The very best African walking safaris for 2025

Guided Africa Walking Safari

Be at peace with yourself in nature on guided African walking safaris with Voyage2Africa. Getting out on foot to connect with biodiversity in all its complexities is a vital part of an African safari, more so now than ever before. Nothing is as revealing as setting off on short walking safaris in great national parks or long safari trails in incredible game reserves. Leave behind all your troubles when you hear the silence of the bushveld and discover just how intricately balanced wildlife and ecosystems really are. Leave behind all the civilized chaos you live in and remember how things really work. Realize how nature is a vital part of the human psyche. 

Read about the best walking safaris in Africa and wildlife safaris for 2025. Learn why a guided African walking safari is the best way to explore the great national parks and game reserves of Africa. Game drives, boat safaris, quad bike tours, elephant-back safaris and horseback safaris are all offered in African conservation areas but the walking safari is part of the human condition. Walking safaris take humanity back to time immemorial when our ancestors hunted animals on foot and lived within nature.

Walking safari in Africa with an armed guide
A Walking Safari in Africa offers the ultimate experience in exploring Africa’s untamed wilderness by foot.

Guided walking safaris in Africa entice participants to tune into the wilderness using all 6 senses – hearing its sounds, smelling its aromas, seeing its collective drama and beauty, feeling diverse textures and tasting its water. Allow the sixth sense to come alive in a deepening awareness of the innate raw dangers in the bushveld and its rejuvenating qualities. There is no place here for city air conditioners, fast cars, pollution, noise, computers, mobile phones and the clutter of thoughts in your head. The best part about guided walking safaris in Africa is the sense of excitement and freedom you get away from an enclosed 4×4 vehicle and led by an expert in wilderness knowledge.

Walking Safaris in South Africa

Kruger National Park – best walking safaris in Africa

Kruger is synonymous with the great safari and is the origin of walking safaris in South Africa. Kruger National Park covers the eastern sections of the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga and is considered one of  Africa’s great wilderness zones. It has the biggest and best choice of walking safari options in South Africa. In Kruger, avid nature lovers can choose between short morning walking trails, all-day walking trails, or overnight trails staying in tented camps, bungalows or sleeping under the stars. ranging from ‘leave no trace’ backpacking to luxury trails camps. Thornybush  Private Nature Reserve is a renowned walking safari destination on the border with Kruger in the Greater Kruger region – forever an untouched wildlife haven and recognized biodiversity hot spot. 

Guided African safari walk through the African bush
Kruger National Park walking safaris are guided by experienced rangers with an extensive knowledge of the area, the wildlife, birdlife and indigenous vegetation.

This region embraces the meaning of African walking safari where you can enjoy an overland journey or family expedition in the African bush. Timbavati is the epitome of the South African walking safari in Kruger. Simbavati is a sought-after walking trail company in Timbavati with superb trails camp offering apt walking adventures into the heart of the bushveld where visitors can explore the intricate biodiversity around them. Open only from 1 March until 30 November every year, the 2024 season is awaiting your booking for an immersion in the wonders of the Timbavati ecosystems and wildlife. Walk in a relaxed manner and find the tracks that lead to the animals, hiding as you go behind thorn trees and peering out at birds, rodents, insects and incredible medicinal plants on your walking safari in Africa. 

Madikwe Game Reserve walking safaris

Madikwe lies in North West Province, close to the Kalahari and Botswana border, is a malaria-free enclave where walking safaris with expert guides thrill all visitors. Once a farm, Madikwe is now the fifth largest game reserve in the country thanks to the commitment of local farmers who added land to the provincial conservation area and helped with the mission to translocate hundreds of wild animals to this haven.

On your Madikwe safari you might be lucky enough to witness the big five – large infamous mammals. But on a walking safari in Madikwe your experienced guide will bring other things alive besides the larger mammals. It is in the detail and  the smaller sights and sounds you will truly appreciate while out on a Madikwe walking safari. Think spiders webs, ant lions, dung beetles and other fascinating life in the African bush.

Take your time on a walking safari in Africa. You are surrounded by the African bush – listen to the sounds of bird call, smell the fresh elephant dung and open your eyes to discover an incredible ecosytem.

Herd of Rhino in the bush of Kenya
You will see a range of wildlife on these guided walks. From rhinos to elephants, the Big Five is not an uncommon sight!

Wildlife-rich game walks in the 750 square km expanse of Madikwe are a highlight and birders will revel in the more than 350 bird species endemic to this blend of grasslands and thickets, on the Marico River.  Walking safaris in Madikwe are designed to tune in all six senses as participants walk between 5 to 10 km in the morning. This is not a fitness walk but a silent exploration of nature so every nuance is noticed and recorded. Stay at the glorious Impodimo Game Lodge, the first lodge in Madikwe ever to employ local Shangaans as their trackers.  This means animal sightings are out of this world and guests spend quality time with passionate nature lovers. 

