Blog

The term ‘African Safaris’ is a broad sweeping one, encompassing a wide array of activities, all pertaining to travel in Africa, with a strong emphasis on observing wildlife through different means.

What follows is a collection of topical blogs that in some way or another celebrate successes, stress needs, or simply highlight little known but important facts around African conservation, safaris & travel ... Enjoy, or alternatively take a look at our safaris on offer!

Best Time to Visit Zanzibar

When is the best time to visit Zanzibar in terms of weather, wildlife and activities

Best Time to Visit Zimbabwe

When is the best time to visit Zimbabwe in terms of weather and wildlife viewing

Best Time to Visit Zambia

When is the best time to visit Zambia in terms of weather, and wildlife viewing

Best time to Visit Tanzania

When is the best time to visit Tanzania in terms of weather and wildlife viewing

Best Time to Visit South Africa

When is the best time to visit South Africa in terms of weather, wildlife and activities

Best Time to Visit Namibia

When is the best time to visit Namibia in terms of weather and wildlife viewing

Best Time to Visit Mozambique

When is the best time to visit Mozambique in terms of weather and activities.

Best Times to Visit Kenya

When is the best time to visit Kenya in terms of weather and wildlife viewing.

Best Time to Visit Eswatini

When is the best time to visit Eswatini in terms of weather and viewing wildlife

Best Time to Visit Botswana

When is the best time to visit Botswana in terms of weather and viewing wildlife

Historical Reviews

See the type safaris our clients have enjoyed over the last 27 years!

The Sidewinder Adder of Namibia

It starts in the early morning on a barren strip of western coastline. It is as forbidding and inhospitable looking as any landscape one can conjure..

Cape Cross, Namibia

The region is barren…the coastline bleak and forbidding. Shipwrecks are to be seen sporadically up and down this aptly named shoreline…

Rietvlei Nature Reserve, Gauteng

They say when the first pioneering Voortrekkers acquired the central South African plateau (locally known as the Highveld) in their creaking ox wagons it was a place teeming with grazing wildlife.

Bwabwata National Park, Caprivi, Namibia

Deep within the fastness of the Zambezi region of north eastern Namibia lies a conservation area now called Bwabwata, known for the magical Kwando River

The Shoebill, Lake Victoria

It starts in the early morning in the chaos of Kampala amidst the swarm of humanity, the woodsmoke, exhaust fumes and cacophony present in any bustling Third World centre.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

There is a place high on the slopes of a great escarpment in south western Uganda. It is a place renowned for its altitude and the impenetrable nature of its cloud forests. The mesmerizing diversity of bird and mammal life found within is quite simply astonishing.

Robben Island, Cape Town

During the anguish of Apartheid it became a kind of obscene Alcatraz for those that threatened the government of the day ... this is Robben Island ..

Cradle of Humankind, Johannesburg

There is a room in the bowels of the Ditsong Natural History museum in Pretoria. A secret room filled with treasure. It has a fairly innocuous name. In fact, to the casual passer by…it might be mistaken for a storage closet containing a janitor’s cleaning supplies.

Damaraland, Namibia

The Land Cruiser pitches and sways as it carves a sinuous trail down the Huab River. Dust boils from beneath the rear tyres and the scorching Namibian sun is relentless in its assault on the vehicle occupants. This is Damaraland.

Victoria Falls

David Livingstone first gazed upon the spectacle of Mosi oa Tunya…a Tonga expression meaning “The Smoke that Thunders” …

Sossusvlei, Namibia

It starts as deposition on the bleak and rugged Atlantic coastline where Cape Fur Seals and Bank Cormorants abound ...

Tropic of Capricorn

An interesting comparison exists at three notable crossings of the twenty third parallel within this phenomenal portion of Africa. They call it The Tropic of Capricorn…a line of latitude passing through Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia from Indian to Atlantic Ocean and defining the southern edge of Africa’s tropics.

Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

The Rift Valley escarpment in northern Tanzania needs no introduction. It contains a greater selection of ecological and geological icons than almost anywhere else in Africa.

Carnivorous Plant, South Africa

Nature, since the dawn of existence, has always been governed by the empirical laws of cause and effect, adaptive evolution and the survival of the fittest with a powerful focus on the continuation of the species

Madagascar Baobabs

It starts at a town called Miandrivazo in central Madagascar. A sub-tropical, palm encrusted, balmy bustle of a place with faded whitewashed squalor and creaking rickshaws jostling for space on dusty alleyways. The labyrinthine streets are lined with frenetic and chaotic crowded markets selling anything from charcoal to Jack Fruit.

Cape Town’s Drought - Positive Change

The people of the Western Cape have pulled together so well, that the dreaded Day Zero will in all likelihood not happen ...

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa

There is something soulful…an indescribable yearning that seems to encapsulate any engagement with the horizons of Kgalagadi…

Cape Town Drought Situation

Cape Town is in the grip of a severe drought, what does this mean for your trip to Cape Town

Sifaka Lemurs, Madagascar

There is a forest surrounded by other worldly limestone formations in a remote corner of western Madagascar. Many of the creatures found there are found nowhere else on earth.

Knersvlakte Nature Reserve, South Africa

The northern and western Cape interior is arid and desolate, but carries its own charm in its expansive flatlands.

Sundowner, South Africa

What is it about that early morning and late afternoon light on safari? Even Shakespeare was inclined to write “I speak of Africa and golden joys”.

