There’s a thrilling excitement that comes with going somewhere you’ve never been, knowing you’re about to see it for the first time — the landscapes, the lodges, the people who will shape the experience, the wildlife. This summer, that excitement carried us from the Serengeti to the Alaska Peninsula, from Argentina’s wine country to Rwanda’s cloud forests, and quite a few places in between to find you the best experiences each country has to offer.

We call these “checkout trips”. Before we ever recommend a lodge, we go visit it ourselves to make sure the experience meets our standards and so that when we describe it to you, we’re describing what we’ve personally lived.

Here is a location-by-location look at where we visited this summer, what stood out, and who we think would love each place as much as we did. Who knows, maybe one of these is your next great adventure!

• Tanzania: Photo Safari
• Canada: Caribou Hunt and Fishing
• South Africa: Plainsgame and Buffalo Hunt
• Alaska: Fishing
• Kenya: Photos Safari
• South Africa: Plainsgame and Buffalo Hunt
• Argentina: Volume Dove and Fast Flying Pigeon Hunt
• Rwanda Gorilla Trekking
• Alaska: Caribou, Bear, and Moose Hunt

Tanzania: A Photographic Safari That Feels Like 1970s Africa

There’s a kind of safari that has become rare — where the luxury tented camp has Old-world elegance, camp runs as if 1950’s revisited, and where the evenings have a rhythm of their own. We found this very experience in Tanzania, and it felt like stepping back in time in the best way.

During our stay, we experienced authentically styled to the 1950s — the uniforms, the service, the attention to detail, even the evening entertainment — but underneath that old-soul charm are the modern comforts you desire at the end of a long day in the bush. It is a place that honors that romantic era of African safari. We fell head over heels for every part of this safari experience from the incredible wildlife we saw to the evenings under the stars.  We cried when we left!

During our time there we experienced lived out an insider secret: you may be familiar with the Great Migration in Tanzania known for its massive numbers, both in animals and vehicles at each viewing, but there’s a quieter migration through the central Serengeti in May and June that’s far less crowded. Experiencing this less hurried safari to see the migration was magical.

Who we’d send here: Couples, families with older kids, and groups who want a safari of old – Think Out of Africa. A wonderful choice for travelers who appreciate character and comfort in equal measure. Tanzania is also an amazing safari to build a bigger experience around. Zanzibar is a short hop for beach time, and Rwanda’s gorillas are a natural extension.

Manitoba, Canada: Caribou and Fishing From a Real Lodge

We have been looking for this needle in the haystack experience for years: an outfitter where you can hunt trophy caribou but stay in a lodge. Guess what? We found it!

Most caribou hunts are tent-based. But at this outfitter you come back from a long day in the field to a 3,000-square-foot cedar main lodge with big windows over the lake, detached cabins finished in natural cedar, hot showers, and heat. You warm up, dry off, and sit down to a real meal — prime beef, fresh salads, homemade breads and desserts. Finding a high-success barren-ground caribou hunt (this is the largest herd in Canada at approximately 250,000 animals) from a lodge rather than a tent is a real find, and we are excited about it.

On the hunting side, here are two things that stood out: First, this is a spot-and-stalk hunt done largely from boats — you ride the connected lakes and rivers, glassing hundreds of miles of shoreline, only beaching to hike higher ground when you spot something worth a closer look. You aren’t worn out from hiking all day. Second, you can buy a second caribou tag for the cost of the tag, which is rare. An optional two-bull limit in a single week is unusual.

Who we’d send here: Hunters who want a high success caribou hunt without the punishment of a tent camp, and groups where a non-hunter might enjoy the lodge and the fishing (available after your hunt). September season only.

South Africa: New Bush Camps and Exceptional Hunting Country

We have worked with this outfitter for nearly two decades, and they remain one of the finest family-owned and -operated hunting experiences we know. This summer they added new bush camps that add unique flavors to an already incredible experience.  Large areas up to 100,000 acres.

One is outright luxurious — outstanding accommodations with a wide range of activities beyond hunting. One of these activities is an amazing five-star photo safari option just 15 minutes away. During our game drives there, we were blown away seeing lions, cheetah, elephants, leopard, and more. Having this safari experience right down the road makes this one of the best properties we know for a mixed group where some want to hunt hard and the others want a world-class wildlife experience, and neither has to compromise.

