Part 2 – Where To Go On Safari In Africa – Trip Planning Guide

Published By AfricanMecca Safaris | Blog Categories: Safari Planning.

Should I Go To Eastern, Southern Or/And Central Africa?

There are three distinct and beloved areas to visit on your safari vacation with AfricanMecca Safaris. Although much of the wildlife can appear similar, there are great differences in pristine vs developed wildernesses, wildlife or visitor concentrations, ambience, terrain, attitudes and opportunities. Major Southern African safari destinations include the Kruger and Sabi Sand, Etosha, Sossusvlei, Okavango Delta, Chobe, South Luangwa, Lower Zambezi, Victoria Falls, Hwange, Mana Pools, Matobo Hills etc. Botswana and Zimbabwe support huge herds of up to 80% of Southern Africa’s population of over 300,000 elephants and Kruger – Sabi Sand is the Mecca for the Big Five in South Africa.

Kenya and Tanzania are prime wildlife safari jewels in East Africa, encompassing Lakes Victoria, rolling savannahs, the great African Rift Valley, the Swahili coast and islands of the Indian Ocean. Here you will find Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti Plains, Selous, Tarangire, Maasai Mara, Amboseli and the great lakes of Manyara and Nakuru as the primary visited ecosystem.

The annual wildebeest migration sees millions of ungulates braving floods, fires and famine in pursuit of fresh grazing between Tanzania’s Serengeti in the south and Kenya’s Masai Mara in the north. Other complementary and sometimes the less trafficked destinations include Katavi, Selous, Ruaha, Mahale, Laikipia, Samburu’s Northern Frontier, Chyulu Hills – Tsavo and more.

Rwanda and Uganda are best known for gorilla and primate tracking safaris in Volcanoes and Bwindi  Parks as part of the greater East Africa as is the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is part of Central Africa

The different areas offer different styles and experience of the African safari adventure

Botswana has a low tourists ration with “glamping” or camping glamorously in luxury tented isolated venues in vast, unspoiled wilderness areas: the goal here is to provide fewer numbers of sophisticated guests paying more to have unfettered access to large private conservancies for uninterrupted and undisturbed wildlife viewing experience which yields a highly authentic experience away from the masses. It leaves the experience unscripted as the way nature would have intended it to be.

Zambia, the last remaining wildest Africa, tends to be favored  as a seasoned returning safari country for repeat visitors who prefer to enjoy the last remaining wilderness with solid numbers of wildlife and birdlife population in a pristine ecology with a highly outdoorsy rustic (luxury or otherwise) environment.

Not for the faint-hearted when an elephant rummages its trunk over the outdoor bathroom during the month of the October heat, sensing easy access to water in North Luangwa where the preferred mode of transport are your bipedal feet, or when a limited water fill late night bucket shower after a bush dinner in a candle lit of area of tent’s sandy floor may show a slither or movement but leads the seasoned Africa traveler to be undaunted by the happenings and deem it as being in the bush.

Overall the wildlife experience in Southern Africa is less dense than in East Africa as the pioneering wildlife destinations where there are often more tourists accommodated in more populated lodgings in smaller areas, such as the Ngorongoro highlands or Masai Mara, but for those prefer to get it done right, there are still more primitive, authentic wilderness areas accessible on private conservancies and parks in Laikipia, Ruaha, Selous and Katavi.

Safari vehicles use differ in for varying reasons like the maturity of African tourism destination, terrain, distances, the population of the country integrating new tourism ventures, road network and infrastructure, soil travel conditions and weather. AfricanMecca Safaris can discuss these separately and in detail however for the simplified version of it, where it is more equitable, open-roofed minibuses can be used in Kenya on road safaris, which are very slowly getting phased out by 4×4 de-facto when costs are justifiable.

The more intimate 4×4 open sided or roof 4×4 are available in most fly-in wilderness – remote camp or otherwise where the variable terrain is liable and is augmented by impermeable fusion of soil and water during certain seasons.

Cultural and historical variations abound

You may learn about the lifestyles of the San Bushmen in the Kalahari, the Maasai herdsmen in Tanzania and Kenya together with the Kikuyu, Samburu and Turkana people of central and northern Kenya or the South African Zulus and Xhosas. The Bemba of Zambia, Chewa of Malawi, Pygmies of the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda all add their rich spiritual, artistic, musical and cuisine styles to the cultural opportunities you may sample on your African wilderness holiday.

Historical tours may include the homes of prehistoric man in Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli in Tanzania or Lake Turkana in Kenya, or Sterkfontein Caves in South Africa or the Matobo Hills rock art sites in Zimbabwe. The old slave and trading routes may be followed from Bagamoyo to Zanzibar and political history researched through sites of settlement from hundreds to thousand-year-old ruins from Kilwa, Mombasa to Lamu. Whatever your interests, AfricanMecca Safaris will point you in the right direction to fulfill your safari dreams

Continue reading the complete blog articles below

Part 1 – Trip Purpose – How To Plan An African Safari Trip

Part 2 – Where To Go On Safari In Africa

Part 3 – How To Choose Your African Safari Quality & Service Standards

Part 4 – How Long To Go On Safari In Africa

Part 5 – Why Go On An African Safari & Pre – Post Trip Extensions

More Parts Coming Soon – Stay Tuned

Contact AfricanMecca today to plan and book your dream safari

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