Best African travel destinations for 2023

The ideal time to plan your next vacation is as soon as you return from your last one. While getting back to work and setting goals for the year is good and necessary, work life can bring with it a certain amount of stress which can be offset by the anticipation of something good. According to a study conducted in 2015, “anticipating a positive event is uniquely able to induce positive emotions.”

We’ve rounded up 12 sublime locations to holiday in Africa – so that you can start planning.

January and February
1. Cape Town, South Africa 
Voted both the best city in Africa and the best in the world, by readers of Travel + Leisure and The Telegraph respectively, we agree that Cape Town is certainly gorgeous. The city has an especially vibrant energy in summer, with its restaurants and brilliant white beaches buzzing with both locals and visitors. 

2. The Garden Route, South Africa
The Garden Route stretches from Mossel Bay along South Africa’s southern coast as far as the dramatically beautiful Storms River in the Tsitsikamma section of the Garden Route National Park. The area’s forests, rivers and beaches can be explored by vehicle, on foot, by boat, by zipline or on a mountain bike. It’s an ideal destination for family travel and is home to landmark sites like the Map of Africa, the Knysna Heads, Featherbed and Robberg Nature Reserve as well as the Cango Caves.

March and April:
3. Seychelles 
One of the best times of year to visit Seychelles’ pristine palm-fringed beaches, framed by granite boulders, is between March and April when the trade winds don’t blow. The water is warm and clear and your days can be filled by doing as little or as much as you choose. Sailing, snorkelling, scuba diving, trips on glass bottom boats or massages by the poolside are all possibilities.

4. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
​​While it can be enjoyable to visit Victoria Falls in November and December when the flow of the Victoria Falls is at its lowest and you can visit Devil’s Pool, if you want to experience the falls at their peak, April is one of the best months to do so. The rainy season will just have ended and while the weather is still pleasantly warm (and even hot) it will have cooled somewhat after the summer. As April is not considered high season you can secure better deals with off-peak rates too.

May and June:
5. Bangweulu swamps, Zambia
Birders will enjoy a visit to Zambia in May during the dry season to search for the prehistoric-looking shoebills. These birds favour marshes and wetlands and are typically found in the Bangweulu swamps on the country’s northern plateau. You can also spot them in Kasanka National Park, to the southwest of the wetlands.

6. Gorilla Trekking, Rwanda
A gorilla trek in Rwanda is a bucket-list item no matter what time of year you go. However, the dry season between June and September makes hiking through the jungle to find these gentle apes a bit easier. 

July and August:
7. Serengeti, Tanzania
The great migration of wildebeest is a spectacle that fascinates visitors each season. After crossing the Grumeti River the herds of wildebeest continue north and begin crossing the Mara River in July and August. It’s not only the wildebeest that are attracted to this river crossing but also wildlife enthusiasts and photographers who marvel at the spectacle.

8. Kruger National Park, South Africa
While Kruger is a year-round destination, the vegetation is not as lush during the dry winter season, providing better game-viewing opportunities. Besides being an excellent place to see the Big Five on safari, the Greater Kruger also offers an array of luxury lodges with modern facilities, excellent service and outstanding cuisine.

September and October:
9. Sossusvlei, Namibia
Climb Dune 45 or take photos of these iconic crescent-shaped red dunes before visiting the nearby Deadvlei with its cracked clay pan and petrified trees, then visit the nearby Sesriem Canyon. An early morning balloon trip that gives you a birds-eye perspective over the Namib Desert, followed by a champagne breakfast, will be a memorable addition to any holiday here.

10. Vilanculos and Bazaruto, Mozambique
While the tropical destinations of Vilanculos and the Bazaruto Archipelago can be enjoyed all year round, the dry season from June to November is best, with September and October being ideal. Scuba divers will also find visibility is also better during the dry season.

