From April 26th until June 7th, we traveled through Cape Town, South Africa, across Namibia and Botswana, up to Tanzania, and ended in Rwanda and Uganda. Here are some photos from our favorite experiences over those six weeks.
Our journey started in the beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. We spent just under a week enjoying the sights of Cape Town and exploring the breathtaking nature surrounding it.
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After Cape Town, we flew to Windhoek, Namibia to begin our month-long self drive safari across Namibia and Botswana. Our first stop was the Dqae Qare San Lodge, a small campground just across the border in Botswana, where we had the pleasure of learning about life in the bush from local San people.
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Upon leaving Dqae Qare, we headed to the Okavango Delta and Moremi Game Reserve for what would be the first of many safari experiences.
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The next stop on our safari adventure was the famed Chobe National Park, which included the chance to take a ride on the river with a professional wildlife photographer and our own proper wildlife cameras (on loan, of course)
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We then took a break from game drives and wildlife, to see Mother Nature at her greatest: Victoria Falls. We went into Zimbabwe for the day eager with excitement, but unfortunately, due to heavy flooding coming in from Angola, our views of the falls were impeded by the mountains of mist generated from the excess water this flooding caused. After this disappointing trip, we headed back into Namibia and began our adventures on a region of the country called the Caprivi Strip.
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From Caprivi, we headed to Namibia’s Etosha National Park, hands down our favorite of all the parks we went for safari.
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Etosha marked the end of our safaris in Botswana and Namibia. From here, we would be primarily exploring Namibia’s natural landscape. Our first stop – the UNESCO World Heritage Site Twyfelfontein and its surrounding areas. From there, we headed to the coast for the charming city of Swakopmund, as well as catching our first glimpse of the famed red sand dunes of Namibia’s Namib-Naukluft National Park.
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Fittingly, our last stop on this remarkable self drive safari was one of the most iconic sights in the world – Namibia’s Red Dunes. Still part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, the Soussusvlei section contains some of the most photographed vistas in all of sub-Saharan Africa.
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After returning the trusty safari truck that had been our home for the past month, we hopped on a plane to Tanzania to begin our trip to the plains of the Serengeti (which included more than a few renditions of Toto’s ‘Africa’ and ‘The Circle of Life’ from The Lion King)
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We continued on what’s known as the “Northern Loop” of safaris in Tanzania and drove to Ngorongoro Crater for some of the most exciting animal encounters to date, not to mention some of the most breathtaking scenery we’d seen so far. After Ngorongoro, we completed the loop with a trip to Tarangire National Park.
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With the safari portion of our time in Tanzania officially over, we headed to the exotic Zanzibar for some history and beach time.
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With new diving certifications in tow, and maybe a little extra sand still in our bags, we headed to Rwanda to meet up with some friends and wind down our time in Africa. We started with some relaxing time along the picturesque Lake Bunyoni in Uganda and ended with an envigorating hike up Mount Bisoke in Rwanda.
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After leaving Lake Bunyoni, but before heading to Mount Bisoke, we had one of the most remarkable experience of our lives – trekking into the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest for an encounter with the endangered Eastern Lowland Gorilla.
