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Think of Africa’s top national parks and thoughts of great swaths of savannah grassland prowled by lion probably come to mind.
This iconic – perhaps stereotypical – scene does exist, and really is a bucket list experience. But there are more to Africa’s top national parks that wallowing hippos and slowly meandering herds of elephant, as I hope to prove.
I start with a national park you might not have heard of, but should know about!
1. Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe
Wanky. That’s the best approximation of how to pronounce Hwange. Close to celebrating its one hundredth birthday, Hwange’s vlei seasonal wetlands on the edge of the Kalahari Desert draw in wildlife from far and wide.
For instance, there’s a mammal species for every year the park has been a protected area. These include elephants and no less than eight large carnivore species. Its lion numbers are particularly good.
And although the region where Hwange is located has its fair share of other attractions (such as Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park), Hwange is still top dog (or maybe cat).
Given its massive size (of 14,500 square kilometres), the park is divided into zones. Herbivores tend to be easiest to find around the Main Camp Wild Area and Linkwasha Concession Area. During Zimbabwe’s dry season, the largest animals, like elephant, buffalo, and oryx (gemsbok), stick close to its permanent water sources.
Predatory species stay close by, since these are the best places to tackle their prey. In addition to lions, predators include leopard, hyenas, cheetahs and Cape wild dogs.
If you can, take the Elephant Express between the town of Dete and Ngamo Sidings. The use of the word ‘express’ is a little of a misnomer. Its open-sided carriages take just 22 passengers, and speed definitely isn’t the main aim.
It’s route stretches for 70 kilometers, with the one-way journey taking about two hours – assuming the tracks are clear of wildlife.
2. Maasai Mara/Serengeti
I’ve placed the Maasai Mara and Serengeti National Parks together. This is despite the fact they are two different national parks in two separate countries. This is because they are part of the same – unfenced – ecosystem on either side of the Kenya/Tanzania border.
Picture an African safari, and it’s proably the Maasai Mara ecosystem of vast plains studded with acacia trees. This is, after all, where safaris began.
These two world-renowned parks remain one of the few places in Africa where it’s possible to catch sight of the Big Five. Should you need reminding, that’s lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino, and elephant.
And they are the only places on the continent to witness the spectacle of the annual Great Wildebeest Migration. This sees up to two million wildebeest, zebra, and antelope cross the park in search of fresh pasture. As you might imagine, predators as diverse as cheetah and crocodile aren’t far behind.
When compared to the Serengeti, the 1,500 square kilometre Maasai Mara National Reserve is tiny. However, safari goers on game drives are free to pass across the border between the two parks and countries without checks. (It can’t be used as a way of getting between Kenya and Tanzania permanently though.)
It means to explore the Maasai Mara, it’s best to fly into Nairobi. Safaris in the Serengeti are best discovered from Tanzania. Safaris in either protected space are pretty easy to organise. But their fame also makes them popular. Camps book up quickly during the height of the Great Wildebeest Migration especially,
For a more secluded safari experience try Tsavo East in Kenya and Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania. Now official known as Nyerere National Park, it’s Africa’s largest protected space.
3. Kruger National Park, South Africa
If any national park in Africa can top the Maasai Mara/Serengeti ecosystem, it’s South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
Kruger is one of Africa’s largest national parks, and has a reputation as a great place to tick off the Big Five. It comprises a landscape of grassland and sub-tropical forest, crisscrossed by a expansive range of dirt roads.
Almost 20,000 square kilometres in area, it’s almost impossible to see all Kruger in one visit. The main gateway town is Hoedspruit, on the park’s western boundary, approximately 5.5 hours northeast of Johannesburg.
Hoedspruit is towards the southern end of the national park, and most safari goers stay in this portion of Kruger as a result. It is dominated by dense savannah (veld) spreading into a canopy of thorn and marula trees.
The fruits of the marula tree are a favourite of elephants, as when over-ripe they make the pachyderms slightly drunk. But in addition to its huge elephant populations (too many some now say), Kruger boasts more mammal species than any other African national park.
There are 147 mammal species in total, including several thousand poacher-dodging rhino and around 400 highly-endangered Cape wild dogs.
What makes Kruger one of Africa’s top national parks is the combination of amazing wildlife and excellent logistics. Whatever your budget, there’s a camp for you. Plan to spend at least three days here, and more if you can.
4. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda
There are only a handful of places in the world where it’s possible to get close to wild mountain gorillas. And Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is one of them.
It sits in the southwest of the country, close to the borders with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Between them, these three countries provide the only natural habitats for these majestic creatures.
Instability puts many people off trips to the DRC, which are generally based in Uganda or Rwanda in any case. In addition, the permit needed to take a gorilla trek are half the price in Uganda as they are in Rwanda.
