Forget fighting the crowds in Serengeti this year. Take a southern African safari instead. This amazing destination has a few noteworthy migrations of its own to tick off your list and a couple of surprises in store too.
Zambia and Zimbabwe
Zambia and Zimbabwe’s most scenic destination, Victoria Falls, lights up the night with moonbows over the rushing water on the brightest evenings. Check into one of our luxury Zambezi River destinations to see this phenomenon on guided moonlit walks during March and April.
Can’t make those dates? Try August to September for another colourful spectacle when thousands of Southern carmine bee eaters flock to the shores of the Zambezi, filling the sky with flashes of pink and blue brilliance.
For an entirely different flight of fantasy, you can witness the millions of bats that descend on Kasanka National Park in Zambia every November and December. It’s the largest gathering of mammals on the planet!
South Africa
Catch the sardine run in Kwa-Zulu Natal during July. During this time, thousands of these little fish swarm down the eastern coast of southern Africa, trailing a host of game fish in their wake. Dive among this aquatic wonder at luxury hideaways along the wild Eastern Cape coast or take a more laid-back break in upmarket Umhlanga, where you can watch the fishermen scooping up these tiny fish in their hundreds straight from the beach.
July to November is whale season all along the coast of southern Africa. Dive among these gracious beasts in Sodwana Bay on the north eastern coast or head for Hermanus. This tiny coastal down in the Western Cape offers the best land-based whale watching in the world, and also celebrates their esteemed visitors with the much loved Whale Festival during October every year.
Botswana
Think pink at the Makgadikgadi Salt Pan in Botswana, where hundreds of greater and lesser flamingos gather for their breeding rituals every July. Watch these graceful birds (from a distance) or see if you can spot some of the Big Five inhabitants of this area during your stay.
At the beginning of every year, you can also catch up with the zebra on this leg of the longest migration on earth as they arrive at the Pans.
Africa is full of surprises and incredible things to see – from the towering dunes of the oldest desert on earth in Namibia to some of the world’s most thriving coral reefs in the east. You will never experience it all in one visit, but you are welcome to try again and again.
Now that you know all that there is to see and experience, get in touch to set your Southern African safari in motion.
