One week or two? Botswana or the Serengeti? Trying to find the right safari holiday can be bamboozling. Southern Africa is a vast, ever-changing land and there is a huge variety of different safari holiday packages. You can be cruising down the river in a dugout canoe one minute or seeking out the Big 5 the next.

 

KE's Alison Bembridge was lucky enough to have travelled extensively to Africa and completely fell in love with Southern Africa, its amazing wildlife and happy positive people.

 

Take a look at some of her tips below on which safari holiday may be best for you and to help you decide where to go next. 

OK, I admit it - I have a soft spot for Botswana, and therefore I think that it’s the best place to have your first safari. Botswana is a leader in wildlife conservation, the distances are manageable and you see a variety of wildlife and habitats. Our Best of Botswana holiday incorporates all the highlights. The Okavango is a special place which you can feel as you paddle out in dugout canoes over the waters. A highlight is the 2 nights camping here (the rest of the trip is in lodges) and we finish at Victoria Fall to complete our African adventure. 

Read Alison's blog Hide and seek on a Botswana Safari

 

Having been on safari in Botswana before I can highly recommend Namibia. Our Namibia Desert, Etosha and the Caprivi Lodge Safari visits the wildlife-rich pans of Etosha National Park, where the waterholes bustle with African big game and we are sure to get our fill of big cats and herds of elephants led by their redoubtable matriarch.

We start our amazing Southern African adventure holiday at one of the world’s largest and most majestic of all waterfalls - Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River and moving deeper into Namibia we stop in the coastal town of Swakopmund before heading south to the famous dunes of the Namib Desert and Sossusvlei.  

 

Our Cape Town to Vic Falls Safari is a best seller for good reasons, including the fact that this fantastic itinerary covers four countries (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe). I have spent time in these countries and can vouch for their diversity and wonder. In our custom-built overland vehicle this 3 week holiday encompasses many African highlights.

 

We see penguins outside Cape Town, the classic Namibian sand dunes of Sossuslvei and wildlife at Etosha. Then it’s onto the Kalahari, Botswana, a canoe ride in the Okavango and the finale at Victoria Falls - “The Smoke that Thunders”.

 

By far a real favourite. 

 

The Big Five are some extraordinary animals: lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo. I remember well the first time I saw these legendary creatures, the adrenaline and excitement that I felt was unexpected and brilliant! From that moment I was mesmerized and hooked on Africa. Our Game Trails of Zimbabwe and Botswana pulls out all the stops for variety and quantity of animal viewing.

 

The loop from South Africa’s Kruger National Park through Zimbabwe, Vic Falls, Chobe and the Okavango in Botswana will also allow us to see herds of Zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, hippo and all the smaller wildlife in between – hyenas, warthog and plentiful birdlife. This is a superb choice for wildlife.

 

My favourite family safari is Kenyan Wildlife Wonders. It is an itinerary rich in conservation education, local culture, with time to relax on the beach and of course game drives. We visit an Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Centre, overnight at a Maasai village and do game drives in the famous Amboseli National Park with views of Kilimanjaro behind the herds of zebra and elephants.

 

This itinerary captures the true essence of East Africa, and is a great mind-opening experience for children of how people in this part of the world live. 

 

Alex from KE took her daughter Cecily on this holiday in 2019. Read her blog about Africa safari with kids

 

I love being active and walking, and I know that quite a few KE travellers do as well! Therefore we have our unique South Africa Walking Safari adventure. It starts in Kruger National Park, with walking and game safaris with specialist guides and comfortable private transport. We then continue to the less well-known Hluhuwe Game Reserve, eSwatini for a unique safari walking experience.

We have 3 days walking in Drakensberg Mountains, which includes some of the most dramatic and breath-taking scenery in South Africa. A holiday perfect for active wildlife lovers wanting to experience Africa.

 

It really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see this endangered species so close up and in their natural habitat. Our fabulous wildlife safari holiday Ultimate Uganda Gorilla Safari focuses on tracking the endangered gorillas as well as many other wildlife highlights. The itinerary also includes the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, boat rides, game drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park to see the clever tree climbing lions and chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park.

 

 

There is no other way to describe this walking and safari holiday in Malawi other than totally awesome. On arrival you will be located within the Private Chimwenya Game Park where you are free to roam and may encounter giraffe, zebra and several antelope such as eland, waterbuck and kudu.

 

Then, moving on the next day you head to the Mulanje Massif. After visiting the Lankhalamba falls and rock pools, your journey will take you on a proper 5 day trek in the Mulanje Massif to the highest point of Malawi - Sapitwa. Moving northwards after your amazing trek, you will head to the Liwonde National Park, one of Malawi's conservation success stories. Taken over by African Parks in 2015 they have worked very hard to resolve the wildlife-human conflict, with huge success.

 

In 2017 cheetah were reintroduced and in 2018 lion where also reintroduced. Plans are in the pipeline to also reintroduce leopard - and then this will be a Big 5 National Park.  

 

My first safari was to the Serengeti to see the migration – I was blown away by the sheer number of animals on these vast plains. “The migration” refers to the hundreds of thousands of wildebeest moving in a seasonal loop through the Masi Mara and Serengeti ecosystems. Interspersed with the wildebeest are zebra and many other antelope who use the wildebeest numbers to graze on the plains and hide from the ever-present predators…lions, cheetahs, leopards.

 

On our Maasai Adventure, Tanzania you can witness this spectacle on our February departures, following the ebb and flow of life in the African wildlife paradise of the Serengeti.