safari cinema movies

19 Inspirational Safari Movies

Watch a classic safari movie before you go.

Getting excited about an upcoming African safari holiday? Hollywood has a long history of creative safari movies about all things Africa and wildlife – dating back to 1932’s “Congorilla” documentary of jungle and savannah wildlife activity in Belgian Congo (now D.R. Congo).

The genre has evolved over the decades, meaning there is now a good choice of films available to bring the magic of the safari experience into your living room. Check out our list below of the most inspirational safari movies to watch before you go – the first section of the list features traditional movies, and the latter section focusses on documentary safari movies. All are highly recommended and well worth viewing!

Out of Africa

A Hollywood classic, Out of Africa is one of those rare films that you can’t fail to fall in love with. Whether you’re watching it for the dazzling scenery of the Kenyan landscapes or the drama and romance, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford make for compelling viewing in this tale of Africa, war, and wildlife.

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Gorillas in the Mist

Like Out of Africa , the movie is based on a true story, but here the similarities end. Instead of a romantic interest, Gorillas in the Mist tells the tale of naturalist Sigourney Weaver’s touching relationship with the group of primates she studies in the Rwandan jungle . With the threat of poachers hovering in the background and strife all around in Rwanda, there’s high drama as well as some magnificent footage of real gorillas in their natural habitat.

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The Lion King

When you think of safaris and big game, it’s hard not to immediately imagine the Circle of Life scene from the beginning of Disney’s epic African adventure, The Lion King. It might be animation and talking lions rather than real-life nature scenes, but adults and kids alike can’t fail to be inspired to take a safari holiday after watching Simba on screen!

Lion King fan? Read our take on Hakuna Matata meaning .

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The African Queen

An old fashioned tale of action, romance, and daring exploits in the wilds of the jungle, The African Queen is a fantastic romp with two of the era’s best-loved actors – Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. Shot in Uganda and the Congo, it was one of the first movies to use real locations and backgrounds which adds an unparalleled realism to the story.

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White Hunter Black Heart

Clint Eastwood’s film is based loosely on the experiences of writer Peter Viertel and director John Huston on the set of The Africa Queen. But whilst love triumphs over all in the 1950s classic, this movie is much darker and explores the morality of hunting wild animals. When filmmaker John Wilson becomes obsessed with the safari and elephants, disaster begins to stir. White Hunter Black Heart is a must watch!

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This interesting film starring the legendary John Wayne removes the cowboy from his favourite setting and transports him to a vast African landscape. Filmed in Tanzania , it’s a dramatic story about a group of hunters, a female wildlife photographer and the race to save a group of baby elephants from a terrible fate – life in a zoo. With exhilarating wildlife chases and magnificent Mount Meru providing a dramatic backdrop, Hatari! is a thrilling romp of a safari movie.

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Road to Zanzibar

After the success of contemporary films in the safari genre, Bob Hope parodies African adventures with this comic farce. Involving love triangles, races through the jungle, swimming with leopards and plenty of jewels, the fast-paced comedy is a fun trip set in 1940’s Africa.

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The Naked Prey

Set in the veld of South Africa, The Naked Prey is an eerie movie starring Cornel Wilde in a dark tale that switches the traditional roles of a hunting safari. The guide (Wilde) leads a troop of hunters through an African tribe to start the hunt, but when the group offends the locals, he finds himself in the role of the animals – naked and being chased through the landscape by warriors from the tribe.

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Everyone’s favourite African jungle hero has been the subject of many films over the Hollywood years, but in 1999 Disney gave him a 3D makeover and plenty of animated jungle action before the happy ending with Jane. Featuring a paranoid elephant and a smart-mouthed gorilla, Tarzan   is a family film that brings the jungle to life with sweeping scenes.

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Married couple George Adamson and Joy Adamson live in northern Kenya for George’s work as a senior game warden. After George’s team have to kill a man-eating lion and its lioness, their three young female cubs being orphaned. Although difficult to begin with, George and Joy wean and take care of the three cubs, who they adopt as pets. Born Free is a classic film about safari life in Africa, heartwarming, and with stunning human – big cat interaction.

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To Walk With Lions

To Walk With Lions follows the later years of the life of George Adamson who was featured saving a lion cub in the safari movie Born Free . His life was transformed with this action, and he went on to become a lifelong animal activist. Well worth a watch in tandem with Born Free .

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Something of an amusingly naff found footage film set in the South African bush. In a wild corner of the country, a young Zulu girl teams up with an American tourist group on safari. The group enters an uncharted area where they are forced to face the untamed wild.

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Documentary Safari Movies:

The six-part mini-series, narrated by David Attenborough, takes an in-depth look at various African habitats and the wildlife that inhabit them. Each episode is wonderful, and the highlights for pre-safari viewing are on the African deserts – the Kalahari, Namib, and Sahara, the savanna of East Africa, and the rainforests of the Congo Basin.

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The Last Lions

This is a feature-length National Geographic documentary filmed in Botswana’s Okavango Delta region  and narrated by Jeremy Irons. It focusses on one lioness raising her cubs and protecting them against the many threats they face, including poaching. Whilst the film is about this one mother, it deals more broadly with the decline of the African lion from a population of many millions in the 20th century to just 20,000 today.

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The Ivory Game

This 2016 documentary examines the global ivory trade and the various actors sustaining and fighting it, examine the actions of governments, environmental preservationists, poachers, and ivory merchants. The film takes viewers from the elephant’s home ranges in Tanzania, Kenya, and Zambia to China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam where ivory is seen as a status symbol, and demand is rife. As with so many other movies on this list, it’s one that’s well worth watching if you hope to see elephants on your next safari.

Watch now on Netflix

Battle at Kruger

OK, we know it’s not actually a safari move, but no list of this nature would be complete without reference to the most epic homemade safari video ever! If you’ve not yet seen it, set aside eight minutes right now to watch this confrontation between a herd of buffalo , a pride of lions and a crocodile . (Read up on battle at Kruger .)

Any classic safari movies we’re missing from the list? Please let us know in the comments below! Made it to the end of our safari film list and still have itchy feet? Check out these 50 movies to inspire wanderlust .

Other significant African movies

Whilst not specifically safari movies, these films listed below are all set – and filmed – in Africa, where the landscape and culture play a significant part. All well worth adding to your ‘to watch’ list before you take a safari!

Blood Diamond (2006)

Leonardo DiCaprio stars in a  war thriller smuggling diamonds, set against the backdrop of the Sierra Leone civil war.

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Hotel Rwanda (2004)

This moving drama is based on the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager of  Hôtel des Mille Collines in Kigali during the Rwandan civil war.

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The Last King of Scotland (2006)

A historical drama about Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan who becomes the personal physician and close confidante of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

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BORN FREE should also be included in this list. One of the best African / Kenya / Safari movies ever!!

Great shout Vince – added!

My candidate for the single best safari film of all time is King Solomon’s Mines, the one with Debra Kerr and Stewart Granger (it made him an international star). It was the third of five filmings of H. Rider Haggard’s novel.

It had the most authentic tribesmen, and its iconic drum music was recycled in countless safari “B” movies as well as in John Ford’s Mogambo, another good African movie.

I’m going to have to check that one out David, thanks for the recommendation!

Nowhere in africa

Safari movies: Mogambo, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Ghost and the Darkness

All around Africa movies: The Power of One,Tarzan: The Legend of Greystoke, Cry Freedom, Hotel Rwanda, Sometimes in April, Blood Diamond

Hey Mark – some excellent choices there, and a couple I haven’t seen yet. Will check them out, thanks!

Pls I want to know the name of a comedy movie in Africa jungle where in one occasion in the movie African man was squatting then a helicopter with rope hanging catched his pants and continue flying then the man eventually got his head straight into a hippopotamus’s anus.

One I enjoyed from my childhood was A Far Off Place, starring Reese Witherspoon.

Thanks for the tip – I’ve not heard of that one, will check it out!

Oh, and George of the Jungle and Sahara. I realize they’re not Safari films, but set in Africa, at least.

