From aardvarks to zebras, Africa is home to some of the most exotic wildlife in the world. These birds, animals and reptiles—coupled with the continent’s breathtaking landscapes—explain why Africa consistently ranks as a top destination for travelers across the globe.
We’ve rounded up our Harper Alliance partners in Africa—including Russel Binks, managing director of Tswalu Kalahari; Suzanne Bayly-Coupe, international marketing at Kwandwe Private Game Reserve; andBeyond Group Conservation Manager Les Carlisle; Kim Nixon, sales manager at Wilderness Safaris; Bronwyn Varty, head of marketing at Londolozi Private Game Reserve; as well as the sales and marketing team at Sanctuary Retreats—to give us the latest on wildlife, safaris, excursions and conservation across their African destinations.
Most visitors to Africa are eager to catch a glimpse of the “Big Five” game animals: lions, Cape buffalo, African elephants, rhinoceros and leopards. Alliance partners’ properties do not disappoint, as the Big Five are often found roaming nearby.
“Londolozi started viewing leopards in 1979, and since then we have built wonderful relationships with 17 different wild leopards,” Varty says. “Leopards do not migrate, but rather hold specific territories for the whole of their lives.” To keep former and future guests up to date on the animals, staff at the private game reserve maintain a blog about each of the leopards.
Yet, African wildlife extends well beyond the Big Five. “The discovery of the wider African ecosystem is an experience that visitors never forget,” says Binks. “The vast diversity of wildlife and birds always exceeds visitors’ expectations.” Indeed, the range of wildlife found at Harper Alliance partners’ properties illustrates this diversity.
At some of Sanctuary Retreats’ lodges, guests can observe cheetahs, colobus monkeys, crocodiles, giraffes, zebras and a range of rare birds. Sanctuary’s Saadani River Lodge, off the coast of Tanzania, even has its own resident hippopotamus named Babis. At andbeyond’s lodges and camps, Carlisle encourages guests to not overlook the abundant smaller wildlife, such as honey badgers, meerkats, warthogs and aardvarks.
Birding also is increasingly attracting visitors to Africa. “Tswalu has become an extremely popular birding safari destination,” Binks says. “It is an environment dominated by grassland, so there is plenty of food available for seed eaters. Because it is also conducive to reptiles, we see a large variety of carnivorous bird species. In fact, approximately 240 species of birds have been seen at Tswalu.”
The ecosystems vary with each African region, exposing travelers to different wildlife experiences. “Southern Africa is more about diversity and a huge range of habitats and differing wildlife species, while a few areas in Africa have massive migrations like those of East Africa,” Nixon says. Carlisle calls the annual Great Wildebeest Migration in Kenya and Tanzania “one of the greatest natural spectacles in the world.”
Safaris have evolved from the days when Africa’s reserves were hunting concessions, yet the excitement of spotting a giraffe, a jackal or a rhinoceros has remained constant. According to Harper Alliance partners, the safari is still the most sought-after activity in Africa. “Safaris and game drives allow guests to get close to an array of birds and animals in their natural habitat, which deepens visitors’ appreciation for the African wildlife and landscape,” Carlisle says. Nixon echoes this sentiment: “At Wilderness Safaris, we believe that through life-changing guest journeys and safaris, we can begin to truly save the world’s wilderness areas.”
The wildlife guests see on safari depends not only on where they go, but when they go. “In summer months, many animals take advantage of the cool morning hours to graze before the heat of the day, so on morning drives, guests have the opportunity to see daytime predators, including big cats, gearing up for the day’s hunting and other activities,” Bayly-Coupe says. “In the late afternoon wildlife can often be spotted coming down to the river to drink. Night drives produce some unusual sightings, including aardvark, aardwolf, bat-eared fox and porcupine.”
Alternatives to the iconic open four-wheel drive safari vehicle are also a growing trend. Several properties offer walking safaris, allowing guests to appreciate the sheer size and strength of some of Africa’s animals. “There’s nothing like seeing lion tracks or the giant footprint of an elephant to make guests feel closer to nature than ever before,” says Malemia Banda, head guide for Sanctuary Zambia. Viewing game on horseback has also grown popular.
Guides, rangers and trackers who lead safaris often come from local communities and grew up living off the land, giving them an intimate knowledge of the local flora and fauna. Varty notes that guides are highly skilled and prone to “wowing guests with their outstanding knowledge and unforgettable stories.” Carlisle says guides play a pivotal role in enriching a visitor’s experience in Africa: “Not only do they have a vast wealth of information about local wildlife and ecology, they impart cultural information and bring traditions alive for our guests.”
