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Welcome to Royal African Safaris
This edition of the Royal African Safaris book takes us on a journey from
the early expeditions and adventures of the past to the magnificence and
beauty of Africa today.
For those serious about exploring the world, Africa remains arguably
the most important of all life’s adventures. It is an enormous continent,
spanning the tropics, the equator and over 50 independent countries.
We focus on the areas of greatest natural beauty, areas that allow us to
rekindle that sense of wonder, romance and mystery that brought Africa
to the world’s attention all those years ago.
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The secret to a great safari begins with meticulous and highly personalised
planning by people who have devoted their lives to this way of life. It
should be authentic, immersive and fun, for only then can it produce
memories that will last a lifetime.
Above all as a truly word-of-mouth based organisation, we understand
that we are only as good as our last safari and each one requires our full
attention.
We look forward to sharing our home with you.
Peter Silvester
CEO Royal African Safaris
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The Safari Story
Nothing but breathing the air of Africa, and actually walking through it, can communicate
the indescribable sensations which every traveller of feeling will experience
William Burchell, Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa
Africa has always been the ultimate voyage of discovery. Ever since the first missionaries and explorers beat a path into its ‘dark’ interior in the
early 19th century, the African safari has invited comparisons to a ship putting to sea – a solitary expedition plunging into an ocean of nature, a
journey of distant horizons and ever-changing lands, of exotic cultures and fantastic creatures, of continual personal discoveries.
The methods may have changed, the ox wagons given way to luxury four-wheel-drive vehicles, the long lines of porters to professional crews
and highly skilled chefs. But one aspect of the African safari that will never change is its inimitable ability to free one’s spirit – to touch an innate,
primordial yearning that the modern world has yet to prise from our being. Here, in the cradle of mankind, we are uplifted, enriched, reborn.
Of course, it is so much easier now. When the first explorers struck out into the southern African hinterland in the early 1800s, there was little of
the reassurance that modern knowledge and technology can provide. The first true safari into the interior was probably the expedition mounted
by the botanist William Burchell from Cape Town in 1811. In a sense, this expedition pioneered every aspect of the modern safari: the specially
reinforced ox wagons Burchell constructed for the trip, the extensive planning and purchasing of provisions, and – his ‘most difficult problem’
– the recruiting of reliable guides. Although he failed in his primary goal of discovering the unicorn, Burchell did bring home 40,000 botanical
specimens and four ‘new’ animal species.
While Burchell’s four-year expedition was undoubtedly the most epic and revealing of his day, the distinction of undertaking the first African
safari is usually credited to a better-known British adventurer, William Cornwallis Harris. Inspired by Burchell’s diaries, Harris arrived in Cape
Town in 1836, ostensibly on sick-leave from the army in India but keen to lead a hunting expedition into uncharted African territory. His main
aim: to hunt a giraffe, and ‘to discover something new’.
Harris’s was indisputably the first large-scale safari, with everything from dried fish and cheeses to spare wagon wheels, bullet moulds, and the
all-important ‘barter goods’ – beads, snuff and copper wire – to buy safe passage through the notorious Zulu lands. He was also the first to
encounter several common safari problems. Before the expedition departed, he had to send out a party to round up his Hottentot guides from
the gin shops; when they eventually left, one of them crashed his wagon into a house while driving out of town.
I was told beforehand that you were the best in the business and I shall
gladly tell others this on the basis of personal experience
Dr. Richard Leakey
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Reading about Harris’s safari, one is struck by the similarity to today’s routines: rising at dawn with strong tea, riding hard
all day, an evening feast and then a drink by the fire. There were also setbacks that today’s safaris rarely encounter: in
Matabele land, Harris had to give a Zulu king his boots and tent for permission to cross his land. After an epic fivemonth journey, Harris returned with 70 fewer oxen but two heads of every quadruped in southern Africa – an instant
sensation when they arrived in London.
The name most commonly associated with the ‘opening up’ of Africa is that of Dr. David Livingstone, who,
although not necessarily the most successful missionary, pioneered a route across the continent that shed a great
deal of light upon its fabled ‘darkness’. As well as saving souls, Livingstone also became something of a pioneering
conservationist, ‘discovering’ two new antelope species in the Okavango Delta and issuing prophetic warnings
about the demise of the elephant.