However, the experience you’ll gain is similar. Bwindi has long been known as an area of almost uncrossable jungle. It means Bwindi is a pristine landscape, and one still only accessible on foot.
Following forest paths, ranger-led hikes to where a mountain gorilla family has settled for the day can take anywhere up to four hours. You’ll then get to spend just an hour watching the family before the return hike. Needless to say, a good level of fitness is required!
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park contains roughly half the worldwide population of mountain gorillas. Censuses show there are around 460 individual animals split between a dozen family groups.
Trekking in Bwindi has only been allowed since 1993. A life-changing bucket-list experience, it’s one which few regret undertaking despite the cost. (A permit will cost $700 per person in Bwindi).
5. Etosha National Park, Namibia
On the face of it, the arid landscapes of north central Namibia are a terrible place for Africa’s animals to gather.
However, that doesn’t account for the expansive series of pans which keep creatures well watered even during the height of the dry season.
The pan the park is named after – Etosha – is so large it’s white salt crust can be seen from space. It’s name is thought to come from the lanaguage of the Ovambo tribe, meaning ‘large white place.’
Occupying around a quarter of the park, it is 130 kilometers long and 50 kilometers wide at points. It’s believed to be roughly 100 million years old, developing out of a dried-up lake.
Etosha’s guarantee of freshwater ensures there is always a steady stream of animals arriving to drink, both day and night. The park contains both manmade and natural waterholes to help sustain wildlife species.
Even so, water can get so scarce elsewhere in the region that it’s not uncommon to see lion drinking beside their prey species like antelope.
Okaukuejo waterhole attracts elephant and rhino at night, and is floodlit allowing for easy animal spotting after dark. Meanwhile, Okondeka waterhole is best for lions, who regularly stop here with their latest kills.
As you might imagine, the park’s landscapes shift from bare earth and sands to drought-tolerant grasses. The pan itself is the only place in Namibia where flamingos come to breed. Around one million individual bids fly in each year.
On top of it’s wildlife wonders, safari goers to Etosha can do without malaria medication – it’s simply too dry for the mosquitoes which spread it to survive. What’s more, you can visit Etosha in a standard two wheel drive rental car, before spending the night in a basic tented camp or in a luxury lodge. The choice is yours.
6. Lopé, Gabon
One of the best chances you’ll get of spotting forest elephant is in Gabon’s Lopé National Park.
Since forest elephant are much shier than their savannah cousins, it makes them much harder to capture on film.
They have adapted to their forest home by growing to a smaller size that their grassland relatives. They boast smaller tusks, pointing downward rather than out. This is presumably so they don’t keep getting caught on tree branches as they move silently through the tree cover.
Lopé is just a train ride or bus journey from Gabon’s coastal capital, Libreville. Within its perimeters you’ll have the chance to catch sight of these wary creatures on foot and by boat.
You’ll do this in some luxury too. The first-rate chalets of the Lope Hotel have all mod-cons (and the occasional bat hanging outside). Their grounds contain a swimming pool, and meals that exude a definite French air.
7. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana
Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve might not be a household name, but the Okavango Delta on which it sits certainly is.
Beloved of film crews the world over, the Okavango is one of the world’s only inland deltas. It fills each wet season (June to August) to three times its usual size with the waters of the Okavango River.
It creates an atmosphere and experience like pretty much nowhere else on earth. And Moremi Game Reserve is the only protected area in the entire delta ecosystem.
This mass of freshwater within the realms of the Kalahari Desert attracts many of Africa’s iconic wildlife species. It thus forms one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife.
The most popular way to explore with on a traditional wooden-built mokoro canoe. From them it’s possible to slide past elephant, giraffe and a plethora of plains species in near silence.
However, to get a full sense of the scale of the Okavango, you might also want to consider heading up into the air in a helicopter or light aircraft.
8. Victoria Falls National Park, Zimbabwe
The sights of Victoria Falls National Park in Zimbabwe probably need no introduction.
They are widely considered to be the largest waterfalls anywhere on earth. Their waters can be heard from miles away as a low rumble like thunder. And they can even be spotted from some distance due to the immense amount of spray thrown up by the falls. It looks like a distant fire.
Victoria Falls National Park protects the Zimbabwe side of the falls. (Zambia is responsible for the northern bank, where you’ll find Zambezi National Park.)
As well as the majestic sight of the falls, there’s the chance to white water raft or bath in the waters of the Zambezi. But visitors also have the chance to tick off animals as diverse as elephant, white rhino, eland and crocodile.
Africa’s top national parks
Africa has more than 50 national parks. It also has an additional number of reserves and protected areas that takes this number into the hundreds.
With each one offering visitors something unique, there’s no wrong national park to visit. The smaller ones can offer much more intimate experiences, for instance. However, I think the parks and reserves I’ve mentioned here deserve as much of your time as you can give them!
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