the experience
SAFARI
Countries
Game Drives
%
Firsthand
We’ve slept at every lodge on this page and made every pre-dawn 5:30 am game drive across three countries. Africa got under our skin, and it shows.
We’ll tell you which camps were the trip of a lifetime, which ones surprised us, and exactly what a day in the bush is really like.
start
HERE
Top 7 Safari Destinations:
Pros & Cons Guide
Chalkley Treehouse:
Sleeping in the Bush
Where to Safari
Three countries, grouped by reserve. Each card links to the lodge reviews and destination guides behind it.
safari
TANZANIA
Serengeti
CAMPS WE STAYED AT
Eastern Serengeti, best for big cats
Central Serengeti, all female-run
Ngorongoro Crater
START HERE: Ngorongoro Safari Guide
On the Crater rim, incredible varity of wildlife
Beyond the Bush
Bush + Beach
Most people pair a Tanzania safari with Zanzibar. We chose the Seychelles instead, and loved it.
See our Seychelles itinerary for the beach half of the trip.
Follow Our Route
Our 8-Day Tanzania Safari Itinerary
Day by day through the Eastern Serengeti, Central Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater, with the exact camps we stayed at.
safari
SOUTH AFRICA
Beyond the Bush
PAIR WITH YOUR SAFARI
South Africa isn’t just game drives. Most people add Cape Town and the Winelands.
See my full South Africa guide for things to do, wine, and food.
Follow Our Route
Our 2-Week South Africa Itinerary (+ Vic Falls)
Sabi Sands game drives, Cape Town, the Winelands, and Victoria Falls, plus a day trip into Botswana, and how we sequenced it all.
safari
BOTSWANA
Chobe
We visited Chobe as a day trip during our 2-week South Africa trip, elephants by the hundred on the river.
Plan a Safari
What we learned across three safaris, so your first one goes smoothly.
start
HERE
South Africa Safari
Planning Made Easy
Choosing Your Safari
The big decisions first
On-the-Ground Decisions
The choices nobody prepares you for
Beyond the Game Drives
The adventures we bolted onto our safaris.
Some of these ended up being the stories we tell most.
Victoria Falls
We swam in Devil’s Pool, right on the lip of the world’s largest waterfall, and stayed at the beautiful Stanley & Livingstone in Zimbabwe as our base.
Seychelles
Six days of island hopping between some of the best beaches in the world, plus 100-year old Aldabra giant tortoises wandering free.
Shark Cage Diving
We got in the cage at Gansbaai, one of only a handful of places on earth you can do it. The great whites have largely disappeared from these waters in recent years, so seeing one felt like a gift. Plenty of copper sharks too!
Here are the 10 things to know about shark cage diving.
Boulders Beach Penguins
A colony of African penguins waddling across a Cape Town beach, close enough to photograph without a zoom.
Here are the 6 things to know before a penguin visit.
Cape Winelands
Stellenbosch and Franschhoek estates an hour from Cape Town, world-class wine at a fraction of Napa prices.
Here’s how we planned an amazing South Africa wine country getaway.