November and December
11. Chobe, Botswana
The winter safari season is busier than others in Botswana, however, November allows visitors to Chobe to witness not only its voluminous elephant population (and the rest of the Big Five) but also the annual zebra migration. In November herds of zebra congregate to form a mass of about 20,000 animals. After spending the dry months in the vicinity of the Chobe River floodplain, they begin migrating southwards to the Nxai Pan area at the end of November and in early December.

12. Grand Gaube, Mauritius
The island nation of Mauritius is a short flight away from South Africa and offers a perfect tropical escape. Explore the sandy, palm-lined beaches of Grand Gaube where you can snorkel in warm, azure water or take a day trip to Coin de Mire – a small island off the coast. The warm, clear waters around this nature reserve provide the ideal location for snorkelling and scuba diving. You may spot sting rays, triggerfish, parrot fish and leaf fish, among others.

If you’d like help in planning a seamless holiday in any of these destinations or the others that we cover, drop us a line and we’ll be happy to help.

Here’s to a new year full of travel adventures.

The Leopard Team

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The ebb and flow of travel in 2022

In our next newsletter we’ll be sharing Leopard’s selection of destinations to travel to in 2023. For now, however, we take a nostalgic look back on an extraordinary year as it draws to a close. 

The best part about 2022 was that people started travelling again. After a shaky start, travel reemerged with a vengeance. People don’t want to wait to do that long-desired family trip with elderly parents and siblings, or that bucket-list road trip with their children, or a safari adventure with their beloved. Rightly so, as nobody knows what the future holds. 

For Leopard, 2022 started off slowly. The Covid omicron variant caused the world to panic at the end of 2021, and led to flight bans to South Africa and subsequent holiday cancellations. This meant that  2022 didn’t take off in the way that the local travel industry had hoped.

However, the year improved considerably. Over two hundred valued clients travelled with us in 2022. We did hotel visits in South Africa, Zanzibar, Mozambique and the Okavango Delta. We also added four new African countries to the destinations we offer, bringing the total to sixteen! 

Helen, a longtime family friend, joined our team, taking on a big load of administration and finance work. She has made a huge difference in our operations already. I’m fortunate to work with six highly competent women who are incredibly motivated and good at what they do. They give their best every day for Leopard and our clients, something which I deeply appreciate.   

Most importantly, this year, our clients got to experience that exhilarating feeling of travelling again! They did road trips through Namibia, encountered incredible African wildlife and celebrated special family times in Mauritius, Zanzibar and Seychelles.  They also spotted migrating southern right whales, observed nesting turtles, saw the rare dugong in Mozambique, ate incredible local food, drank world-class wine, and enjoyed the warm hospitality of the African people. Without clients, we would not have work, so thank you to each and every one – your support means a lot! 

And finally, thank YOU for being part of the Leopard community and keeping in touch through our newsletter. We wish you a very happy New Year, and we look forward to welcoming you to Africa in 2023.

Best regards,

Diana and the Leopard Team

P.S. Take a look at our highlights from 2022, in this video:

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Why spending money on experiences is good for you

Happiness can be tricky to quantify but a study conducted by McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin indicates that paying for experiences enhances your well-being more than buying possessions does. This applied to both in-the-moment happiness and to happiness measured at a later point.

It’s not surprising that experiences create rich, lasting memories and provide an opportunity to bond with those you share them with – whether that’s family, friends or a new travel buddy.

Here are some of our top recommendations for experiential happiness:

Spending time in the bush
Immersing yourself in nature is good for the soul, no matter whether you spend time in a popular game area like Kruger, Sabie or the Serengeti or you visit a lesser-known park in KwaZulu-Natal. Share special memories of early-morning game drives, where the bush is dewy and mist dissipates from river banks, as your party searches for the flick of a tail, the tip of a trunk or the flutter of wings. 

Enjoying exquisite food and wine
A tasty meal shared at home can be enjoyable but savouring an expertly-prepared gourmet dish at a top restaurant gives you the opportunity to experience new flavours, settings and company without having to lift a finger. Foodie destinations like Cape Town, its surrounding Winelands and Hermanus can lure you by your palate, however, you’re likely to find fine cuisine in all sorts of places if you know where to look (and if you don’t, we’re happy to help).

