SAFARI ADVICE, INFORMATION
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Still not taken that safari holiday you have always promised yourself? Then do it soon because time is running out. The land available to wildlife shrinks every year as humans rather than animals shape the landscape, leaving the (often unfenced) reserves and national parks as increasingly small islands of biodiversity. While poaching (of elephant and rhino for tusks and horns) has, on the whole, been brought under control in the past 10 years, countless smaller animals are being killed for the booming market in bush meat.

There is another good reason for going sooner rather than later. Most safari operators these days work with local communities, providing benefits for local people (cash, jobs, schools and clinics) to ensure that wild animals are worth more to them alive than dead. By going on safari you help the cause of conservation, and thus help ensure future generations will also be able to go to Africa to appreciate the wildlife.

When to go

You get the best view during the dry season because the relatively few water holes mean trackers have a better idea of where to find the animals, and the thinner bush means better visibility. When there is a lot of water, as in summer, animals disperse more and are less visible in the long grass and lush bush. In southern Africa, with four annual seasons, winter (July and August) is the dry season, but late May/June and September/early October are also fine times to go. In East Africa, which has a tropical climate, seasons simplify into the long rains and short rains. In Kenya, rainfall patterns vary from area to area, but east of the Rift Valley, for instance, the short-rain season is from November to December and the long rains March to May.

A popular time to go to Kenya's Masai Mara, west of the Rift Valley, or Tanzania's Serengeti - of which the Mara is the northern quarter - is during the migration. This is a long process - a huge cycle in which half a million wildebeest move up from the Serengeti to the plains of the Mara to calve - but the beasts usually start to move in March or April, arriving on the Mara in June or July and moving back in October or November.

What happens on safari

Your day starts before dawn, when you are woken with tea or coffee before setting off with your guide, tracker and driver for a game drive to catch the last of the nocturnal predators on the prowl or at a kill. Back at the camp, at around nine, you have a cooked breakfast in the open air, then either go for a short morning game drive - returning around noon, when animals look for shade during the hottest part of the day - or have the rest of the day free until the late-afternoon game drive, which often ends with pre-sunset drinks at about six. Back at the camp again, it's dinner and, sometimes, the great treat of a night game drive. This is the most exciting game drive of all; using torches and halogen lamps to spot animal eyeshine you often witness far more activity than during the day, have the best chance of catching predators hunting and, if you're very lucky, will see a kill.

Package or independent?

You don't have to go to a game reserve to see wild animals: in Kenya, for instance, an estimated 70 per cent of the wildlife lives outside the reserves (many of which, the Mara included, aren't fenced), and you can easily see animals from the road as you drive around the country, as long as you take your eyes off the potholes to look. But unless you are very experienced, you should definitely go with a reputable operator. Africa can be dangerous. Fifteen years ago you could get away with being hustled into a safari by a persuasive bloke encountered on the street in Nairobi or Johannesburg. Don't risk it now. It is perfectly safe to make your own independent arrangements for getting to Africa and to hook up with a local operator once there, but book before you go, - the best (one-man-bands, the man being a superlative guide) are all used by upmarket British tour operators).

What to take

Binoculars, camera equipment, with long lenses plus all the film and batteries you will need. A dustproof bag for your camera, sunglasses, sunblock, insect repellent, malaria prophylactic if you are going to or through a malarial area, good walking shoes, a torch or a Petzl Zipka headlight, which you wear on your forehead to read or find your way around a camp at night. A wildlife and birding book to identify what you see, a needle and thread for emergency stitching-up of holey mosquito netting, plus plenty to read. Guidebooks: Hilary Bradt's are a favourite among the cognoscenti, while the Lonely Planet Watching Wildlife guides to Southern Africa and East Africa are excellent.

What to wear

You will get appalled glances if you turn up in anything other than subdued sandy and neutral colours - tan, beige, navy, cream, black or white. Obviously new clothing isn't quite the thing, either. Battered and neutral scores most highly - with lots of pockets, although even some old hands find it hard to resist the new safari ranges made from ultra-light, man-made fabric. You will need long-sleeved shirts or cotton sweaters and long trousers to wear with socks and shoes in the evenings, to protect against malarial mosquitoes, as well as a thick sweater and warm jacket for dawn game drives, when temperatures can be low. You also need a wide-brimmed hat to protect against sun damage by day and, if you are going to be flying in a light aircraft, a small, soft hold-all that will meet the usual maximum 10kg luggage allowance.

On foot, in a vehicle or on horseback?

