7 of the world's best self-drive safaris, from Namibia to Oman and Australia

A self-drive safari can take many forms but at its heart is the irresistible idea that in being at the wheel in the midst of wildlife you’re briefly part of the ecosystem around you. You have an agency and freedom that only intensifies the thrill. At its most basic level, a self-drive simply involves hiring a 4WD from a car rental outfit, packing your own camping gear and heading towards the horizon. At a more advanced level, it can mean hiring a vehicle complete with all manner of equipment, such as a rooftop tent, kitchen, satellite phone and spare fuel cans for long-distance drives. In some places you’ll be able to drive your vehicle independently within national parks and private game reserves, camping within their boundaries using the gear you’ve carried. In others, you’ll need to be escorted by a guide, or, in some cases, transferred to another accredited vehicle. Whichever option you choose, you’re in for a life-changing adventure.

1. Namibia

Start/end: Windhoek
Adventure level: Medium

Namibia’s northwestern coast is known to its Indigenous inhabitants as ‘the land God made in anger’. Set out on a road trip here, and you start to understand why. A narrow strip of tarmac uncoils through a landscape dominated by wind-blasted dunes, eerie monoliths and a desolate shore where seabirds shriek and shipwrecks rust. Somewhat counterintuitively, the region is also one of the continent’s most accessible self-drive safari destinations.

The solitude of Namibia is all part of the appeal. Expect long stints at the wheel without passing human traffic, with big-game sightings against unexpected backdrops a far more realistic possibility. The desert elephants and rhinos of Damaraland roam a landscape strewn with rock art; the salt pans of Etosha National Park, meanwhile, see the Big Five roaming lunar wastes in search of water holes. Namibia Experience offers a 16-day itinerary staying in guesthouses and pre-pitched camps from US$2,886 (£2,109) per person based on two sharing.

2. Zimbabwe & Zambia

Start/end: Lusaka, Zambia
Adventure level: Medium

The Zambezi River is an epic setting for any journey — flowing from Zambian marshes in the heart of Africa to the Indian Ocean in Mozambique. One of the best episodes comes midway as the river plots out the Zambia-Zimbabwe border and two national parks — Lower Zambezi and Mana Pools — face each other from opposite shores. Safari Drive offers an itinerary where you explore both banks. Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park is famous for its elephants — some of which rear up on their hind legs to feed on thorn trees — while its Zambian neighbour has healthy lion and leopard populations. Accommodation is split between riverside lodges and remote campsites where Safari Drive’s own heavily customised 4WDs come into their own. A small kitchen materialises in the boot while a tent unfurls on the roof, allowing passengers to fall asleep to the hush of the river and the shuffling of unseen creatures beyond the canvas. A 12-night tour starts from £7,415 per person based on two sharing.

3. South Africa

Start/end: Johannesburg
Adventure level: Easy

For many people, Kruger National Park represents their initiation into safari. The world-famous reserve is a place where wildlife enthusiasts expect to tick off the Big Five and where honeymooners look forward to bedding down at luxury resorts. But, at heart, this is still a wild and untamed landscape, something you’re acutely conscious of when you set out into its more remote corners — of which there are many, given it covers over 7,500sq miles. Tread Lite 4x4 Hire offers self-drive itineraries in Kruger departing from Johannesburg (as well as Pretoria), travelling in a 4WD laden with a tent, fridge, cooking apparatus and other essentials clattering away in the back. Days might be spent in search of animals such as African wild dogs and cheetahs, while nights are spent in basic spots like Maroela Satellite Camp, set on the banks of the Timbavati River. There may be few luxuries on offer in this little plot of land but the experience is raw and rewarding, the only lights at night coming from the stars above. Five-day packages cost from 6,150 ZAR (£282) per person, based on two sharing, and exclude park entrance fees.

4. Uganda

Start/end: Kampala
Adventure level: Hard

East Africa is the original homeland of safari — the place where big-game viewing took off in the early 20th century. Nevertheless, Uganda has long been overshadowed by neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania as a wildlife destination. Take off on a self-drive journey into the north, however, and you’ll find an experience every bit as powerful as those offered by the more popular destinations next door. After departing from the capital Kampala, you come to Murchison Falls National Park — where the Nile thunders through a narrow cleft of rock and Nubian giraffes stalk the savannah beyond. Wilder still are the mountain-fringed plains of Kidepo Valley National Park in Uganda’s far north east — a fine place to observe cheetahs. Roadtrip Africa offers a 14-day 4WD tour staying in lodges and pre-pitched camps from €1,490 (£1,294) per person, based on two sharing.

5. Brazil

Start/end: Campo Grande
Adventure level: Easy

At the centre of South America is the Pantanal: the world’s largest tropical wetland — a vast, biodiverse tract of seasonally submerged grasslands that sustains species including the jaguar, capybara, caiman and giant otter. Unlike the thickets of the Amazon further to the north, these Brazilian landscapes are open and largely unobstructed, making them the perfect places in which to spot wildlife. Responsible Travel offers a six-night self-drive itinerary in this waterworld with stops to go snorkelling in rivers and delve into sinkholes where macaws swoop about in the crags. The highlight is staying in a remote eco-tourism lodge set on an island in the Pantanal backwaters — a base for wildlife-watching excursions by canoe, on foot, on horseback and in a 4WD vehicle. The trip costs from £2,117 per person.

6. Oman

Start/end: Muscat
Adventure level: Medium

Oman may not be a classic big-game destination, yet this rocky southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula contains many of the classic ingredients for a safari. There are the wide-open landscapes, the remote campsites and, indeed, the wildlife — from the elusive Arabian leopards that stalk the high mountains to the turtles that nest along the Indian Ocean shore. Most of all, this is a place for self-drive 4WD adventures. A particularly thrilling route leads through the Wadi Bani Awf canyon into the Hajar Mountains along a gravel track that might well have been a roller coaster in a previous life. From the historic mountain city of Nizwa, journey east to follow sandy tracks into the heart of the Sharqiya Sands — a vast dunescape within which tented camps are pitched. Next, drive onwards to the Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve to watch tiny hatchlings shimmying towards the breaking waves. Audley Travel has a nine-day itinerary from £3,995 per person based on two sharing.

7. Australia

Start/end: Darwin
Adventure level: Easy

The Northern Territory’s ‘Top End’ is where the rich reds of Australia’s interior segue into the emerald greens of the coast; where jungle foliage starts to intrude over puddle-strewn roads and the air becomes lively with birdsong. ‘Safari’ isn’t a word traditionally used in these parts, but it fits comfortably, with saltwater crocodiles lurking in the creeks, wallabies skipping over the bitumen and many of the country’s most magnificent national parks beckoning visitors. The self-drive adventure starts in Darwin before pressing on to Kakadu National Park, famed for its thundering waterfalls. Next comes Nitmiluk Gorge — where the Katherine River slips through a sandstone canyon — and finally Litchfield National Park, where termite mounds rise over the landscape. All across the region you’ll find a wealth of ancient Aboriginal rock art, with many works depicting the creatures that still slither and skip across the state’s soil. The Territory Collection offers a six-night self-drive itinerary in a compact SUV, staying in cabins and lodges from A$1,390 (£724) per person, based on two sharing.