Mountain or lowland gorilla trekking
“Mountain Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda is one of the most treasured wildlife experiences of my life,” says Leopard’s founder and director, Diana Granoux. This bucket-list adventure will leave you with precious memories and sharing these with a partner or friend will mean that there’s someone else who understands the wonder and awe of this encounter without you having to try and find words to explain.

Interacting with people of different cultures
Take time to meet the local people when you travel. Appreciating food, traditions and art from another culture will expand your understanding of the world and possibly help support a local entrepreneur. These interactions can also provide unique opportunities to share a smile and build memories among strangers who then become friends.

Turtle tracking
Due to active conservation efforts, the number of nesting turtles along the sandy shores of the Zululand coastline has increased substantially since the 1960s. Whether you watch a giant leatherback laying her eggs in a carefully excavated nest or turtle hatchlings emerge from the sand and scurry to the ocean, you’ll have witnessed a scene that has been repeated through the ages by these ancient ocean-dwelling reptiles. 

Hot air ballooning
Fly over endless waves of sand dunes and experience first light over the Namib Desert or opt for a trip over Serengeti where thousands of thundering hooves beat against the plains beneath you, during the annual wildebeest migration. Recounting your shared experience of being suspended in a basket above the world will quite likely deepen bonds, unite your tribe and bring a smile to your face long after the event.

Happy travelling,

The Leopard Team

P.S. Feel free to contact us at any time for expert advice on where to travel in Africa. It’ll be our delight to share our insider knowledge with you and help curate a tailored all-inclusive holiday. This will allow you to relax and enjoy every moment, knowing that all the details have been taken care of.

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Winding down the year 2022

Perhaps your year, like mine, is speeding up before it slows down. The beginning of December in South Africa marks the start of the long summer school holidays and a period when most people take a break. 

If you’re one of those who’ll be putting your feet up in December and would like to relax with some good audio content that’s far more enjoyable than Santa Claus Is Coming To Town we have two suggestions.

Leopard has created an African playlist that will take you on a musical journey around our beautiful continent. Drink in the sounds of Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe, King Sunny Ade and Fela Kuti from Nigeria and the queens of homegrown African music, Angélique Kidjo, Miriam Makeba and Cesária Evora. 

If you’re one of Leopard’s 48 clients travelling to six countries in Africa over December and January, this playlist will be the perfect addition to your holiday.

Find our playlist on Spotify, or click here to access it.

If you enjoy podcasts, Leopard has a podcast that features interviews with eight incredible South Africans who are passionate about their area of expertise. You can learn about South African wine from one of the region’s top sommeliers, art from a local artist, photography from a world renowned wildlife photographer and much more. 

Listen to one, or all, episodes on our website: https://leopard.voyage/podcast/

Happy travelling,

Diana

P.S. Look out for our newsletters at the beginning of next year where we hope to inspire you for the holidays you may be planning in 2023.

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Turtle time – experience one of nature’s miracles

November to February is an exciting period when you can witness female turtles nesting on the northern beaches of KwaZulu-Natal or watch as hatchlings emerge from the sandy womb and make their way to the ocean.

We love the fact that by visiting these sites you get to play a role in ecotourism.

Both the critically endangered giant leatherback turtle, as well as the loggerhead turtle nest on stretches of coast within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and its marine protected area (MPA) provides important feeding grounds for these reptiles.

Get close to the turtles on land, or if you don a snorkel and mask (or scuba gear) you have an extraordinary opportunity to observe them underwater. Besides the leatherback and loggerhead turtles that nest on our beaches, you may spot a non-breeding resident green turtle in the water too.

It’s quite incredible that while loggerheads and leatherbacks can swim the length of the continent, once mature and ready to reproduce, female turtles often return to lay eggs only metres away from where they once hatched.

Active conservation in the MPAs has produced positive results, according to Marine Protected Areas South Africa.

