Whether you are a travel freak doing country hopping or just on a joyride to Africa, it doesn’t matter. What matters is you are in Africa! And if nothing else, this country promises you to show you the time of your life. So charge your cameras, tighten your belt, pack up your gears, and let’s journey to few of the best National Parks in Africa, because no matter wherever you may have been, you simply can’t leave any African National Park without the visit of few of its inhabitants.
Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
Known for its big cats and wild migrations, Masai Mara National Reserve, one of the biggest of its kind is also said to be a paradise for Wildlife surfers. It receives over 2.5 million animals every year that make a round trip journey of over 20, 000 kilometers from its twin, the Serengeti ecosystem between Kenya and Tanzania. It is truly a haven for the entire untamed wilderness you can think about at once, so much so that you cannot miss the herds grazing around the endless savannah and the big cats playing their game just right amongst the tall grasses of the wild. And one thing is for certain, here, traffic can be deadly!
Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana
One of the cruelest landscapes on Earth, this is Africa at its rawest. You cannot go back without meeting head first with one of its natural tenants, the African Lion. It was home to the San Bushmen who owned the land for over 30,000 years and was known by its first explorers as the ‘Land which has never heard the word- Courage’. You can come across only few lodges that allow you the security of exploring the wild travel without having to be tugged under the safety net of a full-blown-four wheel vehicle. But no matter what you do, you always live in the constant knowledge that you are within earshot of several lions and that one might just be lurking beyond your camp.
Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area, Tanzania
Known as the African Eden, Ngorongoro Crater is the most breathtaking and compact national reserve in the world. With millions of birds and animals nesting here and trees whose name nobody knows, it’s a ‘Lost World’ truly found. A single morning packs you up a visit from the ‘Big Five’, elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards and buffaloes. Imagine, waking up in the morning to the sun rays dancing through the leaves and clearing all the mist and haze to reveal an unforgettable sight of so much green, you will lose count of the different shades, and somewhere close by, you hear peacock’s crying. So you know, ‘they’ are watching!
Perinet Reserve, Madagascar
You don’t color the whole island of Madagascar with varied shades of green for nothing! Madagascar is truly and entirely a playground for the wild. 80 percent of Madagascar’s beauty lies in the mysterious ‘Island of the Moon’. Wildlife native to only this place and rainforests of the Indian Ocean marks this island nation with its forever green color. Only after seeing the Giant Indri and hearing the heart-wrenching sirens of the black and white Lemurs, can you say ‘I have seen it all’. And it’s nothing like the comic, fun-land of the animated film ‘Madagascar’. Here, Alex doesn’t hug you, he bites you!
Rick Muller
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