Wildlife and Wilderness Two-Week South Africa Safari

Dust whirls in Madikwe, which is a private game reserve in the Kalahari that is near the Botswanan border. You will touch down and initially wonder how anything can survive out here. Ochre dominates the landscape’s color palette, and trees are stripped bare for most of the year. Somehow, upon this arid land, there will be evocative drama for you to witness, and that is why you will be visiting Madikwe. After landing at O.R. Tambo International Airport, you will transfer onto a safari link flight to Madikwe. Your first afternoon and evening are designed to be relaxed. You will check into a luxurious suite that overlooks the plains before beginning your exploration on a slow, late-afternoon game drive.

With every Madikwe game drive, it is impossible to predict what you will encounter. The wildlife here is in a continual battle to survive. Elephants wallow in mud baths, smothering themselves to cool down, springbok skip far from the watering hole because they have adapted to live without drinking water, and lionesses lie in the shade of an acacia tree, scoping out what they can eat. With two days in Madikwe, you should encounter most of Africa’s most famous savannah animals, and it will be the interactions that excite you most. You can track hyena as they scour the savannah for food. Through the night, you will listen to the surreal sounds of nature. Game drives and nighttime drives are part of your stay here, and you can also opt for a game walk should you wish.

After two short safari flights, you will land in Mala Mala, which is a fully unfenced, private reserve in the Greater Kruger. One section of the Mala Mala border is shared with Kruger National Park, while the other meets with other Sabi Sands reserves. Even without seeing animals, you can sense that this is a place of bounty. Here, it is difficult to go even five minutes without another wildlife encounter. On a two-week safari, it is important first to slow down. You need to adjust your senses to the wilderness and appreciate the smaller clues rather than simply charging around to seek the best Big Five photos. With so many animals here, it is easy to focus on the Big Five, and, after Madikwe, you will appreciate Mala Mala’s nuance, including many of its smaller delights.

With four nights in Mala Mala, you will learn more about the daily wildlife drinking schedule and how an approaching lion or buffalo herd can ruin the drinking experience for everyone. A magnetic appeal of water and fresh vegetation means Mala Mala is always a place of wildlife abundance, and you will not just be watching it all from the lodge. Game drives will lead you off the trails, so you can safely move incredibly close to Africa’s giants. Off-trail driving is especially important for moments with the spotted cats, who are typically found hiding in the grass or trees. Nighttime game drives will also be part of your program in Mala Mala. These are great for spotting larger cats along with nocturnal animals such as mongoose and bat-eared fox. As an added bonus, much of this wildlife can be seen from your lodge.

Nobody knows everything about the Kruger ecosystem. At 75,000 square miles, there is simply too much wilderness to understand, but on a full-day excursion in Kruger National Park, you can gain an appreciation of how vast this place is. It may not initially feel as wild as the Mala Mala due to the number of other vehicles, but your guide can take you beyond the asphalt main route to watering holes and serene little places, where herds march beneath the gaze of spotted hyena and strange shouts alert you to dramatic scenes. You will indulge in a picnic on this full day’s adventure to eat beside a few friendly animals. Most of the route is dependent on what you see because your guide and tracker will direct your drive dependent on the animals.

Hot air ballooning offers another perspective on scale today. As a flaming, African sun pierces the horizon, you will soar above the Greater Kruger with elephants and giraffes among those that you can distinguish from your balloon. The Sabi and Sand rivers meander peacefully, and the vista will help you to appreciate why Mala Mala is such an enticing spot for wildlife. Hot air ballooning is also incredibly peaceful, and the feeling will continue for the next two days. After your flight, you will spend half a day at Blyde River Canyon, where the focus will briefly switch away from wildlife. This canyon is all about scenery and surreal vistas with its forested mountains that cluster over an ancient valley bed. Kapama will be your overnight destination and is the most luxurious place that you will stay over these two weeks.

Kapama cannot rival Mala Mala for wildlife or its safari, but it is very convenient for ballooning and visiting Blyde River Canyon in addition to offering a superb elephant safari. Researchers will accompany you on a walk through elephant country. Often times, you can move within just ten meters of these giants and their trunk-swinging antics. You should note that there is no interaction, but only a safe opportunity to track these wonderful creatures in their natural habitat. Kapama will also provide safari decadence such as a bathtub that overlooks the plains and a contemporary opulence that would not be out of place on the fiftieth floor of a capital city skyscraper.

After two more short safari flights, another world will reveal itself. From the savannah will come the wetlands, which is where lush colors and dense forests provide a very different atmosphere. iSimangaliso is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a wilderness that is difficult to explore in a vehicle. First, you will travel down the broad main river and onto a large blue lagoon, where hippos are conspicuous, and other large mammals drink around the banks. Do not worry though because you will be in a safe vantage point from the hippos at all times. Then, you will navigate narrower channels, where the surprises of a safari will be wonderful to behold. Eventually, the channel has nowhere to go but the coast, and you will emerge onto white Indian Ocean beaches and sometimes be followed onto the sand by baboons and vervet monkeys.

iSimangaliso will present a variety of options today. You can continue with the boat safaris. These do not necessarily provide a large number of wildlife sightings, but you do get very close to everything you do see. Boats are not threatening to the animals either, so those that would run from a vehicle will stay to drink as you pass, sometimes just five meters away. Walking safaris offer a similar kind of intimacy, and you will have tried game walks in Mala Mala and Madikwe. In iSimangaliso, you can explore trails that are completely inaccessible to vehicles, which will provide a much more evocative experience. The Indian Ocean provides your third option today with whales and dolphins among those who are regularly spotted offshore. As always, there will be flexibility in your program, and you can try a bit of everything should you wish.

After a short transfer by road, you will end your safari adventure in the oldest reserve in Africa. Existing since the 19th century, although the boundaries have evolved since, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi has been an important wildlife refuge, especially during times of war in Southern Africa. White rhinos are the biggest success story, and the park has over 1,000 of them, which is an astonishing figure given its area is less than 10% the size of Kruger National Park. All the big cats coexist here as well, helping to give Hluhluwe-iMfolozi that really wild feel that makes a safari so special. Here, you will hear the sounds of the savannah all through the night, and there should be an inspiring sense of being connected to this ancient landscape. Today, you will be provided with a game drive through the park with a local guide and park ranger.

This is a relaxed park where surprise and unpredictability take over. Other than the white rhinos, it is difficult to predict what you will see on each drive. That can be frustrating when it is your first day on safari and you want to encounter everything on your checklist. By now, you should have enjoyed personal moments with all of South Africa's famous animals, so if a game drive does not feature a lion, it should not matter to you much. Today’s morning and afternoon game drives will be an opportunity to breathe in South African nature for one final time and to admire the wildlife in its natural habitat before leaving this stunning wilderness behind.

From an airport near the park, you will fly back to Johannesburg, where you will connect to your international flight. Like all safari flights on this two-week tour, the exact timings can vary by up to two hours as they operate dependent on clients’ flight connections.