Top 5 Destinations for Non-Stop safaris
What’s a non-stop safari destination? It’s a place that delivers great wildlife sightings not just on the scheduled morning and afternoon drives (you’d expect that) but also on the vehicle transfers to and from the lodge. Think of it as a third “free” game drive.
Flat open areas around local airstrips provide suitable hunting grounds for predators such as African wild dogs.
“Really?” The sceptics may ask – “after all, isn’t a transfer just a quick drive from the local airstrip to your accommodation – or vice versa?” In some destinations perhaps, but in the more remote, hard-to-reach places, transfers may take a while – 20 minutes, maybe 40 – and you’ll be traversing the same wildlife–rich landscape you’ll see later on scheduled drives.
“Hang on” – our sceptics insist – “don’t transfers happen during the middle part of the day when it’s hottest and all the animals are in the shade?” Sure, in summer time during the heat of the day that’s true, but not every day in Africa is a hot one. Many animals are active during cooler day time temperatures and several big species like giraffe, sable antelope and elephant gather at water sources throughout the day to avoid the predator-heavy hours of sunrise and sunset. Cheetah hunt during the day for the same reason.
Animals such as elephants are mobile throughout the heat of the day, often on their way to water.
And besides, not all transfers take place in the middle of the day: if your lodge is far from the airstrip, you might have to leave early or arrive late to fit into scheduled air transfers. And, as much as safari operators try to ensure their guests don’t miss a paid-for activity, it may be necessary to sacrifice a game drive, so at least the transfer-safari will make up for it somewhat.
We’ve selected five destinations where airstrip to lodge transfers may take a while – but in these places, that’s a good thing.
BOTSWANA
Famous for its diverse and abundant wildlife, Botswana is a destination that has husbanded its natural resources carefully. Tourist infrastructure – accommodation, roads, airports – is good but limited. What that means is huge, wildlife-rich reserves with only a few lodges and a handful of airstrips; transfers may take half an hour or more, and even – in several cases – necessitate a journey to your lodge by motor boat.
In Botswana’s Okavango Delta, your lodge transfer quickly turns into a wildlife-rich safari.
Choose areas like the Moremi Game Reserve and the Okavango Delta for wildlife viewing as soon as you disembark from the aeroplane. Antelope nibble at the edges of the runway, birds of prey use these cleared areas for hunting, warthogs have to be chased off by waiting ground staff. The Kalahari Desert also offers great chances for wildlife on transfers; Kalahari lodges are strategically located near precious water sources and animals are often easy to find in the open landscape. But the Mother of All Transfers is usually a simple one: any drive to a lodge on the Chobe River at any time of day in the dry season will nearly always yield what Botswana is most famous for: elephants. Lots of them.
The Chobe River is also accessible from Victoria Falls & delivers morning to evening sightings during the dry season.
KENYA
Vehicle transfers from airstrips to lodges in Kenya often have two distinct faces: one will be a fascinating show of traditional colour and culture as you pass Maasai herdsmen and their cattle, and the other will be Kenya’s legendary wildlife, especially if you choose your accommodation carefully.
Kenya’s traditional culture is woven into the landscape as you’ll see when you transfer to your safari accommodation.
Lodges in private reserves – called concessions – offer one of the best ways to fit in a ‘third’ game drive. The Masai Mara concessions are wildlife-rich throughout the year but especially from July to October when the wildebeest migration is present. Now you may find your transfer is worth missing lunch for; the wildebeest herds may be trying to cross crocodile-filled rivers, there may be lions or hyenas harassing them – your guide might know where a leopard is lurking up a tree with a wildebeest calf: anything can happen during the migration, at any time of day.
Transfers may take a little longer than usual during Kenya’s wildebeest migration.
KAFUE NATIONAL PARK
Zambia’s big Kafue National Park is making a steady entrance on the safari scene, not least due to its large populations of the biggest of the Big Five: elephant, buffalo and lion.
Much of its accommodation is sited near the Busanga Plains, a green, sprawling wetland with large herds of antelope and thriving birdlife; a transfer in the area quickly turns into a game drive. Similarly, Busanga’s other lodges are set on rivers or next to a large water source, each attracting wildlife and birds throughout the day, particularly in the long June to October dry season. And with something like 500 different bird species recorded in Kafue, it may be a long transfer to camp for the keen birder.
In Kafue’s wetlands, you’ll enjoy wildlife watching & birding almost as soon as you step off the plane.
TANZANIA
Some of Africa’s most famous safari destinations lie in Tanzania – the Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara – but it’s the Serengeti that steals the show. The Serengeti is where the wildebeest herds are when they are not in Kenya’s Masai Mara, and the animals follow a fairly predictable pattern around the grasslands. Lodges are located on migration routes – some tented camps even move with the migration – and your transfer from the airstrip to the lodge might get held up in heavy traffic: wildebeest traffic.
Large herds of wildebeest attract large predators: it’s always worth stopping to have a look around.
Like Kenya, your transfer may take you through Maasai tribal lands with red-robed figures moving across the landscape with their cattle. The route might take in a village or two – a fascinating sight in a land of big wild animals and their predators. And like Kenya, stay at private concessions for the best chances of wildlife sightings at any time of day.
SOUTH LUANGWA
Home to arguably the best walking safaris in Africa, Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park – at least in the dry season – delivers almost effortless wildlife viewing. The lifeblood of the park is the Luangwa River and accommodations make sure they are set on it or near it. By the end of the dry season the river is reduced to muddy loops of water, crammed with wildlife, and game viewing is as easy as driving along next to the river. Keep an eye in the trees; the South Luangwa has an enviable reputation for leopards and they often lounge in big trees during the middle of the day.
Driving to camp in dry-season South Luangwa takes you to areas with the last remaining water sources.
And anyway, when it comes to a transfer in the South Luangwa, you don’t have much of a choice! The South Luangwa National Park is accessed via Mfuwe Airport, itself lying 30 minutes outside the park; staying at a lodge means you’ll be on a transfer. In which case, why not take the most remote accommodation and sit back on that third game drive. Enjoy.
