and sense of freedom that comes with exploring and setting up camp in some of the wildest parts of Kenya’s remotest parks.
What Kenya is less known for is its beaches – surprising, because they really are beautiful. Long, sandy stretches and pretty blue bays watched over by both baobabs and palm trees make for truly memorable holidays, and it’s well worth taking a few days after your safari to unwind further along the Indian Ocean.