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Top 18 Safari Movies to watch before your African Safari

• January 29, 2020
• Author & Photographer: Teri Didjurgis

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. ( Disclosures )

Films to inspire your African Safari

My earliest memory of opening up a National Geographic magazine was seeing elephants, lion, zebras, rhinos and other animals in Africa along with tribes and cultures so distant to mine.

Going on safari has been a dream to have a unique experience of seeing this wildlife adventure, experiencing different cultures and spectacular scenery! 

Until my first trip to Africa, I explored through these safari films featuring the breathtaking landscapes, historical events of locals and human interactions with wildlife and the stars of the savannah featuring conservation programs and struggles to preserve them.

Out of Africa (1985)

• Available on Amazon

The movie, Out of Africa , inspired many a traveler to take a trip to Africa and specifically Kenya. The movie features breathtaking scenery of Kenya including the areas around Nairobi and the Maasai Mara.

The movie, based on the book by Karen Blixen , is a memoir of her life in the early 1900’s in Kenya, then known as British East Africa to colonists. Meryl Streep and Robert Redford play the lead characters for this romance, though I believe the true romance of the film is Karen falling in love with the land and people of Kenya.

Karen writes and reveals in the movie her own personal experience as a woman in this time period running a coffee plantation in spite of her absent husband and interactions with locals many of which were part of the infamous Happy Valley Set of the Kenya Colony in the 1920’s. The story touches on events of the time including colonialism, World War I, shooting safaris and her interactions with the local Kikuyu tribe. A distance time.

On a trip to Kenya, you can visit her home and conversations with the locals will reveal that the love went both ways. Karen introduced Kenya to many in the world both through her 1937 book and the subsequent 1985 Academy Award winning film.

Gorillas in the Mist (1988)

Gorillas in the Mist is another true story based on the life of Dian Fossey. The story tells the tale of the naturalist, played by Sigourney Weaver, and her relationship with the group of primates she studies in the Congo.

Studying them at close quarters, Fossey develops a means of communicating with the gorillas, and in so doing becomes obsessed with the beasts’ well-being. Appalled by the poaching of the gorillas for their skins, Fossey complains to the Ugandan government, which dismisses her by explaining that poaching is the only means by which some of the Ugandan natives can themselves survive.

With the threat of poachers hovering in the background and strife all around in Rwanda, there’s high drama as well as some magnificent footage of real gorillas in their natural habitat.

BBC Africa (2013)

The BBC created this incredible six-part mini series, BBC Africa , on Africa’s wild places and wildlife.

Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, he takes us on an awe-inspiring journey through on of the most diverse places on earth including the Kalahari desert, the Sahara Desert, the savannah of East Africa, and jungles of the Congo as well as diverse wildlife including black rhinos, mountain gorillas, and much more of Africa’s amazing wildlife.

The Last Lions (2012)

From the lush wetlands of Botswana’s Okavango Delta, this documentary focuses on one lioness, named Ma di Tau (“Mother of Lions”), as she tries to protect her cubs against the many threats they face in the wild including poaching.

The Last Lions is a documentary film about the heartbreaking decline of the lion population in Africa. Fifty years ago there were close to 500 million lions in Africa. Today there are around 20,000.

Lions, unlike elephants which are far more numerous, have virtually no protection under government mandate or through international accords. The safari eco-tourist industry brings in over 200 billion dollars per year with lions being a top “must-see” and yet little is done to protect the lions. In addition, big cats are at the very top of the food chain and their elimination would wreak havoc on all species below them in ecosystem collapse.

The documentary was made in collaboration between National Geographic and their Explorers-in-Residence, Dereck and Beverly Joubert, who are filmmakers from Botswana. The film is narrated by Jeremy Irons.

The Ivory Game

• Available on Netflix

It takes 2 seconds seeing a parade of elephants in the wild to be enthralled by these highly intelligent and emotional beasts. The interactions between the young bulls and then groups of mothers and their calves show the complexity of their family relationships.

The movie, Ivory Game , is a documentary revealing the Ivory Trade industry endangering the elephants. The filmmakers show all side of this Ivory industry from the insatiable Chinese market and the local poachers to the wildlife conversationalists and government programs to save the elephants.

I watched this movie on the night before I went on a week long safari in Tanzania where the documentary is partially filmed. As a tourist, I just in awe of seeing these animals, but the documentary provided the rich context of ecosystems in Africa where local poachers living in poverty are enticed to sell off the expensive ivory by dealers and also local people are losing crops when the elephants migrate.

The filmmakers looks at all sides working on solutions to save both the elephants and locals interests while stopping the Ivory Trade.

Born Free (1966)

Born Free  is a 1966 British drama film starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, a real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood, and released her into the wilderness of Kenya.

At a national park in Kenya, English game warden George Adamson (Bill Travers) and his wife, Joy (Virginia McKenna), care for three orphaned lion cubs. The lion cubs parents were killed after attacking villagers.

After the two larger lions are shipped off to a zoo in the Netherlands, the smallest of the three, Elsa, stays with the couple. When Elsa is blamed for causing an elephant stampede in the nearby village, head warden John Kendall (Geoffrey Keen) demands the young lion either be trained to survive in the wilds of the Serengeti or be sent to a zoo.

The making of the film was a life-changing experience for actors Virginia McKenna and her husband Bill Travers, who became animal rights activists and were instrumental in creating the  Born Free Foundation .

To Walk with Lions (1999)

To Walk with Lions  is a 1999 film directed by Carl Schultz and starring Richard Harris as George Adamson. 

It follows the later years of wild game preserver/naturalist Adamson whose life was transformed into an animal activist after his experience saving a lion cub shown in the movie Born Free .

After his marriage to Joy Adamson ended, Adamson spent the latter part of his life protecting the lions and other wildlife in the Kora National Reserve, Kenya. His program helps ease zoo-bred lions into their natural habitat. The fact-based film focuses on his struggle against poachers and government corruption blocking his quest for wildlife preservation.

The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

Set in 1898 and starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, The Ghost and the Darkness is based on the true story of two lions in East Africa that killed dozens of people working on a railroad.

Sir Robert Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson) is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson (Val Kilmer) to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project’s foreman (Henry Cele), seemingly killed by a lion. After several more attacks, Patterson calls in famed hunter Charles Remington (Michael Douglas), who has finally met his match in the bloodthirsty lions.

Don’t let this movie put you off safaris. This true story will highlight the struggles in Africa between local populations, development and wildlife that has been a part of their story for over a hundred years.

The Lion King (1994)

When you think of safaris and big game, it’s hard not to immediately imagine the Circle of Life scene from the beginning of Disney’s epic African adventure,  The Lion King . It might be animation and talking lions rather than real life nature scenes, but adults and kids alike can’t fail to be inspired to take a safari holiday after watching Simba on screen.

The Disney imagineers definitely did their homework. On safari, you will find many of the names of the animals are Swahili and the characteristics of the animals is spot on. I especially saw it in cranky old bachelor lions and the Pummba.

The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Everyone’s favorite jungle hero has been the subject of many films over the Hollywood years.

In The Legend of Tarzan , it’s been nearly a decade since Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård), also known as John Clayton III, left Africa to live in Victorian England with his wife Jane.

Danger lurks on the horizon as Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz), a treacherous envoy for King Leopold, devises a scheme that lures the couple to the Congo.

Rom plans to capture Tarzan and deliver him to an old enemy in exchange for diamonds. When Jane becomes a pawn in his devious plot, Tarzan must return to the jungle to save the woman he loves.

Other Disney Animated versions

• Tarzan (2014)
• The Jungle Book (2016)
• The Jungle Book (1967)

I will always be partial to The Jungle Book (1967) for the music.  You can’t help but hum “The Bare Necessities”  or “I wanna be like you” after hearing it.

Road to Zanzibar (1941)

Road to Zanzibar is a trip back to old Hollywood. 

After the success of contemporary films in the safari genre, Bob Hope parodies African adventures with this farce.

The movie is classic Hollywood with ridiculous scenarios including love triangles, races through the jungle, swimming with leopards and plenty of jewels, the fast-paced comedy is a fun trip.

The African Queen (1952)

Another one from old Hollywood, Th e African Queen focuses on life in Africa during World War II.