“Ongoing monitoring since 1963 has revealed remarkable results demonstrating the importance of beach protection for nesting female turtles.

In 1966, fewer than 10 leatherback turtles nested on the Zululand coast. The average number of nesting leatherback females has now risen to more than 70 nests per year. The number of loggerhead turtles has risen even more spectacularly from less than 250 in the early 1960s to 1 700 nesting annually within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.”

Whether you spot a loggerhead, leatherback or green turtle, like the character Crush from Pixar’s Finding Nemo, the experience may leave you as inarticulate as the animated creature who said, “I saw the whole thing dude! First, you were like, ‘woaaaah’, and then we were like, ‘woaaaah’ and then you were like, ‘woaaahh’”.

We’d love to help you plan a journey to experience this wonder of nature.

Happy travelling,
The Leopard Team

P.S. Drop us an email at [email protected] to find out more and remember to share this newsletter with someone who’d love to swim with turtles.

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The romance and excitement of an East African safari.

Drumroll, please! Leopard now offers safari holidays to Tanzania and Kenya. Writing this gives me goosebumps because I’ve long wanted to offer East Africa holidays to Leopard clients. We’ve also added two new adventure destinations, Congo Brazzaville and Madagascar. This means that we can help you visit 16 countries on the continent.

People often ask us about the difference between a Kruger and a Serengeti (Tanzania) or Masaai Mara (Kenya) safari. Each have compelling reasons to visit, so it is not an easy decision to make. The Serengeti-Mara ecosystem is know for it’s abundance of wildlife, and the great migration of vast herds of wildebeest across the land. Kruger does not have wildlife in the same numbers, but has a better density of wildlife, meaning that you are likely to see the Big Five (leopard, lion, elephant, buffalo and rhino) within a few days. 

The landscapes are also quite different. In the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, you typically find open grassland savannah. In Kruger, you will find a variety of habitats including shrub mopane, thorny acacias, marula trees and giant baobabs. Both destinations are family friendly, although each lodge has its policy on whether children are allowed on safari game drives.

Kenya and Tanzania’s tented camps are perfect for those who love nature and the idea of just a sheet of canvas between you and the wild. Depending on your budget, the camps in Kenya and Tanzania often have only basic facilities (no TVs, air conditioning, some may have a bucket shower and chemical toilet). In Kruger, especially in the private reserves that make up Greater Kruger, you will find a selection of luxury lodges with modern facilities, excellent service and outstanding cuisine.

Cost is another consideration. The cost of a safari depends on variables such as time of year, location, logistics and level of luxury you would like. In general, Kruger is more affordable at around $350 – $550 per person per night for a comfortable four star pad compared to $550 – $700 per person per night in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. In Kruger, a luxury five star lodge will cost between $1,000 and $2,000 per person per night, compared to $1,550 – $3,000 in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to choosing a safari. It depends on the kind of experience you wish to have, the time of year you wish to travel, and your budget. 

As always, we are just an email or WhatsApp away, if you’d like to have an exploratory discussion on any of our incredible holiday destinations. We look forward to welcoming you to East Africa. 

Happy travelling,

Diana

P.S. We have just updated our website. Please take a look and let us know what you think! I love the videos we created for some of the holiday inspiration pages, to better showcase the experience. I think this is my current favourite: https://leopard.voyage/2022/01/24/island-escape/

The Great Migration video can be viewed below.

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Garden Route galavanting. The perfect playground for families, couples and solo travellers.

Whether you’re looking for a family holiday or honeymoon destination or planning an adventurous solo escape, the Garden Route is as rich in beauty as Elon Musk’s mind is in profitable ideas. 

Driving from Cape Town to Mossel Bay, which marks the start of the Garden Route will take just over four hours, while a flight from Cape Town to George (the next town along the route) takes an hour. From here, it’s an easy drive on the well-maintained N2 that connects Mossel Bay to George, Wilderness, Sedgefield, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay. The road continues northeast across the Bloukraans Bridge, where you can experience the world’s highest commercial bungee jump.

