Top Wildlife Destinations in Africa
Top Wildlife Destinations in Africa: Wildlife photography is a common activity for many people, whether you’re staring out your living room window hoping to glimpse some local birds or traveling to an exotic new location for more unusual photo chances.
Initially, the hobby had a more educational approach to documenting unusual species, but photographers have since adopted a more humorous and artistic manner. The popularity of wildlife photography has made the pastime more accessible to the general people. In 2023, the Natural History Museum received over 50,000 images for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, up from 38,575 in 2022.
Top Wildlife Destinations in Africa.
Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
Serengeti National Park is Africa as you’ve always pictured it: a pristine expanse of swaying grassland, punctuated by flat-topped acacia and populated with large wandering herds.
The Serengeti is home to the Great Migration (usually from June to July and January to February), which is regarded as the world’s greatest animal display, with over two million wildebeest, zebra, and gazelles chasing the rains.
This UNESCO World Heritage Site provides the same type of fantastic predator sightings as the nearby Masai Mara National Park in Kenya (part of the same ecosystem), but lion and cheetah chases in the Serengeti are frequently seen without another vehicle in sight.
Some tourists may be discouraged by the vast stretches of grasslands that must be crossed between sightings, but the sense of being a dot in the vastness of Africa is part of the appeal. Safari newbies may wish to begin their Tanzania journey with a day or two at Ngorongoro Crater, where the Big Five (lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino, and leopard) are frequently sighted in a single morning’s game drive. After that, the pressure is off, and they may enjoy the excitement of the Serengeti as an added bonus.
Allow additional time to immerse yourself in the Serengeti by visiting the less-visited places around Namiri Plains or the Grumeti River. Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve is an often-overlooked alternative to the Serengeti, providing world-class lion and painted dog (or wild dog) sightings.
Kidepo Valley National Park in Uganda.
Kidepo Valley National Park in northeastern Uganda could be Africa’s most beautiful park. With the vast plains of the Kidepo and Narus Valleys dominated by the brooding mountains cape of Mount Morungole (the enigmatic Ik people’s holy peak), this park is worth visiting merely for the view.
Combine great wildlife sightings with low tourist numbers, and you have a winner. The ravenous Kidepo lions hunt on wandering herds of over 4,000 buffalo (the park’s overall population is estimated to be around 13,000), and elephant herds may sometimes be seen gliding gracefully through the valleys.
Many people are turned off by the park’s solitude, but the 12-hour drive from Uganda’s city, Kampala, (or a pretty pricey private charter aircraft), is a tiny price to pay for discovering one of Africa’s true hidden jewels.
When the drive to Kidepo is not attractive, Murchison Falls National Park is difficult to top for the sheer drama of the falls and the ease with which animals can be viewed from cruise boats.
Even for those who have seen all that Africa has to offer, Uganda is maybe the greatest place on the globe for ape watching. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park offers a life-changing experience for gorilla watching, while Kaniyo Pabidi allows you to track chimpanzees on foot.
Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.
The Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya and its surrounding conservancies serve as Kenya’s flagship conservation region and one of Africa’s premier safari destinations. Its vast plains are home to a diverse range of species, including elephants, buffalo, zebras, giraffes, hyenas, and the Mara’s famed big cats: lions, leopards, and cheetahs. And, every year between August and November, the Mara serves as a pleasant rest break for limitless herds of wildebeest who follow the rains on their death-defying 2,900-kilometer (1,800-mile) round trip.
The Masai Mara offers superb game watching all year because to its various landscapes, large open areas, moderate temperature, and diversified resident animal population. Its champagne-colored savannahs are home to safari heavyweights such as lion, leopard, elephant, and buffalo, as well as popular species like zebra, giraffe, hyena, eland, and gazelle. Rhino sightings are rare, but if you’re lucky, you can encounter these endangered creatures in the Mara Triangle.
Samburu National Park in Kenya.
Samburu National Reserve, sometimes overshadowed by the famed Masai Mara, provides a wilder aspect to the Kenyan safari experience.
The Samburu people (sometimes mistaken with their southern counterparts, the Maasai) have a similarly vivid cultural appeal in what was previously Kenya’s Northern Frontier District, but few settlements see many visitors, and the Samburu’s friendliness is famous.
Aside from the premier league wildlife sightings that attract the majority of visitors to southern Kenya, Samburu National Reserve is also home to an impressive “second division” known as the Samburu Special Five (which includes Beisa Oryx, reticulated giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, Somali ostrich, and the elegant gerenuk antelope).
The Masai Mara National Reserve, dubbed “the greatest wildlife real estate on Earth,” is a must-see destination for every wildlife enthusiast. Rather than focusing on staying at a camp in the heart of the (unfenced) park, consider staying on a private concession, which can provide experiences such as walking safaris and night drives featuring the same wildlife but with a level of exclusivity rarely found in the world-famous Mara.
The 150-kilometer-long Matthews Range is little-known, yet this jungle-clad “island in the sky” has been characterized as a “biological bonanza,” where you may wander among lions, buffalo, and the world’s densest concentration of melanistic black panthers.
In summary; However, not all African countries provide the finest wildlife chances. They may be different and full of life, but that does not always imply you can photograph them.
At Explore Rwanda Tours, we evaluated millions of photographs from thousands of people to determine which nation is best for wildlife viewing.
So grab your camera, plan a trip, and read on to find out which animal hotspots you should visit this year.
