Doug Macdonald's - Safaris to Africa, Level 5 Nexteracom Tower, Cybercity, Port Louis (2025)

Name: Doug Macdonald's - Safaris to Africa
Address: Level 5 Nexteracom Tower, Cybercity, Port Louis, MU
Telephone: +263774820453

03/02/2025

January is not my usual time to go on safari in Chad, however this year we combined Zakouma National Park with the Ennedi Plateau up in the Sahara Desert of North Eastern Chad. This turned out to be an incredible safari experience combining these two very different localities.
Zakouma has had a lot of rain this last season - as has the Sahara, amazing to see lakes of water on ancient river beds there! Despite that Zakouma was still excellent with great game viewing and the Pelicans and Storks certainly kept us well entertained with their numbers and concentrations. The Sahara had a covering of grass and still a green tinge to it which is something the younger residents had never seen before. Must be incredible for the Toubou Nomads that live there to see this, could be once in a life time.
The beautiful landscapes, rock features, incredible geology that dates back hundreds of millions of years combined with rock art that dates back at least 9000BP to virtually the present day, plus the fossil beds we saw that all adds to the whole Sahara experience.
I should mention also that the Toubou Nomads who are the residents and custodians of this area of Chad have a huge reputation that is well respected for not being trusting of any foreigners there - for very good reason. They have been invaded by the French during the colonial era then the Libyans (have a look at this link it is fascinating demonstration of the tenacity of these people) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War
So I can understand why they view foreigners with suspicion and this is the pretty much the only place in the Sahara area where the El Kaida militants have not been able to infiltrate.
A great enhancement to this safari is we also had access to a helicopter over the Ennedi which opened the area up a whole lot more and certainly gave my guests a very different perspective and appreciation of the vastness of the place. I had to stay on the ground and get the coffee ready and go birding.... Anyway it was an amazing safari which we hope to replicate going forward so let us know if you are keen to visit this amazing country.

28/11/2024

Madagascar is one of those mythical places that we have all heard about and the extraordinary unique and diverse range of animals, plants and landscapes that can only be experienced there. Plus it is the home of King Julian from the cartoon movie Madagascar - he is actually a Ring-tailed Lemur.
Anyway I finally got to go and I can really sum it up quite quickly, it is amazing but if you want to see what is left go quickly because these habitats and landscapes are under massive pressure from all fronts.
There are pockets of resistance but it is a tidal wave that has hit this place with the continuing onslaught of deforestation for various reasons, which include hardwood furniture sold around the World and the local consumption of charcoal and building materials. There is also the onslaught of massive fishing fleets from around the World just helping themselves to what volume and species they want and who knows what is going on with the pet trade - orchid trade and so it goes on. It really does make you feel very disappointed in how useless we are as a species knowing what we are doing to the place, but the efficiency and speed with which we are doing it some may think is impressive - I do not share that thought!
For this particular trip we had limited time and this is not an easy place to get around as the road network is terrible, so everything takes a lot of time and you have a few heart in your mouth moments navigating the roads and all those who use it, wheeled, two legged and four legged. For this reason I kept the safari focused on the Northern and Eastern parts of this massive Island and we did a combination of road and air transfers.
The highlight for my guests was definitely up in the North East at Masaolo National Park, this is one of the last remaining primary rain forests with beautiful marine reserves as well. We had a fantastic time here walking the forests in the morning - siesta time, then the afternoons snorkeling in the reefs right in front of camp, it was spectacular the variety we saw in all places.
We also took in the Anjozorobe Reserve and the Andasibe - Manthadia National Park. It was nice to see here the small community reserves around this area trying their best to hang on to some of their forest, it has all been logged out awhile back but it is recovering and as the indigenous trees develop they are able to cut out the exotic species like the Gum Trees and Pine Trees which are growing all over the place. It is a long process but at least it's a positive direction and we enjoyed supporting their efforts by visiting these small reserves and doing the night walks here looking for the nocturnal lemurs, chameleons etc.
All of the camps we stayed in were great with nice food and rooms, the transfers and charter flights worked well and the guides I worked with were all clearly very dedicated and keen on what they were doing, so it was a real pleasure to be with them in the forests seeking out all these exotic creatures and birds.
So as mentioned before if you want to see this incredible place don't delay and move it to the top of your must do list before it is too late.

20/09/2024

Namibia is probably one of the most diverse safari experiences you can have in Africa. This country is not all about looking for lions and elephants as there is so much more then those classic African safari experiences. You can have these here but explore further and you will have an incredible experience, like the safari I have just completed. We enjoyed the massive and ancient sand dunes of the Namib desert, then went looking for the incredibly adapted creatures that have made the skeleton coast and it's dunes their home in a place that seems so desolate nothing could exist. We were also in kayaks paddling among a colony of Cape Fur Seals and even had Heaveside's Dolphins playing alongside us plus a very unusual experience of a Humpback Whale coming up among the kayaks!! No one will forget that. We then went walking through the extraordinarily beautiful Damaraland and each night we slept out on beautiful star-bed platforms to enjoy the vast and clear African Skies. From there we went right up to the Kunene River on the border with Angola to enjoy this beautiful river in an otherwise very dry area and home to the very proud and traditional living Himba People, it was certainly not a living museum experience as it is obvious all around, that this is genuinely how people live and dress here. We then explored right from West to East of the vast Etosha National Park and Ongava Reserves to end our safari with great game viewing of all your classic African Animals and here they are in big volume! An incredible adventure that is like no other in Africa.

06/04/2024

Its been an excellent start to the year with safaris in well known and less known areas including some new to me which is always exciting, getting to see somewhere different on this huge continent.
Over this period I have been to Tanzania for some amazing migration action in a couple of different localities and then to Rubondo Island on Lake Victoria which was new for me. I have also been around the Northern Parts of Botswana which for me are always best in the green season, Nxai Pan, Okavango Delta and Linyanti. Zakouma National Park in Chad was as usual incredible with new bird species seen previously unrecorded in this area and incredible wildlife sightings that are always hard to describe as there is always so much going on in one vista. Gabon was a new destination for me and what an amazing place, we watched Lowland Gorillas, in the jungles along with a list of smaller primates and the incredible spectacle of watching many Leather Back Turtles coming to shore in the late evening to lay eggs on these vast, uninhabited beaches.
So I look forward to more discovery and adventure around Africa and even beyond our shores this year which I shall keep you updated on.

Address

Level 5 Nexteracom Tower, Cybercity
Port Louis

Telephone

+263774820453

Website

http://www.dougmacsafaris.com/

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Scenes of a Namibian Safari

Doug Macdonald's - Safaris to Africa