lioness in front of a 4x4 safari car crossing a dirt road in Kalahari desert, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Botswana, Africa

MIchael Wick/Shutterstock

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Northern Cape


Welcome to the African safari of your childhood daydreams. Packs of entertaining meerkats scurry across the sand, antelopes wander the dry river beds munching on thorny vegetation, and as dusk nears the implausibly large sun dips behind orange and white sand dunes leaving behind a star-filled sky. Best of all though are the predator sightings: prides of black-maned lions relaxing in the shade, spotted hyenas roaming in pairs and cheetahs prowling for their dinner.