East Africa, meanwhile, remained a blank space on the map until 1848, when the German missionaries Dr. Ludwig
Krapf and Johann Rebmann became the first Europeans to set eyes on the summits of Mounts Kenya and Kilimanjaro. Their
reports inspired the great journeys of Burton, Speke, Grant and Thomson, whose epic walk to Lake Victoria in turn inspired Count Samuel Teleki
to lead his famous but nearly fatal expedition to Lake Turkana in 1888. By the turn of the century, the adventurers were pouring into Mombasa
– and the Swahili term ‘safari’ had become a guaranteed page-turner in the West.
There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness,
that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy, and its charm
Theodore Roosevelt, African Game Trails
Although many Europeans who returned from Africa in the 19th century became famous simply because of their journeys, the first eminent
personality to go on safari was probably Lord Randolph Churchill, former leader of the British Conservative Party. With his political career in ruins,
Churchill hoped to rebuild his reputation by recounting through the newspapers his daring exploits in the African bush. Although it is debatable
whether this vanity won over his Boer hosts, his trip undoubtedly helped to launch the African safari onto the world’s fledgling tourism stage.
Churchill’s safari was an even grander affair than Harris’s, with eight wagons attended by numerous grooms, cooks and servants, plus an excessive
array of luxury items, including tinned meats, the obligatory champagne, and – to the delight of his detractors – a piano. His safari also fired the
imagination of his young son, Winston, an avid fan of H. Rider Haggard’s classic novels, who would himself undertake an East African safari as
Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1907.
Haggard, however, could claim a greater influence in the ‘safari to end all safaris’ – the epic East African hunting expedition of former United
States president Theodore Roosevelt. Groomed on Haggard’s Allan Quartermain and Livingstone’s Missionary Travels, Roosevelt had always
had a keen enthusiasm for wild places; while in office, he founded over 50 wildlife refuges, expanded America’s parks and forests, and organised
numerous conservation conferences. In early 1909, he turned down a third presidential campaign so he could do a safari while still, at 51,
relatively young.
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Roosevelt’s safari epitomised everything that has come to be expected of a first-class
African safari. Wanting the adventure of an already adventurous lifetime, he planned the
trip with meticulous care, enlisting the advice of the great African adventurer, Frederick
Selous, and employing East Africa’s first professional hunter, R.J. Cuninghame. His
safari involved over 500 porters, numerous wagons and 64 tents – eight for the guests,
50 for the porters, and six for the horses.
Today, Roosevelt’s safari is still celebrated as the largest and grandest of all time. The
procession of porters, gun-bearers, trackers, servants, cooks, skinners and ‘tent boys’
stretched over a mile, led by the Stars and Stripes, a drummer and trumpeter, and a ‘safari jester’ – often employed on the larger safaris to maintain
morale. As well as hundreds of animal traps and 60 barrels of salt for curing skins, Roosevelt brought a host of edible luxuries, including his
beloved Boston baked beans, and a large library of classics bound in pigskin to withstand the bush. He wined, dined and hunted with some of
the great East African pioneers, including Lord Cranworth, Sir Alfred Pease (who built a hunting lodge specially for his visit), Lord Thomas
Delamere, Berkeley Cole, J.A. Hunter, Philip Percival and Bill Judd. His safari through Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Egypt also had the distinction
of being the costliest of all time – over US $1 million in present-day currency. But ultimately it was judged a roaring success; despite being
criticised for occasionally excessive shooting, Roosevelt did more than any man before him to popularise the African safari. His account of the
adventure, African Game Trails, was declared ‘Book of the Year’ by New York’s Herald Tribune.
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It is a world, and a life, from which one comes
back changed. Long afterwards, gazelles still
galloped through my dreams, or stood gazing at
me out of their soft and watchful eyes, and as I
returned each daybreak, unbelieving, to my familiar
room, I realised increasingly that this world would
never be the same for having visited that one
Evelyn Ames, A Glimpse of Eden
As the safari trade gained a foothold in Nairobi,
an increasing number of white farmers and ivory
hunters turned to guiding for a living. Boosted by
the arrival of the first ‘safari vehicles’ – Napiers,
Dodges and Model T Fords – the African safari
slowly became a more refined and comfortable
affair. One of the earliest grand safaris was conducted in 1910 for the Duke and Duchess
of Connaught, who hunted elephant and lion with Philip Percival and Jack Riddell. As well
as 350 porters, the party included a lady-in-waiting for the Duchess and an equerry from
the Scots Guards. The cuisine too was truly royal, with seven-course dinners (one menu
featured buffalo tail soup, fish, mutton cutlets, roast guinea fowl, and giraffe marrow-bones)
served on china and glass. The East African Standard described it as ‘a simple camp life’.
