The places we'd send a friend
Not a ranking, and not the whole list. Eight experiences we think about more than the others, with the honest version of what they involve.
Eight experiences, one each
We add one every few weeks. If you have been and disagree, tell us; we would rather be corrected than polite.
Sabi Sand
The surest leopard on earth
Decades of careful habituation mean Sabi Sand's leopards go about their lives with a vehicle twenty metres away. Watching a female haul an impala up a marula tree at dusk, then settle to feed as the hyenas circle below, is the sighting most people come to Africa hoping for. Expensive, and worth every rand for two or three nights.
Best: May to October
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The Okavango by mokoro
Silence, reeds and a frog on every stem
A poler stands at the back of the dugout and pushes you through channels no vehicle can reach. The engine noise of safari is gone. Lechwe splash ahead, a fish eagle calls, and an elephant feeds in the shallows with only the top of its back showing. Do it in the morning, when the water is glass.
Best: June to September
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Okaukuejo waterhole after dark
Rhino in the floodlight
Sit on the stone benches, keep quiet, and wait. The elephants come first, then giraffe, and then, from the dark edge of the light, a black rhino, horn up, walking straight in to drink. It happens most nights in the dry season and it never gets ordinary.
Best: July to October
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A Mara River crossing
Chaos, dust and crocodiles
Thousands of wildebeest milling on the bank for an hour, then one jumps and the rest follow in a roar of water and hooves. It cannot be scheduled; you wait, sometimes for days. Base yourself in a conservancy and drive in for it, and the waiting is the best part.
Best: Late July to September
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Ngorongoro Crater at dawn
A world inside a volcano
Drive down the crater wall as the mist lifts, and the floor opens out with lion, elephant, hyena, flamingos on the lake and, if you are lucky, a black rhino in the grass. Be the first vehicle in; by eleven the day trippers arrive and the magic thins.
Best: June to October; January to February
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A walking safari in South Luangwa
The bush at eye level
An armed scout in front, a guide reading the ground, and you, on foot, in big-game country. The first elephant you meet on foot resets your understanding of the word 'wild'. Luangwa's guides are the best in the business, and the bush camps are small enough that everyone eats together.
Best: June to October
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An hour with a gorilla family
The encounter that changes people
After a steep, muddy climb, the trackers raise a hand and you are there: a silverback sprawled in the nettles, juveniles tumbling over each other, a mother watching you with eyes that are not so different from yours. One hour. People go quiet for the rest of the day.
Best: June to September; December to February
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Boulders Beach and the Cape Peninsula
Penguins, then the end of Africa
Not a safari, but the right way to end one. Walk the boardwalk at Boulders among African penguins, drive Chapman's Peak, and stand at Cape Point with the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean somewhere in front of you. Finish with a glass of something from Constantia.
Best: November to March
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