Wildlife in South Africa
From great oceans to vast deserts
From the lush Cape and Garden Route across mountains to the Kalahari Desert, and skirted by the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, South Africa is an incredibly diverse country home to an fascinating array of wildlife.
While we don’t currently offer the traditional South African safari areas in the Kruger and Sabi Sands, the areas we do specialise in are home to some fascinating species.
From the town of Hermanus, a short and scenic drive along the coast from Cape Town, you can spot southern right whales from the shore and find beaches where African penguins waddle amid the rocks.
Further north find the Samara where lions, cheetahs, elephants and rhino wander the rewilded expanses of the Great Karoo once more. Heading into the Kalahari, desert specialists can be found, such as curious troops of meerkats and some safari enthusiast ‘bucket listers’ such as aardvark and pangolin which are often spotted in Tswalu’svast private reserve.
Great wildlife safaris to South Africa
Here are some of our ideas for great holidays focussed on wildlife in South Africa.
South Africa's top camps for wildlife safaris
Click on the dots on the map to show the sightings from that lodges or camps for the species selected. It's based on 412 reports by 60 groups of our our travellers since Jun 2018.
Best chances to see
Good chances to see
Some sightings
No sightings yet
Other top destinations for wildlife
To understand more about the the wildlife in our other key destinations in Africa, click on the countries below.