SOUTH AFRICA
Luxe & Budget on the Veld
With frequent international flights and a well-developed road system, South Africa is the most accessible safari destination. It's the ideal place to indulge in a boutique safari on a private game reserve or rent a Land Cruiser and hit the big parks on your own.

The Manyeleti and adjacent Sabi Sand game reserves, which border 7,523-square-mile Kruger National Park, have become a nexus for high-end digs such as the new Tintswalo Lodge, which has seven suites decorated with antiques in honor of 19th-century British explorers, and Sir Richard Branson's eco-elegant Ulusaba. Both are surrounded by miles of open savanna patrolled by some of South Africa's biggest lions. At Ulusaba, which includes the cliffside Rock and riverside Safari lodges, game drives are offered twice daily, along with day hikes and night drives. Zulu masks and shields hang on the walls, and live trees rise from beneath the dining room floor up through the decks. Bathtub views at Rock Lodge look out on the whole of Kruger National Park.

The family safari for middle-class South Africans is akin to the national park road trip for Americans, so it's easy to explore the land sans guide. Rent a 4x4 in Jo-burg, make campsite reservations, and drive 12 hours to the 14,600-square-mile Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. It has permanent tented lodges as well as primitive campsites. The wildlife is unique and plentiful: desert antelopes, hartebeest, gemsbok, and black-maned lions. --Adam Skolnick

WHEN TO GO June through October. RESOURCES Book directly for Ulusaba (from $3,960 for four days and three nights, all-inclusive; ulusaba.com) and Tintswalo (from $690 per night, all-inclusive; tintswalo.com). For campsite reservations in Kgalagadi visit sanparks.org/parks/kgalagadi (from $29); pick up vehicles at offroadafrica.com and map info at southafrica.info.

BOTSWANA
Paddle the Okavango Delta
The centerpiece of Botswana's safari circuit is the soupy Okavango Delta, a 6,178-square-mile seasonal oasis that sucks in the region's abundant game. That doesn't mean the terrain lacks diversity. In fact, the delta has some of the most extreme habitat changes in Africa, based on the flow of water. The best trips, such as those run by the Africa Adventure Company, fly from lush islands and channels in the heart of the delta to the lifeless salt pans of the bordering Kalahari desert to the grasslands east of the delta. The Okavango is divided into concessions that limit the number of travelers, guaranteeing no crowds. But don't let anyone hype you into the $1,500-per-night premium lodges. Instead, start with four nights at a less opulent camp, such as the five-tent Chitabe Trails, which sits among ebony and sausage trees on an islet. The best way to get a feel for the rhythm of the delta is by a guided mokoro, or canoe trip. Silently glide up on resting kingfishers, watch herds of buffalo, and spot lechwe (antelope that hide in the marshes to avoid predators). Then spend three nights at Jack's Camp, in the Makgadikgadi Pans, where the paucity of wildlife and vegetation force you to expand your worldview to the horizon and beyond. Make the third leg a three-day walking safari at the camps run by Linyanti Explorations in the Selinda Reserve. There, lions target hippos and wild dogs roam in packs. --David Herndon

WHEN TO GO Dry season (July-October), when animals stay close to water sources, is best for game viewing. Significant savings are to be had in the wet (January-March) and shoulder seasons (April-June, November). resources The Africa Adventure Company's 12-day Botswana Adventure Safari includes the elements described above ($5,850; africa-adventure.com UGANDA & RWANDA
Jungle Trek to Spot Gorillas
Roughly 700 mountain gorillas remain in the wild, most of them in the steep, thickly forested slopes of the Virunga Mountains straddling the Rwanda-Uganda border. Both Uganda's Bwindi National Park and Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park span the border and offer good opportunities to see the endangered apes, although you have to earn it. Gorillas live in small groups and are constantly moving to find new stalks and leaves to eat. Typically travelers hike for two to six hours up overgrown animal trails through the rain forest, fording streams, clawing at roots on the 45-degree slopes, and crawling through tunnels gorillas bored in the undergrowth. The payoff: hang time with the hirsute creatures who share 98 percent of our DNA and whose actions, whether it's a 450-pound silverback banging a warning on his chest or a mother grooming a youngster, clearly inform an understanding of our own behavior. Naturalist Allen Bechky has 30 years of experience leading trips in Africa, and his expeditions go to both Bwindi and Volcanoes parks, with two gorilla treks in each, and other Uganda parks too, where you can spot chimpanzees and look for the big five (buffalo, elephant, lion, leopard, rhino). --Chris Cox

WHEN TO GO Anytime except April, May, and November, when rains are heavy. RESOURCES Mountain Travel Sobek's gorilla expedition (from $7,190; mtsobek.com); tour operators own 80 percent of the gorilla-tracking permits in Uganda ($385), and independent travelers can organize their own treks with local outfitters (visituganda.com/directory.php).