And so the stage was set for the distinguished royal guest, Edward Prince of Wales, who
visited Kenya with his younger brother, the Duke of Gloucester, in 1928. Although Edward
was the second future English king to visit Africa – the Duke of York, later George VI, came
on safari in 1924 – his safari is better remembered for its glamour and gossip, not least
because of the Prince’s insatiable appetite for other men’s wives.
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The future Edward VIII was taken on safari twice by Denys Finch-Hatton, later immortalised by his lover
Karen Blixen in the book Out of Africa. The two men became firm friends, and the Prince would later lend
strong support to Finch-Hatton’s campaign to protect East Africa’s game from overshooting. Prince Edward
was himself a fine shot and a keen photographer, and his close shaves with charging elephants and rhinos
came to occupy a special place in local lore.
But it was in the clubs and bars of Nairobi that the real stories were born. With both the Prince and his brother
pursuing the amorous attentions of several, usually married local ladies (they both famously had affairs with
the aviatrix Beryl Markham), the strong demands on a guide became stronger still. Finch-Hatton, celebrated
as a stylish safari organiser, a solid hunter and a refined intellectual, had to add the quality of diplomacy to
his repertoire – learning to place the Prince’s tent away from the rest of the party, so that he could share a
‘personal campfire’ with the lady accompanying him.
Prince Edward’s safaris were credited with pioneering a new kind of game shooting – safari photography.
During his second safari in 1930, the Prince filmed a Maasai lion hunt and the huge elephant and rhino herds
in Tsavo. He also bet Finch-Hatton that he and Ray Hewlett could not ‘stick a picture of my father on the
backside of a rhino’. The pair duly complied, sneaking up on a sleeping rhino and sticking a stamp bearing
the image of King George on each buttock. The rhino did not budge.
All I wanted to do now was get back to Africa.
We had not left it yet, but when I would wake in the
night I would lie, listening, homesick for it already
Ernest Hemingway, Green Hills of Africa
The Queen would probably not be amused. But then she would have had to admire the feat,
having encountered many rhinos herself while on safari in 1952. Indeed, it was on safari in the
Aberdare Mountains that Princess Elizabeth became Queen, after receiving the sad news that her
father, King George VI, had died.
The African safari finally entered mainstream travel lore in the 1940s and 50s, gilded with the romance and adventure that Hollywood derived
from the fabled works of H. Rider Haggard and Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway’s Kenyan safari in 1933 became the subject of the first of his
many African epics, Green Hills of Africa. This was soon followed by The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,
whose central character (later played by Gregory Peck) was said to have been inspired by the hunter Philip Percival. Percival had that rare mixture
of manners and courage, skill and restraint in the field, wit and knowledge around the campfire, that still sets the standard for today’s guides.
Hemingway once described him as ‘the finest man I know’.
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Finch-Hatton had the thankless role of bear-leader. His was the
responsibility for lions, elephants and rhinoceroses, for quaker oats,
cartridges and candles. At last, his charges took off their solar topees
to him and said that he was the most efficient man in the world
Patrick Chalmers, Sport and Travel in East Africa,
compiled from the private diaries of HRH the Prince of Wales
After leading an expedition of 400 British pioneers into Mashonaland for Cecil Rhodes in the 1890s, Selous moved to East Africa, where he
quickly gained a reputation as the consummate hunter-naturalist. In 1903, he spent several days with President Roosevelt at the White House,
where his animated tales of stampeding elephants and charging lions enthralled the Roosevelt children and provided the inspiration for the
president’s own epic journey six years later. Selous’ writings on African wildlife became the reference books of their time, and he did much to
break down the racist leanings of white society with his glowing accounts of the Bushmen’s intuitive bushcraft.