Many Harper Alliance partners tailor their safaris to guests’ interests. For example, andBeyond offers bespoke experiences catering to all generations and interests, such as family, beach and golf safaris, while Londolozi’s options include photographic and honeymoon safaris. Guests at Sanctuary Chobe Chilwero in Botswana can take an excursion on the new photographic safari boat. While no two safaris are the same, Carlisle notes that they have one thing in common: “Safaris leave you with unforgettable experiences that inspire a life-long love affair with Africa’s wildlife and wide open spaces.”
Beyond safaris, a variety of excursions and local activities offer opportunities to immerse yourself in Africa’s natural and cultural environment.
Guests at Sanctuary Stanley’s Camp or Sanctuary Baines’ Camp in Botswana can spend the morning with Jabu, Thembi and Morula, a trio of semi-habituated orphaned elephants, and accompany them on their daily walk through the bush to forage for food. Guests also enjoy a picnic lunch in the elephants’ company.
At Wilderness Safari’s two Odzala camps in the Republic of Congo, guests learn about the lives of western lowland gorillas. Africa’s densest population of the gorillas is found in the Congo Basin, which is the second-largest area of tropical rainforest in the world, according to Nixon. In addition to gorilla tracking—an experience Nixon calls “amazing”—guests also can take pirogue rides, savannah or night drives, or walks in the lush habitat.
At andBeyond’s lodges, guests can enjoy hot-air balloon rides over the Kenyan bush and guided mokoro (dugout canoe) excursions into the heart of the Okavango Delta. Binks suggests visitors to Tswalu Kalahari get to know nature after dark. “Experience the magic of star gazing and the thrill of sleeping under the night sky,” he says. Guests can spend the night on the Malori, a king-sized bed on a raised deck in the middle of Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, “surrounded by the calls of nocturnal animals, with nothing between them and the brilliant stars [over] the Kalahari,” he adds.
“Kids are a big focus for us at Kwandwe,” says Bayly-Coupe. Children can take special game drives, fish for minnows and go spoor tracking— the trailing of animals by their scent, tracks or other evidence, such as broken foliage. “On the last day, a ranger signs a certificate confirming that the proud child is now a Ranger-in-Training.”
Other activities center on cuisine. This includes options such as breakfast or dinner served in the bush, wine tastings, dune picnics and drinks on a moored floating dam. At Londolozi, Varty recommends dining in a one-of-a-kind setting: “Enjoy a picnic lunch on a deck high up in the ebony trees as elephants drink in the river below or have a private dinner under the stars surrounded by hundreds of candles with lions roaring in the distance.”
For Harper Alliance partners, taking care of the wildlife, the land and the local people is essential and reflected in their approach to ecotourism, sustainability and conservation. Ultimately, Harper Alliance partners say, their conservation efforts have a positive impact on the local community as well as guests. “We’re driven by two goals: to create an inspirational experience for guests, and to restore the land to itself,” Binks says.
To this end, they work to maintain the African landscape, acting as stewards for the precarious ecosystem. For example, Kwandwe Private Game Reserve has reintroduced more than 7,000 wild animals into the area, returning the cheetah to the Great Fish River Valley for the first time since 1888. andBeyond’s 56,800-acre Phinda Private Game Reserve, once degraded farmland, is now home to significant populations of Big Five game and the world’s largest private herd of nyala antelope.
In order to bring greater awareness to the region, Tswalu Kalahari created the Tswalu Foundation to contribute to community and environmental research. “The Kalahari system is an understudied area,” Binks says. “The foundation is fundamental in not only developing a greater appreciation for the beauty of the Kalahari and its abundant wildlife in a hands-on manner, but also provides encouragement and support to gain knowledge to better manage this part of Africa.”
Knowing that the future of these environmental areas rests with the people that inhabit them, conservation efforts extend to local communities as well. Nearly all of the properties are involved in outreach programs to develop educational opportunities in rural communities and engage locals in conservation strategies, such as Londolozi’s partnership with the Good Work Foundation, Kwandwe’s Angus Gill Foundation and the Wilderness Wildlife Trust created by Wilderness Safaris. “Empowering local communities is key to conservation,” Nixon says.
Carlisle echoes this philosophy. “We recognize that economic development of the areas in which we operate is crucial to the maintenance of biodiversity,” he says. “By physically demonstrating a commitment to conservation and community development, our guests see how their stay has a positive benefit. From then on, we believe that they will become responsible travelers, ensuring that their future travel choices will make a difference both environmentally and socially."
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