There’s no doubt about it that the best family safari holidays are in Africa. But destinations like Sri Lanka and even Abu Dhabi have been challenging legends like Kenya and Tanzania recently. And safaris aren’t just about wildlife anymore, engaging with local culture and getting involved in conservation are now just as important a part of the experience as game drives. And more and more families are combining their safari holiday with downtime on the beach, if this is news to you there’s lots more of that right here.
The pride of lion gambol in front of us, cubs mere weeks old playing tug of war with the mum’s tail as the older cubs bat them with over-sized paws. They snarl, purr, and yawn, enjoying some family downtime from the daily grind of munching wildebeest. The group are tucked into a thicket of thorny vegetation, cautious, as one of their cubs was recently carried off and devoured by a predatory martial eagle. Beside me, my son is silent for the first time. What he sees is too much for him to process. Read more
Afternoon tea was a quintessentially English experience, featuring homemade iced tea, scones with clotted cream and strawberries, mini-quiche, and cucumber sandwiches that transported us to an authentic “out of Africa” vibe. We savoured these treats while watching elephants splashing in the water, with baboons and zebras in the background. Read more
We’re up at 5.30am with woolly hats and thick coats. Breaking briefly for tea brewed on the engine, then returning for breakfasts laid out in the sun. We’re out again at 4pm for drives, sundowners and to sit under the vast night skies of the southern hemisphere. Sometimes we drive or walk for hours seeing little more than a patchwork of animal footprints and defecation, the flash of a bright bird or the ribcage of an animal, picked eerily clean. Read more
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