Because of its malaria free status it is perfect for families and family walking safaris in Africa

Guided Walking Safaris in Zimbabwe 

Walking safaris in Hwange National Park

Hwange is a fantastic destination in Zimbabwe for one of the best guided walking safari in Africa. This famous conservation area is expertly managed and offers an experience like no other in all of Africa on walking safaris in a private and secluded destination packed with elephants and predators. Animals love to congregate at the 60 man-made pans created during the 1920s to water the animals in this dry habitat. Walking safaris in Zimbabwe are the ultimate African bush experience and Hwange is the best setting for walks based in special camps every night. unique opportunity to intimately connect with nature and gain a deeper understanding of the park’s ecosystem. Dont only consider traditional game drives from a lodge in Hwange National Park where your viewing experience is limited to the confines of a game drive vehicle. A guided bush walk in Hwange will allow you to venture off the beaten track and truly appreciate the wonders of a safari on foot in Hwange. 

Mana Pools guided safari walk viewing the wildlife
Dedicate a bush walk to see the elephants of Mana Pools stand on their hind legs, trunks high in the air, in the hopes of finding juicy Ana leaves and seed pods to snack on.

Set off every day in different directions and walk to special locations to see wildlife and plants. Top wildlife guides and their trackers offer private experiences inside the park for participants with a passion for both walking in the wilderness.  Walk all morning, return for lunch and a rest during the heat of the day, then walk all afternoon and return to camp for nutritious meals around the campfire, bush showers and time to relax with a drink. Sleep under canvas on comfy mattresses and listen to the sounds of nocturnal Hwange, music to the ears. 

A walking safari in Mana Pools

Another compelling place to walk is the lush environment of Mana Pools in the Lower Zambezi Valley.  Walking safaris in Mana Pools are especially popular thanks to its UNESCO World Heritage Site status and continuous wildlife sightings through the seasons around the four famous pools just inland from the Zambezi River. Huge old African trees shade rustic camp areas and walkers are never at a loss for game sightings, birdlife and incredible tranquility. This unique ecosystem is completely different from the dry bushveld of Hwange – a vast floodplain where lush grasslands and woodlands thrive, home to more than 10 000 elephants, buffalo herds, lions, leopards, hyenas, cheetahs, and more.

Mana Pools is remote and beautifull and world famous for its guided walking safaris. The best thing about what has to be one of the best walking safaris in Africa is the great visibility of animals based on the sparse vegetation. Expect dome pretty epic close encounters with species such as elephant, wild dog and even lion, something rarely encountered anywhere else on walking safaris in Africa. The walking safaris at Mana Pools have been in operation since the park opened in 1963. As a result many of the animals encountered there have become accustomed to seeing humans on a walking safaris and exploring the area on foot.

Zambia’s Best Walking Safaris 

Zambia is proud of its walking safari heritage and standards set in the walking safari industry. Zambia is blessed with some of the best walking safari guiides in Africa. The guiding standards are strictly controlled and standards are guaranteed. Add some high quality Zambia safari lodges to the mix allows you to experience incredible Zambian walking safaris amongst the best anywhere in Africa.

South Luangwa National Park is the home of the walking safari. It became Luangwa Game Reserve in 1904 with the help of dedicated British conservationist, Norman Carr, who had the courage to step away from traditional hunting safaris to promote nature-based tourism and walking safaris. In fact, his dedication as a game ranger in the 1940s saved the park’s integrity from mass tourism.  

Today, Robin Pope Safaris’ Mobile Walking Safaris are the best way to explore this captivating terrain, heralded as the first-ever walking safaris in Africa. Get out of the traditional game drive vehicle, don those walking boots, and go walking on safari in Zambia’s renowned South Luangwa National Park. Trails start off at Nkwali Camp and trail adventurers walk for 5 days, covering some 10 km a day, in a slow, steady, respectful manner, remembering that humans are always visitors in wild places. Guests also stay at the delightful Nsefu Camp, situated on a long, meandering curve bend of the Luangwa River. Established in the early 1950s, this South Luangwa accommodation was one of the first game camps in the country.  

Guests on a guided safari walk in Africa at Mana Pools
Did you know? The South Luangwa in Zambia is considered the birthplace of walking safaris.

For another vast and admirable national park in Zambia where walking safaris are a great hit with wilderness lovers, visit Kafue National Park. These bush trails offer an authentic escape from real life in a wild enclave of animals, birds, plants and huge open spaces. See the world from a whole new perspective as you trudge the wilderness eagerly with expert game guards and trackers, finding out how biodiversity works and sustains the universe. Walking safaris in Kafue, Zambia, are a huge hit with birders who love the many forest, wetland, savanna and riverine bird species. Kafue National Park is renowned as the largest national park in Zambia, a thrilling Big 5 experience in an area as big as Wales in the UK or Massachusetts in the USA, an incredible 22 400 square km of wilderness! 