Purists walk. Walking puts you in touch with nature and makes you aware of the potential danger animals pose far more effectively than seeing the game from a vehicle does, but though thrilling, can also turn seriously scary. Going by horseback is marvellous, especially if you get to canter with giraffe or zebra, and elephant-back is the most exhilarating experience of all, since they don't scare off other animals and their height allows you to witness terrific things. Still, most people view game from a vehicle, which is safe, great for picture-taking, since you don't have to worry about suddenly having to take evasive action and, critically, because the animals don't perceive a slow-moving vehicle of utterly still occupants as threatening you can get much closer to even the Big Five than any guide would dare if on foot.

Taking children

Not a good idea if they are small and hyperactive because there is so much downtime on a safari: hours spent sitting quietly in the vehicle, patiently waiting for, or watching, animals who will be frightened away by sudden movement, hours whiled away in the camp between drives. Unless they are exceptionally interested in wildlife, it's best to wait until they are at least nine or 10; some safari outfits ban under-eights from game drives anyway, while some lodges won't take under-12s. Staying at a lodge with a pool is recommended for occupying the daytime hours, especially as there are unlikely to be many other children around. That said, safaris are now being marketed to families, since watching wildlife is something adults and children can do with equal pleasure.

Malaria is a worry for anyone going to Africa, but especially for parents, since most of the million-odd annual victims of the disease are under 10. But the advent of a malaria prophylactic safe for children - Malarone - as well as the rise of non-malarial parks in South Africa (a good destination for children because of its infrastructure and excellent medical care) answers some health worries.

Anti-malarial precautions

These are absolutely essential if you're going into a malarial area. Malarone, has replaced Lariam as the prophylactic that medical travel specialist Dr Richard Dawood, among many others, recommends. It has none of the extremely unpleasant side effects of Lariam (nightmares, paranoia, depression), which can suddenly affect even those who have used it without problem before. Low-dose Malarone can be safely given to children. As well as a prophylactic, you should always take the usual additional precautions: burn anti-malarial coils and sleep under netting at night (checking it isn't ripped); use insect repellent. Also cover arms and legs in the evenings, when mosquitoes are most prevalent and you're most at risk, especially around camp fires or close to water.

Bilharzia is also a health hazard in stagnant water, so be very careful where you choose to paddle. For advice on malaria and necessary inoculations, which may need to be started a month ahead of travel, it is a good idea to contact a specialist travel health clinic such as Nomad Medical (0906 863 3414; 60p per minute).

Tent or lodge?

The closer you get to old safari style, the more authentic the experience becomes, and, of course, the first safaris were all under canvas. Permanently sited tented camps are so luxurious - with electric lighting and a fully-plumbed bathroom containing abath and loo in each "tent" - as well as so redolent of the enchanting 1920s and 1930s atmosphere that many find them unbeatable.

There are some superb lodges, and staying in a lodge is definitely the easy, comfortable way to do a safari. If there's a pool, so much the better for children, too.

Safari guides

A good guide is the key element to a great safari. Their encyclopaedic knowledge of flora and fauna adds immeasurably to the interest and enjoyment of watching wildlife, to the likelihood of your seeing it in the first place (through their ability to predict where everything will be in any particular weather and conditions) and to your safety should an animal suddenly turn aggressive, as they can do.

Country guides

South Africa

The most comfortable of the safari countries: the most sophisticated, built-up and least surprising, where most wildlife roams within fences. Kruger National Park, the largest, is a good choice for first-timers, although with its Tarmac roads it can feel Disneyesque. Well run, well organised, home to a great variety of animals as well as camps and lodges. Experienced safari-goers will choose the private game reserves on the edge of Kruger - Mala Mala, Londolozi, and Sabi Sabi. These are boutiquey little reserves, expensive but very luxurious, with accommodation in designer rondavel cottages, superb wines and gourmet meals all part of the package, and very nice for short stays or if you want just a deluxe weekend in the bush. These are also the celebrity favourites, the camps where you are most likely to run into people such as Rod Stewart or Elton John.

In the northern part of Kruger, close to the border with Zimbabwe, the terrain looks and feels enjoyably wilder. There is game everywhere, everything is well looked after, and the maintenance is a tribute to South Africa's wildlife conservationists - who have for years been trying to establish a trans-frontier wildlife park here to expand southern Africa's areas of biodiversity. As Zimbabwe's wildlife is being eaten by a famished population, this is unlikely to come about until Mugabe is off the scene. A similar trans-frontier park is also on the cards where Kruger abuts Mozambique - where continued poaching and landmined areas pose a risk.

But Kruger isn't the only game park in South Africa, of course. In Natal, Hluhluwe-Umfolozi, once the Zulu king Shaka's private hunting ground, has bush so thick viewing isn't the best, but there is nowhere better to see white rhino, casually wandering through camps. And there's a magical little park called the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the Kalahari desert, the first of southern Africa's so-called Peace Parks, in the north-eastern Cape. This is the place to see gemsbok - extraordinary animals with a capillary system that delivers blood to their heads at three degrees lower than their body temperature. You can also see Bushmen here, albeit rather a ragtag group, which makes an additional reason to go.

