Canoe safaris in southern Africa

Africa’s wilder rivers and major watercourses in remote and uninhabited areas present some of the continent’s wildest fly-camping and canoe safaris. You’ll find that big game populations are strong. As a result we get to experience Africa in a very raw state.

Because we’re remote, most of the time we prefer to sleep under the stars. We carry basic provisions and find that weather, river conditions and game encounters en-route dictate the routine. As we get further from launch point we find less access to road and further downstream there’s no road access to long stretches of the rivers. So solid planning and experienced Professional Guides are essential prerequisites. True expeditionary trips aren’t commercially available. We do however run a series of set-date canoe safari options in southern Africa on the upper and lower Zambezi, also the Selinda Spillway in northern Botswana. They suit tame, adventurous and intrepid dispositions.

What to expect on a canoe safari

You’ll regularly encounter big game in the form of elephant, hippo and crocodiles in the water. Canoes don’t disturb buffalo, kudu, eland, predators including lion and other large mammals as they gather near shorelines. You’ll find a fantastic array of resident and birdlife through the season. However it’s the October to March period that has the most migrants.

On the one end of the scale we’re self-supporting and wild-camp on islands. Alternatively we spend nights in fully supported mobile fly-camps. In some cases we’ll make use of a comfortable permanent lodges to start or end a canoe safari.

Days on safari are generally very active and prior canoeing experience isn’t essential. A reasonable degree of fitness is always a good idea. We’re generally on the water just after sunrise, we break for brunch and siesta in the early afternoon heat, then paddle through the afternoon to catch sundowners in camp before sunset. Bush TV always involves a primal fire.

Our canoe safari season

The tamer options on the Upper Zambezi above Victoria Falls are available year round. However it’s the remotest stretches of the lower Zambezi into Mana Pools and beyond or Botswana’s Selinda that are best accessed during the drier months from May through to mid-November. As game conditions on the water are always a fresh start at the beginning of the season we much prefer having newcomers on the lower Zambezi run trips later in the season.

(Photo credits: Dana Allen and Colin Bell for Wilderness Safaris; David Foot)