29 December 2014
| Last updated on 4 January 2015The Best African Safari Parks
Do you dream of nights under the African skies and days of seeing wild animals in their natural habitat?
When you think safari your mind will imidiately spring to Africa, and why not? The continent is known for it's effort to keeping large areas of land uninhibited so that both fauna and flora can flourish. We are lucky enough to be living in an age when we can travel to these great places and sit among the animals. This is not a zoo, this is what the earth should look like. In some parts of Africa the land still belongs to the animals.
So instead of visiting a city or the country side, maybe you should plan your next trip into the rural back areas of deepest Africa. Open your eyes to the animals that are there. Play with the lion cubs, go on a game drive, watch the crocodiles being fed and for the first time in your life take an opportunity to live.
The Serengeti Tanzania
As well as the migration of ungulates, the park is well known for its healthy stock of other resident wildlife, particularly the "big five", named for the five most prized trophies taken by hunters; the Lion, African Leopard, African Elephant, Black Rhinoceros, African Buffalo, Tanzanian Cheetah. The park also supports many other species, including Thomson's and Grant's gazelle, topi, eland, waterbuck, hyena, baboon, impala, African wild dog, and giraffe. The park also boasts about 500 bird species, including ostrich, secretary bird, Kori bustard, crowned crane, marabou stork, martial eagle, lovebirds, and many species of vultures.
Kruger National Park South Africa
The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere an area designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere"). The park is home to many animals including the Big Five, as well as an array of buck species, birds and reptiles. This is truly one of the most beautiful parks in Africa.
Masai Mara Kenya
It is globally famous for its exceptional population of lions, leopards and cheetahs, and the annual migration of zebra, Thomson's gazelle, and wildebeest to and from the Serengeti every year from July to October, known as the Great Migration. The Maasai Mara National Reserve is only a fraction of the Greater Mara Ecosystem, which includes the following Group Ranches: Koiyaki, Lemek, Ol Chorro Oirowua, Olkinyei, Siana, Maji Moto, Naikara, Ol Derkesi, Kerinkani, Oloirien, and Kimintet.
Volcanoes National Park Rwanda
Volcanoes National Park lies in northwestern Rwanda and borders Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. The national park is known as a haven for the mountain gorilla. It is home to five of the eight volcanoes of the Virunga Mountains (Karisimbi, Bisoke, Muhabura, Gahinga and Sabyinyo), which are covered in rainforest and bamboo. The park was the base for the zoologist Dian Fossey.
Chobe National Park Botswana
Chobe National Park, in northern Botswana, has one of the largest concentrations of game in Africa. By size, it is the third largest park in the country, after the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the Gemsbok National Park, and is the most biologically diverse. It is also the country's first national park.
Ngorongoro Crater Tanzania
The jewel in Ngorongoro's crown is a deep, volcanic crater, the largest un flooded and unbroken caldera in the world. About 20kms across, 600 meters deep and 300 sq kms in area, the Ngorongoro Crater is a breathtaking natural wonder. It's also home to the Big Five. One of the most popular species at the crater is the Crater Lion; a side effect of the crater being a natural enclosure is that the lion population is significantly inbred. This is due to the very small amount of new bloodlines that enter the local gene pool, as very few migrating male lions enter the crater from the outside. Those who do enter the crater are often prevented from contributing to the gene pool by the crater's male lions, who expel any outside competitors.
Okovango Delta Botswana
Species include African bush elephant, African buffalo, hippopotamus, lechwe, tsessebe, sitatunga, blue wildebeest, giraffe, Nile crocodile, lion, cheetah, leopard, brown hyena, spotted hyena, springbok, greater kudu, sable antelope, black rhinoceros, white rhinoceros, plains zebra, common warthog and chacma baboon. Notably the endangered African wild dog still survives within the Okavango Delta,[8] exhibiting one of the richest pack densities in Africa. The delta also includes over 400 species of birds, including African fish eagle, Pel's fishing owl, crested crane, lilac-breasted roller, hammerkop, ostrich, and sacred ibis.
Etosha National Park
In the vast arid space of Northern Namibia lies one of Southern Africa’s best loved wildlife sanctuaries. Etosha National Park offers excellent game viewing in one of Africa’s most accessible venues. Zebra and springbok are scattered across the endless horizon, while the many waterholes attract endangered black rhinoceros, lion, elephant and large numbers of antelope. Etosha, meaning ‘place of dry water’, is encloses a huge, flat calcrete depression (or pan) of about 5 000km². The ‘Pan’ provides a great, parched, silver-white backdrop of shimmering mirages to an area of semi-arid savannah grassland and thorn scrub. The pan itself contains water only after very good rains and sometimes for only a few days each year, but is enough to stimulate the growth of a blue-green algae which lures thousands of flamingos.
