What is being “at peace”? A series of gentle-but-fleeting impressions or experiences that linger to make a lasting, more integrated, whole? Quietly sharing a special moment with family, wife, husband, partner, parent?  Being able to spend time doing what you wish in an environment that takes one back to one’s evolutionary roots? How and where to find “Peace” is, of course, a variable feast for all of us with a million-and-one possibilities but a luxury African holiday can provide this sought after, overlooked and (regrettably) often-ephemeral spiritual commodity.

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And, then, how to define luxury?!? To me, as I sit writing this, it would be luxury to just be in the bush; flycamping in Katavi or, perhaps, at Sosian knowing the camels are safely “done” for the night. Or to sit and watch Wild Dog for an hour that might stretch to several. Cantering down a sandy track in South Africa or (yes, I know, off subject on an African website but why not?) to be camped by a river in Canada with the call of the loon and wolf nearby are also, to me, simple, effervescent, life-enhancing luxuries. Thus, to myself (I hear my colleague, the wonderful Hashim, agreeing) the “luxury” is obtained from the experience per se rather than the accoutrements of where I stay. Again this is (and can only be) a highly personal opinion and I fully accept that, to many, “luxury” is Egyptian cotton sheets and towels in the middle of the bush or champagne for sundowners. Make no mistake about my own motives here, either, I’d say “Why not, indeed!” to such luxury and I certainly wouldn’t turn it down; we all have differing ideas and I have no axe to grind at all with whatever your own definition of “luxury” may be. But I do think that there is a peace that comes from being somewhere you really want to be, in an environment with which you connect, that gives you an inner feeling of luxurious satisfaction that is common to all these experiences.

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There’s a point to these musings and I’m not going to even elaborate here on excellent food, great guiding (crucial) or super-comfortable beds in huge en suite tents in the most extraordinarily lovely locations, let alone stunning wildlife. That’s for other blogs and my point is this: I often get asked – sometimes in roundabout ways – to create a “luxury” African holiday.

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But we know that luxury is different things to different people so, in order to do my duty to you, oh esteemed client, I need to know who you are! What makes you tick? What is it about Africa that entices you – perhaps for the second, third or fourth time? Can I empathise with your own feelings, desires and passions so that I can create exactly the right safari or holiday for you, with all the right nuances? For this, to me, is another luxury; in the process of creating exactly the right balance within a holiday I have the privilege of conversing with (and, sometimes, getting to know rather well) a wide range of very special, often talented, individuals. Most have skills I can only dream of and all are totally different yet have a single unifying desire: to go to Africa. What a luxury…….

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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 include Ground 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

Funnily enough, Botswana is no longer a country that one associates with walking safaris. There used to be an amazing walking safari offered over 3 days  about twenty years ago, but for whatever the reason, the market decided it preferred to get around in vehicles!

Botswana Walking Safari with AfricanExplorations.com

However – I am happy to say that a friend of mine offers a combination of walking and/or riding safaris in a truly lovely area of Botswana – and it has what I would term as ‘gentle’  wildlife – mainly plains game etc, but when one is on the back of a horse or indeed on foot, sometimes its quite a nice thought that nothing is going to eat you!For those hardier types, there is now the possibility to have a walking safari again in the Okavango Delta on the border of Moremi – which is all about sensational game viewing. You are accompanied by some of Botswana’s finest guides, though  and the experience is nothing short of thrilling!

Botswana Walking safari with African Explorations.com

I far prefer to view game on foot – one’s senses are more accute and one learns so much more too! Everything is taken in at a gentler, slower pace and there is no noise or pollution.

For a Botswana Walking Safari, do contact us as we are walking specialists for Africa!

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!

Abu  Camp is a wonderful phenomenon – especially for those who either feel a real empathy with elephants or for those who are interested in elephant safaris.

This is the most magical experience that we have ever witnessed. One spends three nights at the beautiful Abu’s Camp and each morning, your mahout and guide tells you all about your elephant family. Learn all about their behaviour, their bonding and then ride them into the heart of the Okavango Delta – watching the elephant calves running alongside their mothers and family – splashing around in the water and playing and generally having a glorious time. This is a real privilege and the most warming experience one could possibly have!Learn about conservation issues and participate or observe mud bathing, training and veterinary care. Watch wildlife from the back of an elephant – completely peaceful and quiet – simply observing in an unobtrusive manner.

Abu Camp with AfricanExplorations.com

The rooms are beautiful and open fronted, set beneath a grove of mature trees and overlooking the waterway of the Delta yet they blend in beautifully with the environment.There is even a star bed which we can request for you so that one night you sleep beneath the vast canopy of stars – ever closer to the elephants.

Abu Camp with AfricanExplorations.com

The camp itself is gorgeous and spoiling – but in addition, one can also go out on game drives to search for other mammals and predators and also glide along the floodplains in a mokoro – a canoe – as you are poled along the floodplains. This is one of the most beautiful experiences and iconic of the Okavango Delta. Call us to arrange your elephant safari of a lifetime!

Luxury Okavango Delta Safari – these are some of the most magical safaris possible!

Luxury Okavango Delta Safari with AfricanExplorations.com

Flying across the delta, looking at the bejewelled waterway beneath you – landing on an island and immediately seeing a myriad of wildlife around you and you could be forgiven for thinking you had just landed in paradise – because that is exactly what it is!

There are so many very beautiful camps offering all sorts of different experiences in the Delta – from lodges with gorgeous architecture to a private tented, simple tented camp to a private camp which has persian rugs in your room and silver candelabra on the dinner table for night dining – with your own private vehicle and guide – this is all that awaits you!

Luxury Okavango Delta Safari with AfricanExplorations.com

Then you can go out on an elephant-back safari for three or four days where you watch and become part of the herd or even go out with a zoologist one day for a couple of hours, walking with his herd of elephant. There is even amazing riding in the Okavango Delta too.

Combine this with the Kalahari Desert and you have the 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.

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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!