Researching an African Safari

The safaris I did in Africa were all memorable.

In South Africa I visited Kruger with some friends. We rented a car and spent eight days going from north to south in the park. It was amazing and we saw a lot of animals, but parts of the park were very crowded and you are not permitted out of the cars anywhere. We liked the more rustic camps since it wasn't unlikely to find big animals just on the other side of the fence from us. We had our best wildlife viewing on the evening game rides and on a few ranger led game walks. Kruger was great!

In Namibia I visited Etosha NP as part of a Northern Namibia tour. It was also amazing with excellent access to the animals at wonderful watering holes beside the camps. It was less strict with its rules, but the scenery was less varied. I would recommend visiting Etosha with a rented car, or on a small tour, since the one I was on made it very difficult to see the hard to find animals.

In Botswana I visited Chobe and it was my favorite park in Southern Africa for wildlife watching. It was Africa at its wildest. There were no fences and no paved roads. We took a cruise on the Chobe River that led to a near miss with a large hippopotamus, but gave us some amazing views of the wildlife along the river. At night our camp was not fenced. There were small fires built in cans that ringed the camp and kept the animals away. The rangers didn't mind if I walked a bit on my own, though they asked me to stay within shouting distance of camp. I was only there for one night, but that night was exciting. I got up to go to the restroom, which was just out of the fire ring and I spotted several eyes from large animals looking back at me just beyond camp. Later that night I was awoken by some rustling beside my tent a few minutes later a man in another tent got us to use the restroom and screamed and dove back into his tent - There was a leopard sitting beside my tent making itself comfortable (rustling). We went on a long walk once the sun came up to track the leopard, which had left some lovely tracks, but we never found it.

Chobe was definitely my favorite of the three parks, since a fence makes me feel like I am in a zoo, but for wildlife sightings all three parks were excellent. I was in Kruger in early June, Etosha in late June, and Chobe in July. Reply to this

Hi

We went to Kruger on safari which was really cool. I wrote a blog with information on how to do it. Take a look. Let me know if you have any more questions.

It was amazing!
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Serengeti in Tanzania or Kenya. We did it in Tanzania in early-January. It was time of the big migration, the whole plains were covered with herds of bisons and zebras. It was a great experience, saw the big 5 animals and more. We saw so many lions that towards the end we started saying - "just another lion". This has to be done with a tour guide, and you can either go for luxury lodges or safari tents. From Tanzania side, on the way there is also a Lake Manyara where you can see lot of elephants and monkeys, and Nogorongoro crater which are very beautiful. Reply to this