What is a Luxury African Safari? It is many different things to many people! Perhaps this clip defines it in more detail!

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!

An African safari needs to be tailormade in order to ensure that you get the most out of it. Just rationalise – how could one safari be right for thousands of people? It simply can’t – and one just ends up compromising hugely. And why should one? When paying this much money for a holiday (or anything else in life, for that matter), it has to be as perfect as possible – and the only way this is possible is to replicate an environment that you not only feel comfortable in, but indeed surpasses all your expectations and leaves you breathless!

African Safari Tailormade with AfricanExplorations.com

And that’s where we come in! We listen to you, ask lots of questions, analyse and disseminate that information and then send you a suggestion which we think  will be absolutely right for you! Whether its taking in photography lessons  with a film maker and guide in the Masai Mara, going up in a hot air balloon across the sand dunes in the Namib Desert of Namibia or flying over the harsh and beautiful Skeleton Coast. Perhaps it is seeing the wildebeest migration in the mighty Serengeti – or spending times with chimps. It could be spending time with a researcher, looking for wild dog in Botswana, or taking a houseboat on the Chobe River. Perhaps it is looking at gorillas or sitting on the back of an elephant on an elephant back safari in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. What about riding a horse across the Kalahari Desert in Botswana or sipping wine at some of the best wine estates in the Cape? It might even be canoeing along the Mighty Zambezi in Zimbabwe or viewing the Victoria Falls. It could even be undertaking a walking safari.

African Safari Tailormade with AfricanExplorations.com

These, plus a myriad of other ideas are available to you – we would love to share our knowledge and enthusiasm with you!

Luxury Safaris in Africa are our forte. Whether you would like the very best in luxury in terms of having private aeroplanes and the finest guides that the countries can produce at your fingertips, camps set up for you in the best wildlife locations or whether you want a film maker to improve your photography, perhaps you might like to spend time with an ornithologist or simply an all round naturalist guide, or even would like to see a particular species – such as a wild dog or a shoebill stork, we can achieve this for you! We have set up camps where the wild dogs are denning and where the shoebill stork is nesting – something that only sheer expertise and a lifetime spent on the African continent can allow us to do.

Luxury Safaris Africa with AfricanExplorations.com

For those starting out on their first safaris, we guide you closely and help you to make the right decision for you or your family.  Whether it is a private villa in the bush or on the coast for a family or group of friends, or a simple tented camp erected just for you where no other camp exists – where you watch the birds come to rest in the boughs of the trees – knowing it is just yourselves, your guide and crew and the birdlife – surely this must be the most blissful thing?  Or hot air ballooning across the world’s highest sand dunes, watching each of them change hue. Perhaps spend time with lion or elephant or wild dog researchers – nothing is beyond our remit.  You might even have dreamt of riding an elephant through the jewel of the Okavango Delta, observing the whole herd playing and interacting – a priceless experience! You have purely our passion and our expertise – and we look forward to arranging your safari of a lifetime!

Luxury Safaris Africa with AfricanExplorations.com

Gosh – now this is one wide topic of conversation! Choosing a safari is one of the most important decisions one will ever make in their lives! The reason for this is that a safari is not an inexpensive holiday – and one wants to ensure that the correct choices are made – whether for a couple or a family.

Choosing a safari with AfricanExplorations.com

Secondly, if it is your first safari – then we want to make the right impression. Getting it wrong will put you off for life – but getting it right will make you the staunchest advocate of safaris and wildlife for the rest of your life!

luxury tailormade safaris with AfricanExplorations.com

Many of our clients take a safari every single year – it simply gets into one’s blood! Partially, I think it is because it takes people out of their comfort zone but secondly, its that primeval feeling – seeing the continent as it has been for millenia and will always be – whereas we will simply disappear…. Its the immediacy of your surroundings – the thrill of sleeping under canvas and hearing the roaring of the lions or the whoop of a hyaena close by – their sound carrying – and wondering what activity each night will be delivering.

Being on foot or on horseback one is far more vulnerable and the heartbeat quickens – this is a wonderful feeling and one feels so much more in touch with the earth and Africa itself.

Choosing a safari with AfricanExplorations.com

For some that immediacy is a terrifying prospect – in which case we have secure lodges that cocoon one entirely. For those with young children, security is at the forefront of one’s thoughts – and here we have fenced reserves or even non malarial safaris.