And if you are looking for a bit more of an off the beaten track walking safari in Zambia try out Kafue and North Luangwa.

An African walking safari in Tanzania

It’s such a vast, popular East African big 5 safari country but Tanzania’s best walking safari region must surely be in the splendid Selous Game Reserve, one of Africa’s largest protected areas and a place of such international biodiversity importance that it is an official UNESCO World Heritage Site. Selous alone contributes to more than one-fifth of Tanzania’s entire protected area network, a veritable biodiversity hotspot. Now called Selous Nyerere Game Reserve, this famous reserve stretches an enormous 50,000 square km plus extra buffer zones where the main attraction of course is epic walking safaris into rare habitats that reveal some of the awe-inspiring and diverse wildlife of the miombo – such as the elephant, black rhino, hippo, lion, Masai giraffe, zebra and crocodiles – and of course Wild Dogs. 

Guests on a guided safari walk in Tanzania.
Walking safaris in Tanzania are truly an experience. Your ranger and local tribesman come along to spot and interpret the animals tracks along the way.

Walking safaris in a game reserve are a bit different from those in a national park as regulations differ – Selous also offers something completely different in terms of terrain, scenic beauty, varied ecosystems and private accommodations. This game reserve is so vast that you need at least a week to walk around within its scintillating boundaries and discover the magic of wildlife in a vast territory. 

Are African Walking Safaris Safe?

Yes, a walking safari is super safe as all game rangers are accompanied by expert trackers from the local communities who usually grew up in these parts and know the land intimately. They have all had serious professional environmental and safety training and they carry weapons just in case there is a confrontation with a wild animal, which rarely happens. Trail leaders like to prep all walking guests before the safari walks into the bush; they like to use hand signals as walks are usually silent. They like to walk downwind and encourage spaces between all walkers and respect for the wildlife, its habitat and fellow walkers. Above all, this walking safari is about you, relaxing in nature, destressing, and learning more about your world! 

Follow your guides instructions without hesitation. Play your part and listen carefully. Reputable and qualified guides all have years of experience plus specialized training to make sure that you and the animal’s safety comes first.  At all times respect the animals and the environment on your walking safari in Africa.
  • Guides: Over a number of  years to qualify as a walking safari guide there is extensive training, testing, examination and supervised training. There are many hours and scenarios as part of their training to make sure they have the right experience and knowledge before they venture out with guests and they will allways prioritize your safety and the safety of the animals you see on safari.
  • Follow your guides instructions: At all times listen to your guide’s instructions and follow their advice. Pay attention in your pre walk safety briefing with your walking safari guide. He or she will advise various protocols on general safety and how to react to different animals. You dont react the same when encountering a rhino or elephant. Animals like lion and buffalo also have their rules when it comes to approaching the or dealing with a threat.
  • Be aware: The whole walking safari party must be alert and stay aware of your surroundings. Five pairs of ears and eyes will be better than just leaving it to the guide. If you pick up something he did not see alert him or her quietly without raising your voice and startling others in the group. 
  • Be respectful: You are in animal territory when you venture on foot in Africa. At all times respect the animals and the environment that you are enjoying on your Africa walking safari. 
  • Hire a reputable safari company: Ask your travel agent about which guided walking safari operators to use. They must be insured and its a good idea to check out reviews before booking your safari.
  • Don’t ever venture out alone: The African bush is harsh and uncompromising. Never even think about walking in the bush or swimming in a river on your own. Take care in the areas around your lodge and camp especially at night. Stick to designated pathways and allways carry a powerful torch if you need to move around camp at night.
Group on a guided safari walk in the Kruger national park bush
Wilderness guides are highly trained and incredibly experienced, and your safety is their main concern!

How Much Does a Walking Safari Cost?

Walking safaris can cost anything from $ 350 a person per trail to $500 a person per night per trail which all depends on the operation you choose and whether it is a budget, wild safari walk or a luxury slackpacking safari walk. A 4-day walking safari in one of South Africa’s Kruger National Park camps could cost between $450 and $850 per person for 3 nights in the bush, but a specialized trail in a private game reserve may go as high as USD $1 400 per night! The choice is yours. 

Walking safaris in Africa’s wide-open savannas, floodplains and woodlands with an expert guide and tracker is the height of any game-viewing adventure. Learn about more than just the Big 5, but discover a world of complexities and survival of the fittest. Learn more on foot than being in a jeep will ever teach you. A long walk through the African bushveld might be one of the best things you ever do in your lifetime. 

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