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Water Based Safaris
Africa’s great waterways are lifelines for game, but have also always served as important communication routes for animals and humans alike. Even now water travel remains one of the best ways to reach remote areas, way beyond roads or even rail.
Canoe safaris explore Zambia’s Zambezi and Kafue rivers, either on short half-day trips or longer expeditions lasting several days or more. The craft are two-man Canadian-style canoes, sturdy enough to cope with the river flow. All safaris use the current and slowly travel downstream. On longer trips all the camping equipment and provisions are carried in waterproof drums, with overnights spent on quiet islands and beaches, watching as the region’s game come to the river to drink. These canoe safaris require a certain level of fitness but no previous experience is necessary.
In Botswana a highlight is exploring by mokoro, a traditional poled canoe used since time immemorial by local people, to travel around their watery delta wonderland. To preserve the environment the craft are now generally made out of fibreglass, but the experience is the same; you sit securely in a legless chair in the middle of the canoe, while your guide stands in the back to keep the mokoro gliding along.
Any safari will take to the water if there’s a boat available, as floating vessels provide comfortable, quiet and stable platforms from which to spot birds, animals and sunsets, at their best accompanied by an ice-cold drink. Highlight rivers and lakes in Africa include the Rufiji River in Tanzania, the Rift Valley lakes of Kenya and Tanzania, the Zambezi River which is the natural border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, South Africa’s sub-tropical St Lucia wetlands, the canals of eastern Madagascar and the waterways of the Okavango Delta.
For a touch of adrenaline, whitewater rafting is most famously available below the Victoria Falls, but inflatable Zodiacs also take to the wilder rivers of Kenya and South Africa.
Canoe safaris explore Zambia’s Zambezi and Kafue rivers, either on short half-day trips or longer expeditions lasting several days or more. The craft are two-man Canadian-style canoes, sturdy enough to cope with the river flow. All safaris use the current and slowly travel downstream. On longer trips all the camping equipment and provisions are carried in waterproof drums, with overnights spent on quiet islands and beaches, watching as the region’s game come to the river to drink. These canoe safaris require a certain level of fitness but no previous experience is necessary.
In Botswana a highlight is exploring by mokoro, a traditional poled canoe used since time immemorial by local people, to travel around their watery delta wonderland. To preserve the environment the craft are now generally made out of fibreglass, but the experience is the same; you sit securely in a legless chair in the middle of the canoe, while your guide stands in the back to keep the mokoro gliding along.
Any safari will take to the water if there’s a boat available, as floating vessels provide comfortable, quiet and stable platforms from which to spot birds, animals and sunsets, at their best accompanied by an ice-cold drink. Highlight rivers and lakes in Africa include the Rufiji River in Tanzania, the Rift Valley lakes of Kenya and Tanzania, the Zambezi River which is the natural border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, South Africa’s sub-tropical St Lucia wetlands, the canals of eastern Madagascar and the waterways of the Okavango Delta.
For a touch of adrenaline, whitewater rafting is most famously available below the Victoria Falls, but inflatable Zodiacs also take to the wilder rivers of Kenya and South Africa.