The classic African safari is a photo safari to the Serengeti Plains. The Serengeti are the vast rolling grasslands of Northern Tanzania. Here, in the lee of Mt. Kilimanjaro, travelers come to see the "Great Migration," a vast migration of 3 million wildebeest and zebra in search of fresh grass across these vast plains.
Today, the word safari is used to refer to any kind of journey, in Africa or elsewhere. We speak of hunting safaris, or photo safaris, river safaris, mountain safaris, gorilla safaris and so on. In many ways, it now is synonymous with an exotic vacation in a remote, wild place.
Twice a year, around January and August, the migration crosses into the Masai Mara, which is the northern extension of the Serengeti Plains in Kenya. Here they cross the Mara River en masse, in one or two well-defined crossings.
Of course there is so much more to see on safari than just the Big Five. There's my favorite, the cheetah. And so many others. Like the elusive and nocturnal striped hyena, or the rare wild cat that I saw in the rocky "kopjes" at Kusini in the western Serengeti, or chimpanzee in the Kanyawara Reserve in the Kibale Forest near Fort Portal in Uganda. And let’s not forget the Mountain Gorilla found in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda along the borders of Rwanda and Congo.
In the old days, hunters came to Africa in search of the "Big Five". The Big Five are Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo.
Here, in the world's largest inland delta, the waters of the Okavango River disappear into the sands of the Kalahari Desert. This remote area is increasingly accessible to high-end travelers and, in my experience, you can see lion, leopard and cheetah each and every day, as well as a steady supply of hyena, elephant, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, and baboon. And, if you’re lucky, you may just get a rare glimpse of Africa’s most endangered large carnivore, wild dogs, also known as the “painted dogs of the Kalahari”.
Millions of animals mull at the banks of the Mara River until they just have to cross the crocodile-infested water, with its swift-flowing brown river and its high, muddy, slippery banks. Many of the early crossers do not make it, taken by the crocs. But once the crocs are full, the rest have only the swirling waters to contend with.
Whereas the classic Serengeti safari is a magnificent experience, my favorite African safari is to the Okavango Delta of Botswana.
In September 2002, President El Hadj Omar Bongo announced that Gabon would set aside more than 10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers) of land to form a national park system protecting 13 separate parks. These parks represent some of the last pockets of true wilderness in Africa ... I should know, I traipsed through them for 2 years from 1981 to 1983. The parks will protect pristine rain forests, mangroves, savannas, ancient forests, lagoons, marshes, rivers, and canyons.
Where is the new safari frontier? For my money, it's in Zambia, the Selous of southern Tanzania, and perhaps most tantalizingly, in Gabon in West Africa.
One of the great safari experiences is to watch the Great Migration as it crosses the Mara River.
I've had the great fortune to travel on exotic vacations to far-flung destinations across the globe, including safaris to Africa, expeditions to the Antarctic, voyages to the Galapagos, cruises down the Nile, luxury trains across North America and so much more.