The vibrant Okavango wetland, set amidst vast sweeps of Kalahari drylands. Flows from this inland wellspring nurture neighbouring channels and rivers, expanding this north-western wonder-world. In its dissipating southern reaches, islands bear the white rings of salt crystals – hints of the dramatic change to come. Another kind of beauty lies beyond these delta regions: an immense, wild and elemental beauty.
The word is out. Chad’s Zakouma National Park has breached the hallowed halls of Africa’s safari icons. The natural wealth of this undiluted wilderness, a proclaimed reserve for more than 50 years, has long been under siege. It is only now, under the custodianship of African Parks that the full potential of this extraordinary area is being realized. The ‘impossible’ abundance and variety of mammals and birds has set the safari world alight.
Yes there is heat. Yes there is dust. But the rewards are immeasurable. This is a destination for those passionate about Africa, her wild spaces and her wild spectacles.
Against a seamless expanse of earth and sky, you will watch the primal dance of life with death, predator with prey. This eternal dual plays out across Kenya’s southern landscapes of vast plains, hills, thickets and waterways. The shimmering heights of Mt Kenya fall away into valley troughs as tectonic plates shift.
Crystal waters define this immense, ocean-wide expanse. Seven lakes mark the fractured seam of the Great Rift Valley. This African Great Lake is the culmination. The translucent, mineral-rich waters spill into Mozambique and Tanzania. Here they are known as Lago Niassa and Lake Nyasa, the ‘great water’. However, it is in Malawi, in the ‘Land of the Lake’, that Lake Malawi shapes a giant fifth of the landmass
A fusion of tropical beauty blends the worlds above and below these protected waters. The vast coastline curves from its golden reaches in the Tanzanian north, to a far-south rendezvous with South Africa, while shadowing the Mozambique Channel en route. Off-shore, the archipelagos of Quirimbas and Bazaruto, together with the southern reserve of Ponto do Ouro, provide sanctuary to a marine world of threatened magnificence and global importance.
Less than half a cup: that is the annual rainfall in this vast country, crafted by aridity: an ancient land-face, etched by earth shifts. Not one, but two great deserts are to be found here. A place where the ghosts of rivers snake into the sand and a jagged coastline is measured in shipwrecks. And yet, this is a country of triumphs, a world of natural treasures, a towering tree of life.
Within Rwanda’s Parc National des Volcans, a set of 5 dramatic volcanic peaks rise above a jade sea of rolling slopes, deep blue crater lakes and foothills of terraced crops. These mountains mark the western arm of Africa’s Great Rift Valley. In places, they straddle the neighbouring borders of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This protected area is remarkable for a rare and Critically Endangered treasure: the mist-fed heights are home to over half of the world’s last remaining mountain gorillas.
This dream archipelago is to be found in the far reaches of the Western Indian Ocean. Erosion has sculpted the low-lying outer coralline atolls. However, the rock elevations of the inner islands, set them apart as the only granite-birthed islands in the world. They are the outcrops of an underwater plateau with ancient links to a mountain chain that once connected India and Africa. Isolation in tandem with a range of differing habitats has shaped an extraordinary and unique natural world.
There was a time when the cathedral beauty of Table Mountain and rock twists of the Cape Fold Mountains lay under the sea. The same elemental forces that fracture continents sculpted these extraordinary mountain ranges. This primal beauty extends to the southern reaches where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans merge. A floral kingdom of unrivalled diversity thrives.
A surging mass of millions: wildebeest, zebra, gazelles and eland. Responding, as one, to the migration call. Take a ringside seat and be captivated by the sights, the sounds and the drama of this grand scale event. Then explore beyond the Serengeti wilderness and discover other celebrated aspects of Tanzania’s natural beauty and culture.
It is a given. Where there is water, there will be wildlife, and where there is water in abundance, there you are guaranteed wildlife in abundance. Zambia is blessed with both these remarkable assets. Powerful rivers shape valleys and floodplains, islands and sandbanks, swamps, lakes and waterfalls. These sanctuaries are known to the animals, and it is here that they come.
Sometimes words are not enough. Sometimes the beauty transcends any description and touches a wordless core. So it is with the Victoria Falls. This life experience is but one exquisite thread in Zimbabwe’s African tapestry. Blue waters, green stretches, white pans and golden grasses colour the plateau and mountains. And through it all, a procession of wildlife magnificence.
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