Africa Cruises
| Month | Cruise season indicator | Month | Cruise seacon indicator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | No | July | No | |
| February | No | August | No | |
| March | No | September | No | |
| April | No | October | No | |
| May | No | November | No | |
| June | No | December | No |
All you Need to Know
by Travel Journalist Tony Peisley
My first African cruise will always be memorable for being asked - for the first and only time - to be a judge in a beauty contest (this WAS back in the sexist 70s).
I was looking forward to making an informed judgement about the passenger contestants until it was made VERY clear to me which one the ship's Captain wanted to win...
Africa was just like that whole contest experience - a real eye-opener and, although plenty has happened to that mysterious Dark Continent in the years since, it remains one of the most mesmerising places you can visit by land or sea.
Although there is the occasional round-Africa cruise, to see North Africa you generally need to take a Mediterranean cruise click here for details while East African ports like Mombasa feature in most Indian Ocean cruises click here for details.
Although my first cruise concentrated on West African ports like Banjul in the Gambia, which is now a major tourist destination, and the French-accented Dakar in Senegal, most Africa-bound cruises these days head south to the reborn South Africa and neighbouring Namibia with its own Namib Desert on the edge of the Kalahari.
An extraordinary lunar-like landscape of wind-shaped sand dunes marks out Namibia as somewhere special to see and, if your ship times her call right at its cruise port Walvis Bay, you'll see thousands of flamingos as well as pelicans and other exotic sea birds in the natural lagoon there.
There are more flamingos and equally pink-backed pelicans in South Africa's Richards Bay while sailing around the Cape of Good Hope into South Africa's Cape Town is one of THE cruise experiences as you gradually pick out this garden city nestling in the foothills of "old flat-top" - the instantly recognisable Table Mountain.
But so much of Africa's appeal lies in the interior where the animals roam in the many game reserves. In these, you have a great chance of earning your spotter's badge for the Big Five - lions, leopards, rhino, elephants and buffalo - as well as antelope, ostriches and umpteen species of birds.
Or, if bugs are your thing, try the Addo Elephant Park near South Africa's Port Elizabeth - here even the dung beetles are a protected species.
DOS and DON'TS of African Cruising
DO add-on a safari, garden route tour to your cruise - you will really feel you have experienced Africa then. If you visit some of the many wineries in South Africa, you’ll have tasted it, too.
DON'T miss out on Cape Town's V&A. This is the Victoria and Albert complex of shops, cafes and restaurants right by the port - there is plenty of local craftwork to haggle for and a meal overlooking the ocean one way and Table Mountain the other will be another magical memory.