The other lodge feels homey in the best sense, full of African hospitality that is just as sweet as southern hospitality. It is set against the backdrop of the hostesses whimsical garden and while she takes you on a stroll through it you’ll feel like you’re staying with a friend.

As crazy as it is to say, the lodges are just the supporting characters of this experience. The hunting is the true star. The terrain on both properties is dense, mountainous, and broken up by deep valleys — not the open, easy-stalking country some South Africa properties have become. This is true hunting. Both properties are rich in kudu, and the hunting rewards patience and effort rather than just showing up.

Who we’d send here: Couples and mixed-interest groups, families with children of all ages, and travelers who want luxury without losing hunting authenticity.

Prince of Wales Island, Alaska: Saltwater and Freshwater Fishing + Activities

This is the trip we will keep coming back to when someone says, “I want to do Alaska, but I don’t want to be on a big ship with a thousand people.” It’s the amazing excursions and activities of a cruise without the cruise.

The list of things to do here is almost absurd: whales, bear watching, island exploring, glacier viewing, freshwater and saltwater fishing, mountain biking, masseuse, hot tub and more. During our time here, we caught fish, watched whales breaching and slapping their tail fins, saw bald eagles soaring, flew over massive glaciers in a floatplane that collected us right from our boat, kayaked, and fly-fished in the heavy rain. Each adventure seemed more unbelievable than the last.

A huge benefit of this lodge: the North River fishing boats are the nicest we’ve been on in Alaska — and we’ve been on a lot of them. That detail matters: it means you’re not crammed in, you can warm up in the cabin, use the on-board bathroom, enjoy comfortable seating and have plenty of space on deck to move around.

What makes this place unusual is the blend of fishing and activities with a team that is genuinely excited about both. It’s a very family-friendly lodge, and we can’t wait to send you there.

Who we’d send here: families, couples, and mixed-interest groups. One of the most flexible trips we offer — you can lean into fishing or lean into adventure, and either way you win.

Kenya: Ultra-Luxury Safari Where Pride Rock Was Inspired

In Kenya we found an ultra-luxury lodge built for private groups — a place where the entire experience is yours, not shared with a rotation of strangers. The attention to detail is as astounding as the setting of the lodge. It is located on the land which inspired Pride Rock in the Lion King, and seeing it is truly special. The game viewing here was amazing with lions, elephants, giraffe and more scattered in the savannah.

Other highlights of the lodge include the equestrian center on the property and a movie theater where we spent a special evening watching Out of Africa with dinner served during the film.

A small surprise on this safari was how much we enjoyed Nairobi. The city is lovelier than people expect, with activities and a growing restaurant scene worth planning a day around. Nearby are the elephant orphanage and Giraffe Manor, both of which are worth the time if you have a free day before or after your safari.

Who we’d send here: private groups and families who want a top-tier luxury safari with exclusive use.

South Africa: Free-Range Cape Buffalo at a World Heritage Site

This is a trip for the dedicated hunter. It’s an unfenced, largely untouched Cape buffalo hunt that puts your fitness to the test, with plains game available alongside it.  Hunts such as this in South Africa rarely exist.

The outfitter has exclusive hunting rights to a 173,000-acre World Heritage Site that forms part of a 420,000-acre transfrontier conservation area — South Africa’s largest provincial nature reserve. It is where parts of the movie The Ghost and the Darkness were filmed and when standing in that country, you understand the film immediately: elephants moving across the mountainsides, giraffes and their young grazing, antelope all around, tall grasses with mountainous terrain rising beyond.

On our checkout trip, it was love at first sight. The stalks are the kind of challenging you experience in Zambia or Mozambique. The buffalo are located in untouched land, three hours in by foot which may take you by the other dangerous game that roam the area. We quickly realized that a hunt here is only for the dedicated willing to put in the time and effort to realize their dream of a big dugga boy.

The professional hunters here are veterans — experienced, serious, and the kind of guides you want at your side when the game is dangerous and the country is wild.

Who we’d send here: dedicated, fit hunters who want true free-range Cape buffalo in South Africa. The physical demands are real. Non-hunting companions can join for the scenery and wildlife, but the core experience is for the hunter.

Argentina: Volume Pigeon and Dove, With Wine Country Next Door

We had a problem that needed to be solved: We wanted a dove and dedicated pigeon lodge that was closer to the Mendoza wine country so you could more easily experience hunting and culture.

