Your clients will definitely want to write home about their experience on these safaris, where they’ll witness the Kob antelope’s mating rituals, observe an African Penguin breeding colony and come face-to-face with gorillas.
A Stylish South Africa Safari
On Kensington Tours’ 10-day South Africa in Style tour, guests sail the Zambezi River on a sunset cruise passing hippos, crocodiles and elephants; tour Table Mountain in Cape Town; and embark on daily safari game drives in Kruger National Park, all while staying in luxury camps, hotels and lodges. Kensington Tours’ South Africa in Style is a customized itinerary that allows clients to choose from observing an African Penguin breeding colony at Boulders Beach; participating in a game drive on the savannah of the Kruger National Park in the company of lions, leopards, zebras and cheetahs; witnessing Zambia and Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls on a walking tour—or all three. In addition to viewing wildlife, guests experience the cosmopolitan side of Cape Town with a scenic coastal drive to the Cape of Good Hope and a visit to the historic Bo Kaap area. Rates start at $4,000 pp dbl, and include gourmet meals, private guides and drivers, classic safari camps, internal flights, and 24/7 support. For more information, visit tmt.kensingtontours.com/agents/fit/login.aspx.
A Peek at South Africa’s Rare Five
Wild Planet Adventures’ 12-day Insiders Africa: Meerkats, Gorillas & Africa’s Rare 5 itinerary is one of seven tours in the company’s line-up of new safaris created in celebration of its 25th anniversary. Guests begin the tour in South Africa’s Green Kalahari, an unspoiled landscape south of the Kalahari Desert that is home to meerkats, rare rhinos, cheetah and black-maned lions, plus rare pangolin (scaly anteater), aardvark and aardwolf. In Uganda, guests, along with a researcher, go on safari looking for chimpanzees, tree-climbing lions and the Big Five, and they go on a full day gorilla trek, where guests spend four hours with the herbivorous apes. One of the tour’s highlights is a visit to Queen Elizabeth National Park, where guests get a first-hand look at the Kob antelope. Rates start at $9,998 pp with departures May to September. For more information, visit wildplanetadventures.com.
Wild Sights By Day and Night
While on Travcoa’s 10-day Southern Africa Explorer: Botswana & Zambia tour, guests take a safari drive in an open-air Land Cruiser in Botswana before going on a spotlight game drive after dark to view some of the area’s nocturnal animals. At the Savute Elephant Camp’s watering hole, herds of elephant and buffalo, as well as prides of lion, are all in view on a game drive in open Land Rovers in the mornings and afternoons. Then a Zambezi Queen Cruise sailing on the Chobe River brings guests up-close with the densest populations of wildlife on the African continent. For a closer look, guests can take a smaller boat right alongside the river’s banks. Before departure, a local guide leads guests through riverine bush and shallow parts of the Zambezi River onto the islands to watch for buffalo, kudu, bushbuck, impala, elephants and waterbuck, as well as a wide variety of birds. Guests who book any Private Journey to Africa for seven nights or longer receive four free nights at the Taj Cape Town. Departures are available through December. Rates start at $6,795, including meals, all transfers, sightseeing in a private deluxe vehicle, local English-speaking guides for sightseeing, Travel Guard Medical Emergency and Assistance Plan, and accommodations at the Belmond Khwai River Lodge in the Moremi Wildlife Reserve, the Belmond Savute Elephant Camp in the Chobe National Park, and The Royal Livingstone in Livingstone. For more information, visit travcoa.com/travel-agents.
A Luxury Lodge In the Pristine Wilderness
In early 2017, Norman Carr Safaris and African Parks will unveil Mambeti Camp, a luxury lodge in Liuwa Plain National Park in Zambia that is home to wildebeest, cheetahs, hyena, zebra, buffalo and wild dogs, plus offers breathtaking views of the upper Zambezi flood plains. Mambeti Camp will feature six luxury villas, including a 2-bedroom family villa, with the capacity to accommodate 15 guests. For more information, visit normancarrsafaris.com.
