The 25 best wildlife experiences in the world (and the 18 I've done)
Twenty-five animals, and the best place on earth to see each one in the wild. I've done 18 of them, from an hour with a gorilla family in Uganda to sitting on a beach in South Georgia surrounded by king penguins.
For each one: where to go, when, how to get there and how to book it.
18 of 25 ticked off
- Mountain gorillas ✓
- The Great Migration ✓
- King penguins in South Georgia ✓
- Whales and penguins in Antarctica ✓
- The Galápagos Islands ✓
- Polar bears in Svalbard
- Orangutans in Borneo ✓
- Tigers in India
- Etosha waterholes ✓
- The Okavango Delta ✓
- Komodo dragons
- Kruger self-drive safari ✓
- Great white sharks ✓
- Jaguars in the Pantanal
- Chobe River elephants ✓
- Whale sharks
- Southern right whales ✓
- Ngorongoro Crater ✓
- Lemurs in Madagascar
- Baby sea turtles ✓
- Sloths in Costa Rica ✓
- Snow monkeys
- Addo Elephant Park ✓
- Denali National Park ✓
- Baby elephants at the Sheldrick Trust ✓
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1 Mountain gorillas
Bwindi, Uganda, or Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda✓ Been: September 2019
Sitting a few metres from a silverback while the family eats, plays and ignores you. Nothing else comes close.
- Size
- An hour with a habituated gorilla family
- When to go
- June to August, or December to February, the drier months.
- Getting there
- You need a gorilla permit, booked months ahead. Uganda's are cheaper than Rwanda's. Treks can take anything from an hour to most of the day.
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2 The Great Migration
Serengeti, Tanzania, and the Masai Mara, Kenya✓ Been: August 2019
The biggest movement of animals on the planet, with lions, cheetahs and leopards following it.
- Size
- Over a million wildebeest, plus zebras and gazelles
- When to go
- The herds move all year. January to March for the calving in the southern Serengeti; July to October for the river crossings in the north and the Mara.
- Getting there
- Fly or drive from Arusha and go on a safari. Pick your camp by month, because the herds won't come to you.
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3 King penguins in South Georgia
South Georgia, South Atlantic✓ Been: December 2024
Beaches packed with king penguins as far as you can see, with fur seals and elephant seals in between.
- Size
- Colonies of hundreds of thousands
- When to go
- November to March.
- Getting there
- Only on an expedition cruise, usually from Ushuaia, often combined with the Falklands and Antarctica.
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4 Whales and penguins in Antarctica
Antarctic Peninsula✓ Been: December 2024
The wildlife has no fear of people, and the scenery is like nowhere else on earth.
- Size
- Humpbacks, minke whales, leopard seals and three kinds of penguin
- When to go
- November to March. Whales are best later in the season.
- Getting there
- An expedition cruise from Ushuaia across the Drake Passage, with Zodiac landings every day.
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5 The Galápagos Islands
Ecuador✓ Been: April 2016
The animals just carry on around you. Sea lions sleep on the benches and swim with you when you snorkel.
- Size
- Giant tortoises, marine iguanas, sea lions, blue-footed boobies
- When to go
- Year round. December to May for warmer seas; June to November for more marine life.
- Getting there
- Fly from Quito or Guayaquil and pay the park entry fee on arrival. Do a boat cruise, or island-hop from Santa Cruz.
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6 Polar bears in Svalbard
Svalbard, NorwayOn my list
The biggest land predator on earth, hunting on the ice.
- Size
- Bears on the sea ice
- When to go
- June to August.
- Getting there
- A small-ship expedition cruise from Longyearbyen. Churchill, Canada, in October and November is the other good bet.
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7 Orangutans in Borneo
Sabah, Malaysia✓ Been: December 2022
Seeing a wild orangutan family in the trees from a boat on the river.
- Size
- Wild orangutans along the river, and a rehab centre
- When to go
- March to October, the drier months.
- Getting there
- Fly to Sandakan. Visit the Sepilok rehabilitation centre, then stay along the Kinabatangan River for boat trips at dawn and dusk.
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8 Tigers in India
Ranthambore, Rajasthan, IndiaOn my list
A wild tiger walking past your jeep is the big one on most people's list.
- Size
- Wild Bengal tigers
- When to go
- March to May gives the best chance, as the animals come to the water; the parks close for the monsoon.
- Getting there
- Book jeep safaris online in advance. Ranthambore is a few hours from Jaipur.
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9 Etosha waterholes
Etosha National Park, Namibia✓ Been: March and July 2019
Sit at a floodlit waterhole after dark and watch rhinos and elephants come down to drink, a few metres away.
- Size
- Elephants, black rhinos, lions, giraffes
- When to go
- May to October, the dry season, when everything comes to drink.
- Getting there
- Self-drive from Windhoek and stay in the park's rest camps. The floodlit waterholes at the camps are open all night.
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10 The Okavango Delta
Botswana✓ Been: July 2019
Gliding through the reeds in a canoe, then walking on islands with a guide.
- Size
- Elephants, hippos, antelope and birds by the hundred
- When to go
- June to October, when the flood is in.
- Getting there
- From Maun, take a mokoro (dugout canoe) trip into the delta, often with a night or two camping on an island.
