South Africa

7 Days with Africa's Rare 5: Adorable Meerkats, Aardwolf, Cheetah & more

Detailed Itinerary

DAY 1 Arrive South Africa

Arrive Johannesburg or Cape Town and transfer to nearby hotel for overnight.

DAY 2 Arrive Tswalu – Meet Wildlife Researchers, Track Lion & Cheetah, Night Safari

Morning pickup at hotel and transfer by private pressurized plane to Tswalu.

Start your adventure in the remote "Green" Kalahari, where Wild Planet has arranged a special safari program in coordination with Tswalu wildlife experts, designed to maximize the possibility of sightings of rare animals not often seen. However, your daily activities at Tswalu, are 100% flexible to suit your desires, and all safari activities are available to Wild Planet travelers, including game drives, walking safaris, horseback safaris, and more. Archeological walks, a high-end spa, pool, gym, yoga and gourmet meals make this a truly luxurious safari experience.

Depending on your arrival time you’ll meet with your guide and resident wildlife researchers to assure that your every desire is accommodated. Begin with a game drive to see black rhino, giraffe, zebra and more before we turn our focus to big cats. We’ll track black-maned lion and cheetah, specifically seeking out hunting behaviors. It is classic cheetah behavior to make their way to elevated points to survey the surrounding areas for prey. This gives us a fantastic opportunity to photograph them in the brilliant Kalahari light.

This evening enjoy a nocturnal safari for nocturnal animals. At night the Green Kalahari comes alive. Animals that are hard to spot during the day are more visible. A favorite are the brilliant chameleons that glow an unmistakable color when lit by spotlight.

DAY 3 Meerkats & Africa’s Rare 5

This morning walk to a meerkat colony and watch these extraordinarily adorable mammals warm themselves in the sunshine before they scamper off to forage. Tswalu is famous for its 2 thriving habituated meerkat colonies, so we can get up close without fear of them running away. The ever-playful pups always keep us entertained and there are constantly new pups to be seen. Meerkats and their pups share a very close bond with lots of cuddles!

In addition to the adorable pups, the meerkat sentinels can be exciting to watch. A meerkat sentinel takes on the role of ‘lookout’, watching for possible predators and other potential threats to the community while the others are foraging. After some foraging around the burrow they began grooming each other before heading down for the night. We usually watch them for at least 45 minutes from the time they come out of the burrows to the time the go foraging for the day. We have habituators to advise our guides when the Meerkats awaken, which is usually between 9:00 and 11:00am between May and Sept.

After spending the morning with the Meerkats, we’ll spend most of the day on safari for rare animals, including pangolin, aardvark, aardwolf and more. While night remains ideal to see these elusive creatures, during winter months of May – Sept nocturnal animals actually hunt and forage during the day so you can often see them with ideal light conditions for photos. 2015 was a record year for pangolin sightings, which are otherwise known as scaly anteaters. From May to Sept these unusual creatures become crepuscular, which means they are active early in the mornings and late in the afternoons. Although Pangolin are usually considered to be one of the rarest animals in Africa, Tswalu is undoubtedly the best place to see them. Similarly, the equally rare aardvark and aardwolf are regularly seen at Tswalu because of this unique phenomenon that occurs from May to Sept when nocturnal animals hunt and forage during the day to avoid the cold.

DAY 4 Meerkats & Big Cats

After a second morning delighted by the antics of the Meerkat colony, we’ll once again turn our focus toward the exciting predators, specifically seeking out hunting behaviors of the cheetah, caracal and black-maned lion. Throughout the “Green Kalahari” we’ll follow herds of a variety of game including both black and white rhinos, many varieties of antelope, zebra, giraffe, impala, hartebeest, warthog, oryx and much more, as well as the predators which – in addition to the big cats—include jackals, hyenas and more. We’ll also keep our eyes open for several of the Rare 5, as this time of year the normally reclusive pangolin, aardwolf and aardvark are more visible.

DAY 5-6 Join Wildlife Researchers, Choice of Horseback, Jeep or Foot Safaris, Bushman Etchings

You will have the option to interact with researchers by special arrangement and join their current research project, dependent on conditions and availability. In the afternoons choose from a variety of options including a game drive excursion (and picnic) to an area where you can see bushman etchings dating back in excess of 100 000 years. Other options include a horse safari (no experience needed), walking safari or game drive for the stunning concentrations of predators and other game. We can also devote more time to track some of Africa's rare 5.

DAY 7 Tswalu / Joburg or Capetown

Time permitting one last visit with the Meerkats before your flight back to either Johannesburg or Cape Town and your onward connection.