5 ways to see the Big Five on Safari

By Karen Pasquali Jones

When it comes to the ultimate bucket list nothing says adventure as much as seeing the Big Five up close in their natural habitat in Africa.

After months of lockdown, travelers want to explore, be inspired and tick off their dream of a once-in-a-lifetime chance of seeing lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and buffalo on an African safari in the savanna and camouflaged in the grasslands of the world’s second-biggest continent.

Private Houseboat

For the epitome of luxury, charter a luxury houseboat to sail down the Chobe River, the banks of which have one of the world’s largest populations of elephants – estimated to be around 120,000. Watch a herd approach the riverbank and then cross the waterway. Or get even closer by heading out to Elephant Bay on a tender boat with a guide on a water safari game drive.

The park through which the river flows is also home to buffalo, lions, leopards, antelope and birdlife.

Spend your days watching the world go by on one of the four luxury houseboats which are for private charter or head out on a fishing safari where you can try your hand at catching a tiger – well a tiger fish at least, one of the greatest fighting fish in the world. There’s also bream, African pike, catfish and upper Zambezi yellow fish.

Venture to Ijambwe – a Namibian village on the floodplains of the East Caprivi – to meet the Subiya tribe village elders and discover how the inhabitants of this 100-year-old village live. Or go on a walking tour, if you’re staying at the Ichingo Chobe River Lodge, to visit a 2,000-year-old baobab tree and learn more about the medicinal and spiritual value of Impalila Islands flora.

Water Safari

Why go on a land safari when you can also do one on water in an action-packed trip that packs in four countries in eight days? See South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe on a whistle-stop tour of the area that features a four-day stay in a luxury lodge and water safaris in Chobe and Matusadona National Park.

Travel through stunning landscape where drowned trees reach skywards from the depths of the water on a unique cruise on Lake Kariba followed by a four-day stay in a luxury lodge located on Impalila Island in north east Namibia. Built around a 700-year-old baobab tree, Kaza Lodge offers views over the river banks and the savanna while Cascades safari lodge is on a private island where the Chobe river meets the Zambezi.

There’s another chance to spot the Big Five in Zululand on a game drive through Hlulhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, which is home to buffalo, lions and giraffes as well as endangered black and white rhinos. You can spot 400 birds in iSimangalio Wetland Park, South Africa’s protected wetland area before leaving for Madagascar.

Spot the Madagascar fish eagle, the rare angulated tortoise, the Nile crocodile and several species of lemur at Ankarafantsika National Park.

Hike with rangers through the dense rainforest of Nosy Mangabe and spot white-headed lemurs and chameleons. If you’re lux you might the rate aye-ayes, which are said to have magical powers.