TOP APPS FOR AN AFRICAN SAFARI
ENHANCING THE EXPERIENCE
We recently posted a blog on our top travel apps. It only seemed fitting that we add an African touch, which is why we’ve compiled a list of our favourite apps for your African safari.
Going on safari is an exciting and thrilling experience, and at times overwhelming – there is nothing quite like it and no one knows what to expect. Luckily, we live in the digital age where almost anything and everything is available to us at the touch of a finger. Of course, we believe that a safari is the chance to relax and reconnect with nature. However, there is nothing wrong in using a helping hand here and there. This is where these apps come in – they are not designed to detract from the safari experience, but rather enhance it.
Here are our top 5 apps for an African safari:
1. KrugerExplorer
$12.99
First up in our list of apps for an African safari, is The KrugerExplorer App – the ultimate guide to the wildlife, birdlife and bush of the Kruger National Park. It is like having a tour guide at your fingertips, making it the ideal companion for a self-drive safari. The app centralises everything you could possibly want to know about exploring the Kruger Park to your mobile phone.
The app has over 50 mammal profiles, over 225 birding profiles, and over 30 reptile invertebrates and tree profiles. KrugerExplorer includes over 70 of the Kruger’s most famous and popular routes for self-drive safaris. Each is described ‘ground-up’ beginning with details of the area’s flora and geology, then the herbivores which graze there followed the predators of the area. The app also maps out the entire park, showing all roads, gates, rest camps, private lodges, picnic spots, lookouts, viewpoints, waterholes and other points of interest.
You can also record your sightings and use the app’s checklist to tick off what animals or birds you do see.
2. Sasol eBirds of Southern Africa
Price: R380 / $22 (depending on exchange rates)
This app is the ideal travel app for birders. It is the bestselling birding app for southern Africa. This is an interactive app designed to ensure the best birding experience while on safari. The app has a database of over 950 bird species, with images, distribution maps and text descriptions. It also includes audible calls for over 630 bird species and a filter by location option. If you’re not familiar with the birds of southern Africa, you can compare two birds, side by side by photographs, calls and illustrations.
You can also keep a personal bird list of your sightings which can be exported and share with fellow birders.
3. SkyView
Price: $2 – $3 depending on phone operating system
This is not a safari app per say, but still worth downloading, nonetheless. One of the most incredible things you’ll notice when on safari in Africa is the expansive night sky dazzled with a multitude of stars. SkyView is a stargazing app that acts as a gateway to the universe through your mobile phone using augmented reality. By pointing your phone at the sky, the app shows you all 88 constellations as well as when and where the planets, Sun and Moon will be at any time on any date.
We love this app because of the stargazing controls – you can adjust star visibility and planet size, take snapshots, enable or disable sky object tracjetories, and turn off/ on the augmented reality camera for a completely customised stargazing experience.
Download it here:
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/skyview/id404990064
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.t11.skyview
In search of more safari tips?
Discover the advantages of choosing a self-drive safari here
