Travel Offers - Safari Holidays

The most common way to see the animals is to go on guided game drives in open air jeeps. In some National Parks it is also allowed to self-drive, but there are strict rules for what you can do and especially not do. If you are a first timer on a safari holiday you will see and learn a lot more if you go on a guided tour. Game drives are best enjoyed when you have good optical equipment such as binoculars, still cameras and video cameras. Remember that all optical equipment has to cope with very difficult light conditions, such as intense sunlight during daytime and very little light in the early morning or late afternoon when many predators are active.

Another way to watch the animals is to go on a bush walk; this is very exciting and gives you a chance to watch the flora close up. It is not safe to go on a bush walk without a guide, and I most places it is also not allowed. In some place you can watch the wildlife from a small boat or canoe; this is especially the case in the Okavango Delta in Botswana; at other places watching the animals is best done in a balloon safari or from a helicopter.

Safari holidays in Africa can be extremely luxurious or more ordinary, all depending on how much you are prepared to pay. Usually you can choose between a variety of accommodations, the main categories are: a Lodge which is a permanent structure that is open throughout the year. Accommodation is usually in self-contained rooms or bungalows and most lodges have a swimming pool for relaxation in between your game drives. Tented lodges are a blend of canvas tents combined with permanent structure, offering the adventure of camping with the facilities of a lodge. Tented lodges are usually open throughout the year. Bush Camps can either be permanent or seasonal, depending on location; they are usually more intimate than lodges.

Among the best and most popular places to go on a safari holiday in Africa are: Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, Masai Mara in Kenya where you can watch the annual wildebeest migration towards Serengeti, Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park in Botswana, Kruger National Park in South Africa, Hwange National Park and Mana Pools in Zimbabwe and Etosha National Park in Namibia. Also in Zambia and Mozambique there are excellent places for a safari holiday. If you are interested in seeing mountain gorilla, you should go to Rwanda or Uganda, lowland gorillas can be found in Cameroon and Gabon.

Botswana is one of the few remaining destinations in Africa that still provides a good sense of the adventure of safari. Its expansive parks and preserves are still largely undeveloped and untamed, and the wildlife is as diverse and abundant as that found anywhere else. Among the most famous areas for wildlife safaris in Botswana are: The Okavango Delta, a unique geological formation where a delta is formed by the Okavango River, flowing into the Kalahari Desert instead of the ocean. The Okavango Delta is the world's largest inland delta.

The Kruger National Park is the primary destination in South Africa for many international tourists. It lies across the provinces of Mpumalanga and Limpopo in the northeast of the country, just south of Zimbabwe and west of Mozambique and now forms part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe and with the Limpopo Park in Mozambique, covering a total area of 35,000 sq. km. (13,500 sq. mi.).