Nature’s Best Photography Africa

Karibu

In early 1998, in our fourth issue, we published a

Storytellers

Our experts share tales from their travels

Indaba

A place to share your experiences

Plastic revolution sets sail

30,000 discarded flipflops used to build vessel

Urban adventures

From market forces to fantasy coffins, Martha Mukaiwa reflects on her week in Accra

Shelf service

More of Africa for you to enjoy at home

Tukongote

Most lodges or camps across Africa support education, health or conservation. As such, your visit has impact far beyond what you might realise. To demonstrate, we look at the Tukongote Community Projects in Livingstone, supported by Waterberry Zambezi Lodge, where volunteer Catalina Prior spent a month working.

Things I've learned about visiting Uganda

What you really need to know about visiting this compact East African country, from the person who knows it probably better than anyone else: guidebook writer Philip Briggs

Body & Soul

With an increasing number of us more conscious of our mental and physical health, we’ve put together 17 pages of suggestions for ways in which you can make your next safari more invigorating and rewarding, without breaking too much of a sweat.

Trails of life

Across the continent there are myriad opportunities to get into nature on foot, amid some truly impressive scenery. Build this into your itinerary and you’ll get to see a part of the country you wouldn’t otherwise, in a much more rewarding and intimate way.

Finding your feet

Walking is arguably the best exercise there is: great for general strength and fitness but gentle on the joints and doable by almost everyone. More than that, walking gets you out exploring the world at a pace slow enough to take it all in. You’re not allowed to walk everywhere in Africa, but where you can, you should: there’s no better way to absorb the wildness of the continent. Once you start looking, you’ll find lots of good options in most countries, but here are a few spots to start…

Peak performance

If you are looking for something more challenging, why not push yourself to tackle one of Africa’s top peaks? Treks are possible on all of them, with only a couple needing technical climbing experience to reach the summit. Travelling with a specialist operator will ensure you’ll go slow and steady, enabling you to properly take in the dramatic scenery and montane wildlife that you’ve come to enjoy.

Running free

Running, like walking, is a wonderfully low-fi, lowcost and natural way to stay fit. But, as with walking, running deep in the African wilds isn’t always advised. But it can be done…

Water wellbeing

Swimming is an excellent non-impact, whole body, egalitarian exercise, doable by people of all ages. In Africa you just need to pick the right spot.

Cycling

Cycling, and cycle tourism, is booming – including across Africa. Several lodges on private concessions now offer mountain bike excursions, while devoted riders can plan longer expeditions.

Yoga

The purported benefits of yoga are endless, ranging from better breathing and sleep to improved circulation, anxiety reduction and pain relief. Yoga can help reduce stress and increase focus as well as build fitness, stamina, strength and flexibility. And its mindful ethos seems to sit perfectly with safaris.

Spas

Spa treatments can be a bit Marmite. And they’re not

Naturally mindful

It’s the latest buzzword, but what does ‘mindfulness’ actually mean in the context of a safari holiday? How can you adapt your approach to release the mental benefits of connecting with nature more quickly?

Empty spaces, clear heads

A safari, by its very nature, can be anything but calming.

Day of the jackal

Never again ignore this busy opportunist of the bush, for its presence usually reveals something intriguing going on.

Where next?

From national parks to natural wonders, adventure hotspots

Forever free

Once one of Kenya’s most visited parks, Meru is now seldom included on safari itineraries. Yet it has been revived, and is once again that rare and revered thing that most wildlife-lovers yearn for: a vast, untamed wilderness in which to lose yourself. The sort of reserve we think you should be seeking out.

The Galapagos of Africa

Príncipe is a tiny island in the Gulf of Guinea, punctuated by towering basalt peaks, dense with rain forests and fringed by perfect white beaches. Once home to pirates, slaves and cocoa barons, today it’s being transformed into a model of African conservation. This is how we wish tourism operated everywhere.

