In our day however, a Kenya safari is accessible to many more people. Despite competition from other destinations, Kenya remains heart of African safari experience. The magnificence and diversity of wildlife and landscape is unsurpassed. You are guaranteed to tick off full roster of big five -lion, buffalo, leopard, rhino and elephant. Other less well-known but essential and chartered members of savannah ecosystem are also abundant. The landscape kaleidoscope rolls out magnificent rift valley, central highlands, savannah grasslands, snow capped Mount Kenya and desolate moonscape of north. This is perhaps why experts advise all those faithful lovers of wildlife and nature that at least once in their lifetime they must partake of a Kenyan safari.

Kenya has over 50 national parks and game reserves where wildlife is protected. But as you already suspect, on average safari you cannot hope to cover all of them. It is therefore a good thing that you get very good value by visiting only a few of them. This is unless of course you have a lot of time and can afford to take off beaten track. The most popular and from which those with limited time and budget need to pick from are- Maasai Mara, Amboseli, Lake Nakuru, Aberdares, Samburu and Tsavo. Top in off-the-beaten track category for either wildlife or back to nature activities are- Kakamega Forest, Marsabit, Meru, Mount Kenya, Mount Elgon and Shimba Hills.

Maasai Mara is big one. This is where you must go even when all time you can spare is two nights. This is mostly where all those wildlife videos on Kenya are filmed. The Mara, as Maasai Mara Game Reserve is commonly known, is part of ecosystem that includes equally famous Serengeti of Tanzania. Covering 320 square kilometers, it is nested in southwestern corner of country. The Mara offers wildlife in such variety and abundance that it is difficult to believe. On a two-night visit, I saw lions, rhinos, hippos, crocodiles, giraffe, wildebeests, zebras, buffalo, warthogs, hyenas, jackals, wild dogs, buffalo, leopard, nine kinds of antelopes and elephant. The birds are also in plenty -secretary birds, cranes, stork, vultures and ostriches.

It is in Mara that perhaps most spectacular event of natural world takes place. I refer to annual migration of millions of wildebeest and zebra from Serengeti in search of water and pasture. The timing of phenomena is conditional on rains and occurs between June and August. The reverse journey is usually taken in October. With or without migration Mara has abundant numbers of resident animals and you are sure to have a good wildlife viewing experience whatever time of year you visit. If you have sufficient funds, consider taking a balloon trip over reserve. This popular and thoroughly memorable ride usually commences before dawn and includes a champagne breakfast. The Mara is 5 hours from Nairobi by road and 45 minutes by light aircraft.

Amboseli National Park sits on lower slopes of mighty Kilimanjaro whose peak is across border in Tanzania. It is quite an experience to see Kilimanjaro hovering above clouds in an early morning. As keen photography enthusiast can already imagine, mountain gives a dramatic backdrop for animal pictures. Amboseli is renowned for its huge elephant herds. You will also see buffalo, black rhino, zebra, wildebeest and other plain animals. Lions and other cats can be seen but are less plentiful here than in Mara. The park is 3 hours from Nairobi by road and can be approached through Namanga, border post between Kenya and Tanzania.

Lake Nakuru's claim to fame is anchored on its flamingo's and over 400 species of birds found here. The lake itself is a soda lake on floor of rift valley. The sight of at times millions of flamingos is quite spectacular. From a distance lake appears ringed in pink. Lake Nakuru is also host to a sanctuary for endangered black and white rhino. Lions, Rothschild's giraffe, buffalo and baboons are all residents here. The park is most accessible of Kenya's bigger parks and is only two hours from Nairobi by road.

Namibia's top draw is Etosha National Park, rated as one of Africa's finest game sanctuaries. The birding experience in country is truly superior. On a Namibia safari, range of activities you can indulge in unsurpassable physical environment is truly impressive. Ballooning over desert, skydiving over land and sea, paragliding, whitewater rafting and sand skiing along coastal dunes are good activities for starters. More fun games to pick from include abseiling - that most spectacular of rock sports, coastal and fresh water angling, desert camel riding, scuba diving, 4x4 desert runs, hiking and mountaineering.

Namibia has four distinct geographical regions. In north is Etosha Pan, a great area for wildlife and heart of Etosha National Park. The slender Caprivi Strip is nested between Zambia and Botswana and is a wet area of woodland blessed with a few rivers. Along coast is Namib Desert, which at age of 80 million years old, is said to be world's oldest desert. At coast, icy cold Atlantic meets blazing African desert, resulting in dense fogs. The well-watered central plateau runs north to south, and carries rugged mountains, magnificent canyons, rocky outcrops and expansive plains.

Namibia, one and half times size of France, is very sparsely inhabited and carries only 1.8 million souls. The people are as unique as land they live on. The most intriguing are San, otherwise known as Bushmen. These most hardy of people have a highly advanced knowledge of their environment. It is a marvelous thing how well they are adapted to their difficult habitat. Just pause and think that these are only people in world who live with no permanent access to water. In Kalahari Desert, one of their domiciles, surface water is not to be found. Tubers, melons, and other water bearing plants as well as underground sip wells supply their water requirements.

In Namibia today, Bushmen number about 50,000. Historians estimate that they have lived, mostly as hunters and gatherers, for at least 25,000 years in these parts of world. Bushmen speak in a peculiar click language and are very gifted in arts of storytelling, mimicry, and dance. Namibia's other people, who are indigenous to continent, are mostly of Bantu origin. They are thought to have arrived from western Africa from about 2,400 years ago. The African groups include Owambo, Kavango, Caprivians, Herero, Himba, Damara, Nama and Tswana.

The Africans aside, other groups comprise about 15% of population and have played an important role in emergence of modern nation. White Namibians amount to about 120,00 and are mainly of German and Afrikaner heritage. Germans arrived in significant numbers after 1884 when Bismarck declared country a German Protectorate. Afrikaners, white farmers of Dutch origin, moved north from their Cape settlements, especially after Dutch Cape Colony was ceded to British in 1806. This strongly independent people, whose ancestors had lived in Cape from 1652 resented British control.

Two other distinct groups complete spectrum of Namibia's people - Basters and Coloureds. Coloured in Namibia and southern Africa refers to people of mixed racial heritage, black- white for example. They have a separate identity and culture. This makes sense considering that Namibia was run by South Africa after First World War. Even in pre-Apartheid South Africa, racial classification was a fine art. The Afrikaans-speaking Basters, descended from Hottentot women and Dutch settlers of Cape. Alienated from both white and black communities, they trekked northwards, finally founding their own town Rehoboth, in 1871. Baster is actually derived from "bastard", but it is not derogatory, and Basters are indeed proud of it.

Namibia's barren and unwelcoming coastlines served as a natural deterrent to ambitions of European explorers. That was until 1884 when German merchant Adolf Luderitz established a permanent settlement between Namib Desert and Atlantic seaboard that afterwards took his name. Bismarck subsequently declared territory covered by Namibia a German colony and named it Südwestafrika or South West Africa. As German settlers moved into interior, conflict was inevitable with inheritors of land.

The German occupation was a particularly unhappy experience for Herero. The Herero resented German's harsh and racist rule and effect of encroachment on their lands on their livelihood and way of life. On first day of year 1904, Herero led by Chief Samuel Maharero, rose suddenly and unexpectedly in arms against their colonial overlords. The Nama joined insurrection and authorities did not regain control even after six months of trying. Over 100 German settlers and soldiers died in uprising. Historians now consider events that followed to constitute first genocide of twentieth century.