Where to go: Trips with a Purpose
Where a purpose-led trip goes: the countries, parks, islands and coasts, and what each one is for.
Purpose-Led destinations
In Southern Africa the purpose is often in where the camp sits: Zambia's Luangwa valley and Botswana's community concessions, where camps lease land from the villages around them and employ from them, and the reserves beside the Kruger, where many lodges support the schools and clinics on their boundary.
In East Africa the model is clearest. Uganda's and Rwanda's gorilla permits are the main income of the parks that protect the mountain gorilla, and Kenya's conservancies around the Masai Mara and in Laikipia pay lease fees directly to the Maasai and Samburu families who own the land.
South Africa: Cape Town, Cape Winelands, Eastern Cape, Franschhoek and 6 more
Cities, vineyards, mountains, and some of the continent's best-known wildlife reserves, all easy to join into one trip.
South Africa can be a city, a wine valley, a malaria-free reserve, and a beach in one trip. The roads and the flights make that practical.
Kruger and the private reserves beside it are the wildlife. Cape Town is the start or the finish. You do not have to choose.
South Africa destination guide
Cape Town
A harbour city between Table Mountain and the Atlantic, useful as a start or finish to a longer safari.
Cape Winelands
Dutch-gabled towns and vineyard valleys about an hour from Cape Town.
Eastern Cape
A quieter province of coastline, farming towns, and malaria-free reserves such as Addo.
Franschhoek
A small winelands town in a valley, known for long lunches and cellar visits.
Johannesburg
South Africa's largest city, and the usual flight hub for Kruger and the northern reserves.
Kruger National Park
A vast lowveld park along the Mozambique border, with year-round wildlife viewing and an easy mix of public and private camps.
KwaZulu-Natal
The province from the Drakensberg to the Indian Ocean, with Durban as its main city.
Sabi Sands
A private reserve open to Kruger, widely visited for leopard viewing and small camps.
Thornybush Game Reserve
A private reserve on the western boundary of Kruger, with guided drives and no self-drive gates.
Whale Coast
The bay towns east of Cape Town where southern right whales gather in the second half of the year.
Botswana: Kalahari, Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, Linyanti
Water and desert in one country: the Okavango, Chobe, and the Kalahari, usually flown camp to camp.
Botswana is water and desert in one country: the Okavango's channels, Chobe's elephant herds, and the open Kalahari.
Most safaris here are fly-in. Camps stay small, and the north is set up for boats and mokoros as well as game drives. Cape Town, the Namib, and Victoria Falls are straightforward to add before or after.
Botswana destination guide
Kalahari
Red dunes and salt pans stretching across Botswana, Namibia, and northern South Africa.
Okavango Delta
An inland delta of channels and islands, explored by mokoro, boat, and game drive.
Chobe National Park
A northern park famous for elephants along the Chobe River and for the drier Savuti interior.
Linyanti
A private concession of marshes and woodland between Chobe and the Okavango.
Kenya: Masai Mara, Amboseli National Park, Nairobi, Samburu
Savannah reserves, highland lakes, and a palm coast, usually linked by short flights from Nairobi.
Kenya is the original safari map: the Masai Mara, Laikipia and Samburu to the north, and a coast when you want to stop driving.
The migration river crossings, when they happen, are in the Mara from roughly July into October. The rest of the year the reserve is still one of Africa's great big-cat parks.
Kenya destination guide
Masai Mara
Kenya's best-known reserve, continuous with the Serengeti, and the stage for the Mara River crossings.
Amboseli National Park
Open plains and swamps beneath Kilimanjaro, known for big elephant herds and a clear view of the mountain.
Nairobi
Kenya's capital and the usual first night, with a national park on the edge of the city.
Samburu
A dry northern reserve on the Ewaso Ng'iro, home to species rarely seen further south.
Tanzania: Dar es Salaam, Lake Tanganyika, Ngorongoro Crater, Nyerere and 2 more
The Serengeti, Ngorongoro, and a long Indian Ocean coast, with Zanzibar as the classic beach finish.
Tanzania holds the Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater, and a beach on Zanzibar. The northern circuit is the famous one. The south - Ruaha and Nyerere - is the quieter one.
The wildebeest migration is in Tanzania for most of the year. River crossings in the north are a mid-year event. Calving in the south is around February. Neither is guaranteed on a given morning.