On this checkout trip we found it! Near San Luis in northern Argentina, this owner-operated program delivers high-volume dove and consistent decoy and passing pigeon hunts. The two hunts mimic each other in daily schedule — both have you in the field shooting from 9 until lunch, enjoying a bush lunch of BBQ with siesta time, then back out in the afternoon to keep knocking them down.

The lodge is small and personal — five double rooms, an owner who is present throughout your stay, delicious meals, regional wines, and the high-energy, laughter filled dinner-table conversation that comes after a fun day in the field.

What makes this program especially compelling is where it sits: it’s our closest hunting lodge to Mendoza, the country’s famous wine country. For couples or mixed-interest groups, that proximity changes the entire shape of the trip. A few days in the vineyards before or after the hunt — Malbec tastings, Andean scenery, unhurried lunches — isn’t a detour. It becomes its own chapter of the journey, and we’d love to plan that combination for you.

Who we’d send here: wingshooters, couples, and mixed-interest groups. One of the best “hunt plus something else” trips we offer.

Rwanda: Gorilla Trekking in the Rwandan Hills

The gorillas were the headline of this experience, and they deserve it. This experience was everything you could hope for if your dream is to walk with this incredible species. Being up close and personal – so personal that a few people on our treks had gorillas brush past them – to these families was spectacular. Watching them interact with one another and watch us was beautiful.

Our treks ranged from hard to easy. The first had us walking through farming lands for about 20 minutes before we found the gorilla family right on the edge of the forest, while the second had us scaling straight up a mountain through a path our trackers cut for us with machetes while we fell through holes in the ground that were covered by vines. What an adventure!

One of the most memorable parts was watching the trackers speak to the gorillas — a quiet, practiced communication between people who have spent years with these families. Grunting back and forth asking for permission to approach and analyzing the responses to know when to move and when to be still.

What surprised us most about Rwanda was the country itself. It might just be the most beautiful country we visited this summer — the scenery is more like Vietnam than the Africa most travelers picture. The rolling hills were covered in rich green and cut fields for produce farming. It’s also the cleanest country in Africa we’ve visited, with some of the most genuinely lovely people we’ve met anywhere.

You will go for the gorillas and leave with a love for the people and landscapes.

Who we’d send here: almost anyone — couples, families with older kids, solo travelers, and groups. Trek difficulty varies, so we can match you to the right group based on your fitness.

Alaska Peninsula: Caribou, Bear, and Moose From a Comfortable Lodge

After we went fishing on the Prince of Wales Island (see above), we headed to the other side of the state see a lodge in the Peninsula, out of the Port Moller / Bear Lake area. This outfitter was another answer to our earlier problem: brown bear, caribou, and moose hunting from cabins and not remote tents.

This is a strict quality-over-quantity trophy operation: hunter numbers are intentionally limited, and it is not a volume hunt.

One of the shining stars of this outfitter is their infrastructure. You have a comfortable main lodge and remote cabins for a warm base throughout your hunt, plus a serious fleet to get you around — Argo trucks, fat trucks, and tundra planes. You use ATVs and planes to reach the cabins, then hunt on foot from camp, with vehicle assist to get into the right areas.

You can hunt bear and caribou at the same time. Moose is a different season, so if moose is your priority, we plan around that separately. The animals here are massive — coastal brown bears in the 10- to 11-foot class are a realistic target, and moose bulls push toward and beyond the 70-inch mark. This is wilder, tougher country than areas like Katmai, and that’s exactly why the animals are bigger and more numerous.

Who we’d send here: serious hunters willing to earn their trophy. The trade-off is effort; the payoff is quality. We can also pair the hunt with flightseeing and wildlife viewing for a non-hunting companion.

The Takeaway

What we keep learning from our check out trips is that you cannot tell the difference between a not-so-great experience and a great experience just by looking at a brochure or website — the differences reveal themselves in the experience. It is in the boat you fish from, the hostess who remembers how you take your coffee, the guide who knows when to push and when to let you rest, and the lodge that lets you come back to warmth after a hard day.

We go on these checkout trips so we can see these distinctions and make sure what you are experiencing is what we expect for you.

If any of these caught your eye, we’d love to talk through whether it’s the right fit for you, your family, or your group. Reach out to Family Expeditions, and let’s start planning.