After religious spinster’s (Katharine Hepburn) missionary brother is killed in WWI Africa, dissolute steamer captain (Humphrey Bogart) offers her safe passage. She’s not satisfied so she persuades him to destroy a German gunboat. The two spend most of their time fighting with each other rather than the Germans. In true Hollywood fashion, time alone on the river leads to love.

The movie, shot in Uganda and the Congo, was one of the first movies to use real locations and backgrounds.

White Hunter Black Heart (1990)

Clint Eastwood’s film is based loosely on the experiences of writer Peter Viertel and director John Huston on the set of The African Queen . 

Love trumps in the 1950s classic The Africa Queen, but White Hunter Black Heart is much darker and explores the morality of hunting wild animals.

Hard-living, macho movie director John Wilson (Clint Eastwood) arrives in 1950s Zimbabwe to prepare for his next film. Accompanied by screenwriter Pete Verrill (Jeff Fahey), Wilson becomes far more interested in shooting an elephant than getting ready for the shoot.

Determined, Wilson moves production to a village where a native hunter helps him in his quest. Obsessed with this goal even as filming grows ever more chaotic, the director begins to question the ethics and origins of his fixation.

King Solomon’s Mines (1950)

King Solomon’s Mines , based on H. Rider Haggard’s novel is about a rescue party that sets out to find an explorer who has disappeared on an African treasure hunt.

The search leads the party across the continent and through the terrors of jungle, swamp, and desert.

Their ultimate destination is the fabled lost mine of Solomon, a source of unimaginable wealth and deadly danger.

There is also a 1985 version of King Solomon’s Mines starring Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone, which has a more Indiana Jones feel.

Mogambo (1953)

In M ogambo , Victor Marswell (Clark Gable) is a big-game hunter in Kenya. After Eloise Kelly (Ava Gardner) is stood up by a friend there, she falls in with Marswell.

Shortly thereafter, the Nordleys (Grace Kelly, Donald Sinden) arrive for a gorilla safari. Mrs. Nordley, disillusioned with her husband, takes a liking to Marswell, and the two have a brief affair. Kelly grows jealous, and the two women engage in a battle of wills over the hunter, while Mr. Nordley remains oblivious to it all. 

This is an old classic Hollywood triangle filmed in Kenya and Uganda. The music featured in the film was mostly performed by local native tribes.

Hatari! (1962)

Hatari , meaning “Danger” in Swahili , stars the legendary John Wayne takes the cowboy from the Old West to the African landscape. Filmed in Tanzania in the Ngorongoro Crater, this old Hollywood film is about a group of who traps animals for zoos. While not an activity I endorse today, this was the historical reality at the time.

A female wildlife photographer joins the group to document and finds herself the mother of baby elephants she tries to save.

The movie features the amazing scenery and wildlife of Tanzania and I recognized many of the places still from my recent safari.

The Naked Prey (1966)

The Naked Prey is set in the South African veld. This eerie movie starring Cornel Wilde is a dark tale that switched the traditional roles of a hunting safari.

The guide leads a troop of hunters through a tribe’s colony to start the hunt, but when the group offends the locals, he finds himself in the role of the animals – naked and being chased through the landscape by warriors from the tribe.

Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Passion for Life

The Young Indiana Jones is a TV series, created by Steven Spielberg, featuring a 10 and later 17-year-old Indiana Jones on his adventures in his early year.  The set includes 3 seasons and 24 episodes

The “Passion for Life” episode focuses on a 10-year-old Indiana Jones as he goes on safari with his parent in British East Africa in September 1910.

Young Jones befriends a Massai boy named Meto who helps him in his search for the rare Fringe-Eared Oryx for former US President Teddy Roosevelt.

The scenery is spectacular and in typical Indiana Jones style, an adventure ensues as Indy finds himself in the middle of it all.   The episode is one hour, but the DVD set also has a complimentary disc with documentaries exploring the themes in each episode with historical clips and commentary.

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The 10 Best Safari Movies to Watch Before Traveling to Africa

Accommodation , Wildlife

Africa is home to some of the most beautiful and exotic wildlife in the world. Going on a safari is an experience of a lifetime, but it can be even more exciting if you have an idea of what to expect. Watching safari movies is a great way to prepare for your trip and get excited about all the animals you’ll see.

In this article, we’ll be looking at the 10 best safari movies to watch before traveling to Africa. From classic Hollywood movies to documentaries, we’ve got you covered. 

1. Out of Africa (1985).

Out of Africa is a classic romantic drama film set in Kenya during the early 20th century. It follows the story of a Danish baroness who falls in love with a big-game hunter while on safari. The movie features stunning landscapes and wildlife, and it’s a great way to get a sense of what life was like in colonial Africa.

2. The African Queen (1951)

The African Queen is a classic adventure film set in East Africa during World War I. It stars Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn as two people who team up to take down a German warship. The movie features beautiful scenery and some thrilling action sequences, and it’s a great way to get a sense of the excitement of safari life. 

3. Gorillas in the Mist (1988).

Gorillas in the Mist is a biographical drama film based on the life of Dian Fossey, a scientist who devoted her life to studying and protecting mountain gorillas in Rwanda. The movie features stunning footage of these amazing creatures and the beautiful African landscape, and it’s a must-watch for anyone interested in wildlife conservation. 

4. Hatari! (1962).

Hatari! is a classic adventure film set in Tanzania. It stars John Wayne as the leader of a group of big-game hunters who capture wild animals for zoos. The movie features some exciting action scenes and beautiful landscapes, and it’s a great way to get a sense of the excitement of a safari.

5. The Ghost and the Darkness (1996).

The Ghost and the Darkness is a historical adventure film set in Kenya during the late 19th century. It follows the story of two man-eating lions that terrorize a group of workers building a railroad. The movie features stunning scenery and some intense action scenes, and it’s a great way to get a sense of the dangers of safari life. 

6. The Lion King (1994).

The Lion King is a classic animated film set in the African savanna. It follows the story of a young lion named Simba who learns about life and leadership from his father, the king of the Pride Lands. The movie features stunning animation and a memorable soundtrack, and it’s a great way to get a sense of the beauty. 

7. Blood Diamond (2006).

Blood Diamond is a political thriller set in Sierra Leone during the late 1990s. It follows the story of a smuggler who finds a rare pink diamond while working in the country’s civil war. The movie features stunning landscapes and powerful performances, and it’s a great way to get a sense of the political and social issues that affect African countries. 

8. The Last King of Scotland (2006).

The Last King of Scotland is a historical drama film set in Uganda during the 1970s. It follows the story of a Scottish doctor who becomes the personal physician of the country’s dictator, Idi Amin. The movie features stunning scenery and powerful performances, and it’s a great way to get a sense of the political turmoil that has affected many African countries.

9. Born Free (1966).

Based on the true story of George and Joy Adamson, this movie tells the story of their efforts to raise and release a lioness named Elsa back into the wild. Filmed on location in Kenya, the movie features stunning landscapes of the African savannah and offers a unique glimpse into the challenges of wildlife conservation. 

10. The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980).

The Gods Must Be Crazy is a comedy film set in Botswana. It follows the story of a bushman who finds a Coca-Cola bottle and tries to return it to the gods. The movie features beautiful scenery and some hilarious moments, and it’s a great way to get a sense of the humor and everyday life in rural Africa. 

Conclusion .

Watching safari movies before traveling to Africa can enhance your safari experience by familiarizing you with the African wildlife and landscapes, preparing you for your journey, and inspiring you for the adventure ahead. From the classic romance of Out of Africa to the thrilling action of The Ghost and the Darkness, the movies on this list offer a diverse and captivating glimpse into the beauty and complexity of Africa.

Are these movies suitable for children?

Most of the movies on this list are suitable for children, but some, such as Blood Diamond and The Ghost and the Darkness, may contain violence and adult themes.

Where can I find these movies?

Many of these movies are available for streaming on popular platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. They can also be rented or purchased on DVD or Blu-ray.

Do I need to watch all of these movies before my safari?

No, you don’t need to watch all of these movies before your safari. You can pick and choose the ones that interest you the most.

Are there any other safari movies you would recommend?

Yes, there are many other great safari movies out there, including Hatari!, The Lion in Winter, and The Naked Prey, to name a few.

How can I make the most of my safari experience?

