October is one of our favourite times of year to be in Africa. It’s reliably warm across much of the continent, and the end of the long dry season in many game reserves means fantastic game viewing without your children having to wait for too long in a game drive vehicle. At this time of year it’s essential to go for a safari lodge or camp with a pool, so that you have somewhere to burn off steam in the hot hours between game drives.
With a two-week October half-term holiday, the whole of Africa’s on your doorstep. South Africa is a good bet for a malaria free safari in Madikwe or the Eastern Cape. Combine this with the Garden Route for zip wires and adventure activities for older teenagers while younger children can race around the Birds of Eden aviary ticking off feathered friends as they spot them. If you want a beach break that’s a little different from the norm, Lake Malawi provides the sort of laid-back, old-fashioned adventure that almost seems from another time, and the villages here are a wonderful place for your kids to meet other children of a totally different culture.
If your family have a school where the half term’s one week rather than two, a safari in the Kenya’s Laikipia Plateau perfectly. There’s a direct overnight flight from London to Nairobi (Kenya Airways has a great children’s channel on the on-demand TV), and a light aircraft flight can whisk you directly into the bush by mid-morning. Here in Laikipia’s private reserves you’ll find not only serious quantities of wildlife for your game drives into the bush, but activities to keep themost demanding families entertained: camel safaris and horse safaris, tracking for older teens and dinners under the stars for the whole family.
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