Action-packed Safaris
Handpicked by our expert team of Africa safari specialists and travel designers, below are southern Africa’s best reserves or national parks where you are guaranteed a high density and variety of game for frequency of sightings, fewer visitors, and some very thrilling safari.
10 - OKAVANGO DELTA - Botswana, Okavango Delta
It’s a well known fact that this watery wilderness is one of the World’s premier wildlife habitats and one of the most exclusive safaris to be had in all of Africa, what with few lodges and camps allowed there. The rich nutrients of the Okavango River carried from highlands of Angola through the Kalahari to its Delta have created an immensely diverse ecosystem that attracts creatures of all sizes, from kingfishers to kalahari lions. In the dry season especially, birds and game flock to these floodplains and channels in droves followed by hungry predators. Most of the concessions here are private, in all senses of the word, and where your game trackers/guides can take you ‘off-road’, plus on boat, walking and night safaris in most cases. We recommend booking as far in avance as possible if you are eager for a safari in the Delta so we can get you into best, and most exclusive lodgings.
Find out more9 - KATAVI NATIONAL PARK - Tanzania, Katavi National Park
Completely off the beaten track, Katavi is one of those game reserves that remains isolated and undiscovered. Its remoteness makes it hard and costly for safari outfitters to set up there, however for the ones that do you get this vast 25,000 square kilometres of untamed wilderness all to yourself. With such a variety of landscapes, the individual environments change and as they do, the wildlife also varies. It is said you come across more prides of Lion here than any other game reserve in Tanzania. Flat plains, marshland, rugged hills, lakes and rivers all make up this great western Tanzania ecosystem and all of this makes for a few fantastic close encounters and some excellent photographic opportunities. For a wildly adventurous and untamed safari like no other, Katavi is the ultimate.
Find out more8 - SINGITA GRUMETI - Tanzania, Singita Grumeti
This is the largest private game reserve in all of Tanzania, giving you 350,000-acres of rolling wilderness and Big Five game action all to yourself and the other small number of guests staying at the five Singita lodgings there.
Find out more7 - NORTH SERENGETI - Tanzania, North Serengetiv
In the northern boundaries of the vast Serengeti National Park, where it meets Kenya’s Maasai Mara, naturally separated by the Mara River. This is where, in the Great Migration, herds of wildebeest swarm across in search of richer pastures followed by hungry, opportunistic predators. The scenes are unparalelled when it comes to thrilling safari and survival. Choosing a camp or lodge here will assure a front row seat.
Find out more6 - MASAI MARA - Kenya, Masai Mara
Following on from the above, this is the adjacent home to the Great Migration and one of the World’s most famous game reserves. Its vast fertile plains attract milions of wildebeest and zebra, and therefore packs and prides of predators that follow them. You can definitely tick off the Big Five and then some on your safari here. We ensure our clients stay in the more exclusive, off the beaten track lodgings for a safari you don’t have to share with others and with lots of luxury to boot.
Find out more5 - SOUTH LUANGWA NATIONAL PARK - Zambia, South Luangwa National Park
This is an alltogether distinct safari experience. Zambia’s famous South Luangwa National Park is the home of the original ‘walking safari’ as spearheaded by the tracker and conservationist Norman Carr. Track game on foot with expert guides for a unique and thrilling safari unlike any other. The pace also slows your safari right down for what some may argue is a richer experience, giving you time in take in the things that you might usually miss in a vehicle, such as the birdlife, animal calls, flora and more.
Find out more4 - LOWER ZAMBEZI Zambia, Lower Zambezi
This is one of Africa’s most pristine wildernesses set along the Zambezi River bordering Zambia and Zimbabwe. Remote and not hugely easy to get to, it offers in turn a rewarding and rich wildife experience with very healthy populations of elephant, buffalo, lions and leopards in a peace and exclusive solitude.
Find out more3 - MALILANGWE WILDLIFE RESERVE - Zimbabwe, Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve
Still wonderfully off the radar for most, Malilangwe offers an extraordinary game experience in a very geogically distinct environment of sandstone outcrops, mopane forest and baobabs. Its 124,000 acres sit in the southern corner of Zimbabwe and is home to the some of the healthiest populations of black and white rhino in Africa, as well as hunting dogs, lions, hyenas, leopards, crocodiles, hippo and 400 species of bird to name just some. Stay at Singita Pamushana and experience a safari that is the real deal.
Find out more2 - NGORONGORO CRATER - Tanzania, Ngorongoro Crater
Definitely the most dramatic terrain in Tanzania; an amphitheatre of fauna and flora no less, the Ngorongoro Crater unsurprisingly is home to the densest population of mammals in all of Africa. From its mineral soil springs nutrient-rich grasses attract Zebra, gazelle, black rhino and wildebeest thus then attracting a large number of predators from Lion, leopard, hyena and the golden jackal. Popular too with humans, the Crater is not always a ‘wilderness’ sort of experience but it does guarantee frequent sightings of a variety of creatures.
Find out more1 - SABI SANDS - South Africa, Sabi Sands
The premier game reserve in South Africa with some of the most exclusive properties in all of Africa, again not necessarily a true wilderness experience, but few could match the density and range of wildlife to be found in Sabi Sands. A famously healthy population of Leopard is the reserve’s signature, found alongside the Big Five and then some.
Find out more