Be sure to follow the guidance of your safari guide and respect the wildlife and their natural habitats. Bring plenty of sunscreen, insect repellent, and comfortable clothing and shoes, and most importantly, enjoy the adventure of a lifetime!

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10 Best African Safari Movies

If you’re thinking about going on an African safari and need a bit of visual inspiration, here’s our pick of the 10 Best African Safari Movies and documentaries , ranging from edge-of-your-seat thrillers to true life conservation stories.

Our must-watch African movies & documentaries:

Dive into the thrilling world of African safaris with our top picks for the best African safari movies. These films offer a cinematic journey through the wild landscapes of Africa, capturing the essence of adventure, wildlife, and the spirit of the safari experience. Perfect for those dreaming of or planning an African adventure, these movies range from gripping thrillers to heartfelt stories of conservation and connection with nature.

1. The Lion King

This classic Disney movie is still great to watch (after more than two decades) for its amazing music, powerful story and of course all your favourite animal characters, from loveable Pumbaa to wise Rafiki.

2. BBC Africa

You can’t go on a safari to Africa without watching the BBC’s incredible six-part mini series on the continent’s wild places and wildlife, narrated by the wonderful Sir David Attenborough.

This series covers black rhinos, the Kalahari desert, the savannah of East Africa, the wildlife of the Congo, animals living in southern Africa, the Sahara Desert and the future of conservation.

3. Gorillas in the Mist

Based on the true story of Diane Fossey, an American naturalist who dedicated her life to mountain gorilla research and conservation in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. The movie, which stars Sigourney Weaver, shows the challenges Fossey faced in fighting poachers and bureaucrats, and the sacrifices she made to help the severely endangered primates with beautiful shots of real gorillas in their natural habitat.

R 134,190

Nairobi to Livingstone Adventure (39 Days)

R 142,100

Livingstone to Gorillas Overland Tour (Comfort) (37 Days)

R 117,470

Gorillas, Parks & Beach Trek Tour (28 Days)

4. the last lions.

A collaboration between National Geographic and filmmakers  Beverly Joubert, The Last Lions is a documentary film about the heartbreaking decline of the lion population in Africa.

The film is focused on one lioness as she tries to protect her cubs against the many threats they face in the wild.

5. The Ghost and the Darkness

Set in 1898 and starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, this movie is based on the true story of two lions in East Africa that killed dozens of people working on a railroad. The railroad company decides to bring in a famed American hunter to kill the lions, but the carnage continues. Don’t let this story put you off going on safari to see lions though!

6. Out of Africa

This classic film, directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, beautifully captures the essence of life in Kenya during the early 20th century. It’s a must-watch for those interested in historical depictions of African safaris and wildlife.

R 50,020

Gorillas and Game Parks Safari (14 Days)

R 60,615

Kenya & Tanzania Budget Safari (All Inclusive)

These films offer a window into the diverse and captivating world of African safaris. They not only entertain but also educate about the unique wildlife and challenges faced in African conservation. These movies are essential viewing for anyone passionate about adventure, wildlife, and the enduring beauty of Africa’s natural landscapes.

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50 Movies Where the Action Happens in Africa

Top 50 movies set in africa you have to see.

If you cant travel to Africa, Africa comes to you.  We all know movies like Last King of Scotland with Leonardo di Caprio, Blood Diamond, Hotel Rwanda, The English Patient, The Constant Gardener,  Goodbye Bafana, and evergreen classics Out of Africa and Gorillas in The Mist.

But there is more! 50 Movies Where the Action Happens in Africa is list of less known films shot in Africa with great stories and insights into African continent.

Unfortunately  many  movies filmed in Africa  get overlooked due to lack  of the publicity. Below is the list of less known  50 movies set in Africa. Many movies from the list are  award winners or nominees  on international festivals like Cannes, Toronto, Tribeca, Sundance…

On top list of movies set in Africa you will find everything: from shocking and eye opening documentaries revealing problematic issues in Africa, stories inspired by real life events, to drama action and love. We have gathered and seen many from the list of 50 movies where the action happens in Africa. How many movies have you seen?

Movies set in Africa With Child Soldiers and Rebel Topic

Set in Northern Uganda, a country ravaged by more than two decades of civil war, WAR/DANCE tells the story of Dominic, Rose, and Nancy, three children whose families have been torn apart, their homes destroyed, and who currently reside in a displaced persons camp in Patongo.

When they are invited to compete in an annual music and dance competition, their historic journey to their nation’s capital is also an opportunity to regain a part of their childhood and to taste victory for the first time in their lives.

The Silent Army

Child soldiers in Africa are at the fore in this tale of a white restaurant owner in an African town bordering a conflict zone. When his son’s African friend Abu is abducted, he sets out to find the boy, and walks right into a training camp exploiting children like Abu.

War Witch paints a poignant and harrowing portrait of Komona, a 14-year-old girl (wonderfully played by nonprofessional actress Rachel Mwanza) who has been kidnapped from her African village by rebels to become a child soldier.

She escapes from the camp with an older albino soldier and experiences for the very first time the joys of a peaceful and loving life, but a fresh tragedy will force her to confront and fight the ghosts haunting her mind.

Movies Set in Rwanda Based on True Events from Genocide War

Sometimes in april.

If you really want to find out a bit more about the genocide in Rwanda of 1994, this is THE movie to go! It’s a wonderful, yet uncompromisingly sad and bitter movie. Whereas “Hotel Rwanda” was more like Schindlers List in Africa.

More focusing on a Hollywood-like hero & love story, “Sometimes in April” leads you right into the very depths of hell. The characters are well pointed out, the acting is always impressive and the film-making is very subtle and pleasantly calm.

Beyond the Gates  aka Shooting Dogs

Based on a true story. An exhausted Catholic priest (Hurt) and a young idealistic English teacher (Dancy) finds themselves caught in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. They must now choose whether to stay with the thousands of Tutsis about to be massacred or to flee for safety.

A Sunday in Kigali

In April 1994, the middle-aged Canadian journalist Bernard Valcourt is making a documentary in Kigali about AIDS. He secretly falls in love for the Tutsi waitress of his hotel Gentille, who is younger than him, in a period of violent racial conflicts.

When the genocide of the Tutsis by the Hutus in Rwanda begins, Bernard does not succeed in escaping with Gentille to Canada. When the genocide finishes in July 1994, Bernard returns to the chaotic Kigali seeking out Gentille in the middle of destruction and dead bodies.

Kinyarwanda

A young Tutsi woman and a young Hutu man fall in love amidst chaos; a soldier struggles to foster a greater good while absent from her family; and a priest grapples with his faith in the face of unspeakable horror.

A local Hutu official is persuaded to implement the government’s policy against the Tutsi: To completely wipe them out. Josette, a beautiful young Tutsi girl struggles to survive the killing by taking refuge in a church, supposedly protected by the UNO forces.

Meanwhile, Josette’s brother is hunted down and murdered and her boyfriend rescued by the rebels. But the Hutu Catholic priest betrays Josette’s family and only agrees to spare her life is to submit to the nightly violations.

By the time she is reunited with her boyfriend, neither of them can face the brutal reality of their situation: she is pregnant and bears the priest’s child, which she immediately abandons. 100 Days was shot in Kibuye, the beautiful landscape had been the back drop to some of the worst atrocities in 1994.

In Kibuye Church, the site of an actual massacre, Rwanda actors played killers and victims that were only too familiar to them.

Hotel Rwanda

The true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda.

Movies Set in South Africa

In Johannesburg, a small time criminal, Tsotsi, is a teenager without feelings, hardened by his tough life. After a series of violent gang hits, Tsotsi hijacks a car. However, whilst driving, Tsotsi finds that there is a baby on the back seat. He brings the baby to his house in the slum. The next six days bring about a change in him that couldn’t be foreseen

The Bang Bang Club

A must see movie for photojournalism lovers! A drama based on the true-life experiences of four combat photographers capturing the final days of apartheid in South Africa. The “Bang-Bang Club” was a moniker given to a group of primarily four South African photographers who gained notoriety for consistently putting themselves in harm’s way to obtain photographs of the “silent war” between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha.

