Khustse National Park

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2,500sq. km. in Central Kalahari is the closest reserve (only 240 km) to Gaborone. It combines most types of typical Kalahari habitat with grassed and bare pans (over 60 of them), dry river beds, fossil dunes, and rolling grasslands. The reserve is typical of vast areas of the Kalahari and offers an unsurpassed wilderness experience: low vegetation, wide bare pans and vast spaces combining to create an atmosphere of silence and peace. Local San guide visitors around the reserve, teaching them about edible and moisture-bearing plants and about the animals in the area which survive on little water. Visitors should not expect to see large herds of game, though large herds of antelope sometimes occur towards the end of winter and in spring (late July to September). Nevertheless, there is a wide variety of species. Birdlife is extremely interesting with over 150 species having been recorded. Access is by road but 4-WDs are essential. Camping and entry tickets may be bought at a Department of Wildlife and National Parks camp at Galalabodimo Pan at the entrance to the reserve. Guides prepared to accompany visitors and camp with them may also be hired here. It is normal to feed guides and pay them about P4 a day. They take their own bedding. Further information may be obtained from the Department’s headquarters, in Gaborone.

Gemsbok National Park

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26,000 sq. km. in Southwestern Botswana is typical of the drier areas of the Kalahari including deep fossil river beds and high sand dunes. It borders the south African Kalahari Gemsbok National Park with only the dry bed of the Nosop river dividing the two parks. The main attractions are the game (spring, gemsbok, red hartebeest, blue wildebeest, eland, lions, cheetah and brown hyena) and the 170 species of birds which include the social weaver bird known for building huge structures, sometimes as large as small rooms. The best time to visit is March to early May when plants are green and game abundant. Access is by tarred road, Gaborone to Tshabong, after which 4-WDs become necessary. There is no entry to the park from Botswana whose park has no roads or water. Entry is through Twee Rivieren in the Cape Province or Matamata from Namibia. All roads are suitable for saloon cars and the South Africa Parks Board provides three fully serviced camping sites on the South African side. During school holidays and long weekends it is necessary to make advance reservations through the Chief Director, PO. Box 787 Pretoria 1000, South Africa.

Chobe National Park

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11,000 sq. km. in northeastern Botswana. Habitats range from swamp and flood plain to dead lake bed, sandridges and forest. This is Botswana’s second tourist attraction. It has varied game populations. There is no development and remains a natural wilderness. Access is by gravel and sand roads, and by air. The two main entrances to the park are at Kasane (an hour’s drive from Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls) and at Mababe (an hour’s drive from Maun). The riverine areas to the west of Kasane are accessible by saloon car. Main attractions are large herds of elephant and buffalo, hippo, lion, leopard, rhino, giraffe, eland, zebra, tsessebe, waterbuck, puku, lechwe, crocodile, sable antelope, wild dog, warthog, baboons, impala, hyena, roan, kudu, and many others. Entry and camping tickets can be purchased in both Kasane ad Maun. Accommodation is provided in lodges and park camping sites at Serondela, Savuti (the Savuti area is closed from January to March), and Noatsau. Camping sites are administered by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.

PO Box 17, Tel. 17, Kasane and PO Box 11, Tel. 230, Maun.

Central Kalahari game Reserve

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52,800 km2. Immediately to the north of and adjoining Khutse Game Reserve. This is the second largest game reserve in the world. There are no roads and water in this reserve and it is closed to the public. Access is allowed only by permit. Further information may be obtained from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in Gaborone.

Kanyu Flats

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Located between Nzai Pan National Park and Makgadikgadi Pan Game Reserve is a complex of small salt pans, called Kanyu Flats, that is interesting to visit. In 1862 the artist-explorer Thomas Baines painted a group of massive baobab trees, which today remain as he painted them over 130 years ago.

Tsodilo Hills

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Located in northwestern Botswana. Attractions include more than 2,000 ancient San paintings, impressive peaks and hiking. Access is by road. No facilities for accommodation but ideal camping sites available.

The Kalahari

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The Kalahari, or Kgalagadi, covers almost two-thirds of Botswana. It is a sandy desert with very little vegetation. Beneath the dunes are a complex and fascinating system of pans, depressions and river beds. Wildlife was once abundant, and remains so in certain areas. These include hartebeest, wildebeest, springbok, gemsbok, eland, giraffe and ostrich. The various game reserves in the Kalahari offer a variety of attractions which range from geological to the said wild animals including big game. Travelling through the Kgalagadi offers one the ultimate wilderness experience, almost out of this world. Overnight campers have an unforgettable experience under the starry night sky. Access is by road and accommodation at camping sites.

Okavango Swamps

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The Okavango swamps are Botswana’s main tourist attraction. In a strange reversal of the usual order of things, the development of the Rift Valley across the course of the Okavango River, seventh largest river in Africa, gave rise to the Okavango Delta, which is one of the most fascinating places in Africa. The 15,000 km2 inland delta (the largest in the world) is a result of the Okavango river and others flowing inland and forming a sea in the Kalahari Desert. Each year, heavy rainfall in Angola, the source of the Okavango River, results in the river breaking its banks and creating what is known as the Okavango Swamps as it flows into Botswana. The swamp waters are crystal clear, clean and free of bilharzia. This Eden is home to a vast array of animal, bird and plant life. Mid-May to mid-September, when the water levels are neither too high nor too low, is the best time to visit. To get the most out of the Okavango 

For the Delta experience, it is advisable to use the services of professional and experienced tour operators able to convey you through the complicated waterways, to lead you to the best game viewing, birdwatching or fishing spots. Contrary to some tourist literature, the whole delta does not teem with game – its attraction lies more in bird watching, fishing, the solitude (the silence and tranquility) and the unforgettable sunsets.