Botswana

This notably flat country is the de-luxe destination, where the philosophy has always been that low-impact, high-revenue tourism will serve the country best. Fantastic facilities, superb game-viewing. The Okavango Delta is one of Africa's great wildlife areas: plenty of species to see, including a huge elephant population in Chobe in the north-east, which swings in and out of Botswana and Zimbabwe, and the biggest lions in Africa - Rambo prides that take down elephant and hippo, ferocious and thrilling to watch. Some people still maintain the Mara is the best game-viewing area in Africa because of its wide open spaces, but others agree Botswana's bushveld is unparalleled. Expensive, but worth it.

Namibia

This isn't so much a safari destination - it is mostly desert, so there aren't that many animals to see - as a place to see extraordinary landscapes. The endless dunes of the Skeleton Coast are unbelievably beautiful and utterly empty. You do see the Big Five - and a lot more besides - in the excellent Etosha park in the north, however. Like Botswana, it never disappoints, and is served by supremely efficient operators and passionate, knowledgeable guides. Excellent roads, too - like much of South Africa and unlike Botswana and Zambia.

Kenya

The Masai Mara has been the focus of criticism recently - it's just too popular. And in the areas around big lodges this is well-founded. But there are still pockets of the Mara where you find sublime little camps such as Cottar's or Il Ngwesi, between Mount Kenya and the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, run by Masai tribesmen.

This is the most developed safari country in Africa and it's still home of the truly great safari, with sensational game-viewing, lovely camps and terrific guides. Good guides operate all over Africa - but Kenya has a preponderance of them, largely because so many are the descendants of the old hunting families. Whereas South Africa was isolated during the apartheid years and Zimbabwe (as Rhodesia) was the sergeants' mess of colonial Africa, Kenya was the officers' mess, and today's guides have a lineage and class many other countries simply cannot match. This internationalism is where Kenya scores over its big rival, Botswana - in its excellent, atmospheric tented camps as well as lodges.

The Masai Mara - a corner of the Serengeti, the great open grass plain of Africa - is the great place to view the migration, but you can also see a great variety of large animals in the Amboseli and Aberdare parks, where Princess Elizabeth was staying when her father died. Single species are specialities of other great parks - for instance, black and white rhino in the Lewa Downs Wildlife Conservancy, where the 12-guest homestead makes a spectacular place to stay.

Tanzania

While the vast plains of the Serengeti park are home to 430 different species as well as giant herds of wildebeest - the greatest concentration of large animals on earth, as well as over 1,000 species of bird and butterfly - the 40-mile wide Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest intact volcanic crater, is where you see the biggest concentration of animals. In the south there is the remote, wild, Selous reserve, while the coast offers excellent diving and snorkelling around the coral reefs of the Zanzibar archipelago.

Zambia

An increasingly popular place since the collapse of Zimbabwe, because its somewhat rundown safari business has been revitalised by being taken over by Zimbabwean entrepreneurs who have moved across the River Zambezi. Scenically varied, and with several endemic subspecies, it is the experts' choice. It is also home to some of Africa's largest leopard concentrations in the South Luangwa and Kafue parks. The two main parks are outstanding wildlife areas, with walking safaris in lovely bush. Good for tented camps rather than well-established lodges.

Malawi

A long thin strip in the Rift Valley, much of it bordering Lake Malawi, which covers 20 per cent of the country. Malawi is beautiful, empty, under-publicised and full of potential. "It just ticks along quite happily, and everyone comes back quite happily", says an operator who dispatches tourists there.

You don't see the same concentration of game as in Kenya, but there is a dazzling variety of birds (650 species), tropical freshwater fish in the sea-like lake (great snorkelling) and, on the Nyika plateau, 200 varieties of orchid. Iwonde, the main park, offers a similarly watery game experience to the Okavango delta. Accommodation is mostly lodges.

Uganda

Extravagantly beautiful, encompassing plains, rainforest, Africa's largest lake (Victoria) and highest mountains (the Ruwenzoris, home of "big game plants", 18ft fleshy herbs), and wildlife including superb birdwatching and the biggest range of primates in East Africa in the Bwindi Impenetrable park. It is hard to get around because the roads are terrible and light planes expensive, but there are a few pleasant lodges and it does have that great African luxury of space and isolation.

Rwanda

One of the smallest and most densely populated countries in Africa, topographically varied - dormant volcano, plains, swamp - and possessing a disproportionate variety of wildlife. From its northern border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the thickly forested, mountainous Parc National des Volcans, it is the best place to track mountain gorillas. As guerrillas heavily outnumber gorillas, armed guards escort all safaris.

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