Inkhata raged from 1990 to 1994, leading up to the first free elections in South Africa that resulted in Nelson Mandela becoming President. The Bang Bang Club is a film version of those years, focusing on the primary members of this group, Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and Joao Silva.

 Gangsters Paradise: Jerusalema

Inspired by a true story, GANGSTERS PARADISE: JERUSALEMA is an unflinching look into the crime, corruption and the transgressions of those looking to survive in the most crime—infested district of Johannesburg. Starting off with simple smash and grabs, and petty crime, Lucky Kunene quickly graduates to more aggressive heists such as armed robbery and carjacking.

Soon, Lucky realizes he needs a bigger score to fulfill his goals of making it big, and escaping from the slums, to a dream house by the sea. Lucky hatches an elaborate and violent plan to make his fortune hijacking building from landlords of Johannesburg tenements by winning the favor of the tenants and then holding their rent hostage from the landowners.

His high—profile real estate acquisitions attract the attention of the local police force who have no qualms about using unprovoked brutality to bring him down. His trouble with the law, coupled with an escalating war between a local drug lord, creates a tense standoff: both sides are closing in, and Lucky must stay one step ahead, or his empire, and his life, will come crashing down.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Nelson Mandela is a South African lawyer who joins the African National Congress in the 1940s when the law under the Apartheid system’s brutal tyranny proves useless for his people.

Forced to abandon peaceful protest for armed resistance after the Sharpeville Massacre, Mandela pays the price when he and his comrades are sentenced to life imprisonment for treason while his wife, Winnie, is abused by the authorities herself.

Over the decades in chains, Mandela’s spirit is unbowed as his struggle goes on in and beyond his captivity to become an international cause. However, as Winnie’s determination hardens over the years into a violent ruthlessness, Nelson’s own stature rises until he becomes the renowned leader of his movement.

Life, Above All

In the dusty small town of Elandsdoorn, a South African township not far from Johannesburg, life is simple and serene. A prevailing sense of deep pride tightly bonds together the entire community – but beware to those who step out of line … 12-year-old Chanda is a hardworking promising young student with a bright future, but her life changes dramatically when her baby sister unexpectedly dies.

Heartbroken, Chanda’s mother, Lillian, in turn becomes severely ill. Her stepfather drowns himself in alcohol, leaving the young girl to take care of her two smaller siblings. Meanwhile, the formerly friendly neighbors become increasingly distant and gossip spreads. “Auntie” Tafa does what she can to help by getting Lillian to leave town, but not even “Auntie” is immune to the cloud of fear filtering across Elandsdoor.

7 Days in Entebbe (2018)

In July 1976, an Air France flight from Tel-Aviv to Paris via Athens was hijacked and forced to land in Entebbe, Uganda. The Jewish passengers were separated and held hostage in demand to release many terrorists held in Israeli prisons. After much debate, the Israeli government sent an elite commando unit to raid the airfield and release the hostages.

Beat the Drum

Young Musa is orphaned after a mysterious illness strikes his village in KwaZulu Natal. To help his grandmother, Musa sets out for Johannesburg with his father’s last gift, a tribal drum, in search of work and his uncle. The journey confronts him with the stark realities of urban life, but his indomitable spirit never wavers; he returns with a truth and understanding his elders have failed to grasp.

Inspired by true story. A dark skinned girl born to white South African parents attempts to explore her identity in the era of apartheid as her government, her parents, and society as a whole struggle with what it means to be a black child of Caucasian descent in a nation deeply divided by race. The year is 1955.

Sandra Laing, Sophie Okonedo, has just been born to a pair of white Afrikaner parents, her brown skin and curly hair the surprising result of genetic throwback. As the government’s rigid apartheid system struggles with whether to classify Sandra as white or black, the young girl and her parents gradually realize that the complications they face due to her appearance run deep and wide.

The Colour of Freedom aka Goodbye Bafana

GOODBYE BAFANA is the true story of a white South African racist whose life was profoundly altered by the black prisoner he guarded for twenty years. The prisoner’s name was Nelson Mandela.

Movies Set in Kenya

Paradise: love.

On the beaches of Kenya they’re known as “Sugar Mamas” — European women who seek out African boys selling love to earn a living. Teresa, a fifty-year-old Austrian and mother of a daughter entering puberty, travels to this vacation paradise. She goes from one beach boy to the next, from one disappointment to the next and finally she must recognise: On the beaches of Kenya, love is a business.

The White Massai

The Swiss Carola Lehmann develops a crush on the Samburu warrior Lemalian Mamutelil during a ferry trip on the last day of her two week vacation in Kenya, although traveling with her boyfriend, Stefan. She strikes up a conversation with Lemalian and, the next morning, instead of returning to Biel (Switzerland), Carola decides to leave Stefan and seek out Lemalian.

She travels to Nairobi by bus. From there to Maralal, where she befriends Elizabeth Muzungu, a Caucasian married to a Kikuyu. She explains some important details of the Samburu culture to Carola. Wwhen Lemalian meets with her, they walk together to his isolated tribe in Barsaloi.

Carola is welcomed by his people, she sells her shop in Switzerland and marries Lemalian, having a daughter with him. She also opens up a store. However, their differences of cultures force Carola to make an ultimate decision.

Nowhere in Africa

A love story spanning two continents, “Nowhere In Africa” is the true tale of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for a remote farm in Kenya.A Jewish family in Germany emigrate short before the Second World War.

They move to Kenya to start running a farm, but not all members of the family come to an arrangement with their new life. Shortly after their departure, things are changing in Germany very quickly, and a turning back seems impossible. So everyone has to arrange himself with the new life in a new continent.

 Nairobi Half Life

A movie made by Kenyans for Kenyans. A young, aspiring actor from upcountry Kenya dreams of becoming a success in the big city. In pursuit of this and to the chagrin of his brother and parents, he makes his way to Nairobi:the city of opportunity.

The First Grader

Set in a mountain village in Kenya the film tells the remarkable true and uplifting story of a proud old Mau Mau veteran who is determined to seize his last chance to learn to read and write – and so ends up joining a class alongside six year-olds. Together he and his young teacher face fierce resistance, but ultimately they win through – and also find a new way of overcoming the burdens of the colonial past.

Out of Africa

This is one of those rare movies that has something for everybody and is nearly perfect in many respects.OUT OF AFRICA is based on the memoirs of Danish writer Karen Blixen (pen name, Isak Dinesen) in a coffee plantation in present day Kenya.

It explains how this brave woman overcomes the stereotype of a dainty, colonial British lady by running the coffee farm while her husband Bror Blixen (Brandauer) led a life of hunting and infidelities.

Meryl Streep is great as Karen Blixen. She manages to maintain the realistic Danish accent through the whole film. Redford is great as Denys Finch-Hatton, the Etonian hunter who keeps companion in her loneliest and hardest. But the real attraction of the film is he outstanding photography of the African landscape.

The Constant Gardener

In a remote area of Northern Kenya, activist Tessa Quayle is found brutally murdered. Tessa’s companion, a doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Members of the British High Commission in Nairobi assume that Tessa’s widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle, will leave the matter to them.

They could not be more wrong. Haunted by remorse and jarred by rumors of his late wife’s infidelities, Quayle surprises everyone by embarking on a personal odyssey that will take him across three continents.

Using his privileged access to diplomatic secrets, he will risk his own life, stopping at nothing to uncover and expose the truth – a conspiracy more far-reaching and deadly than Quayle could ever have imagined.

Social Documentaries Set in Africa

Darwin’s nightmare.

A documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out the native species, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers.

The larger scope of the story explores the gun trade to Africa that takes place under the covers — Russian pilots fly guns into Africa, then fly fish back out to Europe. The hazards and consequences of this trade are explored, including the pan-African violence propagated by constant flow of weapons into the continent.

If it is a “survival of the fittest” world, as Darwin concluded, then the capitalist interests that fund the gun runners are climbing the evolutionary ladder on the backs of the Africans in this stark Darwinian example.

Much like the foreseeable extinction of the Lake Victoria perch, and death of Lake Victoria itself, the Africans are in grave jeopardy, even as they survive in the only ways they know how.