Best Time to Visit Victoria Falls

A visit to 'Vic Falls' is an essential inclusion in your Southern Africa safari itinerary. During the flood season, spray from the falls created by the mighty Zambezi River pouring into the gorge rises up to 400 metres into the air

Symbiotic Relationships in the South African Bush

Darwinism has always proposed a kind of competitive striving for survival…an adaptive arms race as it were…in nature. Survival of the fittest…natural selection…are all fundamental to our understanding of the complexities of ecology

Thornybush Game Reserve Drop Fences

Thornybush Game Reserve in South Africa is dropping fences between itself and the Timbavati Nature Reserve adding to the growwing foot print of the Greater Kruger National Park

Decomposers of the African Bush

It always amazes the safari goer how fragile and transient life can be in wild Africa. How living, breathing beings are rendered lifeless lumps of protein that seem to disappear before their very eyes.

Migratory Falcon, South Africa

Amur Falcon

Madagascar’s Bio-Diversity

Madagascar

Rhino Poaching, South Africa

Rhino poaching in Southern Africa continues, and now elephant have joined the dying.

Best Time to Visit Kruger National Park

The best time to visit the Kruger National Park varies, depending on your objectives

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls is a natural wonder of the world that encompasses beauty, adventure, history, wildlife and more

Ichobezi Houseboat and Ichingo River Lodge - Two Gems of the Chobe

The Chobe River is a wildlife drawing life line that runs between Namibia's Caprivi Strip and Botswana's Chobe National Park.

A victory for African conservation

On 22 June 2014 the Okavango Delta was declared a World Heritage Site .. this is really positive news for African Conservation as a whole

Safari on Horseback

Since Africa was first discovered, the allure of wildlife and exploring beautiful terrain has been irresistible to those wanting to taste the world of Africa Travel

Baobab Trees

If there was ever to be a single iconic tree on the African continent, the baobab tree would be a leading contender ..

Botswana, with a difference

Botswana's Mashatu Game Reserve is less know than other safari areas to the north, but it is truly a hidden jewel

Amazing Safari Moments Caught on Camera

This amateur footage was shot in Kenya and captures a leopard as it stealthily hones in on a group of impala and gazelle

Safari

The word 'safari' is synonomous with images of an African sunset or the rolling grasslands of the Serengeti, but what does it really mean?

Tracking and Game Drives

Have you ever wondered who that is perched on the end of a game drive vehicle? Why is he there? What’s he doing?

Chobe Elephant Hunters

How big an animal can a lion hunt? Impala? no problem .. Kudu? yes .. Buffalo? sure .. Elephant? would you believe it

Elephants - the Path Ahead

There are vast areas set aside for national parks and game reserves in which elephants thrive, but is it really enough ?

Rhino Conservation

The poaching of rhino in Southern Africa is completely out of hand. Learn something about this deeply disturbing plague.

Wild Areas - What Do They Mean?

The protecion of wilderness areas world wide, should be of greater importance than the worlds most expensive commodoties

Sand Forest Suprises

The beaches and coastal Sand-forests of northern Kwa-Zulu Natal are not just beautiful, but in fact a birders paradise

The Secret Lives of Hippos

We have all seen the classic safari shot of a yawning hippo, but there is much more to these iconic African animals

Can Mosquitoes Transmit HIV

An element of curiosity when preparing for an African safari, is about mosquitoes, and wether they are able to transmit HIV

Historical Umfolozi

Often overshadowed by the likes of Kruger National Park, the Umfolozi Reserve is a ‘must see’ safari destination for visitors

Deception Valley

The lesser know Deception Valley in Botswana is home to possibly the world’s most ‘nature connected’ people

To Adventure, or Not to Adventure

It is good to get out of your comfort zone from time to time, what better place than on an African safari

The Mysterious Boteti River in Botswana

The annual floods of Botswana’s Okavango Delta, have far reaching effects on some of Botswana’s distant landscape

The Okavango Delta - a wild wetland

Lying in north west Botswana, the Okavango Delta is possibly as close to true wilderness as you can get

Spotted Hyena - Fact or Fiction

Often mis-understood as blood thirsty and deranged animals, spotted hyenas are in fact nothing of the sort

Lower Zambezi

The Lower Zambezi is one of Southern Africa's prime wilderness areas. A fertile valley rich in wildlife great & small, guarded by an escarpment on each side.

Woodpeckers

The furious knocking sound heard so often in the African bush, comes from a complex little bird. Specialized anatomy allows for this head banging lifestyle

Read Why Our Clients Love Us

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Debbie Isaacs
Debbie Isaacs
21 January 2025
We used African Travel again for the second time over Xmas and New Year. Once again, every little bit of our trip ran smoothly and without a hitch. Their communication was great throughout and we will, no doubt, be returning to them in the future too. Thanks Petru.
Daniel Stewart
Daniel Stewart
08 January 2025
We had the most amazing time on our self drive tour of Namibia organised through African Travel Gateway. Everything from the planning and booking process, to the arrival and welcome in Windhoek, to the app with the itinerary and directions made for a really relaxed and well organised holiday. But the most important part was getting to experience Namibia - what a spectacular country! The only negative was that we should have booked for longer!
Hilda Stanfliet
Hilda Stanfliet
27 December 2024
Amazing hotel booked by Lize of African Travel Gateway, the most attentive service leading up to holiday
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