The ideal sites — and greatest occasions — to consider a safari

In some African cultures, the blend of rain and sunshine usually means that a leopard and a lioness have offered start to a cub.  

I was hoping that this was the situation as we traversed Kenya’s Maasai Mara Countrywide Reserve in a four-wheel drive jeep in the midst of a sunny downpour.

In the seven yrs that I have been a vacation journalist in Africa, the sport drive encounter has often been one of my favorites.  Wildlife is Africa’s treasure, and tourists revel in looking at the animals — notably the cats — in their natural habitats.

There are 10 nations in Africa that have a powerful wildlife emphasis: Kenya (my motherland), Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia and Rwanda.

Here are highlights that I recommend.

For extra than 25 years, skilled safari information Geoff Mayes has taken holidaymakers to the finest parks in Africa. He thinks that quite a few choose Kenya — and in specific, Maasai Mara — for their first journey to Africa because it is risk-free and fairly obtainable.

“It is simpler to catch flights to Kenya, producing it higher on peoples’ bucket record,” he explained. “Also a match travel working experience in Kenya will be in a position to meet the travelers’ expectations in phrases of catching ‘the Large 5.'”

Significantly less than an hour flight from the funds city of Nairobi is Nairobi Countrywide Park, wherever there is certainly a good chance of observing lions and rhinos, he claimed.  

And “if you arrive to the Maasai Mara, you will see the elephants and leopards and lions,” he explained as we drove by it.

In whole, Kenya has 25 countrywide parks and 16 national video game reserves with many private conservancies, which are smaller, personal-owned wildlife reserves.

Amboseli Nationwide Park, a UNESCO Earth Heritage Website, is acknowledged for its huge elephant populace and breathtaking views of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Tsavo National Park, Kenya’s largest park, is one of the world’s largest game sanctuaries. It was highlighted by President Barack Obama in the five-component Netflix docuseries “Our Good National Parks.”

Kenya is not the only state exactly where I’ve absent on recreation drives.

South Africa is one more and is residence to some of the oldest and most iconic countrywide parks in Africa. It is a yr-spherical safari place, but the ideal recreation-viewing situations are in the cooler winter season months from May well to September.

There are 20 countrywide parks, which include the planet–well known Kruger Nationwide Park — which has Africa’s “Large 5” sport animals: lions, leopards, elephants, rhino and buffaloes.

There is certainly also Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, around the border of Botswana, and Pilanesberg Nationwide Park. The latter is about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Johannesburg. It really is lesser than Kruger, but abundant in wildlife — and, fascinatingly, it really is inside of the crater of an historical volcano thought to be some 1.2 billion yrs outdated.

A further spotlight, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, has the “Massive Five” as properly as a flourishing inhabitants of African wild canine.

I have also been to Addo — the biggest park in the Eastern Cape and third-most significant in South Africa — which is well-known for its elephants. According to Ncediso Headman Nogaya, a video game guard at Addo, Oct to April is the greatest time to check out.

“We are additional probable to obtain rains from May well to September and though the period is fantastic for the reason that it gives food items to the wildlife … it might be a slippery travel and muddy,” he observed.

Uganda is regarded for its varied wildlife and amazing landscapes in its 10 countrywide parks and 12 recreation reserves. Of the countrywide parks, 7 are positioned on savannahs and 3 in forests. In these 3, a person can track mountain gorillas in Mgahinga Countrywide Park and Bwindi Impenetrable Nationwide Park.

My preferred memories at Queen Elizabeth Countrywide Park are of monitoring chimpanzees in Kyambura Gorge, watching tree-climbing lions and a herd of elephants going for walks majestically on the plains, and observing buffaloes, warthogs, hippos and Nile crocodiles even though cruising the Kazinga Channel.  

Another park to consider is the Kidepo Valley National Park, with its sweeping plains and valleys overshadowed by the brooding Mount Morungole. The mountain is sacred to the Ik tribe, a person of the smallest tribes in Uganda. The park ranks amid the finest birding safari locations in the region too.

I loved my video game drive practical experience at Lake Mburo National Park, even even though it is really 1 of the smallest countrywide parks in the state.

It truly is the only park wherever vacationers can enjoy boat cruises, strolling safaris and horseback driving, tour operator Dennis Kahungu advised CNBC Vacation.

Plus “it really is the only national park in Uganda with the impalas,” he explained. “It really is also the place you will uncover the significant horned Ankole cows.”

Found in eastern Rwanda, Akagera National Park is a safeguarded wetland and the past remaining refuge for savannah-tailored species in Rwanda. Park site visitors can take boat safaris along Lake Ilhema, the next premier lake in Rwanda, for wildlife and birdwatching.

Vacationers in lookup of mountain gorillas normally go to Volcanoes Nationwide Park in the northern part of the nation. It is really also home to golden monkeys, and effectively regarded for climbing and mountain climbing.

A short while ago inscribed on the UNESCO Globe Heritage Listing, Nyungwe National Park is a further aspect to investigate and is positioned in southwest Rwanda and is identified for its chimpanzees and colobus monkeys. It truly is also preferred for canopy walks on a suspended bridge some 70 meters (230 toes) earlier mentioned the forest flooring.

Although the parks can be frequented all year round, it truly is ideal to stay clear of April, as that’s when Rwanda usually receives major rains.

Botswana is a speedy-rising ecotourism destination — guests are drawn to the wide elephant herds of Chobe National Park and the canoe-primarily based wildlife safaris in the Okavango Delta.

1 can also see the “Huge Five” at Moremi Character Reserve, Nxai Pan National Park, Makgadikgadi Pans Nationwide Park as very well as Central Kalahari Recreation Reserve.

In Tanzania, I frequented the iconic UNESCO-shown Serengeti National Park, which rivals Kenya for one of the greatest wildlife ordeals in Africa.

My to start with time there was all through the calving year when the wildebeests and the zebras give beginning on their way to Kenya during the Good Migration.

One more question is the Ngorongoro Crater, one particular of the premier calderas in the earth.

Some consider it a single of the best destinations to go on safari in Africa.

Aside from the renowned Hwange National Park, I have also visited Matobo National Park, which has a vast range of fauna and a great deal of white rhinos. The area all around Matobo Hills is property to the continues to be of early settlements and the graves of historic figures like Cecil Rhodes.

The most effective time to check out the parks is all through the dry season, from June to October. That is when the bush is thinner — building wildlife much easier to place.

Mayes reported the most effective time for safaris in Kenya and Tanzania is, of program, through the migration time. But he suggests viewing Zimbabwe and Zambia from July to Oct.

In other elements of the continent, months like February, June and September can be really satisfying much too.

“The wildlife is amazing and there are much less vehicles all over,” he mentioned. “And you can generally gain from a lower period rate composition which of class is constantly pleasant.”