Edition 44: Autumn 2008

Mike Unwin, editor of Travel Zambia magazine, has authored numerous books for both adults and children, including the Bradt Guide to Southern African Wildlife, and writes regularly for many magazines and newspapers, including The Independent, BBC Wildlife, Travel Africa and Bird Watching. He’s spent nearly eight years in southern Africa – first working as a teacher in Zimbabwe, second as a publisher in Swaziland and most recently as a conservation volunteer in Zambia. Here are five of his favourite locales.

Kruger National Park, South Africa
Hardly fashionable, I know. Not even the ‘real Africa’, some say, what with the tar roads and coach parties. But 22,000 square kilometres of pristine bush, packed with the greatest diversity of wildlife in southern Africa, is not to be sneezed at. Three big reasons to go: first, there’s a special thrill to doing the safari thing on your own terms (and – let’s face it – on the cheap); second, the wilderness trails offer a truly great bush experience; and third, the wildlife is simply breathtaking – I’ve watched cheetah kills, wild dog dens and rhino battles, and all from a humble Toyota Corolla. My favourite camp? Balule. Small, simple and pure bush.

Luangwa Valley, Zambia
Zambia’s finest wildlife destination sometimes seems almost too perfect – as though the mosaic of oxbows, woodland and river frontage has been assembled for some museum diorama, with all the boring bits left out. Yet it’s real enough. And, what’s more, it performs. Wildlife encounters here – whether on foot, by vehicle or back in camp – consistently produce the extraordinary. I’ve watched a croc snapping oxpeckers from the back of a hippo and a leopard snatch roosting guineafowl from the moonlit branches of an ebony. And the guiding is legendary.

Lower Zambezi Valley, Zambia/Zimbabwe
Two countries share this valley. I first discovered it from the Zimbabwean side, where Mana Pools was once the Holy Grail of any would-be wildlife adventurer. More recently I have enjoyed the fabulous camps on the Zambian side. But both share the same magic: the smoky light beneath the winterthorn groves, where distances recede deceptively towards the escarpment; the river itself, serene and unstoppable; and the elephants, of course, which ghost out of nowhere to hoover up albida pods from your porch. The clichés are unavoidable: the cry of the fish eagle, the grunt of the hippo, the crackle of the campfire, the majesty of the river. And they’re all fabulous.

Sinematella Camp, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe
Nostalgia demands this one. As a young contract teacher in Bulawayo, Hwange was where big game began for me. And the crowning glory of that first, formative trip was emerging from the endless, dusty mopane onto this unexpected plateau to find a view whose vastness encapsulated all my childhood dreams of Africa. The memories remain vivid: the elephants that rumbled around the fence all night; the honey badgers that raided the restaurant, making off with half a piri-piri chicken; and my first leopard – just a glimpse, as it slunk from a pool just off the Salt Springs road, but a thrill that has never been surpassed.

Malolotja, Swaziland
‘Mala-where?’ I hear you ask. But those au fait with the tiny and much neglected kingdom of Swaziland will tell you this is one of southern Africa’s hidden gems. It’s not Big Five country (bar the occasional leopard pug marks), but it is a beautiful African wilderness – and you get it all to yourself. You have to work for it, mind: the terrain is rugged and the trails precipitous. But your reward might be an otter, a serval or even an aardwolf, while blue swallow, crowned eagle and bald ibis await the dedicated birder.