If Selous was the toughest and most respected of the early hunter-guides, his example was refined by the man who – thanks in no small part
to Hollywood – remains the best-known of the 20th century’s guides. While he made no claim to being a great hunter, Denys Finch-Hatton
possessed and came to epitomise that special blend of qualities that have become de rigeur for today’s top guides: resilience and courage,
knowledge and insight, conscience and charm.
Finch-Hatton was a true pioneer in the art of safari guiding. As well as possessing a great
knowledge of the land and a deep respect for the Maasai people, he was also in many ways the
founder of the luxury safari – considering fine wines, crystal glasses, Shakespeare and Mozart as
indispensable to life in the bush as spare tyres for his Dodge. For long safaris, he usually took
two Chevrolet trucks, loaded with fresh laundry, eight-foot high tents, and wood-burning
stoves for his showers. Finch-Hatton’s reputation was sealed when the Prince of Wales chose
him to guide his East African safaris in 1928 and 1930.
The other area in which Finch-Hatton was ahead of his time was in
his conservationist sensibilities, which early on helped him identify
the risks of the East African boom in sport hunting. His famous
letters to The Times in 1929 helped to expose the ‘orgy of slaughter’
being perpetrated by lion hunters in northern Tanzania, and raised
conservation issues that resonate to this day. With the Prince of
Wales’ support, Finch-Hatton’s appeals took the issue to the House
of Lords, which eventually resulted in the protection of the Serengeti
as a game reserve.
It is not easy to pinpoint the first safari guide. The likes of Burchell, Harris and Livingstone would certainly not have ‘conquered’ the continent
– let alone lived to write their memoirs – were it not for the indefatigable Bushmen and Hottentots who accompanied, advised, hunted and
translated for them.
If one canvassed the opinion of modern-day guides as to who had the most influence on the essence and the art of guiding, the award would
very likely go to Frederick Courtenay Selous. Widely recognised as the greatest outdoorsman of the late 19th century – and almost certainly the
original inspiration for Allan Quartermain – Selous began his African career like many others as an elephant hunter. By the time he took his first
three clients lion-hunting in Mashonaland in 1887, Selous had been knocked off his horse by an elephant, trodden on by a buffalo, chased by a
leopard, and injured by several bursting rifles. Like many of his fellow hunters, he had also developed a deep respect and affection for the animals
he hunted, setting a standard for all the hunters who came after him.
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After independence swept through eastern and southern Africa in
the 1960s, many of the top hunters continued the profession, or
began to make the transition to photographic safaris. Their names
still evoke an Africa that seems somehow younger and wilder: Glen
Cottar, Reggie Destro, Bunny Allen, Donald Ker, Terry Mathews.
Most had grown up here, helping on their fathers’ cattle ranches,
chasing antelope on horseback, shooting cattle-raiding lions. A few
had already been here for two generations, like Glen Cottar, whose grandfather was the first professional American hunter and who went on
safari with his father at the age of four and took out his own clients at 15. In 1968, he set up a hunting company in Tanzania with Reggie Destro,
another well-loved ‘gentleman hunter’.
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The late George Adamson is a classic example. Although known primarily for his work with lions, ‘Bwana Game’ actually made several epic
expeditions to northern Kenya, while walking hundreds of miles through some of the harshest terrain on earth. In 1934, while looking for the
legendary Queen of Sheba’s Mines, Adamson and his best friend became the first men to cross Lake Turkana, in a boat constructed of acacia
branches and a canvas groundsheet. It was another epic voyage of discovery; as Adamson wrote in his autobiography 50 years later, it changed
his life forever.