We spend time with you, learning all about you as an individual, or as a family, understanding your hobbies and interests, in order to make the perfect recommendations for you.

tailormade safaris to africa with AfricanExplorations.com

We have a list to help you answer all the questions you never even thought of – and of course, with staff all from Africa – our expertise is unrivalled and we relish the prospect of tailoring your first or next safari to ensure it is an experience of a lifetime!

Anyone with a family will truly appreciate an adventure holiday in Africa.

So- what constitutes an adventure? This word has so many different meanings for so many different people. It can simply mean getting off the beaten track – and not doing what everyone else appears to do. It can mean doing something different to what you would normally do in your every day life – or even what you would normally do on holiday. For others it means lots of ‘daring do’ – and this we can provide in buckets full! I say family safaris simply because one can do the following:

Adventure Holidays Africa with AfricanExplorations.com

• go on a private mobile camp safari just for your family, with a camp erected in the best wildlife areas – with the very best guides.
• Go hot air ballooning across the desert
• Go white water rafting or bunjee jumping or canoeing amongst wild animals.
• Go zip lining through the canopies of trees 150 feet above the ground.
• Take a catamaran and go sailing around the islands in Seychelles, Madagascar and Tanzania.
• Take an Arab Dhow and sail around the Kenyan islands, fishing en route.
• Go quad biking across the desert.
• Go on a horse riding safari.
• Go camel trekking in Kenya with the local tribesmen, learning about their culture and wildlife along the way.
• Go on a private guided canoeing safari, stopping off on islands along the way and having a camp set up for you.
• Go and see gorillas or chimpanzees in Uganda or Rwanda.
• Go on an elephant back safari in Botswana or South Africa.
• Circumnavigate the mountains of Africa – Mount Kenya, Meru and Kilimanjaro with a private guide and crew set up just for you.
• Go canoeing or catamaran or laser sailing on Lake Malawi.
• Take a walking safari in Kenya, Tanzania or Zambia.
• Go on a week’s dhow and sea kayaking trip in Mozambique.
• Go snorkelling and diving in Mozambique.
• Go and see volcanoes erupting in Reunion.
• Go on a marine big 5 safari in South Africa, seeing dolphins, whales, sharks, penguins and seals.
• Spend time with lion or elephant researchers.
• Paraglide in South Africa or Microlight in Zambia.
• Mountain Bike amongst wildlife in Botswana and South Africa
• Go on a gastonomic cycling tour of the Cape in South Africa
• Be involved in game capture and relocation in Malawi and South Africa

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  Family Safaris with AfricanExplorations.com

There is nothing quite like having luxury weddings in Africa. There are so many places that really lend themselves to having the most amazing wedding!

Luxury Weddings in Africa with AfricanExplorations.com

We have arranged a number of weddings for our clients and they have all been simply stunning! One of them was in Botswana at this truly beautiful camp in the Okavango Delta, where the ceremony was performed on a private island and the bride and groom arrived and departed on the back of an elephant.

Luxury Weddings in Africa with AfricanExplorations.com

We have also arranged several in truly gorgeous bush locations – where we have set up location in the most beautiful spot overlooking a wide river. The bride had the most gorgeous wild flower bouquets and she was married in a simple long dress. They had the most lovely African choir singing to them. Another example was in Zambia in Livingstone – getting married on Livingstone Island where there is a permanent rainbow and the Victoria Falls right next to you. Again we had a beautiful African choir singing for them.

If you want something more traditional, we have some really lovely small, pretty churches in the winelands in the Cape in South Africa where one can make one’s vows and your names are etched into the ancient wooden doors. Another lovely church is in the Mpumalanga region on an avocado pear plantation – whilst a further suggestion is on one of our favourite estates in Plettenberg Bay.

One of my favourite experiences of a lifetime was gorilla tracking in Uganda. Walking through the primary forest, witnessing rare bird species such as the Green Broadbill- is the most exemplary, superb, life-changing experience.

Everyone should see the gorillas once. These huge primates, who are such close cousins of ours, inspire awe and hope in the visitor although the fact that there are only about 700 Mountain Gorillas left in the world at a time when human populations continue to skyrocket is a challenging statistic before one even leaves home.