Ideal for families
The wonder of exploring caves with chambers housing massive stalactites and stalagmites sculpted over time is worth the drive inland from George to Outshoorn’s Cango Caves. Take an Adventure Tour (for children over six years old), which makes its way deeper into the network of caves than the standard tour. An experienced guide will lead you from the main caverns down Jacob’s Ladder and through narrow spaces like the Tunnel of Love and the Devil’s Postbox before you return to the main chambers. 

You’ll find Acrobranch at Timberlake Organic Village (between Sedgefield and Wilderness), where children and adults can manoeuvre across obstacle courses suspended in the trees. Afterwards, head to Pomodoro in Wilderness, arguably the best Italian restaurant you’ll discover on your trip. 

Boat rides along the Keurbooms River pass between forested banks where Knysna loeries and woodpeckers, sunbirds and giant kingfishers make their home. A trip on the Knysna Pirate Ship will have you entertained by Captain Fish and crew member Mad-Maton as you sail across the Knysna Lagoon.

No family holiday to the Garden Route would be complete without visiting Birds of Eden. This two-hectare domed aviary allows its 3,500 birds (some are rescues) to fly freely between the treetops and creepers in the indigenous forest, complete with walkways and waterfalls. You’ll find Monkeyland next door, which offers guided walks through a forested enclosure to search for primates.

Garden Route romance
Sail to the Knysna Heads and beyond, into the Indian Ocean, on The Heads Explorer catamaran. You can laze on the trampolines sipping champagne while taking in the extraordinary views. When you’re ready to hang your hat, you’ll find several treetop lodges in Knysna and Plettenberg Bay’s forests, where couples can retreat from the shoreside buzz.

A picnic and wine tasting at Newstead Wine Estate is a relaxing way to spend an afternoon, or head to the top of Baron’s View Estate to enjoy a meal with spectacular views at Sky Villa Boutique Hotel’s restaurant, which overlooks the Keurbooms Lagoon and Plettenberg Bay.

Spend a morning in nature by hiring a tandem canoe and paddling up the Touws River in Wilderness. Your canoe can be left at the mooring spot so you can stroll through the moss-lined pathway in the forest that takes you to the Touws River Waterfall.                    

Solo adventure travel along the Garden Route
The adventurous may want to begin the journey at Mossel Bay by leaping out of a plane to experience the exhilaration of tandem skydiving. If you prefer the water to the sky, you’ll find great white shark cage diving in the bay, and for a good combination of land, air and sea, there’s the Mossel Bay Zipline. This zipline – the longest over-ocean zipline in the world – begins on the cliffs at The Point before taking you over the sea. Hurtle down the line at speeds of up to 80 kilometres per hour, with a chance of getting splashed by surging waves as you pass by. 

Knysna and Plettenberg Bay are full of exciting networks of mountain bike trails that wind through the Knysna and Harkeville forests and, like those at Cairnbrogie and Harkerville, which run along the cliffside overlooking the ocean. A hike through the fynbos-clad cliffs of the Robberg Nature Reserve will also provide you with dramatic views over Plettenberg Bay, where you have a good chance of spotting whales and dolphins in season.

Let us know your favourite spots along the Garden Route!

Happy travelling,

The Leopard Team

P.S. Look out for some exciting news in the next newsletter – we are expanding!

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7 Cape Town Summer Adventures to Add to Your Bucket List

While Cape Town has beautiful beaches, fine wine, cocktail bars and restaurants, it also provides ample opportunities for outdoor adventure. Below are a few of our recommendations to get your heart beating a little faster, for more than just love of this city.

1. Paraglide over the Atlantic Seaboard
Get a birds-eye-view over Cape Town’s spectacular coastline as you float on thermals with an experienced tandem paragliding pilot. From the parking area on Signal Hill, it’s a short hike to the launch spot on the lower slopes of Lion’s Head and then it’s up, up and away. The views are magnificent and when you’ve finished soaring with the birds your pilot will orchestrate a soft landing on a grassy field.

