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Here at Naturetrek Tailormade we understand that there are a number of important considerations that go into choosing the perfect wildlife holiday. For many people, health can be one of those key considerations.
The risk of malaria throughout the major parts of southern Africa can prevent many people from visiting this part of the world and enjoying the wonderful and very unique opportunities that come from an African wildlife safari. Whilst good malarial prophylactics are available which help diminish the risk of malaria for the majority of people, we’re aware that there are a significant number of our clients who would prefer not to, or in some cases simply can’t, take this medication.
What might be less well known is that there are some wildlife reserves in South Africa, which are currently believed to be completely free from malaria and one can enjoy an African safari in a presently ‘malaria free zone’. In this article we’ve identified some of our favourite ‘malaria free’ safari destinations.
Addo Elephant Park near Port Elizabeth is one of our favourite traditional parks that is able to offer a ‘malaria free’ safari. All of Africa’s ‘Big Five’ can be found within the park and, if visits are timed during the winter months, Great White Shark and Southern Right Whale can also be seen. As its name suggests, the park is most famous for having one of the densest populations of African Elephants on Earth. A range of accommodation options are available within the park. Government rest-camps with self-catering accommodation provide the most basic option, or for those with a 5-star budget, Kuzuko Lodge in the north of the park provides a more luxurious alternative.
For those hoping to experience something a bit different, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park spans 38,000 square kilometres of the Kalahari Desert on the north-west corner of South Africa. This is very different to the more traditional game reserves, mainly due to the scarcity of water attracting some interesting and unique desert-adapted species. The famous Black-maned Lions of the Kalahari are also a key draw here and one may also hope to find Cheetah, Spotted Hyena, Springbok, Wildebeest and some more unusual nocturnal species including Bat-eared Fox, Honey Badger and African Wildcat. Birders will find interest in the many raptors of the park including Bateleur, Tawny Eagle and Black-breasted Snake Eagle, as well as the impressive Kori Bustard and Northern Black Koorhaan. Accommodation in the park is also a mixture of self-catering rest camps and slightly more luxurious lodges such as !Xaus lodge.
Botanists will be pleased to note that the Namaqualand region of South Africa is also currently free from malaria and so one can enjoy the spectacular Namaqualand daisies that carpet the area each southern spring along with the 1,000 other endemic plant species.
The Kimberley region is another area currently believed to be free from malaria and here one can hope to find a whole host of rare mammals including Aardvark, Black-footed Cat, Aardwolf, Bat-eared Fox and Brown Hyena.
For further information about a tailormade holiday to South Africa or beyond, please call Georgie Dodds on 01962733051 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.