Tanzania destination guide
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania's largest city and the flight link for the southern parks and Zanzibar.
Lake Tanganyika
A deep Rift lake bordered by Tanzania, Zambia, and the Congo, visited for chimpanzees and quiet shoreline camps.
Ngorongoro Crater
A collapsed volcano whose floor holds a full spread of wildlife in a single day's drive.
Nyerere
The current name of the great southern reserve long called the Selous, with boat safaris on the Rufiji.
Ruaha
A large, quieter southern park of baobabs, sand rivers, and strong predator viewing.
Serengeti
Tanzania's great plains park, continuous with the Masai Mara, and the path of the wildebeest migration.
Mozambique: Gorongosa National Park
A long Indian Ocean coast of islands and reefs, easy to pair with a Kruger or South Africa safari.
Mozambique is 2,500 kilometres of Indian Ocean coast, plus a handful of real wildlife parks inland.
The usual trip is a beach in the Bazaruto islands, sometimes after Kruger, which sits just across the South African border. Gorongosa is the park if you want elephants without leaving the country.
Mozambique destination guide
Gorongosa National Park
A restored floodplain park at the foot of Mount Gorongosa, inland from Beira.
Zambia: South Luangwa
Walking safaris in South Luangwa, river camps in the Lower Zambezi, and the Zambian side of Victoria Falls.
Zambia is where walking safaris became the point of the trip. South Luangwa, the Lower Zambezi, and Victoria Falls are the three reasons most people come.
Parks sit far apart, so the trip is usually a flight between them rather than a long drive.
Zambia destination guide
South Luangwa
A wildlife-rich valley park where walking safaris were pioneered, along the Luangwa River.
Zimbabwe: Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls, Hwange's elephants, and the canoe country of Mana Pools.
Zimbabwe is Victoria Falls, Hwange's elephants, and Mana Pools on the Zambezi. The falls town is also the easiest place in the region for a scenic flight or a day on the river.
Dry-season wildlife is excellent, and the country links cleanly to Chobe and to the Zambian side of the falls.
Zimbabwe destination guide
Victoria Falls
The waterfall on the Zambezi between Zimbabwe and Zambia, with the town of Victoria Falls on one bank and Livingstone on the other.
Namibia: Damaraland, Kaokoveld, Sossusvlei
Desert, coast, and Etosha's wildlife, with long distances that suit a fly-in or a careful self-drive.
Namibia is desert, coast, and one great wildlife park. Sossusvlei's dunes, Etosha's waterholes, and Damaraland's desert elephants can sit in a single self-drive.
It is one of the easier countries to travel without a private guide, and one of the most striking if you do.
Namibia destination guide
Damaraland
Rocky desert west of Etosha, tracked for desert-adapted elephants and ancient rock art.
Kaokoveld
Namibia's remote northwest, home to Himba communities and very few other travellers.
Sossusvlei
The tall red dunes and white clay pan at the heart of the Namib-Naukluft.
Malawi: Lake Malawi
A narrow country wrapped around a great lake, mixing small reserves with beach time on the water.
Malawi is a small country with a huge lake, a warm welcome, and wildlife parks that have been deliberately brought back to life.
People call it the warm heart of Africa for the pace and the welcome, not for a slogan. The lake is the reason most trips exist. The parks are the reason to leave the beach for a few nights. Neighbours such as Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique see more visitors. Malawi is the quieter version of the same region, and it combines cleanly with any of them.
Malawi destination guide
Lake Malawi
The lake that fills most of Malawi, with clear water, cichlid fish, and low-key beach lodges.
Uganda: Queen Elizabeth National Park
Gorilla trekking in Bwindi, plus savannah parks and the source of the Nile region.
Uganda is gorillas, chimpanzees, and a proper savannah, with the Nile at Murchison Falls. It is greener and more spread out than Rwanda.
A first trip is usually Bwindi for gorillas and one other park, not all three famous parks in a single week.
Uganda destination guide
Queen Elizabeth National Park
A savannah and channel park below the Rwenzori, known for boat trips and tree-climbing lions.
More places that suit a purpose-led trip
Ask for any of these on the quote and we will write them into the route.
Not sure which country?
Tell us the month, who is travelling and what you most want to see. We suggest two or three places that fit and send a quote for the one you choose. Nothing is paid until you accept it.