NAMIBIA
Fly Along the Skeleton Coast
Much of Namibia's landscape is a surreal patchwork of desert geology laid bare: ever-shifting sand dunes, lava fields, and sandstone canyons. Then there's the Skeleton Coast, more than 500 miles along the Atlantic with shipwrecks, flocks of flamingos, colonies of Cape fur seals 650,000 strong, and pods of humpback whales offshore. Louw Schoeman pioneered Skeleton Coast flying safaris in the late 1970s; today his sons and daughters have a reputation as the continent's best bush pilots. "Usually we're at 500 feet or lower," says Henk Schoeman, a guide pilot with 13 years of experience. "We fly low enough to spot wildlife, and you never know what you'll see. Once we saw a lion scavenging a whale carcass." Travelers swoop down and land on the beach or in the desert, then explore on foot or hop into waiting Land Rovers for game drives or visits with nomadic Himba people. Nights are spent at isolated tented camps close to desert oases that sustain pockets of wildlife, including jackals, lions, and giraffes. "Around the campfire people always tell me they have seen too much," says Schoeman. "They need more time to absorb everything. It's hard to wrap your head around this scenery." --D.H.

WHEN TO GO Year-round. RESOURCES Book four- or five-day Skeleton Coast safaris with African Portfolio (from $3,995; onsafari.com).

MOZAMBIQUE
The Wildest Frontier
Once one of Africa's premier safari destinations, Gorongosa National Park, a 1,455-square-mile swath of thick grasslands, lushly forested mountains, and deep gorges, was poached clean by ravenous military squadrons during Mozambique's civil war, which ended in 1992. But Greg Carr, formerly the chairman of the internet company Prodigy, has made it his personal mission to restore the park by protecting the remaining animals and importing others. "We have all the cats, hippos, huge herds of elephants, quite a few antelope varieties, and extraordinary bird life," says Carr. "What we're missing are the large numbers of herbivores." Not for long. Carr's team of conservation biologists is importing Cape buffalo from South Africa and plans to add zebra from Zimbabwe next year. The Carr Foundation has also invested considerably in park infrastructure, but this is not a luxury destination. Gorongosa is for trailblazers who don't mind spartan lodging. For now guests can only stay at Chitengo Safari Camp in quarters similar to the park wardens, or camp at sites with few amenities. "No other park in Africa has the variety of activities we have here," says Carr. "You can go on game drives, but we also have extraordinary mountains that are rarely hiked, huge unexplored caves, and incredible waterfalls." After the park, visit the coast, which is more developed than Gorongosa but still relatively unspoiled. Dive with pods of the rare dugong manatee, as well as 600 varieties of fish off Benguˇrua Island in the Indian Ocean's Bazaruto archipelago, or head to Tofo Point, one of the best places on the planet to swim with resident whale sharks. --A.S.

WHEN TO GO May through November. RESOURCES Explore Africa's 10-day Gorongosa-Tofo Point trip ($3,435; exploreafrica.net) includes the activities mentioned above. You can also book lodging and camping reservations at gorongosa.net (from $50) and hire guides upon arrival. Tofo Scuba (ofoscuba.co.za) is the most experienced whale shark outfitter at Tofo Point. Make reservations for hotels at bazarutoarchipelago.com.

ZAMBIA
Bushwhack Through Remote Wilderness
Zambia is the connoisseur's safari venue because of its extreme ruggedness, low traffic, and old-school ways. Walking safaris are the specialty. Travelers learn to recognize different animal tracks in the dirt, smell fragrant grasses and pungent animal scents, and discover the latent twitcher (local slang for a bird-watcher) within. Many of Zambia's camps are owner-operated, so there are the benefits of a host's pride of place and local expertise. South Luangwa National Park is the heart of safari Africa, geographically and metaphorically. The 3,500-square-mile park has healthy populations of the big five, 400 species of birds, and very few roads. Animals make pilgrimages from the hinterlands to the Luangwa River each dry season, and walking safaris follow in their footsteps. Robin Pope Safaris has 22 years' experience guiding there, and one of the area's most complete network of camps. Expect to cover five to seven miles a day and see no other travelers as you hike from camp to camp led by an armed guard and a naturalist. Some camps offer day and night game drives. Walking with Pope, who delivers scintillating monologues on everything from lion mating habits to the life cycle of the dung beetle, is the safari equivalent of a golf vacation with Jack Nicklaus on his home course. --D.H.

WHEN TO GO Mid-June through September. RESOURCES Robin Pope Safaris offers 10-night safaris (from $5,580; robinpopesafaris.net); whitewater fans can also add rafting trips on the Zambezi (shearwateradventures.com).

KENYA & TANZANIA
Camp Out on the Savanna
With the plains of the Serengeti and Masai Mara national parks chock-full of the big five and herds of impala, wildebeest, and zebra, East Africa is the continent's Big Sky Country. But in recent years, as hordes of tourists turned game drives into the animal equivalent of paparazzi stakeouts, the region has lost its luster. Now outfitters such as Micato Safaris and Geographic Expeditions are creating customized trips that allow travelers to craft their own itineraries, flying them to boutique lodges or mobile tented camps in remote corners of the best parks (Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti, Masai Mara) and to mobile tented camps in private reserves (Chyulu Hills, Tarangire, Laikipia). The result: safaris on which travelers sleep under canvas, wake to the sound of snorting grazers, and see animals in truly wild and intimate settings. --A.S.

WHEN TO GO June through November are the best months for game viewing. RESOURCES Micato Safaris Bespoke Collection (from $1,000 per day; micato.com) and Geographic Expeditions' private mobile safaris (from $850 per day; geoex.com).