Anybody visiting this natural wonder of beautiful channels, lots of pristine landscapes, and islands inhabited by lots of wildlife, is a must. Access is by road and air. No big hotels can be found in this area which instead is characterised by a few excellent lodges and small camps. The policy is in line with keeping the habitat as natural as possible.

Serengeti National Park

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A million wildebeest… each one driven by the same ancient rhythm, fulfilling its instinctive role in the inescapable cycle of life: a frenzied three-week bout of territorial conquests and mating; survival of the fittest as 40km (25 mile) long columns plunge through crocodile-infested waters on the annual exodus north; replenishing the species in a brief population explosion that produces more than 8,000 calves daily before the 1,000 km (600 mile) pilgrimage begins again.

Tanzania’s oldest and most popular national park, also a world heritage site and recently proclaimed a 7th world wide wonder, the Serengeti is famed for its annual migration, when some six million hooves pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek for fresh grazing. Yet even when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers arguably the most scintillating game-viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s gazelle.

The spectacle of predator versus prey dominates Tanzania’s greatest park. Golden-maned lion prides feast on the abundance of plain grazers. Solitary leopards haunt the acacia trees lining the Seronera River, while a high density of cheetahs prowls the southeastern plains. Almost uniquely, all three African jackal species occur here, alongside the spotted hyena and a host of more elusive small predators, ranging from the insectivorous aardwolf to the beautiful serval cat.

But there is more to Serengeti than large mammals. Gaudy agama lizards and rock hyraxes scuffle around the surfaces of the park’s isolated granite koppies. A full 100 varieties of dung beetle have been recorded, as have 500-plus bird species, ranging from the outsized ostrich and bizarre secretary bird of the open grassland, to the black eagles that soar effortlessly above the Lobo Hills. As enduring as the game-viewing is the liberating sense of space that characterises the Serengeti Plains, stretching across sunburnt savannah to a shimmering golden horizon at the end of the earth. Yet, after the rains, this golden expanse of grass is transformed into an endless green carpet flecked with wildflowers. And there are also wooded hills and towering termite mounds, rivers lined with fig trees and acacia woodland stained orange by dust.

Popular the Serengeti might be, but it remains so vast that you may be the only human audience when a pride of lions masterminds a siege, focussed unswervingly on its next meal.

About Serengeti Size: 14,763 sq km (5,700 sq miles). Location: 335km (208 miles) from Arusha, stretching north to Kenya and bordering Lake Victoria to the west.

Getting there Scheduled and charter flights from Arusha, Lake Manyara and Mwanza. Drive from Arusha, Lake Manyara, Tarangire or Ngorongoro Crater. What to do Hot air balloon safaris, walking safari, picnicking, game drives, bush lunch/dinner can be arranged with hotels/tour operators.  Maasai rock paintings and musical rocks.

Visit neighbouring Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge, Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano and Lake Natron’s flamingos.

When to go to follow the wildebeest migration: December-July. To see predators, June-October.

Accommodation: 

Four lodges, six luxury tented camps and camp sites scattered through the park; one new lodge will be opened next season (Bilila Lodge); one luxury camp, a lodge and two tented camps just outside.

Lake Manyara National Park

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Stretching for 50km along the base of the rusty-gold 600-metre high Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Manyara is a scenic gem, with a setting extolled by Ernest Hemingway as “the loveliest I had seen in Africa”.

The compact game-viewing circuit through Manyara offers a virtual microcosm of the Tanzanian safari experience.

From the entrance gate, the road winds through an expanse of lush jungle-like groundwater forest where hundred-strong baboon troops lounge nonchalantly along the roadside, blue monkeys scamper nimbly between the ancient mahogany trees, dainty bushbuck tread warily through the shadows, and outsized forest hornbills honk cacophonously in the high canopy.

Contrasting with the intimacy of the forest is the grassy floodplain and its expansive views eastward, across the alkaline lake, to the jagged blue volcanic peaks that rise from the endless Maasai Steppes. Large buffalo, wildebeest and zebra herds congregate on these grassy plains, as do giraffes – some so dark in coloration that they appear to be black from a distance.

Inland of the floodplain, a narrow belt of acacia woodland is the favored haunt of Manyara’s legendary tree-climbing lions and impressively tusked elephants. Squadrons of banded mongoose dart between the acacias, while the diminutive Kirk’s dik-dik forages in their shade. Pairs of klipspringer are often seen silhouetted on the rocks above a field of searing hot springs that steams and bubbles adjacent to the lakeshore in the far south of the park.

Manyara provides the perfect introduction to Tanzania’s birdlife. More than 400 species have been recorded, and even a first-time visitor to Africa might reasonably expect to observe 100 of these in one day. Highlights include thousands of pink-hued flamingos on their perpetual migration, as well as other large water-birds such as pelicans, cormorants and storks.

About Lake Manyara National Park Size: 330 sq km (127 sq miles), of which up to 200 sq km (77 sq miles) is lake when water levels are high. Location: In northern Tanzania. The entrance gate lies 1.5 hours (126km/80 miles) west of Arusha along a newly surfaced road, close to the ethnically diverse market town of Mto wa Mbu.

Getting there is by road, charter or scheduled flight from Arusha, enroute to Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.

What to do Game drives, night game drives, canoeing when the water levels is sufficiently high. Cultural tours, picnicking, bush lunch/dinner, mountain bike tours, abseiling and forest walks on the escarpment outside the park.

When to go Dry season (July-October) for large mammals; Wet season (November-June) for bird watching, the waterfalls and canoeing.

Accommodation One luxury treehouse-style camp, public bandas and campsites inside the park. One luxury tented camp and three lodges perched on the Rift Wall outside the park overlooking the lake. Several guesthouses and campsites in nearby Mto wa Mbu.