The ‘Big Five’ and the other lesser known – but just as important! – ‘Little Five’ are words synonymous with a safari to Africa. The Big Five are Buffalo, Lion, Elephant, Leopard and Rhino and can be found together in many national parks, game reserves and privately owned conservancies in Southern and Eastern Africa. In South Africa the best known park is, of course, the Kruger National Park. Nearly two million hectares in extent, the Kruger was gazetted in 1898 to protect the South African lowveld wildlife. A plethora of environmental techniques and policies makes the region an ongoing conservation success. There are also privately owned reserves contiguous with the Kruger which feature beautiful and often luxurious safari lodges and camps. Such areas include the well known Sabi Sands where seeing a huge variety of animals is almost guaranteed on an African Big Five Safari.
Elephants on the Chobe - African Big Five Safari With AfricanExplorations.com
Many of these properties accommodate children and offer specialist children’s programs, so an African Big Five Safari is not just for adults! Children’s guides keep children happy and enthralled, including trying to find the ‘Little Five’: buffalo weaver, elephant shrew, leopard tortoise, ant lion and rhino beetle as well as tracking and identifying animals, birds, and insects. Children are kept occupied for hours with short bush walks and spotting “creepy crawlies”, whilst other staff might teach them how to bake animal-themed cookies in the camp’s bush oven (for everyone’s afternoon tea!) whilst adults are busy on a game drive.
For those who like ‘lists’, how about the ‘Birding Six’? These includeGround Hornbill, Kori Bustard, Lappet-faced Vulture, Martial Eagle, Pel’s fishing Owl and Saddle-bill Stork. And then there are the “Little Six Antelope”: Grey Duiker, Sharpe’s Grysbok, Steenbok, Klipspringer, Livingstone Suni and Oribi.
The Rare Pels Fishing Owl - African Big Five Safari With AfricanExplorations.com
An African Big Five Safari is, surely, only possible on land? Not so! For those with a love of the sea and who visit South Africa’s gorgeous coastline there is also the ‘Marine Big Five’ which includes the Southern Right Whale, Cape Fur Seal, common Dolphin, Great White Shark and African Penguin. The best time for whale watching in South Africa is between July and November; several places on the Garden Route feature marine activities although the Walker Bay/Hermanus region is especially well known for easy access to marine wildlife with excellent guiding.
Cape Fur Seal - African Big Five Safari With AfricanExplorations.com
An Africa Safari Vacation is one of the most amazing and rewarding types of holiday that one can ever imagine! With magnificent wildlife in abundance, incredible walking, scenery and top class guiding – as well as having such a variety of first class accommodation – all this contributes to having the perfect safari!See the video below to get an idea of which country might be right for you! We come from Africa and have been arranging bespoke safaris for our clients for 21 years – so, if only the very best will do – we would love to assist you in arranging your safari of a lifetime!
From the north and south luangwa which are some of the finest wildlife regions in Africa and also home to the best walking safaris in Africa, to the magnificent Kafue and the Busanga Plains, this country has it all! The Busanga is renowned for its concentration of wildlife unlike anywhere else in the country – and is affectionately referred to as the mini Serengeti with its open plains and fantastic wildlife.
Safaris in Zambia with AfricanExplorations.com
Zambia boasts some of the best game viewing in Africa including endemic species such as thornicroft’s giraffe as well as being home to the rare shoebill stork. The camps range from simple to luxury tented camps. The guiding is considered to be some of the finest in Africa. Then you have the upper and lower Zambezi – two completely different area offering very different experiences. Again, there is lovely walking in the lower Zambezi, but the river offers the most stunning backdrop imaginable! Livingstone is just lovely and the perfect place to end ones safari and we have some real gems for you to stay at.
Safaris in Zambia with AfricanExplorations.com
Perhaps combine Zambia with Malawi for some sailing or beach at the end of your safari and one has the holiday of a lifetime! Call our Expert from Zambia, Katharine Tetley now to design a gorgeous tailormade safari just for you.
One of the most incredible lodges ever built must be the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge ! Not only because of its design, but its location is simply unsurpassed! From here, one has 180 degree views of the Ngorongoro Crater which can be seen from virtually every aspect of your room. The rooms have glass windows and doors from floor to ceiling, allowing totally unimpeded views. Apart from being home to some of the world’s best game viewing – nowhere is quite so dense in terms of wildlife as the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.
Ngorongoro Crater Lodge with AfricanExplorations.com
Fresh roses are flown in daily and placed next to one’s bath and a butler or steward is appointed to each room and there to serve you drinks, perhaps arrange dinner on your verandah or even have poured your bath for you when you arrive back from a game drive, cold but exhilarated in the winter months. Tanzania luxury safaris have never been so good!
Tanzania Luxury Safaris with AfricanExplorations.com
Chandeliers hang from the bathroom ceiling and one can see the Crater Floor from one’s bath! This is also one of the prettiest regions in Northern Tanzania and is a world heritage site. All I can say is that no safari to Tanzania is complete without a visit to the Ngorongoro Crater and if one can afford it, to include the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge! There is also tremendous walking in this region and one can see the cultural interaction between the Maasai and their cattle – a very genuine and peaceful scene!
San Camp must rank as one of my favourite ten camps in Africa. It is simply astonishing! First of all – take the location. It simply couldn’t be surpassed!
San Camp sits in the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, which represent the last visible remains of a ‘super lake’ once known as Lake Makgadikgadi. This lake covered an area of 80 000 square kilometres and covered most of northern Botswana.
San Camp with AfricanExplorations.com
There are just a handful of tents with white canvas on dark wooden platforms that command possibly the most incredible view of any camp in Botswana – hundreds of miles of white salt pan. The rooms are truly glorious and luxurious with a bedroom and sitting area, ensuite bathroom and a shower with a view over the pans. The tents are rectangular with octagonal ends and are elegantly furnished with a colonial feel.
San Camp with AfricanExplorations.com
Visit to a family of meerkats who have been habituated so that one can get very close to them; or a walk with bushmen who will show one how to light a fire with their traditional sticks, find water and track game and birds; quad bike excursions are also offered and there are wildlife researchers operating in the pans who are studying brown hyena which you can also see.
African & Indian Explorations Clients are all fully bonded under our ATOL and Association of Bonded Tour Operators Trust (ABTOT) licences. ATOL no 7159 and ABTOT number 5197. Terms & Conditions
“African and Indian Explorations” is a trading name of African Explorations Ltd Fraser House, Wadham Close, Southrop, Gloucestershire, GL7 3NR, UK
