2025 Readers' Choice Awards: Best destination for wildlife and nature

Winner: South Africa

Why you love it…

Megadiverse South Africa has hundreds of protected areas and some 9000 privately owned game reserves, home to a mind-boggling 67,000 animal species and 20,400 plant species. Indeed, ticking off the Big Five is true bucket-list stuff but the country also boasts other natural wonders worth seeking out – the annual sardine run, five turtle species, vast wildflower displays and incredible stargazing.

Hot tip…

When planning a safari, timing is everything. Less vegetation during the dry season (May to September) makes it easier to spot animals, which often gather around waterholes at this time of year.

Runners-up

New Zealand

From dramatic fjords to bubbling hot springs to snow-topped mountains, the untamed and natural beauty of New Zealand looks like it could be AI-generated.

Canada

Oh Canada! The incredible biodiversity of this North American gem has captured our hearts, with iconic animals such as the beaver, moose and polar bear, and breathtaking landscapes from old-growth rainforests to deep fjords and lush mountains.

Kenya

This Big Five territory is best known for its annual Great Migration, perhaps the largest wildlife spectacle on Earth, where millions of wildebeest, zebra and more travel from the Serengeti to the Masai Mara for food and water.

Borneo

This tropical island shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei is home to more than 10 primate species – including the Bornean orangutan and proboscis monkey. It also harbours more than 350 bird species, and 150 reptile and amphibian species amid rivers, verdant jungles and wildlife reserves.

For all the winners and runners-up, visit our 2025 Readers’ Choice hub.