God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of Lost Boys of Sudan

In 1987, Sudan’s Muslim government pronounced death to all males in the Christian south: 27,000 boys fled to Ethiopia on foot. In 1991, they were forced to flee to Kenya; 12,000 survived to live in a U.N. camp in Kakuma. Archival footage documents the 1,000 mile flight; we see life in the camp.

We follow three young men who repatriate to the U.S. John Bul Dau goes to Syracuse, and by the film’s end, becomes a spokesperson for the Lost Boys and Lost Girls of Sudan; Daniel Abol Pach and Panther Bior go to Pittsburgh. All work several jobs, send money back to the camp, search for relatives lost in the civil war, acclimatize to the U.S., seek an education, and miss their homeland

The New Sudan

After 20 years of terror-filled nights, there is dawn in Southern Sudan. The people of the land peek out from the doorways of their huts. They ask each other, “Will the sun stay? Will there be morning tomorrow and the next day?” The long war is over. Southern Sudan becomes New Sudan.

Peace treaties are inked and enemies shake hands. But other wars still rage. The war of awakening hope against the habit of despair. The war of new alliances against decades of mistrust. The war of joyful homecoming against the lack of homes remaining. Above all, it is a war for the human heart against the heart of darkness.

We Come as Friends

WE COME AS FRIENDS is a modern odyssey, a dizzying, science fiction-like journey into the heart of Africa. At the moment when the Sudan, the continent’s biggest country, is being divided into two nations, an old “civilizing” pathology re-emerges – that of colonialism, the clash of empires, and new episodes of bloody (and holy) wars over land and resources.

The director of DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE takes us on this voyage in his tiny, self-made, tin and canvas flying machine. He leads us into most improbable locations and into people’s thoughts and dreams, in both stunning and heartbreaking ways.

Chinese oil workers, UN peacekeepers, Sudanese warlords, and American evangelists ironically weave common ground in this documentary, a complex, profound and humorous cinematic endeavor – a tale of very old and rather sinister verses.

In the forested depths of eastern Congo lies Virunga National Park, one of the most bio-diverse places in the world and home to the last of the mountain gorillas. In this wild, but enchanted environment, a small and embattled team of park rangers – including an ex-child soldier turned ranger, a carer of orphan gorillas and a Belgian conservationist – protect this UNESCO world heritage site from armed militia, poachers and the dark forces struggling to control Congo’s rich natural resources.

When the newly formed M23 rebel group declares war in May 2012, a new conflict threatens the lives and stability of everyone and everything they’ve worked so hard to protect.

‘The Square’ is an intimate observational documentary that tells the real story of the ongoing struggle of the Egyptian Revolution through the eyes of six very different protesters.

Starting in the tents of Tahrir in the days leading up to the fall of Mubarak, we follow our characters on a life-changing journey through the euphoria of victory into the uncertainties and dangers of the current ‘transitional period’ under military rule, where everything they fought for is now under threat or in balance

Half The Sky

Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, two sequences are shot in Africa, one in Kibera and the other in Somalia. 

In August 2009, Shining Hope for Communities founded The Kibera School for Girls, the first tuition-free school for girls in Kibera. By providing a superior education, daily nourishment, uniforms, and schools supplies all free of charge, they were able to give the brightest and most at-risk girls the power of hope and education.

Ross Kemp Extreme World and Piracy Series

Lagos, Nigeria – Ross kemp looks at the link between poverty and piracy in Lagos’s biggest slum Ajegunle:

Ross Kemp Extreme World: DR Congo

Ross Kemp flies to RWANDA to find out more about The Congo war, which has been fought for over a decade, and is the bloodiest conflict that has been fought since the 2nd world war.

Ross Kemp on Gangs: Kenya Special

In this 90-minute special, Ross Kemp travels to Kenya to investigate the Mungiki, an outfit labelled as the most dangerous “gang” in Africa.

Movies Set in West Africa

Not far from the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu, proud cattle herder Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed aka Pino) lives peacefully in the dunes with his wife Satima (Toulou Kiki), his daughter Toya (Layla Walet Mohamed), and Issan (Mehdi Ag Mohamed), their twelve-year-old shepherd.

In town, the people suffer, powerless, from the regime of terror imposed by the Jihadists determined to control their faith. Music, laughter, cigarettes, even soccer have been banned. The women have become shadows but resist with dignity.

Every day, the new improvised courts issue tragic and absurd sentences. Kidane and his family are being spared the chaos that prevails in Timbuktu. But their destiny changes abruptly

Caught in the middle of a brutal civil war, six Liberian missionaries in Monrovia flee the widespread violence of their native country. Their destination: Freetown, Sierra Leone. With the help of local church leader Phillip Abubakar (Henry Adofo), the missionaries make the difficult journey, only to have their troubles compounded by a rebel fighter bent on killing one of their own.

Based on true events, FREETOWN is a thrilling and inspiring story of hope and survival.

Tall as Baobab Tree

Coumba and her little sister Debo are the first to leave their family’s remote African village, where meals are prepared over open fires and water is drawn from wells, to attend school in the bustling city. But when an accident suddenly threatens their family’s survival, their father decides to sell 11-year-old Debo into an arranged marriage.

Torn between loyalty to her elders and her dreams for the future, Coumba hatches a secret plan to rescue her young sister from a fate she did not choose. A powerful voice from Africa’s young generation, Grand comme le Baobab (Tall as the Baobab Tree) poignantly depicts a family struggling to find its footing at the outer edge of the modern world… where questions of right and wrong are not always black and white.

Blood Diamond

The film opens in Sierra Leone, 1999 when Civil war rages for control of the diamond fields…According to devastating reports, these stones are being used with both rebels and government forces to purchase more weapons and finance civil war…A story following Archer, a man tortured by his roots.

With a strong survival instinct, he has made himself a key player in the business of conflict diamonds. Political unrest is rampant in Sierra Leone as people fight tooth for tooth. Upon meeting Solomon, and the beautiful Maddy, Archer’s life changes forever as he is given a chance to make peace with the war around him.

Dreams of Dust

A Nigerian peasant comes looking for work in Essakane, a dusty gold mine in Northeast Burkina Faso, where he hopes to forget the past that haunts him.

Other Movies Where the Action Happens in Africa

Where are you taking me.

Employing an observational style, this contemplative documentary reveals multifaceted portraits of Ugandans in both public and private spaces. The film travels through Uganda, roaming the vibrant streets of Kampala and the rural quiet of the North, to reveal a diverse society where global popular culture finds expression alongside enduring Ugandan traditions.

White Material

Denis revisits Africa, this time exploring a place rife with civil and racial conflict. A white French family outlawed in its home and attempting to save its coffee plantation connects with a black hero also embroiled in the tumult. All try to survive as their world rapidly crumbles around them

Desert Flower

The autobiography of a Somalian nomad circumcised at 3, sold in marriage at 13, fled from Africa a while later to become finally an American supermodel and is now at the age of 38, the UN spokeswoman against female genital mutilation.

African Proverbs Wildebeest Migration in Tazania  

The Good Lie

Four Sudanese children are orphaned after their village is massacred in the Second Sudanese Civil War. Consequently, they make an arduous and dangerous trek through the plains, enduring hardship, death and sacrifice all the way until they reach safety in a refugee camp in Ethiopia.

Years later, these youths are among 3600 selected for resettlement in America, only to have the one girl among them sent to Boston, while the three boys must to make a new life in Kansas City.

Together, these young men must adjust to an alien culture even as the emotional baggage of their past haunts them. However, these newcomers, and their new friends like employment counselor Carrie Davis, strive to understand each other in this new home, as they make peace with their histories in a challenge that will change all their lives.

Unfolds the poignant story of three women and their search for justice from the daily plight of sexual harassment in Egypt.

The Lost Number

An international action drama, The lost Number is the story of a redemption-seeking English woman going against all odds to save a remote slum in Africa.After going renegade on a Foray, Kathleen an English woman goes down south to Ngara Town.

Seeking redemption, Kathleen saves Ngara Town and becomes her new hero. But when Diwani (point man of the Foray) comes to Ngara to retrieve from Kathleen what belongs to the Foray, Kathleen must go against the odds to save Ngara from Diwani and a Foray striking for the very soul of Ngara Town.