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11 Komodo dragons
Komodo National Park, IndonesiaOn my list
Real-life dragons, up to three metres long.
- Size
- The world's biggest lizards
- When to go
- April to December.
- Getting there
- Fly to Labuan Bajo on Flores, then a boat trip to Komodo or Rinca with a ranger.
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12 Kruger self-drive safari
South Africa✓ Been: August 2026
You can drive yourself round one of Africa's best parks without a tour, and it doesn't have to cost a fortune.
- Size
- The Big Five, plus wild dogs
- When to go
- May to September, the dry season.
- Getting there
- Hire a car in Johannesburg or fly to Skukuza or Nelspruit, and book the park's rest camps through SANParks.
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13 Great white sharks
Gansbaai and Mossel Bay, South Africa✓ Been: August 2017
Coming face to face with a great white through the bars of a cage.
- Size
- Cage diving
- When to go
- May to September.
- Getting there
- Cage-diving boats go out from Gansbaai, about two hours from Cape Town. Sightings there have dropped since orcas moved in around 2017, so Mossel Bay is often the better bet.
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14 Jaguars in the Pantanal
Mato Grosso, BrazilOn my list
Jaguars hunting along the riverbanks, plus giant otters, caimans and capybaras.
- Size
- The world's best place to see wild jaguars
- When to go
- July to October.
- Getting there
- Fly to Cuiabá, drive the Transpantaneira to Porto Jofre, then boat trips along the rivers.
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15 Chobe River elephants
Chobe National Park, Botswana✓ Been: July 2019
Herds of elephants coming down to drink and swim, right next to the boat.
- Size
- One of the biggest elephant populations in Africa
- When to go
- May to October.
- Getting there
- Stay in Kasane and take a sunset boat cruise on the river. It's easy to combine with Victoria Falls.
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16 Whale sharks
Ningaloo Reef, Western AustraliaOn my list
Snorkelling alongside a fish the size of a bus.
- Size
- The biggest fish in the sea
- When to go
- March to July.
- Getting there
- Fly to Exmouth (Learmonth) and book a whale shark swim tour.
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17 Southern right whales
Hermanus, South Africa✓ Been: August 2017
Some of the best land-based whale watching in the world.
- Size
- Whales close enough to see from the shore
- When to go
- June to November, peaking in September and October.
- Getting there
- About an hour and a half from Cape Town. Walk the cliff path or take a boat trip.
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18 Ngorongoro Crater
Tanzania✓ Been: 2008 and August 2019
Lions, rhinos, elephants and flamingos inside a giant collapsed volcano.
- Size
- A crater floor full of wildlife, including black rhinos
- When to go
- June to October.
- Getting there
- A day trip down into the crater from Karatu or Arusha, usually as part of a Serengeti safari.
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19 Lemurs in Madagascar
Andasibe, MadagascarOn my list
Animals you'll find nowhere else on earth, and the indri's call is one of the strangest sounds in nature.
- Size
- Indri, sifakas and dozens of other species
- When to go
- April to November.
- Getting there
- Andasibe-Mantadia is a few hours' drive from Antananarivo. Go with a local guide.
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20 Baby sea turtles
Pacific coast, Nicaragua✓ Been: February 2020
Watching hundreds of tiny turtles scramble down the sand into the waves.
- Size
- Turtle hatchlings heading for the sea
- When to go
- Nesting peaks roughly July to December; the hatchlings follow about two months later.
- Getting there
- Go with a conservation project or a ranger-led visit to a protected nesting beach.
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21 Sloths in Costa Rica
Cahuita, Costa Rica✓ Been: February 2020
Sloths hanging over the path, monkeys in the trees and a beach right next to it.
- Size
- Sloths, howler monkeys and toucans
- When to go
- September to October on the Caribbean coast, when it's driest.
- Getting there
- Cahuita National Park is about four hours from San José. Walk the coast trail; a guide will spot far more than you will.
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22 Snow monkeys
Jigokudani, Nagano, JapanOn my list
Monkeys warming up in a steaming hot spring with snow on their heads.
- Size
- Japanese macaques in hot springs
- When to go
- December to March, when there's snow.
- Getting there
- Train to Nagano, bus to the trailhead, then a 30-minute walk through the forest.
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23 Addo Elephant Park
Eastern Cape, South Africa✓ Been: August 2017
Elephant herds all around the car, and an easy add-on to a Garden Route trip.
- Size
- Hundreds of elephants
- When to go
- Year round.
- Getting there
- Under an hour from Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Self-drive, or book a guided game drive.
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24 Denali National Park
Alaska, USA✓ Been: August 2014
Wild Alaska, with bears on the tundra and North America's highest mountain behind them.
- Size
- Grizzly bears, moose, caribou and wolves
- When to go
- June to August.
- Getting there
- The park road is mostly bus-only. A landslide has cut the road part-way along since 2021, so check how far the buses go.
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25 Baby elephants at the Sheldrick Trust
Nairobi, Kenya✓ Been: August 2019
An hour of baby elephants rolling in the mud, and the money goes to getting them back into the wild.
- Size
- Orphaned elephants being raised for release into the wild
- When to go
- Year round.
- Getting there
- Book the late-morning visit online and watch the babies being fed and playing in the mud.
Pick an animal, book the trip and go and see it before it's too late. Then tell me which one I should go and find next.
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