Tour Destinations
East African Destinations.
There are a ton of amazing undiscovered locations and hidden adventures in Africa that are just waiting to be found. These are our top choices for undiscovered treasures in East and Southern Africa, based on our in-depth trips around the continent since 1998.
Rubondo Island.
One of Tanzania’s most unusual tourist destinations is Rubondo Island, a secluded and pristine floating jungle on the southwest corner of Lake Victoria. Since no one lives on the island except for a few park wardens and employees of Rubondo Island Lodge, it serves as a crucial haven for chimpanzees, forest elephants, giraffes, and the endangered sitatunga antelope.
Offering guided nature walks, game drives, and lake boat excursions, the camp is the only lodge on the island. Visitors can participate in a conservation team’s initiative to acclimate chimpanzees to humans while they are on Rubondo Island. This one-of-a-kind experience includes a guided walk to follow the chimps, giving you the opportunity to spend up to 30 minutes observing them up close from as close as 15 meters.
Ruaha National Park.
Ruaha National Park is a hidden jewel in southern Tanzania and one of the largest parks in the nation, covering 12,226 square kilometers (7,457 square miles). This unspoiled national park offers some of the best sightings on the continent, despite the fact that only 1% of tourists ever make the effort to visit Tanzania. Around 10,000 elephants, the largest population in East Africa, and a healthy concentration of big cats, including 10% of the world’s lion population, as well as lower numbers of cheetahs and leopards, may be found in Ruaha. Intimate and uncrowded encounters are possible on its less-traveled pathways, and during the dry season, animals are drawn to drink from the Great Ruaha River, which gave the park its name.
Ruaha has fewer lodges than its rivals because to the lower visitor volume, giving you the impression that the entire park is yours. Take a guided walking safari to see Ruaha’s magic on foot, or take a hot air balloon ride for a unique aerial perspective. Ruaha guarantees not to let you down, no matter how you decide to watch it.
Fanjove Private Island.
With its gorgeous scenery of white dunes and palm trees behind pristine waters, the island of Fanjove off the coast of Tanzania nearly looks like a mirage from a distance, but it’s real!
With only six separate apartments, the small private island offers complete privacy and exclusivity. Each suite is carefully positioned within a minute’s walk from the coast, where you may gaze with delight as humpback whales, bottle-nosed dolphins, and spinner dolphins pass by. As the smallest island in the Songo Songo Archipelago, it is ideal for a leisurely barefoot afternoon stroll because you can walk around the entire island in less than an hour.
Mwiba Private Concession.
At Mwiba Private Concession, romanticized portrayals of a safari come to reality. One of the numerous benefits of fleeing to the uncharted regions of Africa is that, despite its ideal location in the southern Serengeti, Mwiba only ever hosts a small number of visitors at a given. Positive days include exciting night safaris, helicopter excursions for aerial views of the enormous Serengeti plains, and cultural walks with the local Hadzebe tribe. You can also take your own guide with you whenever you want to go into the bush in your assigned private safari vehicle.
Slow days enable you to really enjoy your stay at one of the most opulent lodges in the southern Serengeti, where you can see elephants drinking from the nearby Arugusinyai River from the infinity pool. Spend the night fly-camping or retreat to your king-sized bed in one of the opulent tented suites as the day draws to a close.
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.
Leading the way in community-based conservation in northern Kenya is the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, which is a part of the Mount Kenya World Heritage Site. As evidence of this, local communities serve as the first line of defense against poaching, providing park rangers with vital information before any would-be poachers enter the reserve. The Big 5 conservancy boasts a variety of habitats, including forest, acacia woodland, vast natural springs, and fertile grasslands. In addition, Prince William has frequently been spotted in Lewa, sometimes with his wife Kate Middleton. In the north, the snow-capped peak of Mount Kenya is visible.
Mgahinga National Park
Mgahinga National Park is the smallest national park in all of Uganda. It is situated in the Kisoro district in the country’s southwest. Along with a number of other mammal species, it is also home to two rare and endangered species. Originally, the park was established to save the endangered mountain gorillas that call it home. Numerous unhabituated gorillas and only one habituated family the Nyakagezi family, which has only ten members and has seen fluctuations in population over time can be found in its deep forests. A stay at the Gahinga Lodge offers you the ideal base camp for gorilla trekking in Mgahinga, as well as the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the endangered golden monkey, however this cannot be guaranteed. It’s a private encounter in one of the most unusual destinations in East Africa, Uganda, where no more than eight people trek the park each day.
