Explore Africa and its UNESCO World Heritage Sites
by Air
We take you to Places too far apart — too remote — too significant to miss.
Privately curated Fly-In Safaris across Africa and its UNESCO-listed natural and cultural heritage — combining wildlife, ancient trade routes, African King- and Queendoms, expert interpretation — and investment in the communities who protect these landscapes.
Southern Cross has curated journeys across sixteen African countries since 2000 - long enough to know the difference between a destination and a place that matters.
Southern Cross co-financed the digitisation of the Mapungubwe Archive at the University of Pretoria - more than 5,000 pages and 460 photographs from the early excavations. Heritage work, not packaging.
The UNESCO-endorsed Southern Cross Heritage Tourism Development Program, recognised as a Cooperating Organisation of the South African National Commission for UNESCO.
Doris Wörfel served as Co-Facilitator and lead author of the C20 Tourism Policy Brief presented to the G20 in 2025. It was through this work that Southern Cross’ Ancient Trade Routes were named in international tourism policy - under Priority 5, as instruments of heritage and community development. She is also a UNESCO “50 Minds for the Next 50” honouree in sustainable tourism.
References to UNESCO are factual references to the South African National Commission for UNESCO and to UNESCO World Heritage Sites inscribed on the World Heritage List. Southern Cross Experiences is an independent travel company and does not imply UNESCO endorsement of its journeys.
Safari Curators.
A curator selects each destination for its significance — not its popularity — and builds a journey with a narrative arc, not just a sequence of stops defined by game parks, experiences, adventures, attractions or lodges. Every journey includes all of these — but connected by a story that gives each moment its meaning.
A curator also ensures that the communities who live on a World Heritage landscape have a voice in how their heritage is shared — and share in the value of every journey that passes through it. The luxury follows — because Africa's most significant landscapes attract its finest lodges, many of them chosen for how they invest in the land and the people around them.
UNESCO Natural and Cultural World Heritage Sites structure every journey.
The animals you see gain meaning when heritage provides the context.
Private charter reaches landscapes that road-based tourism cannot.
Archaeologists, ecologists and historians reveal what you are seeing — travelling with you, or meeting you on the ground, on request.
“Africa is not a destination. It is a landscape where Kingdoms and Queendoms rose, cultures endured and history was written in stone, gold and ivory — and it deserves to be experienced that way.”
Each Southern Cross route is structured around UNESCO World Heritage Sites — Natural, Cultural and Mixed. Across our journeys, twenty-five inscribed World Heritage Sites in nine countries form the framework. Heritage is the frame. Wildlife is the layer. Interpretation is the difference.
View the World Heritage CollectionHide the Collection
| World Heritage Site | Country | Inscribed | Type | On Route |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Floral Region | South Africa | 2004 | Natural | Signature |
| Robben Island | South Africa | 1999 | Cultural | Signature |
| Cradle of Humankind | South Africa | 1999 | Cultural | Signature |
| uKhahlamba-Drakensberg | South Africa | 2000 | Mixed | Signature |
| Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape | South Africa | 2003 | Cultural | Signature · Kingdoms of Gold · Ivory Route |
| Great Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe | 1986 | Cultural | Signature · Kingdoms of Gold · Ivory Route |
| Khami Ruins | Zimbabwe | 1986 | Cultural | Kingdoms of Gold |
| Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls | Zambia / Zimbabwe | 1989 | Natural | Signature · Crossing · Waters · Zambezi·Okavango·Namib |
| Chongoni Rock-Art Area | Malawi | 2006 | Cultural | Crossing · Waters |
| Lake Malawi NP | Malawi | 1984 | Natural | Crossing · Waters |
| Serengeti NP | Tanzania | 1981 | Natural | Crossing · Waters |
| Ngorongoro Conservation Area | Tanzania | 1979 | Mixed | Crossing |
| Okavango Delta | Botswana | 2014 | Natural | Waters · Zambezi·Okavango·Namib |
| Namib Sand Sea | Namibia | 2013 | Natural | Zambezi·Okavango·Namib |
| Tsodilo Hills | Botswana | 2001 | Cultural | Zambezi·Okavango·Namib |
| Twyfelfontein / ǁUi-ǁAes | Namibia | 2007 | Cultural | Zambezi·Okavango·Namib |
| Kenya Lake System (Rift Valley) | Kenya | 2011 | Natural | Great Rift Valley |
| Mount Kenya NP | Kenya | 1997 | Natural | Great Rift Valley |
| Fort Jesus, Mombasa | Kenya | 2011 | Cultural | Indian Ocean Trade Route |
| Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests | Kenya | 2008 | Cultural | Indian Ocean Trade Route |
| Lamu Old Town | Kenya | 2001 | Cultural | Indian Ocean Trade Route |
| Gede Ruins | Kenya | 2024 | Cultural | Indian Ocean Trade Route |
| Stone Town of Zanzibar | Tanzania | 2000 | Cultural | Ivory Route · Indian Ocean Trade Route |
| Kilwa Kisiwani & Songo Mnara | Tanzania | 1981 | Cultural | Ivory Route · Indian Ocean Trade Route |
| Island of Mozambique | Mozambique | 1991 | Cultural | Ivory Route |
References to UNESCO World Heritage Sites are factual references to sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Southern Cross Experiences is an independent travel company and does not imply UNESCO endorsement of its journeys.
