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.
The great difference in my mind between a hunting safari and a photo safari is that a hunter takes a shot, and the animal is gone forever. A photographer, on the other hand, takes a shot, and the animal is there tomorrow for someone else to discover in all its glory.
One of the great safari experiences is to watch the Great Migration as it crosses the Mara River.
In the old days, hunters came to Africa in search of the "Big Five". The Big Five are Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo.
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.
Over the years, travelers traded in their guns for cameras, and most African safaris today are photo safaris. This was made immeasurably easier when mobile refrigeration became commonplace in the 60s and 70s. And as the wild animal population has been threatened across Africa, more and more people prefer to shoot with their cameras, rather than guns.
That is why I encourage you to go on safari today. If it’s your first safari, I recommend you go to the Masai Mara in Kenya and the Serengeti in Tanzania. If you’ve done that classic safari, then you should consider a gorilla safari to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, or what I consider to be the best safari in the world, a safari to Botswana’s Okavango Delta, in the Moremi Reserve and Chilwero National Park.
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”.
When most people hear the word safari, it conjures up romantic images of canvas tents on the rolling plains of Africa, herds of wildebeest and zebra migrating across the Serengeti, lion, leopard and cheetah stalking in the high grass, hard on their heels.
Whereas the classic Serengeti safari is a magnificent experience, my favorite African safari is to the Okavango Delta of Botswana.
Hunting safaris were practically a necessity in the early days of African adventure travel. Back before mobile refrigeration, travelers across the African heartland had to shoot meat as they went in order to eat.
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.
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.