Why Now is a Great Time

to Visit Africa

 

 

 

 

 

F1S: You visited Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, and Rwanda—what an amazing itinerary! Tell us a bit about your experience.

WG: We started our journey in Zimbabwe, guided by our expert partners at &Beyond. We stayed one night at Old Drift Lodge, which is right on the banks of the Zambezi River. Hippos and crocodiles seem to find great solace on those banks, so definitely be careful near the water’s edge. The beauty of Old Drift Lodge is its close proximity to Victoria Falls, one of the seven greatest natural wonders of the world. The falls border both Botswana and Zambia.

Next, we went to Botswana, where we made stops at Xaranna and Sandibe, both of which are &Beyond properties. First up was Xaranna, an intimate safari-tented lodge with only nine rooms in the Okavango Delta. Located on a seasonal lagoon, you can take part in land and water safaris. Seeing the “Big 5”— a leopard, lion, African bush elephant, black rhinoceros, and buffalo—is often done on your first game drive.

Sandibe is also located in the Okavango Delta. This beautiful lodge is made entirely of wood, in a nod to the scales and curves of the almost-extinct pangolin. It is an architectural masterpiece that blends wonderfully within its environment. Game viewing here is out of this world.

From there, we went to the Phinda Game Reserve in South Africa. Phinda is a 28,622-hectare—some 70,000 acres—private game reserve that was once used as farming land but was reclaimed for wildlife by &Beyond. Cheetahs, rhinos, and pangolins are actively protected within Phinda and guests can get involved with these conservation initiatives. In fact, the reserve has a real conservation focus, which is fast becoming world-renowned.

Phinda has multiple amazing properties to choose from, including Phinda Mountain, family-friendly and newly renovated; Phinda Rock, a 6-bedroom adults-only lodge that I refer to as “Flintstone chic”; Phinda Homestead, a fabulous 4-bedroom private home where the elephants literally come and drink from the pool; Phinda Vlei Lodge, which has 6 suites with an old-world plantation-style design that’s perfect for honeymooners and Phinda Forest, which is right in the middle of the ancient sand forest.

F1S: Any must-do experiences you would recommend?

WG: Gorilla trekking! We did this during one of our days at One & Only and permits are about $1,500. (If you can, I recommend doing it twice!) The night before your trek you meet with your guide for your gorilla briefing. That’s when you decide if you would like to do an easy, medium, or hard hike. We chose medium. The morning of the trek you meet in the lobby where the staff of One & Only gets you outfitted with hiking boots, gators, gloves, coats, and backpacks with food and water. You then head to Volcanoes National Park where you meet your guide and fellow trekkers. We were lucky that our group had only four people (the max is 6). There are approximately 22 families of gorillas scattered throughout Volcanoes National Park. Your guide will tell you which family you will visit. For our group, it was the Amahoro family, which means peace.

Gorillas nest at night and then in the morning start to move to look for food. The trackers go ahead of the group to try and pinpoint their location. It’s not an exact science, but once a general location has been determined, the journey begins. Our trek was straight up the mountain and after about 1.5 hours we met with our trackers who had found our family. We had one last briefing, left our packs (there can’t be food near the gorillas for obvious reasons), left our hiking sticks (gorillas still associate sticks with poachers), and walked just a short distance to see our family. We came around the corner and there they were just going about their day, eating bamboo, playing, and relaxing. This family is large and has about 22 to 25 family members. There were two silverbacks in the group, some babies (including a very little one!), a few teenagers, and a few mothers.

The experience literally took my breath away. To see these incredible creatures up close and personal in their natural habitat was beyond my wildest dreams. In the 1970s, there were only about 200 gorillas and now there are over 1,500. It was incredible to see how habituated they were with us. They see us as no threat at all. (The mothers, however, never take their eyes off of you.) The little ones are curious and come right up close. But so as not to upset the mothers or the silverbacks, our guide taught us how to make a low grunting noise to discourage the kids from coming too close. We had the privilege to spend a whole hour with them before heading back to the hotel.