It was an odd coincidence that I had spent the whole
of my early manhood, until this safari, looking for a
livelihood among the choices offered by 20th century
colonial society; but from now on, I abandoned the
search and adopted the life of man’s ancestors
The joy of hot showers, rinsing away the dust
of a hundred miles, brought an unequalled sense
of luxury, followed by chilled champagne at
sundown around the campfire, the prelude to
dining under the stars
Errol Trzebinski, describing the 1928 safari of the Duke of Gloucester
and Beryl Markham, The Lives of Beryl Markham
Like many of his compatriots, Destro was highly regarded by the discerning royal families who flocked to East Africa in the 1960s and 70s. With
clients such as King Juan Carlos of Spain and Prince Sadrudin Aga Khan, he was one of the first hunters to convert to photographic safaris, and
is credited with pioneering mobile safaris in the Maasai Mara. Like Percival and Hunter before them, legends like Destro, Cottar and Matthews
continued to lure the rich and famous on safari. And, as with all successful businesses, their clients nearly always came back. Bing Crosby came
on safari with Terry Matthews seven times – and wrote a classic song about his safari crew. Two of the ‘stars’, Captain John Mkai and Mwahema,
served with the first Royal African crew.
As Africa becomes an ever more popular tourist destination, the experienced safari guides are increasingly turning to the wilder, more remote
reaches in search of the original pioneering spirit of the African safari. Several of them are explorers in their own right – even though they rarely
boast about it.
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George Adamson, My Pride and Joy
It is not hard to visualise the ‘unequalled sense of luxury’ that those first royal visitors must have felt upon returning to their elegant camps;
after all, things have not changed that much in the past 80 years. Although some of the great mammal populations have declined, the essence
of the true African safari remains essentially the same – the magical encounters with unique animals, the ‘indescribable sensations’ that Burchell
described so well, the freed imagination of a return to one of the world’s last great wilderness areas.
The fact that such feelings can still be stirred on safari is testament to that small band of men and women who have made it their mission to show
Africa to the world in the same style and spirit of the early safaris. These remarkable individuals are nearly all descended from the founders of the
great African safaris; they grew up on safari with their fathers (and grandfathers), they learned their bushcraft from their families’ trackers and
gunbearers. They were, often quite literally, born into the business.
While the image of the modern safari has been tainted by the whistle-stop itineraries of today’s package tours, the kind of safari experience that
the early royals enjoyed is still very much alive. In some respects, today’s experience is even better: you are taken on safari in the same timehonoured style, but with all the practical benefits of the modern era. Denys Finch-Hatton may have had the world’s only eight-foot-high tents,
but he certainly didn’t have en suite showers. While Bunny Allen had a trail-blazing Rugby Durant, its wooden wheels would not get it far against
today’s highly engineered four-wheel-drives. And while the chefs of yesteryear had all manner of imported luxuries, they didn’t usually have
enough fridge space for both the champagne and the lettuce.
Today’s exclusive safari operators have one other benefit that enables them to offer their clients the ultimate African adventure: their guides.
With generations of bush living in their blood, today’s top guides boast a wealth of experience – logistical, mechanical, scientific – as well as an
in-depth knowledge of the wildlife, people and customs of this fascinating land. And with access to exclusive wildlife reserves that the minibus
hordes never see, to idyllic and luxurious private lodges known to just a few, and to the smoothest and fastest transport links on the continent,
these are without doubt the best people to introduce you to Africa.
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I wonder what the explorers and pioneers of the last century
would say if they could have a glimpse of this new order – this
age when people no longer treat wild animals with contempt,
or as potential enemies, and when, in consequence, wild
animals have developed a new attitude towards man, that is
man as a kindly member of the animal kingdom
Mervyn Cowie, The African Lion
Royal African Safaris Scrapbook
Circa 1900s
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The Tradition Continues
I tasted freedom and a way of life from which there could be no recall
Wilfred Thesiger
Royal African Safaris was born from the same spirit of adventure that launched the first ships into the African wilderness. Its guides have helped
to shape and refine the art of the African safari. Today, they and their families are pioneers in their own right – helping to develop conservation
initiatives to protect Africa’s last wild spaces, and to benefit the local people who are their true custodians.
They know the seasons and where the game is most likely to be; they understand
outfitting a safari so that you will have the best of equipment and foods. And
above all, they are delightful companions; their stories around the campfire make
your safari something to remember
Martin Johnson, Over African Jungles
The Royal African lead guide is a guide in the broadest, truest sense of the word. Once you have decided on a Royal African safari, he will
personally visit you at home to help you plan your itinerary. Because he is your safari operator as well as your guide, you know everything will
be taken care of – from your travel arrangements and accommodation, to your park fees, your meals, your peace of mind. If you want to see a
particular animal, he’ll take you to the best place to see it; if you have a special dietary need, he’ll make sure that it’s catered for. He’ll be with
you at every step of the way, helping you with every formality and decision. There will be no one else between you and your safari – apart from
the back-up of Africa’s most reputable safari organisation.
