The highlight of our safari in August 2019 to Angola was a visit to Cangandala National Park, to find an animal that I had heard about and always wanted to see. The giant sable antelope (Hippotragus niger variani) is Angola’s national symbol. It is a subspecies of sable antelope and ...
As we sit back and contemplate dreaming of our bucket list, few seasoned safari-goers won’t dream of going on safari again “the way it was”.Global travel has become easier, air travel more affordable, and organized ground operators more plentiful. More people have the opportunity to visit the outstanding wildlife areas ...
One of my favourite national parks, Mana Pools in Zimbabwe, is very seasonal. It is an outstanding place to experience wildlife in the dry season, when wildlife congregates near the Zambezi River. That is when visitors are drawn to this phenomenal place and the chance of poaching being unnoticed is ...
One aspect of an African safari that is often overlooked is the cultural side. The primary reason for an Africa trip is usually the big game - lion, leopard, elephant and lots more of course! But over the years, I have noticed how activities that bring guests into contact with ...
This has been the driest February in the vast Serengeti that I can remember. We had poor short rains in November and it has rained very little since. Most of the open "short grass" plains are parched, and there is little surface water for the game to drink. It amazes ...
One morning, while we were out in the Serengeti Plains looking for cheetah, we came across a solitary female who looked hungry and appeared to be working the scrubby bushes as if she was hunting hares. We watched as she swept the area for some time, until she suddenly stopped ...
As we drove slowly towards our camp in the Moru kopjes area of the Serengeti we passed a herd of zebra that were moving north. Then suddenly they bolted to the side, stopped and gazed into the apparently benign grasslands. I told the guests that they must have smelled a ...
Another season of poor rainfall, and the Serengeti Plains were dry and already a tawny brown colour. Herds of Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles grazed the plains punctuated by the odd small herd of zebra. This was quite a contrast having just been down in the Ngorongoro Crater, where green grass ...
A safari is always exciting and the sightings that you have are always amazing, but once in a while you have a safari where the sightings are off the charts. One recent such safari took place in The Serengeti National Park… We departed Arusha late morning, delaying our arrival into ...
The wildebeest migration was in full swing, with animals moving every couple of days because the lack of rain was forcing them to look for grazing and water. This amount of herbivores together provide a glut of food for predators, who hunt both day and night. As it was the ...
We left camp at dawn for an early morning game drive in an area of woodland near the edge of the vast Serengeti Plain. Next we spotted a young striped hyaena moving away from us in the grass. He had been disturbed by a passing vehicle. He stopped about a ...
After several years of conducting most of my safaris in East Africa, it has been wonderful to guide some safaris near home (Zimbabwe) again, and in very familiar territory. I had not been to Gonarezhou National Park in southeastern Zimbabwe for several years, and was recently blown away by the ...
