best of adventure africa
best wildlife walk
Naukluft
Hiking
Trail
Namib Naukluft
Park, Namibia
Seize a rare
opportunity to
hike unguided
through biggame country.
Want to see wildlife, don’t want a guide? You’ll love this DIY game walk on the 75-mile
Naukluft Trail—Africa’s reputed toughest trek—where white rhinoceroses, leopards,
budget
hyenas, snakes, and scorpions will keep you on your toes. With your group (three-person
pick
minimum), kick off this eight-day thru-hike from the Naukluft Rest Camp. After a short
safety briefing, follow ankle-twisting game paths 8.7 miles along a dry riverbed. On your
way, spy chartreuse rosy-faced lovebirds darting through the prickly, yellow-budded
acacia canopy and listen for the clatter of zebra and antelope hooves. From the Putte
shelter, knock off 9.3 miles down a cable-lined, boulder-strewn canyon and across a ravine, home to
zebras and gemsboks, to the Ubisis cottage. Next day, cruise 7.5 miles out of the canyon and across a
dry plateau (home to zebra and kudu) to the Alderhorst shelter. Then, follow the Tsams River 10.6 miles
as it snakes through a dolomite-walled valley lined with fig trees, where rowdy baboons holler. Continue
past a 260-foot-high, often-dry waterfall and through an open grassland (look for rhinos, but keep a safe
distance) to the halfway point, Tams Oos shelter (mile 36), where you can leave yourself a food cache
ahead of time. Day five, knock off 10.6 miles through quiver trees and past klipspringer herds to the Die
Valle shelter at the foot of a 330-foot waterfall frequented by a noisy troop of baboons. Next day, kick
off a 10-mile section with a 650-foot climb—take a dip in one of three
pools overlooking the cascade to cool off—and then follow a pink quartz
gorge to the Tufa shelter. Complete the 8.7-mile section to the Kapokvlakte
shelter the following day via a climb up a chain-lined dry waterfall course
Season Trail is open March
(smothered in a web of roots) and a traverse across an acacia-dotted
to third week in October; late
plateau, home to oryx, springbox, and zebras. The path follows the edge of
August through September
an escarpment 2,000 feet above the Tsondab River to the hut (listen for
for peak wildflowers.
leopard howls and hyena laughs at night). To complete the Naukluft, hike
Permit Required; about $40
10 miles, descending to the valley floor and following the sandy shores of
Contact Namibia Wildlife
the Naukluft River.
Resorts (nwr.com.na)
Light on his feet: These
15,000-pound mammals can
reach 11 mph.
best camping with big-five animals
Miriakamba Hut Circular Trail,
Tanzania
Wander through three
habitats in just 9 miles on
budget
this guided, bush-camping
overnight through Arusha
pick
National Park. You’ll trek 6.2
miles across a savannah
(home to giraffes, zebras,
buffaloes, dik-diks, and antelopes). Dive into
a forest alive with red-hot pokers and drapes
of Spanish moss, looking out for warthogs,
bushbucks, baboons, black-and-white colobus monkeys, and sykes monkeys. If you’re
lucky, you may spot elephants, leopards, and
hyenas in the rainforest. To bag the ashy Mt.
Meru summit (14,977 feet)—and moorland
and alpine desert habitats—try the 20.5-mile
Mt. Meru Summit Trail. Guide (required) Wild
Frontiers (from $150; wildfrontiers.com)
Makuya Hiking Trail, South Africa
You: want big-five wildlife sightings outside a car tour. Your hike: beyond the Kruger
National Park boundary on this 23-mile
trip (around four days), ideal for fit and
intrepid hikers. From the ridge-top Singo
Safari Lodge trailhead, you’ll follow your
gun-toting guide down the rocky path to follow the sluggish Luvuvhu, bush-camping by
the river. Crocodiles, elephants, waterbucks,
and African rock pythons lurk in the Luvuvhu
gorge, and the woody mopani and bushwillow shrubs are alive with lilac-breasted
rollers, red-billed firefinches, yellow masked
weavers, and scarlet-chested sunbirds. Spy
spiral-horned nyalas, lions, and leopards
grazing in the plains en route to Mutale Falls
Safari Camp (mile 23). Guide (required)
Great Limpopo Wilderness Camps &
Trails ($640; dolimpopo.com)
Use these 4 tips
to improve your
wildlife photos.
1. Increase shutter speed to
freeze animals in motion by
boosting ISO and opening
your aperture. Use a tripod
when the shutter speed
matches the focal length
(1/500 second is fast, but
not fast enough with a 500mm lens).
2.Focus on the animal’s eye.
3.Shoot away. If the animal lifts
its head to identify the shutter
noise, that’s your money shot.
4. No one likes butt shots.
Photo by paul morris
best habitat diversity
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