Where to Go on Safari: The 7 Best Safari Destinations Around the World

When it comes to African safari destinations, for many Kenya is the place most people most think of. After all, it is the original birthplace of safari holidays, with Kenya pioneering them in the 20th century. This is where hit 1985 movie Out of Africa was filmed, starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, and where Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton back in 2010. Need we say more?

These days, it still offers one of the most authentic safari experiences in East Africa and the Masai Mara National Reserve still has one of the continent's most iconic wildlife encounters (featured in our Kenya Classic (Sopa) trip). Arrive between mid-July and mid-September and you'll witness more than a million wildebeest, zebras and other antelopes head from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the lush grasslands of Kenya's Masai Mara - a wildlife phenomenon known as the Great Migration.

But Kenya has plenty more stellar wildlife viewing opportunities up its sleeve, from the lush Chyulu Hills National Park, where you can spot everything from bushbuck to the reticulated giraffe and giant forest hogs, to the sprawling plains of the Samburu National Reserve. There, you not only have the chance to embark on classic game drives but also join a member of the reserve's namesake tribe on bush walks for up-close encounters with wildlife and a unique first-hand understanding of the region's delicate culture.

If sheer variety is what you're after in a safari, then Zimbabwe is your answer. Fancy spying wildlife like leopards, hyenas and baboons among giant rock formations that feel as if you've been transported to the set of Jurassic Park? Check. Matobo National Park is a wild mix of premier rhino tracking opportunities, prehistoric rock art and eye-popping landscapes that make up anything but your ordinary safari.

Or maybe you'd rather scour grasslands in search of one of Africa's largest populations of elephant? You'll find this in Hwange National Park, the largest of its kind in Zimbabwe, where its huge elephant herds are joined with a bounty of wildlife like big cats (cheetah, lions and leopards are all here), endangered wild dogs and more. This national park is great for first-timers, not only because of its wealth of wildlife but also due to its closeness to one of Zimbabwe's natural wonders: the mighty cascade of Victoria Falls.

And when you thought Zimbabwe's diverse range was all used up, you can add yet another twist to your Southern Africa safari in Mana Pools National Park. Its combination of riverine forest, seasonal pools and proximity to the Zambezi River means there are plenty of hippos, crocodiles and aquatic birdlife to spot on canoe and walking safaris, while there are also opportunities to track wild dogs, too.

Like Kenya, Tanzania needs little introduction as one of East Africa's best safari destinations. The national parks that speckle its northern reaches are among its most well-known, including the iconic Serengeti National Park.

If you want to see the Great Migration in its prime, then consider visiting during the dry season months between late June and October. It's a fascinating spectacle well worth seeing but the Serengeti offers quieter corners where you can watch impala, Grevy's zebra, eland, Grant's gazelle and many more.

The UNESCO-protected Ngorongoro Crater is another incredible safari spot in northern Tanzania, where you can expect a feast of wildlife. Slip down the slopes of this extinct caldera, either on a classic game drive or on a bush walk, and explore a land that cradles the Big Five, wildebeest, zebra and much more.

To unwrap some of the country's safari secrets, head to southern Tanzania. There, you can bed down in remote camps in the likes of Nyerere National Park (formerly Selous Game Reserve). This is a wilderness four times the size of the Serengeti yet far from the radars of most travellers, so wildlife moments like spying wild dogs prowling woodland and hippos bathing in its riverine marshlands are yours to savour. Twin Nyerere with Ruaha National Park, whose rocky outcrops and baobab-studded plateaus are alive with ostriches, gazelles and Tanzania's largest African elephant population.

Zambia is the home of walking safaris. Its national parks are both wild and remote, combining vast bush, wetlands and rugged hills with luxurious lodges and wilderness camping that puts you at the heart of the action.

Our top choice for a safari in Zambia would be South Luangwa National Park, the original home of Zambia's walking safaris, and nothing can beat that raw feeling of exploring the African bush on foot, coming nose-to-snout with big game species like buffalo, hippo and elephant, as well as spying over 400 species of bird.

For a completely different side to your safari experience, many luxury lodges and camps line the riverbank in Lower Zambezi National Park, where canoe safaris have you paddling a riverine wilderness filled with wild dogs, elephants, buffalos and more.

Home to a wealth of luxury lodges and camps that overlook eye-popping natural drama, Botswana is well set up for some of southern Africa's most memorable safaris. The Okavango Delta is the star attraction, a wild web of watery channels best explored on canoe safaris that weave past papyrus reeds, lush floodplains and emerald-coated forests. At its heart, the Moremi Game Reserve harbours the Big Five, impala, cheetah and around 500 species of bird, from coppery-tailed coucals to malachite kingfishers.

For something different, boat safaris that ford the delta's marshland and lagoons cough up sightings of elephants and crocodiles, while walking safaris in areas of the Okavango Delta like the Gomoti Plains have you tracking down hippos, lions and rhinos on foot. Elsewhere, Chobe National Park can lay claim to Africa's highest density of game, with its 120,000 or so elephants being the star draw. About the same size as Northern Ireland, game drives in Chobe will bring you close to predators like jackals, hyenas, leopards and more.

With over a fifth of the country designated wildlife reserves, Uganda is one of Africa's wildest destinations for an African safari. Winston Churchill hit the nail on the head in his book My African Journey, where he described Uganda as the 'Pearl of Africa'. Uganda may be small (by African standards) but it remarkably boasts 10 national parks that cram in wetlands, forests, mist-wrapped mountains and more than 1,000 species of bird (over 10% of the world's entire species).

It's not all about quantity, either, with the country boasting unique wildlife experiences you can't witness anywhere else. It's in the emerald-covered hills of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest where walking safaris allow you to meet its famed mountain gorillas – there are very few places in the world where you can do gorilla trekking and Uganda is one of the best places to do it.

For more special wildlife viewing, make a beeline for Queen Elizabeth National Park, where game drives will have you on the lookout for a wildlife species list as long as your arm, with the likes of hyena, hippo, buffalo and leopard all patrolling this wilderness. But it's the park's tree-climbing lions that are rightly its star attraction, partly because it's the only place in Uganda you can see these unique big cats. If your game drives take you to the park's eastern corner you'll also have the chance of spotting chimpanzees, while boat safaris are a great platform for spying the rich birdlife here, like squacco herons and pied kingfishers. Elsewhere Kibble National Park is a fine spot for seeing primates, while Murchison Falls National Park combines excellent river cruises with sightings of Nile crocodiles. Uganda is the safari gift that keeps on giving.