Bucket list destinations for 2018! If you’re looking for some inspiration on your first day back in the office, planning your adventures for the 2018 holidays might be a good place to start – to remind yourself why you work in the first place! This week we’re sharing our list of wild and wonderful places we have put on our travel bucket lists this year. These are some of the most awe-inspiring spots on the African continent and in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean and they are bound to enchant you and set your soul on fire.
First up: Fish River Canyon, Namibia. This is the largest canyon in Africa and the longest inland river in Namibia, stretching for 160km in total. Today it is a string of pools located in the vast ravine and is one of southern Africa’s most astonishing hiking trails. Entirely unique, heart-stoppingly beautiful, and certainly unmissable. Visit Fish River Canyon Lodge for views like this!
Next up on our 2018 travel bucket list is Zambia’s tremendous Kafue National Park, where the eerily misty Busanga floodplains draw a blanket of rising fog over the bright light of the rising sun, illuminating the sky and rose-tinting the entire scene. This safari secret burns brightly on our 2018 calendars, and we can already feel the excitement and hint of unease spreading through our veins as we explore this wild animal kingdom shrouded in a disorienting haze. What a sight to behold on safari in this majestic place with Busanga Bush Camp.
On our journey to discover 2018’s top spots, we’ve chosen this secluded island of smooth boulders and leafy trees in the waters of Lake Malawi National Park. Mumbo Island Camp is remote bliss, 10km across the water from Cape Maclear, which is this island’s nearest road access and the reception for the camp. The isolation of Mumbo Island is reason enough to spend at least a few days swinging in your hammock overlooking the clear, fresh water, but it offers so much more than just peace and quiet. The scuba diving, snorkelling, and kayaking activities are sublime ways to enjoy the unique biodiversity of this great lake, and Mumbo Island’s tented or thatched chalets are the perfect places to spend silent nights and in between days of sun-filled fun.
Breezing through our bucket list items brings us to a celebrated World Heritage Site; a place we have bestowed with a title that represents the natural integrity of an area, enhancing its value and protecting its precious existence. This elephant paradise is Mana Pools National Park on the banks of Zimbabwe’s historic Lake Kariba. The place of elephants that stand tall on two hind legs, and where African wild dogs among other endangered members of the wild kingdom dwell in an abundant paradise. Photographers flock to this place to capture its unique beauty, and here at Kanga Camp, the offering is evidently second to none. Our choice of exclusive safari accommodation includes luxury tented suites and a shaded viewing deck overlooking an active waterhole.
The celebrated magic of Kenya, aglow in the soft lantern light of of a suite at Severin Safari Camp in Tsavo West National Park. This wild region, along with its eastern sister make up one of the largest protected wildlife areas in the world, and the wealth of Kenyan culture and heritage is rich within its boundaries. If you’re planning to visit this East African safari destination, get ready to discover boundless grasslands teeming with spectacular sightings, green river banks and forested mountains. Severin Safari Camp provides the comfort in an unfenced environment, accommodating in exclusive luxury and welcoming guests with famous Maasai warmth. *adds to bucket list*
If you’re looking for somewhere to clear your mind and ground with yourself and what it means to truly be in the great, big universe we all belong to; it is best to escape to the natural world, to the uncluttered space and the broad, uninterrupted horizon. Freedom to roam in silence exists and it is found in the living desert – the seasonally green desert – known as the Kalahari. This place is very certainly on our 2018 bucket list and we can’t wait to share the experience of a mobile expedition through Botawana’s Central Kalahari Game Reserve, where an expanse of wild territory beckons to be explored and its paths uncovered to reveal what has walked before us.
Alone in a national park? Yes, sounds about right for a travel adventure bucket list! The blanket of pink feathers in the background of this image is in fact a sea of flamingos settled in the waters of Lake Manyara National Park, and it is a unique sight that has attracted visitors to this enigmatic place for years. The famous migration of these coral-coloured birds along the Rift Valley is a spectacle you’ll never forget, and in Tanzania’s Lake Manyara you can enjoy it so exclusively on a journey with andBeyond Lake Manyara Tree Lodge which is the only lodge in the park. There is nothing short of decadently luxurious, from the bubble baths in the trees to the delicate natural decor that cradles you in gentle opulence. Lake Manyara is where tree-climbing lions are found too…
If you’re creating your travel bucket list, you could be planning your destinations around landscapes, cultures, architecture, food, wildlife, people, or activities, because all of these factors come together to create a travel experience. Of course, travelling to Africa is most likely to involve the desire to witness the untamed wild. To see the animal kingdom that is so enthusiastically documented and fiercely protected by those who value it. Tragically, many of the places we dream of visiting, the landscapes we want to discover, and the species we want to meet are facing a crisis in their very existence. The mountain gorilla is one of these species. The last few hundred individuals remaining in this family of great apes are protected in a pocket of central African rainforest in Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo. Here we are planning a list of our best travel plans, and we are most certainly including the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in south western Uganda where Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp offers a tranquil hideout from which to explore the majestic world of the Silverback gorilla.
Escape to the echoing silence of the Swartberg mountains where you could be sitting at this table for two in a 19th Century farmhouse on Voorbedacht farm overlooking the renowned Swartberg Pass. This is a wild card in our bucket list – it isn’t in a Big 5 area, it isn’t even about the game viewing. This place is about the peace and quiet and the scenic landscape and the ancient surroundings in this particularly spectacular part of the Cape. We can’t wait to visit Swartberg Manor.