Long Way Down

Actors and best friends Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman travel from John O’Groats, Scotland down to Cape Town, South Africa on motorcycles. They travel down through Europe and Africa, getting an up-close view of the local cultures. They also stop at various UNICEF projects to offer support and assistance to the children there.

Long Way Down is the feature cut of the second season of the road trip documentary featuring Ewan McGregor and his buddy Charlie Boorman on their motorcycle adventure from the Northern tip of Scotland, to the southern tip of Africa. Brushing up on the past adventure is not a requirement for getting your visa for this trip.

The film suffers mildly from the lack of build-up and planning for the trip, which would have added more of an introduction to the traveling company, but the ramping right into the adventure helps the pace of the 2+hr film.

As a whole the film works as an African postcard, a buddy road trip, and the greatest advertisement for adventure tourism ever made. It is impossible to watch this film and not have an immediate desire to skip the beaches of Hawaii for the far-reaches of the African wilderness.

The Last King of Scotland

In the early 1970s, Nicholas Garrigan, a young semi-idealistic Scottish doctor, comes to Uganda to assist in a rural hospital. Once there, he soon meets up with the new President, Idi Amin, who promises a golden age for the African nation.

Garrigan hits it off immediately with the rabid Scotland fan, who soon offers him a senior position in the national health department and becomes one of Amin’s closest advisers. However as the years pass, Garrigan cannot help but notice Amin’s increasingly erratic behaviour that grows beyond a legitimate fear of assassination into a murderous insanity that is driving Uganda into bloody ruin.

Realizing his dire situation with the lunatic leader unwilling to let him go home, Garrigan must make some crucial decisions that could mean his death if the despot finds out.

Gorillas in The Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey

The story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them. Based on Dian Fossey’s own autobiography, this true life story is inspiring and has helped these amazing animals in many ways by waking us up to their plight.

Originally Dian herself was helping to make the film, until she was murdered and the production team had to go back and start it all over again several years later in 1988.

Based on the real-life experiences of Mende Nazer,the story unfolds as twelve-year-old Malia,daughter of champion wrestler Bah,is abducted from her Sudanese village in the Nubar Mountains by pro-government Arab militia and sold into slavery to a woman in Khartoum,who beats her for touching her daughter.

After six years she is sent to London, where her name is changed, but her miserable life of servitude continues.

Her passport is taken and she is told that her father will die if she goes to the authorities. Fortunately she meets a sympathetic person who seems to offer her the hope of escape and reunion with Bah,back in Sudan. For all the film’s optimism an end title states that there are around 5,000 ‘slave’ workers currently in Britain.

The Last Lions

Fifty years ago there were close to half-a-million lions in Africa. Today there are around 20,000. To make matters worse, lions, unlike elephants, which are far more numerous, have virtually no protection under government mandate or through international accords.

This is the jumping-off point for a disturbing, well-researched and beautifully made cri de coeur from husband and wife team Dereck and Beverly Joubert, award-winning filmmakers from Botswana who have been Explorers-in-Residence at National Geographic for more than four years.

Pointing to poaching as a primary threat while noting the lion’s pride of place on the list for eco-tourists-an industry that brings in 200 billion dollars per year worldwide-the Jouberts build a solid case for both the moral duty we have to protect lions (as well as other threatened “big cats,” tigers among them) and the economic sense such protection would make.

And when one takes into account the fact that big cats are at the very top of the food chain-and that their elimination would wreak havoc on all species below them, causing a complete ecosystem collapse-the need takes on a supreme urgency.

Movie synopsis taken from imdb.com

About the Author: Nina Zara

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Fantastic list ! Thanks for sharing..

You are welcome, will be updating this list!

Lookong for a movie about an african stock fighter looking for revenge for the death of his daughter. Great movie woth all afrocan cast. 1970s I think

Super seznam. Hvala. Dodajam pa jih še nekaj: Capitan Phillips Tears of the sun Invictus Black Hawk Down Lion des Hommes The constant gardner Lord of the war Invictus Goodbye bfana

Hvala Matjaz, za dodatke, Bafana in gardener sta na listi, ampak se hitro kaj spregleda ob tako dolgi listi:) Lp, Nina Zara

Im looking for a movie from the 60s or 70s black and white about a man looking for a stick fighter who killed his daughter to gain power. English speaking i think. Title is a single african word

Comments are closed.

20 best African films – ranked!

As the UK’s leading African film festivals showcase the past decade’s classics online , we pick 20 great landmarks from the continent’s dazzling movie-making history

20. Borders (2017)

The film’s director, Apolline Traoré, was born in Burkina Faso and educated in the US before returning to the country of her birth and working with Idrissa Ouédraogo. Borders is her third feature, a road movie about four very different women travelling across beautifully evoked landscapes from Senegal to Nigeria, having melodramatic, shocking or comic episodes on the hot and dusty road.

19. The Nightingale’s Prayer (1959)

This is an extravagant revenge melodrama, or Beauty-and-the-Beast fable, from the Egyptian film-maker Henry Barakat, based on a novel by Taha Hussein. A young woman, Amna, witnesses the death of her sister at the hands of her uncle, who supposedly had no choice because she had “dishonoured” the family. Amna seeks out the man who led her sister astray, gets a job as a maid in his house and plots to kill him, but he falls in love with her, and perhaps also she with him.

18. Divine Carcass (1988)

Dominique Loreau’s fascinating docu-fictional feature Divine Carcass is something to compare with Terence Rattigan’s The Yellow Rolls-Royce . It is the story of a 1955 Peugeot, and all the people who come to own it in Cotonou, Benin. At first, it is the property of an overseas development worker, and then his cook, Joseph, who sneakily uses it for his unlicensed taxi service. After it has broken down for the last time, it is left by the side of the road where a sculptor refashions it into the form of a Voodoo god that presides over the population of a nearby village. A droll, mysterious meditation on the nature of colonialism.

17. Letter from My Village (1976)

A delicate, witty film that straddles fact and fiction, set in southern Senegal where the director, Safi Faye, grew up, with Faye in effect narrating by reading aloud a supposed letter about events in her home village. A terrible drought means the failure of the millet and groundnut (a restricted crop inherited from the colonial administration) and a young man called Ngor cannot afford to marry the woman he loves. To earn money, he has to journey to the capital, Dakar, where he is horribly exploited, and returns with a tale of woe.

16. The Wedding Party (2016)

Nollywood has become a cultural phenomenon and commercial cinema powerhouse in Africa, and Kemi Adetiba’s The Wedding Party is the most successful example: it became the highest-grossing international Nigerian film. It is a raucous comedy of upmarket aspirational yearnings set in Lagos, where a young gallery owner is about to marry her boyfriend, an IT entrepreneur, to the excitement of her parents who want to make it a sensationally lavish wedding. But the couple’s relationship is demurely old-fashioned. The bride has insisted they do not have sex until their wedding night, which cranks up the tension and mishaps.

15. Skoonheid (Beauty ) (2011)

A ferociously powerful, yet subtle and complex, performance from Deon Lotz is at the centre of Oliver Hermanus ’s uncompromising and shocking South African-set movie. He plays François, a middle-aged white Afrikaaner family man with a secret passion that he indulges with like-minded white guys. He is gay, has orgies that are presented with a strange, fierce joylessness, and is becoming fixated on his nephew. I have some misgivings about the film’s ending, a sexual assault that is of a recognisable arthouse type, and yet it is rare to see a rape scene where the victim is a man. The force and intensity of this film, and the way Hermanus controls the movie’s emotional weather, are impressive. Lotz gives the story a tragic dimension.

14. Of Good Report (2013)

Jahmil XT Qubeka’s cult classic from South Africa is a noir drama-thriller with weird fantasy outbreaks, concerning forbidden love, a troubled past and psychological breakdown. A shy, bookish student called Parker is hired to teach English in a high school. Although a person “of good report”, with a good reputation and references, he clearly has sexual designs on Nolitha (does the name hint at Lolita?), a teenage girl in his class. Their affair triggers a macabre spasm of sexual obsession and violence relating to Parker’s memories of military service in the Democratic Republic of Congo, apparently as part of a UN force.

