Featured Botswana Safari
The Makadikadi (Makgadikgadi) complex of salt pans lies adjacent to the rather inconsequential junction town of Nata in central Botswana, and is a region frequently missed en-route either to the Okavango Delta or to the four corners of northern Botswana. These are flat lands with very little visible, above-ground feature, but hidden behind that anonymity lies one of the great natural spectacles of southern Africa.
The Pans
The Makadikadi region is in fact another of those uniquely unusual habitats that makes Botswana such an unforgettable safari destination. It …
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A few weeks ago Zimbabwean child Courtney Sparrow was savagely mauled by a lion kept on a semi-domestic level by a neighbor in an effort to ward of Zimbabwean land invaders eager to seize the family farm.
The child survived, but this is a cautionary tale for many who assume that a tame lion is tame. It also renewed discussion on the nature of wild animals, and the folly of believing that living in close commerce with man makes these creatures safe. Many have been the cases, from Siegfried & Roy to Courtney Sparrow, where people have taken too lightly the threat posed by wild animals brought into captivity. Even more so the many instances where tourists forget that they are visitors to a savage environment.
This fact was strikingly examined in the 1975 Italian Mondo film Ultime Grida Dalla Savana, or Savage man Savage Beast as it was titled in English. The film courted great controversy for sensational scenes of animal and human violence, as well as to expose elements of beauty in the raw savagery of nature. No part of the film achieved this better than the by classic lion attack scene where, in a Namibian game park, a tourist named Pit Dernitz inexplicably gets out of his car and walks towards a feeding pride of lions to achieve a close up sequence…
Treat these vids with caution, they are very explicit…
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Continuing with the theme of elephants and man, the Mfuwe Lodge in Eastern Zambia has one of the most unusual relationship between us and them so far recorded on film.
Check out more picture of the Mfuwe Lodge Elephants below.
Perhaps the principal attraction of travel in southern Africa is the game parks and wildlife conservancies that form the basis of every great safari. Each of the main regions has one at least, some more, with names like Kruger National Park, Mana Pools, the Okavango Delta and Etosha Pan all firing the popular imagination with images of wild Africa.
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Botswana has quickly risen to become the hotest new safari spot in Africa. Prices are still affordable, the crowds are minimal compared to safari “hot spots” like the Serengetti or Kruger National, and the Okavango Delta is full of wildlife.
Read More About Botswana’s Game Reserves
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Swirls of opaque mist hide from the advancing dawn at Mikumi National Park. The first shaft of sun colours the fluffy grass heads rippling across the plain in a russet halo. Confident is the camouflage of their stripes at this predatory hour, zebras pose for our pleasure, like ballerinas on stage, heads aligned, stripes merging, flowing motion.
Forming the northern border of Africa’s biggest game reserve – the vast Selous – Mikumi is one of the most popular of Tanzania’s national parks the most accessible part of a 75,000 square kilometre (about 47,000 square miles) wilderness that stretches almost …
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Situated in the far northwest of Botswana, the Okavango delta is arguably one of the most unique wildlife destinations in Africa.
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here are currently an estimated 720 Mountain Gorillas surviving in the wild. These are divided up mainly between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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This sequence of photographs was sent to me by a friend in South Africa. Elephants are a familiar sight around some of the regions more remote bush camps and park rest camps. Like black bears they are attracted by the availability of food, in particular fruit and vegetables, but unlike black bears slinging your tucker in a tree is a waste of time…
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There is day after day of cloudless skies in Tarangire National Park. The fierce sun sucks the moisture from the landscape, baking the earth a dusty red, the withered grass as brittle as straw. The Tarangire river has shrivelled to and shadow of its wet season self. But it is chocked with wildlife. Thirsty nomads have wandered hundreds of parched kilometres knowing that here there, is always water. Herds of up to 300 elephants scratch the parched riverbed for underground streams while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo gazelle, hart bees, eland and Oryx crowd the shrinking …
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Arusha National Park is a secret jewel of Tanzania. It is not only the closest national park to Arusha town, but also one of the most undiscovered. This is a treasure, a rich tapestry of habitats, teeming with animal and birds. The park has three distinct zones that contribute to its variety and beauty: the lush swamps of Ngurdoto Crater; the tranquil beauty of the Momella lakes, each a different hue; and the chill rocky alpine heights of Mount Meru rising to 4,566 metres (14,990 feet). Zebra graze on red grasslands, wide-eyed dik dik dart into …
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