Gorilla Tracking Uganda with AfricanExplorations.com

One may have to trek to track gorillas! Whilst gorillas are occasionally found closeby to some of the lodges where one would be based, the norm is for between two and six hours walking over sometimes steep and often very wet ground before one makes contact with any of the habituated groups. But this makes the experience far more rewarding for most.  Seeing these gentle, intelligent, deeply inspiring, family-oriented  creatures is a privilege that one feels ought to be earned and the extra effort required is worth every calorie.

Then the actual experience: weary after a long and arduous walk the visitor is suddenly…there. One moment green foliage and the next, perhaps right in front of you, VERY CLOSE INDEED, a huge silverback male and his family. The gorillas will throw you a glance, the silverback may even look threatening before recognising your guides and settling back into a routine of eating, grooming and social behaviour.  One is lucky enough to spend an hour with these magnificent beasts – watching them interact with other family members – listening to the sound of them communicating with each other – there is simply nothing like it! This truly is an experience of a lifetime!

A Family Safari is about the most special safari that anybody can have. So – what’s so special about a family safari? Okay – how about the special bond that it promotes within a family – the sacrosanct time that one has at a time like this that simply doesn’t exist at any other time?

Getting to know one another again as a family and appreciating the time one has with each other? Whether that spends time doing things that you used to enjoy once upon a time as a time as a family ie: horse riding, fishing, quad biking, snorkelling, diving, playing tennis or afresh and learning about how one’s interests have diversified.

Family Safari with AfricanExplorations.com

Whether that means going down an avenue of scientific knowledge of lion and elephant behaviour or spending time with chimpanzees and gorillas – or even seeing the big 5 and then finishing off with spending some time sailing on the ocean whether that is in a catamaran or on a laser boat or windsurfing or waterskiing or deep sea diving.

Family Safari with AfricanExplorations.com

Whether it is the marine big 5 or the land big 5, we can assemble whatever wish you have in mind – whether a safari in the savannah plains or spending time with elephants, lions, giraffe, zebra – a full big 5 safari – or something photographic where it is just you and your camera – or perhaps climbing a mountain – or seeing the best primates in the world – we are complete specialists – we all come from Africa – our passion is in Africa – and we are used to designing a custom made holiday of a lifetime – so don’t hesitate to call us for your dream safari!

Family Safari with AfricanExplorations.com

Whether canoeing, sailing, beaching, having contact with the local population and understanding their culture and learning about wildlife – we are here for you!

I really don’t think there is any other way of undertaking a safari these days with complete success unless it is entirely bespoke, which is exactly what we do at African Explorations.

Bespoke Safaris from AfricanExplorations.com

In order to ensure the perfect success of a safari, one has to really understand what makes that person tick – the sort of accommodation they would most enjoy – from a luxurious lodge complete with butler service, to a  small, intimate permanent lodge or tented camp in a beautiful location, to a private mobile tented camp erected purely for you. Then if you would require a private guide to accompany you throughout your safari – and if so, we must ensure they match your personality – then we need to include any particular hobbies or interests that you may have. Perhaps scientific – in which case we would arrange for you to accompany a lion scientist, or go out with an elephant specialist, or a wild dog specialist. Perhaps you might be interested in photography, in which case we would select a guide or camp which facilitates just this – camps that provide bean bags and special platforms for your camera – some camps even have a media room – and then one can even join a specialist photographic safari. You might be a keen birdwatcher, in which case we might even place you on a special Shoebill stork safari.

Bespoke Safaris with AfricanExplorations.com

It may be a wonderful family safari – in which case we would listen carefully to the interests of your children and match them – sending them to places which offered perhaps a private villa complete with skipper and private boat – or a luxury Robinson Crusoe styled place with more watersports than ever imagined!  We can arrange for you to spend a day with a Samburu or Maasai warrior, learning about their culture – or even visit a school. You may be a rider travelling with a non rider – that is easily arranged, too! You might want to sail at the end of your safari – just say the word! Perhaps you simply want something completely luxurious and utterly romantic – we have all the places at our fingertips! Whatever it is you wish to do – we can tailor it to you – perfectly! Bespoke Safaris are, after all, just what we’re about!