Great Adventure Travel Destinations
in South Africa and Botswana
Most African tours consist of luxurious air-conditioned buses filled with camera strapped tourists in new safari hats, but are these trips really adventure travel? These tours are great, but there are opportunities out there that will bring a traveler closer to nature yet not present the individual with reckless danger. Try these destinations in South Africa and Botswana and step outside the bus.
Kruger National Park
Zebras at Kruger National Park - photo courtesy of Chris Eason
Kruger National Park is the largest game reserve in South Africa and home of all of Africa's mythical big five. This group is named due to the danger involved in hunting them. The five includes leopards, lions, African buffalo, black rhino, and elephant. Kruger is home to an astounding 507 bird species and 114 mammal species.
Hiking with the big five has got to be one of the most adventurous activities possible. The park offers walking safaris with specialized guides that actually track the animals that have come through the area in the night. The guides are usually armed and very experienced and animal attacks are extremely rare. In Kruger one can also rent a car and do a self-driven safari.
Many private areas border the park including the Sabi Sands game reserve. There are no fences between Kruger and these private reserves. This allows the animal life to freely wander between the different zones. This allows more flexibility for the traveler as these reserves also have tours and lodging. Due to the plethora of safari and lodging options, any traveler can really customize whatever trip they want or they can rent a car and guide themselves.
Okavango River Delta
When thinking of the African dry season large masses of animals competing for dwindling water holes where small animals like gazelles risk their life for a drink of water as lions and crocodiles lurk nearby comes to mind. The Okavango Delta is far from this picture. Rains in Angola during the wet season take nearly five months to filter down into the Okavango delta in northern Botswana. The delta swells to three times its normal size during the dry season attracting animals in amazing numbers.
The Okavanago river delta is the largest land based delta in the world. A land based delta is when a river empties into the land instead of an ocean. This river actually drains into the Kalahari Desert. Instead of a dry savanna or a desert, there is a swamp twice the size of the Everglades. There are a variety of ways to traverse the delta, but the best way to explore is by the mokoro. Mokoros are small flat bottomed boats that are poled through the swamp by local guides.
The bird and animal life in this park is stunning. Nile crocodile, elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, zebras, sea eagles, and hippos highlight this amazingly diverse ecosystem. Through the use of the mokoros one can easily approach the wildlife and take amazing photographs. Take a tour in South Africa and Botswana and get up close and personal with the ecosystem and get off the bus.
South Africa is an amazing destination that offers many once-in-a-lifetime sights and experiences, if you are looking for your next great adventure trip—look no further!
Ted Nelson is a Chicagoan who has been adventure traveling since the age of ten when he completed a two week 100 plus mile hike of Michigan's Isle Royal with his father. He has not stopped since. You can read his adventure travel articles at examiner.com.
