THE SAVUTI & LINYANTI CONCESSION, BOTSWANA
Botswana’s Chobe NP is not off the beaten track. But even big, headline-grabbing wildlife areas have corners that few explore. The Savuti – meaning ‘mystery’ – is such a place. Lying on Chobe’s western border, this game-packed wilderness is difficult to reach (flying in is your best bet), so relatively few do. It is known for its huge prides of elephant-hunting lions (a rare sight) and spotted hyena. It also has its own great migration: in November, zebra, wildebeest and buffalo in their thousands move south into the Savuti, looking for fresh grasses, before returning north in February. The area is characterised by the enigmatic Savuti Channel, which runs 100km from the Chobe River to Savuti marsh; it’s often bone-dry but periodically floods spectacularly. Along its northerly banks you’ll find the Linyanti Concession, a remote, private reserve, home to huge elephant herds and wild dogs that might be seen hunting in 24-strong packs. Tours often combine the Savuti and Linyanti in one wild trip.
Also see: Tiny Mokolodi Nature Reserve, just south of capital Gabarone, is Botswana’s only not-for-profit park. Its cycling routes offer a rare and unusual way of exploring the bush, while giraffe and rhino tracking tours take you thrillingly close to the action.
MAJETE WILDLIFE RESERVE, MALAWI
By the late 1990s poaching had devastated Majete Wildlife Reserve. There was very little left to see; indeed, the reserve didn’t receive a single visitor between 2000 and 2003. Then the NGO African Parks took over management of Majete and, over the subsequent years, the reserve has been transformed. More than 5,000 animals from 17 species have been brought in; the arrival of lions in 2012 completed the Big Five. But it has been the measures taken to stop poaching that have had the greatest impact. Not one rhino or elephant has been illegally killed in the reserve since they were introduced. Facilities have