2. Kayak to see African penguins
Dip your paddle in and out of the ocean as you make your way from a jetty in Simons Town, through a little harbour with bobbing yachts, past the naval harbour and along the South Peninsula towards a colony of African penguins. Depending on the weather, you may stop for a dip or land on a beach and enjoy a snack. Alternatively, you could also kayak from Greenpoint in the summer and possibly paddle past a pod of dolphins, with the dramatic backdrop of Table Mountain and Lion’s Head behind you.

3. Take a sidecar trip
A chauffeured sidecar trip to explore the Cape Peninsula, or the Cape Winelands, will give a different perspective of the surrounding beauty. You’ll feel the breeze across your face as you wind your way along the Atlantic Seaboard and look up from a low vantage point to the towering mountainscape of the 12 Apostles. Alternatively, fill your day with flitting between wine farms in Paarl, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, in 1940s style, enjoying wine tasting and lunch. 

4. Learn to surf
With nearly 3,000 kilometres of coastline it’s not surprising that South Africa has a strong surfing culture, especially in Durban, Jeffrey’s Bay and Cape Town. Muizenberg’s small rolling waves and warmer water offer the perfect environment in which to learn. There are two surf schools on the beach that offer lessons and provide all the equipment you’ll need. If you can already catch a wave, you can advance to Big Bay beach at Blouberg, while other spots like Llundudno, Glen Beach and Scarborough are better suited for skilled surfers.

5. Hike to the top of Table Mountain
There are several routes to the top of Table Mountain like the steep Platteklip, Kasteelpoort or Skeleton Gorge ascents, or a more gradual climb from Constantia Neck. You could also meander around the mountain’s base on the Pipe Track while still enjoying spectacular views. While you don’t necessarily need a guide; never hike alone, make sure that you have a good pair of walking shoes, some water, snacks and a waterproof jacket (even in summer). You can find more tips for hiking on Table Mountain on the SANParks website.

6. eBike in the Stellenbosch vineyards
Electric mountain bikes have made offroad trips accessible to the whole family even when not everyone is equally fit. The battery power allows you to enjoy the natural surroundings without breaking too much of a sweat. There are various tours available which include historical tours of Stellenbosch with a wine tasting experience and half-day trips from Stellenbosch up through the Idas Valley and down the Banhoek Conservancy trails to Boschendal. There are also lengthier tours from Stellenbosch to Franschhoek with a lunch stop at a wine farm, or e-biking from one wine estate to another through the vineyards (stopping to sample the wines in between).

7. Snorkel with seals
After a friendly briefing and donning a wetsuit, enjoy a boat trip from Hout Bay harbour to the nearby Duiker Island. Here you can slip into the sea and swim with curious seals (remember to bring a GoPro with a floating handle to capture the curious creatures as they twirl and somersault in front of you). You’ll need to be comfortable in the open ocean, however, there are floating buoys that you can hang on to if you need to catch your breath.

Happy travelling,

The Leopard Team

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The Okavango Delta, an emerald paradise in an untouched wilderness.

Ancient tectonic earth movements created the Okavango Delta Basin that traps river water; which spreads across the land instead of flowing into the sea, bringing life to the plants and animals in this ecosystem. This is a remarkable place – a unique wetland oasis in an arid country. 

The delta is created by seasonal flooding, and counter-intuitively, the dry season is the best time to visit. This is because the water arrives in the delta only after the rainy season in Angola. The Cubango River flows slowly from the wet Angolan Highlands, through Namibia and reaches the delta five to six months after leaving Angola. Like all natural phenomena, it is hard to predict, but the flood waters arrive around June and start receding due to evaporation, around August. 

Going on safari in the Okavango Delta is one of life’s highlights. From seeing herds of red lechwe running through water to photographing leopard lying lazily on tree branches, witnessing herds of elephant crossing the deep water channels, enjoying a sundowner drink while watching hippo yawing at sunset and identifying the myriad of beautifully coloured birds, the Okavango Delta is a safari experience that delivers everything you would expect and more. It is perfect for first-time safari goers and for the safari veteran. It is a photographer and birdwatcher’s paradise and an exclusive, romantic escape for couples. In short, it is everything you could desire from an African holiday.

