BUCKET-LIST FAMILY EXPERIENCES IN AFRICA

If you go down to the breakfast table today, you’re sure to be in for a big surprise. For if you take a seat near the window at the Giraffe Manor in Kenya, you’ll be sharing breakfast with one of its four-legged residents. Each morning, the hotel’s cheeky giraffes will pop their heads through the window to grab a snack.

If anything is going to tear you away from Jack’s Camp glampsite in Botswana, it’s knowing that there’s a meerkat family on your doorstep. When the sun comes up, so do the meerkats and they will clamber to the top of their sandy burrow to look out for potential predators. When you arrive, don’t be surprised if they clamber on top of you too to get a better vantage point.

The Lion King fans should visit Loisaba Tented Camp in Kenya. Here they can join one of the rangers on an expedition into the bush and help track the lions. The lions have been fitted with radio collars, so kids can help the ranger check on the progress of the creatures who have made the park their home.

Get a bird’s eye view of Africa by enjoying a hot air balloon ride across the Masai Mara. During the 60-minute flight you will have the chance to float above the plains, forest and rivers of Kenya. If you are lucky you might be able to spot hippos and crocodiles en-route before you take a 4WD ride back to the Governors Camp.

Let your tween feel like an explorer of old by taking a canoeing trip along the upper Zambezi River in Zambia. Here they will be able to spy the exotic wildlife as they paddle along the waterway and follow in the footsteps of Livingstone and pals. Younger kids can see the same sights from the comfort of one of the river boats.