Essential Africa Guided Safaris

31/05/2026

A safari to Africa is never a "cut and paste" situation. Everything evolves constantly, my recent trip was a prime example. For the past 20 years or so Ive been guiding my guests from Australia and we've been to some fantastic parts of Africa thats for sure. For this safari we decided to do something a little different. Rather than move around as much we focused the entire trip at one camp. For 10 days we enjoyed the beauty and splendor of Xigera Lodge (pronounced (Ki-gera) in Botswana's Okavango Delta. The thing about Xigera is that it offers some of the best game viewing in Africa, all set in a private concession that can be accessed by land and water. Between game drives the lodge is the type of place that you don't want to leave and feel there is always something else to discover around the next corner. It's basically a living art piece that combines exquisite accommodations and top class food set in some of the most picturesque parts of the delta. Enjoy the video that takes you through some of the highlights of our time up there.

For this safari we based ourselves for 10 days at the beautiful Xigera (pronounced Ki-jera) lodge. A combination of spectacular accommodations,food, service and art made our time at the lodge special and out in the field we had some exceptional game viewing.

27/05/2026

Winter has arrived here in Southern Africa. For our groups almost on their way over, be sure to pack the warm gear, mornings are crisp and misty, making for some beautiful scenes.

23/05/2026

What a morning we had today. Leaving camp we were with 8 lions within a few minutes, not too long after that we bumped into a large male, while watching him these two lionesses chased lechwe out of the islands and into a channel. They then cautiously crossed the water where the very real danger of crocodiles was their main concern, safely through we left them and came across another 3 big male lions and ended our morning with the pride of 8 just as we entered camp. Xigera you have spoiled us on so many levels over the past 10 days and I look forward to sharing the video next week.

18/05/2026

This morning's drive once again delivered some special moments. This journey of giraffe crossing a slowly filling floodplain gave us a view of giraffe you don't often see. Generally not comfortable in water but left with no choice during the annual flood in the Okavango, the animals here have adapted to calculate the dangers of crossing from one island to the other in search of food or in some cases in a bid to move away from predators. The predators though in turn will swim these channels as they follow "the food". Just before reaching the lodge this morning we came across this beautiful male lion, a new lion in the area and not one of the resident males. He cautiously approached a lioness who was obviously not familiar with him and they treaded lightly around one another each knowing that they shouldn't be interacting. There are four resident males that will no doubt track this guy down and run him off at some stage, but for now he is testing the boundaries.

13/05/2026

A warm welcome to our many time repeat guests just about to land here in South Africa. Tomorrow we head for the watery landscape of Botswana's Okavango Delta that is in full swing at the moment as the annual flood sweeps through on top of an already very full delta. I look forward to sharing some highlights as we go, along with some shots and clips of a very special lodge that we will call home for the next 10 days.

07/05/2026

Always nice to receive feedback from our guests. We have just finished several safaris, some privately guided and others that we have planned and co ordinated each step of the way. Here is a note from one of our groups that has just returned home recently. By the sounds of it, its the start of a long safari relationship with Africa. :)

Eva, Lee, and Danica,

"Thank you so much for planning our trip to South Africa and Botswana. It truly was one of the most amazing experiences we’ve ever had. Your attention to detail and thoughtfully curated itinerary made all the difference and the hospitality and lodges were exceptional."

"When we originally said we’d only go to Africa once, we never imagined just how much we would enjoy it— we all left already wanting to go back! This trip exceeded all expectations."

"Thank you again and have a nice weekend."

Best Regards,

Sydney and family

06/05/2026

https://vimeo.com/1189747941?fl=pl&fe=sh
Ive just returned from guiding a safari here in South Africa that lasted nearly two weeks. Apart from many encounters with the various members of the "Big 5" as well as cheetah and wild dogs, one of our goals and the reason for choosing the last two lodges and areas where to hopefully encounter two very special species of rarely seen animals. The one is a pangolin and the second is an aardwolf. Both animals are rarely seen but by combining lodges that in the case of the pangolin did research on the animal and by planning the last lodge to be as close to the cooler part of our season as possible which brings the aardwolf out late afternoon, we were rewarded with both species. In fact we totaled 6 individual aardwolf by the end of our 4 day stay in the last camp. A big thanks to our many time repeat group who I have been fortunate enough to guide in many of Africa's special and remote locations. Enjoy the video.

https://vimeo.com/1189747941?fl=pl&fe=sh

A safari through some of South Africa's top private lodges starting in the Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve, then down to Phinda in northern Natal and ending in the eastern Cape's Kwandwe Private Game Reserve.

01/05/2026

Our target species for this part of the trip was the rarely seen aardwolf. Part of the hyena family yet feeding exclusively on termites, it’s not an animal that many get to see. We were fortunate to have 6 separate sightings during our time here in the eastern Cape. A cold snap helped us by bringing the aardwolf out earlier in the afternoon than they normally would come out as they try to avoid the extreme cold late evenings and into the early mornings.

27/04/2026

Something I haven’t seen until a couple of days ago. This group of cheetah made up of 2 mothers and 4 sub adults were merged together as a result of a lioness scattering the two separate groups that were relatively close to one another a few months ago. When they regrouped and the dust had settled the cubs were with the wrong mothers but they then decided to all stay together which is unusual to say the least! A group of 6 cheetah is quite a sight and a formidable hunting team. Phinda Private Game Reserve, South Africa. Tomorrow we fly over a thousand kilometres south for the last 4 days of this safari in a much cooler Easter Cape.