African Safari Photography Best Five Destinations

This best five African wildlife destinations list helps you do so.

As soon as you have been planning on wildlife photography safaris in Africa for quite a few years, you start to realise and recognise that specific areas are better than others for generating good animal film opportunities consistently.

The ranking is based on over twenty decades of my safari photography experience, forums, countless trip reports and travel books, travel magazines and prevailing wisdom from the Africa travel market.

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1. Serengeti NP - Tanzania

Among the best safari parks in Africa bar none, the Serengeti is a safari photography dream destination.

The wildlife viewing on a photographic safari here often borders on the stunning aided by the fact that the plant is mainly grassland which makes spotting animals from a distance substantially simpler and provides fewer obstacles like trees and shrubs to obscure your topics.

The grassland is also able to sustain plenty of herbivores like wildebeest, zebra and gazelle, which then sustains a large population of predators to feed them. Hence, it is no surprise that the Serengeti is frequently known as "large cat central". In the Masaai speech, Serengeti means "endless plain" that is quite close to reality.

Two extraordinary events happen here that make it a much more remarkable place to take a Tanzania safari. The yearly wildebeest migration, along with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of wildebeest foals.

The migration occurs as the massive herds of around a million people start their search for improved grazing by proceeding north. The precise timing is dependant on the seasonal storms however they travel around the Serengeti en masse roughly between April and August.

Back in February - March, months before they begin their epic journey, the wildebeest give birth within a six-week interval to hundreds of thousands of walkers, using the candy grazing available from the Serengeti at the time. All of them foal at the same time to make a glut of prey chances to the predators that make complete use of the bonanza while they could.

And so can you with some outstanding image opportunities in the offing.

2. Masai Mara Reserve - Kenya

This is one of those areas where your camera will start steaming from overuse, especially if you are after big cat pictures.

Along with the Serengeti in Tanzania, this is certainly the greatest game viewing destination in Africa due to the quality and amount of wildlife sightings and safari photography opportunities to be found here.

This sometimes works against it because at certain places it can be overrun with photographers and tourist in safari vehicles all jostling for the best position around a bemused lion pride or leopard in a tree.

But if predators are everything you seek from a safari photography excursion, then this book will deliver them in spades in the kind of lion, cheetah, hyena as well as routine leopard sightings if you know the right areas.

Taking a hot air balloon ride over the plains will provide a unique perspective for your safari photography attempts and of course, a wonderful experience.

3. Kruger NP - South Africa

The Kruger National Park has to rank as one of the finest South Africa safari photography destinations, just marginally behind the Masai Mara and Serengeti when it comes to wildlife viewing because the plant in Kruger can be compact and sometimes mars the ability to see longer distances and capture clear wildlife images.

But the variety of animals, birds and ecosystems that you can experience here are unparalleled anywhere else in Africa, and the lodging, roads and amenities are top-notch and at a really reasonable price.

It's not strange to see leopard, lion, cheetah, a bunch of wild dogs, rhino, elephant, buffalo and a whole host of antelope, crocodile and hippo in the course of a single trip including many different reptiles and insects.

On the bird front, you will be spoiled with a seemingly never-ending supply of eagles, hawks, water birds and a host of migratory and native species into the tune of roughly 510 distinct varieties.

It is simple to do a self-drive safari photography vacation here and still see a decent amount of wildlife particularly if you stick to the central and southern portions of the huge park (larger than Ireland). The north has fewer animals because of drier conditions but also fewer tourists who make for a more isolated and intimate wildlife experience.

4. Okavango Delta and Moremi GR - Botswana

The Okavango Delta must qualify as the most special and varied metro area in Africa. Also, photos of the landscape below are nearly as prized as the wildlife images themselves.

The delta lies in the North of Botswana, and it consists of water channels lined with papyrus, floodplains covered knee-deep in water, hippo filled lagoons, forest glades and savannah grassland.

You can go on exceptional Xmas photography expeditions here on foot, using a 4x4 vehicle, a mokoro (dug-out canoe) or a motorised boat.

This treasure trove of accessible prey attracts the predators too, and lion, leopard, cheetah and wild dog thrive here. The dry season is the best for game viewing because the creatures are attracted to permanent water sources.

Even the Moremi game reserve comprises strictly regulated, independently operated concessions and it falls inside the Okavango delta area and has no fences which leave the creatures free to roam about as they please.

There are several upmarket Botswana safari lodges in Moremi like the Vumbura concession which contains both wetland and savannah regions for the very best of both worlds.

The Delta is at its most impressive in August when the water is in its deepest, and the majority of the young are born between November and March when the vegetation is lush and dense so it might be a good idea to plan any Botswana safari photography trips to coincide with those events.

5. South and North Luangwa NP - Zambia

Some specialists have branded the Luangwa National Park as one of the greatest wildlife sanctuaries in the world since the density of sport you can find here mixed with all the isolation and pure unadulterated wildness of it's almost without compare.

As it is reasonably undiscovered except for the locals in the know and a select few foreign visitors, it has not been overrun by masses of tourists nonetheless, and you can experience a safari photography holiday here as it should be. Some say that is the best Africa has to offer.

There are more than 60 species of animal here with the unfortunate exception of rhino since they were poached into extinction along with more than 400 distinct types of birds.

All of them rely on and are attracted to the winding Luangwa River, which is packed with some of the greatest concentrations of hippo and crocodile you'll see everywhere in Africa.

The South Luangwa was the birthplace of the walking safari, and it is still a highly popular method to explore the region by a quality set of safari lodges and camps. Night drives are another superb way to determine leopard that is reputed to be regularly seen in this park than anyplace else in Africa because of the high levels of the predator. Lions and even rare sightings like the honey badger, civet and puppy are likely to be seen.

To take the authentic Zambia safari photography experience a step farther, the northern Luangwa area is even more remote, isolated and wild than the south-east and the bird and wildlife viewing experience is from the top draw. Certainly one for the safari cognoscenti.