Every journey is privately designed around UNESCO World Heritage Sites, wildlife and expert interpretation. Fly-In heritage expeditions and Ancient Trade Routes — all by private charter.
Private charter access to Africa's most remote heritage landscapes. Multi-country routes that connect UNESCO sites, wildlife reserves and ancient kingdoms by air.
Explore Fly-In ExpeditionsThe gold and ivory corridors that connected Africa’s interior kingdoms to the Indian Ocean trade world and beyond. SCE’s proprietary heritage framework.
Explore the Trade RoutesEach expedition style has its own geography. The Fly-In journeys trace the great parks and World Heritage Sites of the south and east; the Ancient Trade Routes follow the gold, ivory and salt corridors that once crossed the whole continent.
Maps are interpretive heritage route frameworks. Stations are indicative; every journey is privately curated. References to UNESCO World Heritage Sites are factual references to sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List — Southern Cross Experiences is an independent travel company and does not imply UNESCO endorsement of its journeys.
9 expedition routes across 16 African countries. All by private charter.
Every journey privately designed around you.
A privately designed fly-in journey from Victoria Falls to Cape Town — connecting six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, medieval kingdoms, San rock art, wildlife reserves and the Cape Floral Region into one coherent narrative.
Any operator can take you to a World Heritage Site. We help you understand why it matters — how the rock art connects to the kingdom that rose beside it, how the monsoon shaped a civilisation, how the landscape tells the story of the people who lived within it.
An archaeologist at Great Zimbabwe. A marine biologist at Bazaruto. A rock-art specialist at Twyfelfontein. The people who know these places most deeply, joining you at the site.
A historian or ecologist accompanies your journey, interpreting each landscape and the connections between them — from the air and on the ground.
We curate Africa.”
After 25 years across sixteen African countries, Doris Wörfel still guides on the routes she designs. Her conviction is a simple one: a journey through a World Heritage landscape should leave you understanding it, not merely having seen it.
Meet Doris WörfelWe believe that African heritage landscapes deserve both visitors and guardians. Every journey we design considers the communities, wildlife and cultural legacy of the places we share with our clients.
Respectful, researched, and guided by the communities whose history we share.
We design journeys so that the communities who live on these heritage landscapes share in their value — through fair compensation and local employment.
Direct contributions to the conservation areas and wildlife landscapes our routes traverse.
No harmful wildlife interactions. Respectful distances. Responsible viewing practices.
We acknowledge the footprint of aviation and address it through low-volume routing and conservation contributions.
We align our practices with the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism — the international framework for responsible and sustainable travel.
Not the Package
Tell us what kind of journey you are drawn to — heritage, wildlife, fly-in access, ancient trade routes, private family travel or expert-led exploration. We will shape the route around you.
Southern Cross Experiences (PTY) Ltd. · Reg. No. 2000/030954/07 · Pretoria, South Africa
reservations@southern-cross.africa · +27 82 904 3779