5 unique African experiences to put on your bucket list

Here are five truly unique African experiences to put on your bucket list

What are the best experiences in Africa? There are so many! But if you’re going to visit as a tourist, perhaps just once in your lifetime, then know that these five experiences are ones that everyone loves for being so spectacular and unique to Africa …

1. Get drenched by the spray of Victoria Falls

On the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, the broad Zambezi River drops more than 100 metres (330 feet) into a massive chasm. The crashing water creates such noise and spray that locally it’s called “the Smoke that Thunders” (Mosi-oa-Tunya) or “Boiling Water” (Shungu Namutitima). To the rest of us, it’s known by its colonial name, Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. So it’s truly something you have to see for yourself to appreciate. It’s an incredible 1.7 km (1 mile) wide. Its mist creates an almost perpetual rainbow. And the Zimbabwean side has a unique rainforest, supported by daily ‘rain’ from the falls.

There are two bridges you can walk for different views of the falls: the historic Victoria Falls Bridge linking Zimbabwe and Zambia, and the pedestrian Knife Edge Bridge in Zambia. Both views are mesmerising, especially in the high-flow season when you need a raincoat to avoid becoming completely drenched. But there are perks to the low-flow season too, like being able to swim in Devil’s Pool near the edge of the falls. And if that’s not enough adrenaline for you, know that you can also go bungee jumping, bridge swinging, or ziplining!

2. Trek in the jungle to see mountain gorillas

Mountain gorillas – those gentle giants made famous by Dian Fossey – only live in two small pockets of forest in East Africa: the Virunga Mountains on the tri-border region of Rwanda, Uganda, and the DRC, and Bwindi and Sarambwe Forests in Uganda and the DRC respectively. You can’t see them in any zoos, either. So if you’re keen to see some of these beautiful primates, you need to trek into the dense jungle to find them where they live.

Such a hike is a memorable experience in and of itself. Both Bwindi Forest and the Virunga Mountains are covered in beautiful and misty rainforests. Here, you can find various rare mammals, birds, and reptiles, from bush elephants in Bwindi and golden monkeys in the Virungas, to Rockefeller’s sunbirds, Rwenzori turacos, and three-horned chameleons in both.

On a mountain gorilla trek, you join a small group on a guided hike into the jungle to find an assigned gorilla troop. Once you’ve found them, you’re allowed to draw remarkably close – often close enough to look into their eyes. You spend an hour in the troop’s company, during which time you’re likely to see them grooming themselves or munching on leaves, fruits, or bamboo. Oftentimes, you see the youngsters at play.

3. Witness the Great Migration and spot the Big Five

There are many incredible safari destinations all across sub-Saharan Africa. But the Serengeti ecosystem shared by Tanzania and Kenya has special prominence among them, most notably because it’s the home of the Great Wildebeest Migration. This nonstop circular migration of wildebeests, zebras, and other antelope species has captured the imagination of the world, as the numbers involved are just staggering. Nearly 1.5 million animals take part, creating a mega herd that stretches across the often pancake-flat Seregenti plains past the horizon line.

Similar to Victoria Falls, the Great Migration is a phenomenon that can only really be understood in person. Sunrise hot air balloon rides are an unforgettable way to try to see the extent of the herd. While game drives let you appreciate it in a more intimate way, like watching newborn foals quickly learn to balance on their spindly legs, or seeing cheetahs and other predators make a play for any weaklings or stragglers.

So if you’re looking for that one grand African safari experience, consider visiting the Serengeti National Park or Masai Mara National Reserve, each of which hosts the Great Migration in turn. Importantly, both parks are also biodiversity hotspots and home to the various animals synonymous with safaris. These include the Big Five (elephants, leopards, black rhinos, lions, and Cape buffaloes). You can also find the likes of giraffes, hippos, hyenas, elands, impalas, warthogs, crocodiles, ostriches, and flamingoes.

4. Scale the beach sand dunes of the Namib Desert

Namib-Naukluft National Park in western Namibia is one of Africa’s largest protected wildernesses. It’s also one of the most unique, remote, and unpolluted parts of Africa. It’s the ultimate destination for anyone looking to immerse themselves in a wilder part of the world, far, far away from all speed and plastic.

Here, alongside the cold Atlantic Ocean, you have morning fog that creeps inland and sustains a few ancient succulents and shrubs, like the endemic Welwitschia, which resembles a beached sea monster. You have steep sand dunes that reach towards a clear blue sky, their sharp edges shifting with the wind. And you have the flat white salt pans of Deadvlei. They’re punctuated by dark fossilised tree trunks and surrounded by red dunes that are the perfect backdrop for contrast photography.

The best way to explore the Namib Desert is on an overlanding tour, like those offered by African Overland Tours. You can climb the enormous sand dunes of Soussousvlei. Visit the Ramsar wetlands of Sandwich Harbour. Drive into the rugged Naukluft Mountains to see incredible rock formations. Go game-spotting in the vast grasslands of the interior to seek hardy wildlife like oryxes, klipspringers, Cape and bat-eared foxes, jackals, and caracals. And gaze upon a swathe of stars in quite possibly the clearest night skies of your life.

5. Do a floating safari in the Okavango Delta

Finally, the fifth uniquely African experience to put on your bucket list is an Okavango Delta safari.

The Okavango Delta is a fascinating and beautiful ecosystem of rivers, lakes, wetlands, and salt pans located right in the heart of the forbidding Kalahari Desert. It’s fed by seasonal flood waters from the Angolan Highlands.

When the waters arrive in the delta, they fill the floodplains and turn otherwise dry salt pans into shallow lakes that attract various migratory waterbirds, including flamingoes and pelicans. In fact, the Okavango Delta is also one of Africa’s top birding destinations with over 500 species! These include rare species like the slaty egret, wattled crane, and Pel’s fishing owl.

During the flooded season, you can go on a mokoro ride, where a poler punts you along winding channels in the floodplains. This is an incredibly different sort of safari to what most people experience – it’s a truly privileged one, marked by quietude and close-up encounters with the likes of hippos, sitatunga antelopes, red lechwes, herons, jacanas, and kingfishers.

Throughout the year, you can also enjoy boat safaris and sunset cruises on lagoons and perennial rivers. Elephants, crocodiles, hippos, buffaloes, and other water-loving wildlife are common sights. But know that you can also enjoy incredibly rewarding game drives in the surrounding savannah and woodlands. Moremi Game Reserve, for instance, in the eastern delta, hosts the Big Five alongside other major players like cheetahs and giraffes. So the Okavango Delta is a real wildlife bonanza.

Overlanding tours that visit all 5 destinations

African Overland Tours offers various multi-week, once-in-a-lifetime trips that take you to all five of these unique bucket-list destinations. You either start in Cape Town, South Africa, and then work your way northwards, visiting the Namib Desert, then Victoria Falls, then the Okavango Desert, then the mountain gorillas in Rwanda or Uganda, and then the Great Migration in Tanzania or Kenya, and ending in Nairobi, or you do it the other way around.

So what are you waiting for? Check out the popular itineraries below to find the one that’s best for you. You can choose between budget group camping trips and private lodge-based expeditions, as well as various options in between.

Africa truly is the ultimate wildlife adventure destination, and those who can visit most definitely should!

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Note: This blog post was created by Leandra Slabbert in May 2022, then rewritten by Megan Abigail White in May 2026.