Articles written by Dave Christensen
Last December Dave led a safari to a new destination for us – Odzala-Kokoua National Park, situated in a remote corner of a country on the west side of Africa - the Republic of Congo (often abbreviated to ROC). There are two Congos. The ROC has a longstanding stable government, ...
It was August 2021. I made the most of a rare break due to the pandemic and travelled to Zimbabwe with my family. A highlight was our stay by the banks of the Zambezi River in the far north-east with Carl Nicholson, a keen younger professional safari guide. In 2019 ...
The highlight of our safari in August 2019 to Angola was a visit to Cangandala National Park, to find an animal that I had heard about and always wanted to see. The giant sable antelope (Hippotragus niger variani) is Angola’s national symbol. It is a subspecies of sable antelope and ...
As we sit back and contemplate dreaming of our bucket list, few seasoned safari-goers won’t dream of going on safari again “the way it was”.Global travel has become easier, air travel more affordable, and organized ground operators more plentiful. More people have the opportunity to visit the outstanding wildlife areas ...
Why does A Step Ahead place such importance on your guide when you travel with us? Recently the travel industry, and especially the luxury market, has delivered improvements on accommodation, cuisine, and extras such as internet and spa facilities. The results have been amazing, and most of us, wherever we ...
Last month (in December 2019) A Step Ahead professional guide Dave Christensen was awarded the Zimbabwe Professional Hunters and Guides Association "Guide of the Year" accolade. Dave and all of us at A Step Ahead are thrilled. Dave cherishes this accolade because this association of skilled professionals are his peers, ...
One of my favourite national parks, Mana Pools in Zimbabwe, is very seasonal. It is an outstanding place to experience wildlife in the dry season, when wildlife congregates near the Zambezi River. That is when visitors are drawn to this phenomenal place and the chance of poaching being unnoticed is ...
One aspect of an African safari that is often overlooked is the cultural side. The primary reason for an Africa trip is usually the big game - lion, leopard, elephant and lots more of course! But over the years, I have noticed how activities that bring guests into contact with ...
This has been the driest February in the vast Serengeti that I can remember. We had poor short rains in November and it has rained very little since. Most of the open "short grass" plains are parched, and there is little surface water for the game to drink. It amazes ...
One morning, while we were out in the Serengeti Plains looking for cheetah, we came across a solitary female who looked hungry and appeared to be working the scrubby bushes as if she was hunting hares. We watched as she swept the area for some time, until she suddenly stopped ...
As we drove slowly towards our camp in the Moru kopjes area of the Serengeti we passed a herd of zebra that were moving north. Then suddenly they bolted to the side, stopped and gazed into the apparently benign grasslands. I told the guests that they must have smelled a ...
Another season of poor rainfall, and the Serengeti Plains were dry and already a tawny brown colour. Herds of Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles grazed the plains punctuated by the odd small herd of zebra. This was quite a contrast having just been down in the Ngorongoro Crater, where green grass ...