Because all the Royal African companies are owned by the guides themselves, your itinerary is always flexible. If you want to change your plans
around the campfire, your guide will make all the necessary arrangements. Because we have the highest ratio of guides to guests in Africa, we can
always accommodate a variety of activities and destinations. The choice is always yours.
However, the real flexibility of a Royal African Safari lies in its mobility. Rather than permanent or seasonal camps, the Royal African operators
offer a fully-equipped, self-contained mobile camp that allows you to visit areas with no tourist infrastructure – small game reserves and wildliferich trust lands where you are likely to be the only visitor. Alternatively, one might visit the more popular reserves, but ensure one’s camp is in
the right place at the right time. Every piece of equipment moves with the camp, ensuring each site is left exactly as it was found.
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Jim Penturn
Life on Safari Today
Today as before, the best safari is the one closest to nature.
With a few, very good friends
Bartle Bull, Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure
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Jim Penturn
Knowing its landscapes
and sounds (even more its
silence), how it feels and
smells, just knowing it is
there, sets it forever in its
own special light, somewhere
in the mind’s sky
Evelyn Ames, A Glimpse of Eden
In this age of mass market tourism, most safari operators will show you
Africa through a dusty window. Gone are the encounters with the world’s
wildest, most ancient land, the soul-stirring bonds with the birthplace of
our kind. In their place: hordes of cramped safari vehicles, crowded lodges,
clicking cameras, the stop-and-snap itineraries of modern package travel.
This is not the Africa we want you to see. At Royal African Safaris, we believe
that the age of exploration is still very much alive. Through generations of
safari experience and a host of special relationships with local tribespeople
and private game reserves, we are one of the few safari companies that can
still offer you a glimpse of the Africa of Livingstone and Selous.
to its exploration. This is a place where life never stands still,
where wildlife moves with the sun and the seasons, where
ancient cultures thrive in out of the way places. Getting to
the heart of Africa requires meticulous planning – and the
guarantee of unfettered mobility.
It is for these reasons that the private canvas experience is at
the heart of any authentic safari. It is an experience that Royal
African Safaris has been refining for generations. Several days
before you arrive, our trucks and crew will have arrived in
a chosen spot, where they will set up your exclusive camp.
At Royal African Safaris, we believe that an
African safari should be the adventure of a
lifetime. As you’ll be investing considerable
time and money in that adventure, you
should be able to relax in the knowledge that
you’ll be taken to the most beautiful places,
in the most capable hands, with the most
comfortable accommodation that the bush
can offer. The vastness of this continent calls
for a particularly flexible, intuitive approach
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Andy Barth
In addition to the flexibility that comes with being able to
move, there is another side to private canvas that is even easier
to understand. From the outset, you will be part of a modernday expedition, truly immersed in the wilderness around you.
Our guides are all extraordinary individuals who are highly in
tune with the areas we visit; they will help you indulge in your
new surroundings, and appreciate their natural intricacies.
The location of your camp will become your own little piece
of Africa. You will feel the breezes off the plains, marvel at the
galaxies overhead. You will hear lions roar at night, feel the
head of the pride answer. You will have never felt closer to
the Earth, more a part of its life forces.
These are custom-designed tents, as comfortable as any you will find.
There is the most professional crew to ensure that your showers are
piping hot, the paths well lit, the drinks chilled to perfection. We will
have worked with you to design your personal menus; our guides are
particularly proud of how their chefs have lifted ‘bush cuisine’ to a
whole new level.
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Lloyd Peterson
The professional set-up and
the hospitality of your camp
are as wonderful to first-timers
as to ‘oldies’
Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands,
personal letter to Royal African Safaris
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There is something about safari life that makes you
forget all your sorrows and feel as if you had drunk
half a bottle of champagne
Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), Out of Africa
Big game is best viewed from a vehicle, in complete comfort and absolute safety. Off-road ability is, of course, essential, and all Royal African
Safaris use customised, coil-sprung four-wheel-drive vehicles – never with more than four passengers to a vehicle, to guarantee everyone an
unfettered 360-degree view. Each of our vehicles is driven by a professional guide, allowing us to search in different locations, explore hidden
corners – and get as close as possible to the wildlife you have come so far to see.