Looking to Limpopo

South Africa has a ridiculous wealth of attractions, such as Cape Town, its famous national parks and glorious beaches. Step off the tourist trail, though, and you’ll find a depth of experience that reveals the soul of the country in surprising ways. One such region is the northern Limpopo province.

Plain sailing

Long-neglected, Liuwa Plain, on the western boundary of Zambia, is one of Africa’s most underhyped yet rewarding national parks, in part because it is so little visited. It offers an exciting wildlife experience for visitors to the Victoria Falls who are feeling intrepid.

In reflective mood

It seems unbelievable that Lake Kariba has remained under the tourist radar for so long; perhaps dominated by other better-known attractions that make up Zimbabwe’s embarrassment of riches. But, easily reached from Victoria Falls, Kariba offers a safari experience unlike any in Africa and makes a contrasting complement to conventional wildlife destinations like Mana Pools or Hwange. Here’s why.

Cruise control

What is it like to cruise on a houseboat at Kariba, and what makes it such a unique and novel safari experience?

Sea lions

Remarkable relearned behaviour shows the resilience of Namibia’s quite remarkable desert-adapted big cats

Teenage kicks

If you have children or grandchildren who are soon to fly the nest and head to university, go travelling or venture into the workplace, you might want to have one last big expedition with them beforehand. And Africa is a pretty perfect playground for such an adventure. Here’s what such a road trip might look like.

Good karma

In the heart of Lake Malawi lies a quiet island with a big history, where the trickle of tourism flows effortlessly through the fabric of society. But there’s more reasons to visit than you might think

Africa’s changing cultural landscape

Many travellers to Africa talk about a feeling of ‘returning

African twilight

Wildlife lover Brian Jackman’s fixation with Africa

African twilight images

We’re delighted that Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher have shared with us a selection of images from African Twilight. Each has been chosen because it illustrates a particular facet of these deep-rooted cultures.

The Maasai perspective

Jackson Looseyia has been involved in community conservation and tourism for 25 years. He set up the Koiyaki Guiding School, presented Big Cat Diary Live on the BBC, and now co-owns and runs Tangulia Mara Camp. As a proud Maasai with daily exposure to the modern world, we asked his thoughts on the importance of culture and the challenges being faced in his community.

The tourist’s perspective

As a traveller with an interest in learning more about African culture, how should you approach visits to villages or ceremonies? By Emma Gregg

The Urban perspective

We meet seven creative millennials living in Nairobi, to see what culture meets to them

Personally speaking…

A rare encounter on a recent visit to a remote area of Madagascar prompted Hilary Bradt to consider her own changing attitudes to cultural tourism, reflect on the past and to question the impact we all have on other communities when we travel.

CONSERVATION

TUSK CONSERVATION AWARDS • RANGERS •TECHNOLOGY • WILD LIFE BEHAVIOUR

WOMEN RANGERS: ON THE CASE FOR WILDLIFE

Africa’s female wildlife scouts are taking charge of community conservation, says Harleen Sehmi

HI-TECH CONSERVATION

The fight to protect Africa’s wildlife has been boosted dramatically by harnessing technology, reports Emma Gregg.

DANCING WITH THE SCARS?

The natural world stages a mean dance show, but is it always strictly to impress? In a world of territorial rivalry, Mike Unwin explains how to separate the rhumba from the rumble

Safari

Ideas and advice to help you plan your trip

The dream night out?

Skybeds are the latest must-do experience. But what is it really like to overnight under the stars? Sue Watt explains

Lodge review

Verney's Camp, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe Visited: September 2018

Things to think about when rebuilding a lodge

When Wilderness Safaris reopened their Serra Cafema

Safari update

Fancy getting a bird’s-eye view over the Namib desert?

What’s the focus for 2019?

Chris Mears ponders the priorities for the African travel trade this year

Safari post

News and views

Paws of death

Photographer of the Year Winner