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

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!

Family Safari Botswana – well, the country truly lends itself to some of the finest family safaris imaginable!

Depending upon the ages of your children, we can adapt a safari to suit your family perfectly! Top of the range must go to the young explorer’s programme that we offer. This is for children aged 6 upwards and is based in the Okavango Delta. Here the camp is closed to your family and we have the most wonderful guide in Paul Molesang. The children will learn how to identify the signs of the bush – the tracks left by animals and they will learn which plants and trees are used by the local people to make toothbrushes, to cure certain ills etc as well as the folklore attached to them.

Family Safari Botswana with AfricanExplorations.com

In addition, they learn about the night sky, how to fish for bream and a host of other fascinating facts. They then receive a certificate to say they have done all these things which the children all love – in fact, our two ten year olds thought it was the greatest thing ever!

Family Safari Botswana with AfricanExplorations.com

Then they can go to the Kalahari Desert, get close to meerkats and ride quad bikes over the salt pans, having a sleep out as well, beneath the stars. They can walk with San people and learn about their culture. Perhaps even visit an orphanage in Maun. If you ride, they might like to do some riding in the Delta or further north and we can arrange for the family to camp in your own private, mobile tented camp should you wish. We can also arrange a canoe safari for a couple of nights, learning to read the delta as the rivermen have done for a hundred years! Botswana is so rich in wildlife which makes this one of the most rewarding safaris possible!

Family Safari Botswana with AfricanExplorations.com

Alternately, if luxury is your thing, Botswana has no shortage of these style of lodges!  One can never put a price on these sort of safaris  – as the memory lasts forever! Perhaps start your safari at Victoria Falls which is such fun and end off on the coast somewhere, like Mozambique?

Family Safari Holidays are my favourite way of travelling together as a family. There is simply so much to do – which is also away from the social media that has dominated our children’s lives!

Each year I take my own family on two safaris a year – this year it was a riding holiday and a luxury safari in South Africa – ending up in Cape Town and Plettenberg Bay.  Mozambique is a great country to end up at for the coast – gorgeous waters of 30 degrees celsius, amazing snorkelling and we have found a first class lodge which caters really beautifull for younger children – which is owner managed.

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Last year it was Kenya – doing a camel trekking safari, doing a riding safari, then spending some time in the Masai Mara at a wonderful tented camp where the owner has his own children – and then ending up on the coast.  We have a handful of places which we use for our famillies which are sensational! They range from a private villa in Lamu complete with private skipper who can take you out snorkelling and sailing around different islands each day – to a lovely Robinson Crusoe-esque place which is family owned and they have more watersports facilities than one can shake a stick at – and that is also based in Lamu. We have some places in Kiwayu which are sensational – notably one where there is fabulous deep sea and fly fishing, great snorkelling, windsurfing, laser sailing and water skiing.  At certain times of year you can go swimming with the dolphins which is simply amazing! I did it this year! Next year we are going back to Madagascar which is great for children – you can take a catamaran for several days around the islands!

Family Safari Holidays with AfricanExplorations.com

Botswana is superb – and a couple of the camps have a special programme for children – and we can arrange a private mobile tented camp which means its a camp that moves and only your family stays there. Go quad biking on the salt pans of the Kalahari desert – learn to fish in the Okavango Delta – learn how to read the stars as well as the footprints of the animals on the sand. Zambia is great – and you can combine it with the Lake of Malawi where one can take a catamaran or simply go sailing .

Family Safari Holidays with AfricanExplorations.com

Then we have Tanzania, which you can team up with either Zanzibar or Unguja or Mafia Island, go snorkelling, diving, dolphining, kite surfing and wakeboarding – just to name a few activities on offer!

Of all the safaris that one can undertake, I think family safaris must top the list. Simply because there is something wonderful to view life through the eye’s of a child – unlike our vision which tends to be hugely corrupted by cynicism and a variety of other preconceived ideas! To see the wonderment and joy as a child witnesses an entirely new world all around it, new experiences mounting on a daily basis is so incredibly rewarding. It is both profound and simple and entirely pleasurable! I have been taking my daughter on safari every year since she was literally a couple of years old and what is the most important aspect is the equal dose of wildlife and culture.  In addition, one must have a top notch and sympathetic guide. So often, one comes across a truly fantastic guide, who simply isn’t child friendly. This is not their fault. They simply have not had much access to children, invariably they are quite young and they are often focussed on conservation and science. This results in information being proffered to the parents at a scientific level and the child is not engaged at all. Sadly, this is the death knell for taking children on safari (and happens with huge regularity), as the child becomes completely bored! Therefore, a superb and child friendly guide is crucial to the success of any safari. Depending upon the age of the child, one can also have the most wonderful safaris in non malarial areas, both in Kenya and in South Africa in particular.

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In East Africa particularly, the tribes have the most arresting traditional dress which children always love and they are taught how to make bows and arrows, how to recognise the spoormarks or the prints of animals in the sand, making plaster of paris imprints, teaching them about the night sky and the medicinal properties of plants and trees and the folklore that is attached to them. A safari is also an incredibly bonding form of holiday, where the entire family spends quality time together.

Family Safaris in Africa with AfricanExplorations.com

Forget all the modern technology, ds’, mp3 players, dvd players, i-pods and all the electronic modern gadgets enlisted to keep your children ‘occupied’. Here, they have something real which is educational and fun with a value which far exceeds anything that could be obtained through the modern medium.Perhaps go on a camel trek safari for a few days with the local Samburu tribe, or sleep out beneath the stars, or in a treehouse. Horse ride and fish or simply learn what it is like to have an uncomplicated yet exciting and simple lifestyle.  Sail on a catamaran around Madagascar or Lake Malawi or Tanzania,  end up on a beach and do some kite surfing in Kenya or Tanzania. It simply doesn’t get better than this! But the best thing of all, is when even the most jaded and widely travelled traveller returns, saying  it is the holiday of their lifetime!