I’ll be sharing more about where I stayed, all the water, land and air activities on offer – and other insider tips in upcoming newsletters. Stay tuned. 

If you’d like to know more, or want a tailor-made holiday to the Okavango Delta, just reply to this email. 

Happy travelling,

Diana

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What to expect from a South African safari.

As you immerse yourself in the wonders of Africa’s wild spaces, just as every sunrise and sunset is unique, each safari destination provides something a little different. 

South Africa offers an incredible variety of luxurious options. You could choose to sleep high above the surrounding bush at Phinda’s Mountain Lodge and Kruger Shalati’s Train on the Bridge or be lulled to sleep under the stars in an open-air treehouse, or deck, complete with a king-sized bed. There are lodges with modern African decor and those that imbue the essence of an old-world safari. 

While each setting and experience will have its own flavour, here’s a guide to some of what you can look forward to on safari.

Game drives, guided walks, or conservation experiences 
You’ll need to abide with the rhythms of the wild when you come to Africa to see its wildlife, or you risk missing nature’s show. This means an early morning start, as animals tend to be most active around dawn and dusk, which happily coincide with the best light for photography.

You can expect to wake before dawn for your morning safari. The open safari vehicle will generally depart at 5am in summer or 6am in winter for the day’s first adventure. While, guided wilderness walks also leave at first light to avoid the heat of the day. Walking safaris are accompanied by a specially qualified ranger and are only available to those who are fit and over 16 years of age.

While there are no guarantees of what you’ll see on any given game drive, rangers are skilled at tracking animals and alert each other to sightings via two-way radio. As you journey through the bush they’ll share interesting facts about the wildlife in the area and use their well-trained eyes to point out creatures that you may have missed. Each outing is exciting in that you can’t predict what is going to happen. Will you witness a Whalberg’s eagle feasting on termites, watch elephants swim across a river, or spot a leopard sauntering by?

The evening game drives are no less thrilling. After the African sun dips behind the horizon, you could find yourself bumping along a dirt track under the night sky, resplendent with stars, as your guide swings a powerful lamp from side to side in search of reflective pairs of eyes.

For something extraordinary, you can join a wildlife team that includes a vet and rangers and take part in a conservation experience. You’ll get to witness an animal, such as a rhino, being darted from the air and then get up close to see the notching and microchipping procedure as well as the collection of DNA samples. This once-in-a-lifetime experience contributes to the conservation of our magnificent African wildlife. 

Enjoy sumptuous fare
Foodies don’t need to worry about being isolated in the bush without access to good food. High-end lodges often partner with renowned chefs to create stellar menus. Whichever lodge you find yourself at, your day will most likely start with a hot beverage and some light snacks before you set off on your first game drive. When you return there’ll quite often be an extravagant brunch, followed later by various lunch options as well as freshly baked goods for tea time. Most lodges will cater for special dietary requirements, as long as you let them know ahead of time. Dinners can range from a braai (barbeque) in a boma under the stars to refined meals paired with some of South Africa’s premium wines.

An unhurried pace
Between morning and evening game drives and your meals, you’ll have time for a languorous afternoon nap, relaxing in and around the pool or spa, or reading in your private quarters or in the communal lodge lounge. If you do need to connect to the outside world, there’ll usually be WiFi (at least at the main lodge), however, you may find yourself pleasurably distracted by the natural world with no desire to enter into the daily digital fray.

The stillness of a sultry afternoon provides the perfect time to unwind as you drink in the beauty of the natural world all around you, perhaps with a gin and tonic in hand.

We’d love to hear from you
If you have any questions about the best time of year to visit and what to anticipate in various regions, or at certain lodges, we’d love to hear from you.

Happy exploring,

The Leopard Team

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