Not everyone wishes to be tied to a vehicle for their entire safari, and depending upon your appetite for adventure, your itinerary can be set
up with a view to spectacular walks, horse-riding on the plains, trout fishing or scuba-diving. You may wish to go that extra step and sleep out
under the stars, or mount a mini-expedition with donkeys, boats or camel trains to carry your equipment. Our access to the finest air charter
companies allows us to move quickly and safely between reserves and wilderness areas – ensuring that you make the most of every single hour
of your safari.
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Jim Penturn
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I had seen the royal lion before sunrise, below a waning moon, crossing the grey
plain on his way home from the kill, drawing a dark wake in the silvery grass,
his face still red up to the ears, or during the midday-siesta, when he reposed
contentedly in the midst of his family
Kamante, Karen Blixen’s butler, Kamante’s Tales: Longing for Darkness
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In recent years, Royal African Safaris has spread its wings to encompass the most elemental and breathtaking wilderness experiences the entire
length of Africa. From our traditional bases in the east and south, our guides have continued to push back the frontiers of African exploration
– accompanying wildlife researchers, conservationists and filmmakers on expeditions to some of the farthest reaches of the continent. As new areas
have become more accessible, we have started leading guests into the wilder and lesser-known regions – places that embody that ancient spirit of
Africa that we all somehow, secretly, yearn for...
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Frank Kappler
Nothing can really prepare you for Africa, it is too full of extremes and
contrasts, too immense a spectrum of creation, so much wider and more
vivid than anywhere else, that it seems to require a new set of senses, or
the rediscovery of lost ones...
Evelyn Ames, A Glimpse of Eden
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Jim Penturn
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Mediterranean Sea
TUNISIA
MOROCCO
AR
A
Atlantic Ocean
ALGERIA
LIBYA
EGYPT
W
ES
TE
R
N
SA
H
U.S.A
Tropic of Cancer
INDIA
MAURITANIA
MALI
NIGER
SENEGAL
GUINEA
SIERRA LEONE
3,705,390 sq. mi
3,618,770 sq. mi *
1,266,595 sq. mi
1,905,000 sq. mi **
1,065,189 sq. mi
103,736 sq. mi
11,664,680 sq.mi
ETHIOPIA
CENTRAL AFRICAN
REPUBLIC
IA
CAMEROON
SCANDINAVIA
ANGOLA
ON
KENYA
Lake
Victoria
Nairobi
RWANDA
Arusha
BURUNDI
TH
GABON
EC
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
SO
UGANDA
GO
NEW
ZEALAND
AL
M
OF
China
USA
India
Europe
Argentina
New Zealand
EUROPE
COTE
D’IVORE GHANA
DJIBOUTI
NIGERIA
REP
The following countries
could fit within Africa:
LIBERIA
SUDAN
BURKINA FASO
TOGO
BENIN
ARGENTINA
ERITREA
CHAD
THE GAMBIA
GUINEA-BISSAU
DEM. REP OF
THE CONGO
Equator
TANZANIA
Dar es
Salaam
Indian Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
ANGOLA
MALAWI
ZAMBIA
CHINA
Victoria
Falls
Bases of operation
Countries also visited
The Area of Africa is 11,700,000 sq.mi
ZIMBABWE
NAMIBIA
Windhoek
MADAGASCAR
BOTSWANA
Johannesburg
* Total, land and water - 50 states
** Includes Iceland
Excludes European USSR and European Turkey
Z
O
M
Maun
UE
Q
BI
AM
SOUTH AFRICA
Tropic of Capricorn
SWAZILAND
Indian Ocean
Cape Town
Source of Data:
The 1990 World Almanac and Book of Facts.
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Mary Livingstone
This book is dedicated to Sally Bowen and David Penrose, who are greatly missed.
We would like to thank the guides, guests, and many friends who have allowed us to use images from their collections.
First Edition printed 2000. Second Edition printed 2006. Printed in USA.
Design by Samantha Goodwin, Eye Design Ltd. Text by Ralph Johnstone, The WordWorks.
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