Kenya safari and beach – Many people think of safaris these days of spending time on safari, seeing amazing wildlife combined with adventure and fun and then finishing off with some relaxing time on the beach. Actually, this is the perfect combination, as safaris tend to go at a fairly frenetic pace, going out on game drives for the full day or several times a day, interspersed with some really interesting bush walks. To this,  add perhaps some time on a horse, mingling amongst the wildlife, or perhaps on a camel and you can gradually see my point!

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Kenya and Tanzania offer the perfect mixture of some of the finest wildlife on this planet (and certainly the most concentrated game in Africa), coupled with really heady, exotic islands that go by the names of Lamu, Manda Toto, Kiwayu, Zanzibar, Mnemba, Pemba, Unguja and Mafia. Then, you can easily combine a safari in either country with a stay on the coast of either Kenya or Tanzania.

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Kenya still offers the greatest diversity in terms of safari, with anything from walking and climbing Mount Kenya, to exploring the Masai Mara (renowned for the wildebeest migration), Samburu, Meru, Tsavo, Amboseli and other regions like Laikipia. Walking safaris are tremendous too and we send you off on privately guided walking safaris with some of Kenya’s finest guides! In terms of the more traditional game viewing safaris, you can stay at owner managed tented camps and lodges, to tree houses, to design inspired lodges and everything in between! There are some gorgeous private houses to occupy which is the perfect thing for a big birthday or a celebration with family and friends! A private mobile will take you into far flung regions with a camp that is set up just for you!Then, you can either horse ride or go on a camel assisted walk into the Matthews Mountains.

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Prince William and his bride to be, Kate Middleton became engaged in Kenya, staying at Lewa Safari Camp which is simply heavenly – see one of our latest blogs on Lewa.

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Then, on the coast, you can either travel from one island to another by Arab dhow, or stay at a Robinson Crusoe inspired lodge in Kiwayu, or take a villa in Lamu. There are also some exquisite, boutique hotels dotted on the Kenyan coast, from Lamu to Diani and there is also the latest spa as mentioned in Tatler as one of the top 10 worldwide spas, located on the Kenyan coast. There is something for everyone! Whether it is for the avid wildlife enthusiast, to the family searching for a once in a lifetime family holiday, to a romantic couple on their honeymoon! Coming from Kenya, we certainly can inspire you!

African Safaris are simply magical! Coming from Africa, I know I am biased, but I really cannot imagine taking either myself or my family on any other kind of holiday! It is filled with magic, wonder, gorgeous colours, smells, vibrancy, adventure, breathtaking scenery, awesome wildlife and a people whose friendship you will come to treasure for years!

African Safaris with AfricanExplorations.com

It really is a non stop sensory overload! Whether it is learning about the various tribes that inhabit this diverse and fascinating continent – tribes whose stories teach their children about the rights and wrongs of every day life and survival in general. Tribes who dance with amazing rhythmic energy and who move into a trance to mark celebrations. Wildlife to stir your very being, as you sit and witness  the entire spectacle unfold before you – watching a pack of wild dog, Africa’s most efficient predator, move towards a kill, skilfully communicating their every move with each other. Watch a honeyguide bird lead people and honey badgers to a nest of bees. Learn about the night sky and the solar system. Remember what being in touch with nature is all about – and how much better we all feel for being so much closer to it!

African Safaris with Nicola Shepherd's AfricanExplorations.com

Ride horses amongst the legendary wildebeest migration in the Masai Mara in Kenya, sail on Lake Malawi or in Madagascar, dive in Mozambique, walk in search for wildlife in the selous in southern Tanzania or even Luangwa in Zambia, canoe in the Mana Pools region in Zimbabwe, game view by open vehicle, documenting the most spectacular animals with your camera.

Kutendala with AfricanExplorations.com

All this, and so much more, is waiting for you on an African safari!

Chada Camp Katavi with AfricanExplorations.com

Certainly, for the “first timer”, a visit to the Mara is a must and, for those taking children who might be nervous about the bush/child equation, staying somewhere which has a swimming pool (something to do which is “not animals”!) and also fenced might be a good option. A fenced off camp, meaning that precious totos can run around at will, in total safety in one of the most concentrated game regions in the world, is a good idea and one of the best is Mara Intrepids Camp. What is so unique is that they are the only company in East Africa to offer a ‘kids’ club’; Nirvana for most parents and almost unheard of in the safari world! The real hit was when our 7 year old daughter was taught to use a wooden bow and arrow made from combretum, this was put to good (harmless!) use as she became expert at fending off the vervet monkeys who visited the dining tables in an effort to claim leftover titbits. Hiring a private vehicle is an absolute must here as one can then dictate the length, and focus, of game drives and have full attention from one’s guide. Our guide was one of the finest I have ever come across in all my years of living in (and, sadly, now out of) Africa. Despite it being out of season we saw a plethora of game: elephant, cheetah (even trying to make a kill on several occasions), buffalo, giraffe, topi, impala, thompson’s gazelle, lion, hyaena, cookson’s hartebeest, buffalo, dik dik, warthog, guinea fowl, black shouldered kite, rufous nape lark, eagles – the list goes on and on. Our other Masai guide, who taught at the kids club in traditional dress, had impeccable English and was excellent at imparting fun information. Olivia learned to drive a Land Rover, too (steering, sitting on her guide’s lap)! At her insistence, she went on her own with our guide to the Masai village where she saw the manyattas and was surrounded by children who taught her how to make bangles, necklaces and belts with beadwork. They also taught one another singing and dancing from both sides of the globe. This was an educational and rewarding experience and a complete hit and success all round!