Safari - 'To Journey'

At The Luxury Safari Company we are all about safaris (obviously!). What comes under the banner of Safari I hear you ask? Safari as a direct translation is ‘journey’ derived from the Arabic ‘safar’ meaning journey. The verb for ‘to travel’ in Swahili is ‘kusafiri’ and the Cambridge English Dictionary definition for Safari is ‘an organised journey to look at wild animals, especially Africa.’ This is by no means limited to the standard Serengeti plains and mighty masai mara. Of course, this is what comes to light when thinking of Safaris, if you were to combine it with a marine safari, you will truly be ticking many things off the Safari list!

The ideal ‘safari’ trip would be a Kenya and Zanzibar combination, or perhaps a Zambia and Mozambique combination – beach and bush! Or even bush and beach! However which way you would like to safari, the options are endless.

I want to focus on the marine safari for this write up, as many land safaris are mentioned, but very few ideas spring to mind when thinking about alternative safari options. Azura Quilalea is an unexpected little snippet of paradise. This uninhabited one-square-kilometre island is part of the Quirimbas Archipelago, a collection of thirty one islands about ten kilometres from the mainland and an adventurous coastal destination everyone should visit at least once in their life. This is an African ocean safari like no other and the perfect combination when combined with Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. Discover marine life and underwater gardens. Embark on kayaking adventures, diving excursions, snorkelling in clear coral reefs. Witness green, hawksbill and leatherback turtles nesting or hatching, witness humpback whales breeching, observe around 134 species of stunning birds and learn about the giant and magical baobab trees on the island. At Azura Quilalea, the Quilalea house reef is accessed directly from the beach right in front of the bar which is beyond perfect for snorkelling and even nights dives – marine safaris hold so many surprises and will mean you will have stories to tell for the rest of time doing something completely different.

Luckily, you will not have to endure a shipwreck to end up on this castaway island. You can catch you direct flight from your previous destination into Pemba Mozambique (do not be confused with Pemba Tanzania!). From Johannesburg to Pemba takes around 3hrs and flights a very regular, flying 5 times a week. Twice weekly there are flights from Nairobi direct to Pemba and three times a week there are flights from Dar es Salaam. There are of course daily helicopter transfers between Pemba and the island and boy what a way to arrive, this is seriously by style and only 20 minutes.

So unless you should come up with a better explanation than combining two stunningly different eco-systems for safaris, then I am afraid we will not be able to help you because we know, one hundred percent that both these ‘journeys’ will be beyond comparison … there is in fact, hands down no comparison!