Where to go for an African safari vacation in January

Tanzania

Tanzania is a great destination in January, the Northern Circuit especially – the Serengeti is outrageously good throughout January, February, and March. The first Great Migration herds have reached the Ndutu plains just south of the itself and are starting to get ready for the calving weeks in February.

It is at this time of year that the Serengeti becomes the finest place in Africa to view cheetah, and the sheer concentrations of predators on open plains is astonishing. We use a couple of camps down here that also offer some of the finest cultural interactions and walking operations we know of in Africa. Designing a vacation around the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater makes for a superb safari for January.

South Africa

South Africa is absolutely beautiful at this time of year. The weather is perfect and driving vacations up and down the famous Garden Route are never better. The negative to traveling at this time of year, however, is that combining the fabulous Cape Town and Winelands with high-quality wilderness safari is hard – Botswana is entering its rainy season and the vast majority of Zambia is closed due to rain and floods. Nevertheless, South Africa’s own safari, specifically Kruger National Park and Sabi Sands, is still superb (though there is a chance of rain) – and this is the area we would combine with Cape Town for a short add-on vacation safari.

Kenya

January is a lovely time to visit Kenya. With clear hot days and little rain, game viewing in areas such as the Maasai Mara is at its peak and the month also heralds the start of the calving season. All this means that the country is a popular safari vacation destination in January. Some areas can get extremely busy, so it’s important to design an itinerary that keeps you away from any overcrowding.

Rwanda

January is a popular time to visit Rwanda, due to warm, sunny weather and largely dry days. This weather makes for pleasant gorilla-trekking conditions, offered by the well-located Wilderness Sabyinyo and Wilderness Bisate. January is not completely rain free, however, and the unpredictable weather patterns around Volcanoes National Park mean that a downpour could happen at any time.