I’ve found the best-value safari destination in Africa

Just for a second, through a gentle peppering of opalescent beetles attracted by my vehicle’s headlights, comes a surreal glow. Two ghostly blue disks momentarily appear in the middle distance, as roving high-powered torches scan the darkness. They’re the reflected light from the retinas of a bush baby, a tree-dwelling Furby-like primate about the size of a domestic cat. I’ve been on traditional early morning and late afternoon safari drives in many parts of Africa. Here, after night falls, they’re very different – like expecting to recognise da Vinci’s Mona Lisa on seeing a random square inch of its canvas every couple of seconds. Much of my safari becomes about everything except sight: tracing a splash to a four foot (1.2m) long Nile crocodile darting into a waterhole, smelling wild mint on a waft of warm air and hearing the electric-fence buzz of West Africa’s cicadas. (Photo: Dave Primov/Getty/iStockphoto)

Mole National Park

A tangle of trees – mahoganies, kapoks and syringas, often braced by the Burj Khalifas of termite mounds – forms the dominant habitat in Ghana’s Mole (pronounced Mo-lay) National Park, in the country’s Northern Region. The tangle slowly reveals landscapes in a way which doesn’t happen on the open savanna grassland of East Africa. Here, the green glow of a male bushbuck’s eyes is reflected back at me as it readies to protect its females; there the spotted fur of a genet (a type of cat) in the undergrowth. Although I’m not lucky enough to encounter one, Ghana also offers as good a chance of spotting nocturnal pangolins as anywhere. Ghana, like other West African nations, isn’t known for safaris. When it comes to great value wildlife holidays, it’s one to make even your bank manager smile. (Photo: Ian Packham)

New accessibility

The launch of direct British Airways flights four times a week from London Gatwick (adding to its existing daily Heathrow flight) in autumn 2023 means that the price of economy seats on the six and-a-half-hour journey have been coming down, available for less than £500 return. You can safari in Mole for £35/$47 per person per day (based on two sharing), a price that takes care of entrance fees, half board and a wildlife drive. That’s less than the £53/$72 an average British visitor spends at home, let alone the £75/$100 minimum it will cost you to camp within better-known parks such as Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. (Photo: Steve Parsons/PA)

Spot four of the Big Five species

The largest national park in Ghana at 1,869 square miles (4,840 square kilometres; more than three times the size of Greater London), Mole’s inhabitants include four of the Big Five species (elephant, leopard, lion and Cape buffalo) – only rhino are missing. Night game drives are standard activities at Mole. In Kenya, they’re usually only possible when staying in wallet-clenching private concessions. It’s true that Mole’s most basic rooms, at its eponymous motel, are almost identical to my first visit 18 years ago as a backpacker. However, those looking for a little (or a lot more) comfort now have the option of staying at Zaina Lodge, which at £432/$583 per room full board with a daily game drive is still something of a steal compared to similar options elsewhere in Africa, where a night’s all-inclusive can easily top £700/$945 per person. The Mole Motel and Zaina Lodge sit on the 820ft (250m) high Konkori Escarpment with rooms (and pools) overlooking waterholes fed by tributaries of the White Volta. These are popular cooling off points with the park’s elephants, which have a habit of wandering through the unfenced compounds at will – I’m warned to check before leaving my room. (Photo: Ian Packham)

Travel

Getting there: British Airways flies from Gatwick and Heathrow to Accra. Connecting flights are available on airlines such as TAP Portugal and ITA Airways via their European hubs. While independent travel is possible, local operator M&J Travel & Tours offers four-day trips to Mole from £941pp, excluding flights. / Staying there: Mole Motel has doubles from GC650 (£40/$54). Zaina Lodge has two-night stays from £863/$1,165 per room, full board. / British passport-holders require a visa to visit Ghana, as well as proof of yellow fever vaccination. For more information on the latest requirements on British passport-holders, visit the Ghana High Commission website. More information on visiting can be found at the Mole National Park and Visit Ghana websites. (Information and prices accurate at the time of first publication, April 2024. US$ conversions calculated in June 2025) (Photo: Ian Packham)