Best Wildlife Safaris 2

Wildlife safari: Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana
This game park covers about one third of the Okavango Delta, with habitats ranging from woodland through floodplains and swamps to lagoons.
Travel is usually by small boat and all the usual big animals are present. Moremi is an excellent location for viewing migratory birds too, (Birds November -March). But it's costly! Best July-October. (tho'near freezing at night).

The 4,000sq mile Chobe National Park is also famous for massive herds of elephant.

Marine wildlife: Ningaloo Reef and Shark Bay, NW Australia
Swim and snorkel with whalesharks, bottle-nosed dolphins, manta rays, humpback whales, and dugongs. It's OK all year round but best in April/early May. See the Australia map.

Wet wildlife in the Pantanal, Brazil, South America
A huge swamp swarming with animals, especially birds ranging from emus to macaws, plus monster snakes, crocs, iguanas, some jaguars, anteaters. It's better than the Amazon for wildlife sightings.
Safari by truck, foot, small boat, or horseback. Primitive accommodation.

The Amazon is not included here because it's density makes travel and animal viewing difficult, though the general ambience is gripping.

Best April-September. Avoid November-March (endless rain , humidity and heat). See the Brazil map.

Orangutan (orang-utan) in Kabili Sepilok Forest Reserve (a part of Borneo island), Malaysia. Not easy to reach so don't hurry and stay in the area a few days, ideally somewhere within walking distance of the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve (such as Sepilok Nature Resort) so you can take wildlife walks or watch feeding time for the semi-wild orange beasties in the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, though that can get extremely crowded, with 100-200 visitors.

Best July-October. See Malaysia map or pictures.

Also Tanjung Puting National Park in Indonesia's Kalimantan (2/3 of Borneo) is excellent for orangutan safaris. More about orangutan.

Polar wildlife, Arctic: Churchill, Hudson Bay, Northern Canada.
Excellent arctic animal scenes - polar bears, caribou, wolves, huge number and diversity of whales (especially beluga) and seabirds. It's also great place to observe Aurora Borealis (Northern lights).

For observing polar bears Churchill is best in October/November, otherwise March - November. Avoid the rest (dark, cold and horizontallly moving snow).

See the Arctic map, Canada map or Canada tours.

Scuba: The world's best dive sites for quantity and colour of marine wildlife are arguably:

1) Sipadan island, off Sabah (Borneo island), Malaysia. The oldest reef community in the world, with incredibly rich ocean life - huge schools of jacks, barracuda, hammerhead sharks, whale sharks, turtles and another 2,000 species of fish.

A moderate and tolerant Muslim community is discreetly 'protected' by well equipped Special Forces troops, as are all Malaysian resorts.
Get to the dive base of Tawau via Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. And go for an Orang-utan walk when you've had enough diving.

2) Belize, Central America, with the world's second largest barrier reef, few divers and less pollution.

3) The Red Sea, Egypt. Classic clear, warm seas packed with all kinds of marine life in a coral encrusted world. See Egypt map or Egypt tours.

4) Papua New Guinea, lots of great wreck dives as well as all the usual fishies and coral. See PNG map or PNG pictures.

5) Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Swimming with iguanas, penguins and seals makes a change. See Galapagos pictures, map or tours.

6) Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Somewhat over-dived and over-used, but BIG. How long can it survive? See the Australia map.

7) Maldives Islands, tough to get to, seriously expensive and strong currents but famously good sights, especially the manta rays. Maldives Dive Pictures.

8) Excellent Caribbean Diving at Bonaire, Cayman Islands, Tobago, Curaçao, Turks and Caicos, Florida Keys, Cozumel (Mexico). See Caribbean Map and Caribbean Best Budget Islands.

Polar wildlife, Antarctic: and South Georgia cruises.
Around 2 rough days from Ushuiaia (Argentina) or Punta Arenas (Chile). Or about a week sailing from Hobart (Tasmania, Australia) or Lyttelton (New Zealand).

Also possibly from South Shetlands and the Falklands. Some Antarctic safaris go to South Georgia island (just outside the Antarctic circle) rather than the continent of Antarctica - which is 1,000 miles to the south. There's a huge concentration of polar wildlife in the frozen blue valleys of South Georgia - 2 million fur seals, 5 million penguins, elephant seals, royal albatross. Plus whales and dolphins but no polar bears.

Best December-January. OK November, February, March. See the Antarctic map, or Antarctic tours.

Dolphins: Bimini island, Bahamas, Caribbean.
Just 50 miles off the Florida coast and only 7 miles long, Bimini has aquired a reputation as a place to swim with wild spotted dolphins that have taken up residence about an hour offshore. 80% success rate.

Best May-July but winter with wetsuits is OK.

Big Game safari, on foot: South Luangwa National Park, Zambia.
A huge country with 18 massive game parks and wide variety of animals, but underdeveloped as yet.
The South Luangwa National Park specialises in walking safaris where you see animals and events that would be impossible from a 4WD, but also the big five - elephants, lions, etc. and lots of birds. Not a lot of cultural activities available.

Also Kafue National Park. Take $ cash for spending. Best October, good July - September. and June for bird watching. Avoid November - April (rains)

Chimpanzees: Uganda, Kibale Forest National Park and Budongo Forest or Tanzania, Gombe Stream NP and Mahale Mountains NP for chimpanzee tracking. Best June - September. Avoid March-May, October, November.

Encounters Travel is a small-group adventure tour operator offering lively, good value India Tours, such as Indian Express's highlights, Indian Spice including Amritsar and Dharamsala, Temples and Palaces including Varanasi and Khajuraho and the amazing Rajasthan Explorer!

Tiger safari: Kanha National Park, India.
The setting for Kipling's 'Jungle Book', this 750 sq. mile park is your best chance to see a tiger in the wild, though the chance is small. However, the elephant back safaris are fun and apart from looking for tigers, also chance upon leopards, rhinoceros, jackals, bison, boar, sambar deer and monkeys by the barrel load.

Open November-June, but best February - April. See India map.

Rhinos and tigers: Royal Chitwan Park, Nepal.
Pleasant elephant back expeditions in search of big cats, but it's very rare to see one. Rhinos, on the other hand, are definitely visible.

Best November-April. See Nepal map.

Runners up: Babine River, British Columbia, Canada (grizzly bears fishing for salmon, July-August); Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe (big game, self-drive safaris July-October); Christmas Island, Indian Ocean (120 million crabs migrate in November; Komodo, Indonesia (Komodo dragons, May-June, October); Michoacan, Mexico ( millions of monarch butterflies hang out in the forests, November - February); Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia ( 3 million bats leave the Deer Cave every evening); Hortobagy National Park, Hungary ( skies fill with common cranes in early October).

Wildlife Safari I

Best Wildlife by month

January | February | March | April | May | June

July | August | September | October | November | December

Wildlife Safari Pictures

• Costa Rica

• Galapagos, Ecuador

• Kruger, South Africa Self Drive.

• Canada Polar Bears Safari, from Churchill.

• Alaska Wildlife especially bears.

• Namibia, Etosha Self Drive.

• Tanzania Wildlife Safaris

• Madagascar Berenty, Lemurs and Chameleons.

• Australia

• East Africa, Kenya, Masai Mara.

• Gorilla Trekking, Zaire, Virunga National Park.