One learns about spoor-marks, identifying game trails and movements that have taken place during the night, and following the tracks of nocturnal creatures. Smaller creatures are given great emphasis, from the dung beetle to the termite that are intrinsically linked and play a vital role in this fragile eco system.
Zambia is the spiritual home to some of the finest African walking safaris, but we also arrange proper walking safaris over several days in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Highlands in northern Tanzania, the Selous and Ruaha and Katavi in southern Tanzania, and in Laikipia and the Maasai Mara in Kenya, with some of the finest walking guides. We also have superb walking in Tsavo. South Africa has some excellent walking safaris in the Limpopo region, which is extremely beautiful but not as game-rich as its other African counterparts.
The season for African walking safaris is June-October, which are the cooler months and therefore more comfortable to walk in. This is the start of winter, when the foliage has fallen from many of the trees and the grasses are short, providing wonderful visibility and making for safer walking.
Walking safaris are never a route march and they can be just for a couple of you, to a family or group of friends, with total exclusivity, with your own private guide and back up vehicles and crew, to joining a set departure in Zambia during the African winter months. Around 6-10 kilometres are covered each day and one can either walk from camp to camp, over perhaps five days, with a maximum of six in a group, to walking for just two days, to perhaps just a single day, from your main lodge. In the evenings, sit around a fire at your camp, looking up at the stars above and chatting to others about the wonders of your magical day in Africa!
Accommodation on African walking safaris can range from fairly rudimentary to pretty luxurious and you can decide what suits you most! Sleep in either a tent with a bedroll on the floor, with a separate bucket shower with lots of hot water and a short-drop loo, or literally a mosquito net covering a bedroll. It may be a pup tent or a permanent structure on stilts made from reed and thatch with open-fronted rooms, to reed-thatched, simple, rustic grass huts with all the comforts one requires. Just let us know which you feel more comfortable sleeping in!
However – nothing quite equals the thrill and adrenaline of being on a walking safari and we recommend it every time, as a stand alone safari or part of a vehicle based safari.