13. Chronicle of the Years of Fire (1975)

This Algerian film, directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, is a resounding three-hour epic with lavish widescreen spectacle. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1975 (seeing off Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Michelangelo Antonioni’s The Passenger and Werner Herzog’s The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser). It is the story of the Algerian revolution from the second world war to the war of independence (the pre-history, perhaps, to the story told by Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 film The Battle of Algiers ). A poor farmer called Ahmad is drafted into the French army and returns determined to free Algeria from the French yoke. So his almost biblically epic story of resistance begins, a story of opposition to brutality and bad faith.

12. Yaaba (1989)

A simple, gentle tale from Idrissa Ouédraogo, which unfolds at the walking-pace tempo of classic African cinema; using non-professionals, its depiction of rural communities perhaps owes something to Satyajit Ray . Two kids in Burkina Faso are playing outside their village when they see Sana, an old woman who has been cast out, apparently for being a witch. They are suspicious of her, but she shows them a kindness that they are not used to and soon there is a bond between her and the children. They affectionately call her “Yaaba” (Grandma). All that is tested when one of the children falls ill and Sana gets the blame.

11. Yeelen (1987)

A magical quest narrative from the Malian film-maker Souleymane Cissé, it was a hit at the 1987 Cannes film festival, where it won the Jury prize. Set some time in the distant past (or perhaps the timeless present or mysterious future), it is the story of a father-son confrontation. A young man called Niankoro leaves the family home on a mission to find the spiritual enlightenment and strength he will need in the inevitable showdown with the father who deserted him and his mother. The movie begins with a shot of a sunrise on the distant horizon, which caused the film to be compared to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film is concerned with that mystical “yeelen”, or “brightness” that creates the world anew each morning.

10. The Season of Men (2000)

A lucid and compassionate film from the Tunisian writer-director Moufida Tlatli that allows its audience unhurried access to a powerful and deeply engaging family drama. It is the story of a woman and her two daughters, and the female community that nurtures and imprisons them on the Tunisian island of Djerba. Aicha is married to a businessman, who is away in Tunis, and must live on the island in a kind of purdah with all her husband’s sisters-in-law. He and the other menfolk come to live with them for one month a year – the “season of men”. Tlatli interleaves the past and present as naturally as the verses of a song, with a narrative mastery that she makes look easy.

9. The Battle of Algiers (1966)

This classic movie from Gillo Pontecorvo is an extraordinary recreation of the 1950s Algerian uprising against French imperial rule. As the bombing campaign begins in Algiers, with nail-bitingly tense sequences in crowded cafes, French army officer Colonel Mathieu is entrusted by the government with putting down the revolt, and he embarks on a ruthlessly targeted campaign of isolating terrorist cells, torturing them for the names further up the pyramid chain until the key figures at the top are obliterated. Mathieu crisply briefs his men: “The culprits are presumed to be Muslim, so they will be able to hide more easily in the Arab quarters.” Ironically, Mathieu’s experience in Vietnam and the French resistance appears to prefigure his own ultimate failure here.

8. Waiting for Happiness (2002)

This film from the Mauritanian writer-director Abderrahmane Sissako is beguiling in its gentleness. Its seaside setting of sand, perpetually audible surf and the plainest possible whitewashed buildings entirely without advertising or any sign of commerce gives it a fabular quality. The movie meanders gently from character to character in the town of Nouadhibou on Mauritania’s coast. Abdallah is a teenage boy who feels ill at ease in his homeland; he is heading for Europe for a new life, and that continent’s complex, dramatic pull is most keenly felt during a grainy flashback, showing a local woman who once travelled to France for a man’s sake, and felt only loneliness and alienation. As a film that declines to press its dramatic attentions, Waiting for Happiness needs an investment of patience, repaying it with a sweet and subtle portrait of an island community.

7. District 9 (2009)

“ET go home!” could be the poster tagline for this clever and prescient sci-fi satire about migrants and xenophobia, from South African film-maker Neill Blomkamp . In some future dystopian time, a spaceship containing aliens who have been expelled from their native planet hovers over a city. Caring, progressive politicians from Earth have allowed these weirdly shaped creatures (nicknamed “prawns”) to settle in an area outside the city, which becomes a lawless zone called District 9. Finally, the authorities decide to move them to an internment camp, but there is evidence that the prawns are still in contact with their hulking mothership, which is providing them with the means to rebel.

6. Atlantique (2019)

French-Senegalese actor-turned-director Mati Diop created a modern classic of poetic cinema in Atlantique, tapping into African cinema’s twin traditions of realism and fable with a compelling docu-supernatural enigma, a winter’s tale of a film with a dimension of strangeness unselfconsciously baked into the movie’s ostensible normality. Ada is a young woman in Dakar engaged to be married to the wealthy, obnoxious Omar, but she is in love with Souleiman, an exploited labourer who is thinking of making the dangerous migrant journey overseas. Ada, ironically, is on the verge of a far better life than any Souleiman can dream of – that of a rich married woman. Then something strange and unexpected happens. Souleiman’s behaviour is upsetting and mysterious, sending Ada a text asking her to meet in the middle of the night; is it real, or a sinister trap? Atlantique is about the return of the repressed, or the suppressed: the spirit of exploited labour rises up and this becomes a ghost story or a revenge story. It is a seductive mystery.

5. I Am Not a Witch (2017)

Zambian-born director Rungano Nyoni has created a film that is technically British, but sports with ideas and tropes that have long been present in African cinema: the innocence of the child and the pain of the ostracised outsider. She brings to it her own distinctive subversion and comedy, which makes I Am Not a Witch irresistible. (Nyoni was brought up in Wales, and it is interesting to wonder if her title had echoes of Connie Booth’s baffled proclamation of innocence during the witch-trial scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.) Shula is a Zambian orphan who is bizarrely accused by her townspeople of being a witch; she is exiled, but then brought under the wing of the unspeakable Mr Banda, a slippery public official who has a very strange side hustle. He runs a “witch camp” into which Shula is briskly enrolled: all her classmates are elderly women. Hogwarts it ain’t. But soon Shula is pressed into service, going on talkshows, helping the police with her magic powers and assisting the farming community by miraculously bringing rain to the region. It’s a lovely jeu d’ésprit .

4. Cairo Station (1958)

All human life is here: the phrase really does apply to Youssef Chahine ’s tragicomic masterpiece. Cairo Station is the venue for a blazingly passionate drama about Qinawi, a lame newspaper vendor, played by Chahine himself, and his unrequited desire for Hanuma, the Bardot-ish lemonade seller. Chahine conducts his big cast with uproarious energy, immediacy and freshness; he has tremendous stylised set pieces, including a railway-carriage rock’n’roll number performed by a group gloriously credited as Mike and his Skyrockets. As Qinawi’s love becomes more obsessive, the mood darkens and elements of Hitchcock and Powell creep in. Finally, Cairo Station virtually attains the air of a tragedy, observing classical unities of time and place. My favourite moment is the shot that Chahine contrives after Qinawi is convinced of the need for violent action: we immediately cut to an extraordinary selection of fearsome knives, big and small, hanging up in what appears to be an elaborate and preposterous outdoor knife shop. “Can I help you?” asks an assistant, directly to camera, clearly addressing the seething would-be assassin. It is a beautiful, deadpan, black comic touch.

3. La Noire de … (1966)

The Senegalese writer and director Ousmane Sembène is often described as the “father of African cinema” and this was his debut movie. A brief feature based on one of his own short stories, it is a tale of sexual politics and the cultural norms of empire. The film stars the Senegalese actor Mbissine Thérèse Diop as Diouana, a young woman from Dakar who comes to work as a nanny in the south of France, which turns out to be far from the leisured paradise she had hoped for. She is kept as a servant, never let out of the house and is sexually harassed by her employers and their guests. Her ordeal is intercut with her previous life in Senegal, which is hardly happy in comparison. Sembène’s film grasped the nature of empire and servitude: big themes coupled with a strong intimate storytelling style. Diop recently came out of retirement to play a community elder in Maïmouna Doucouré’s Cuties .

2. Touki Bouki (1973)

Two years ago, Beyoncé and Jay-Z did their bit to revive the memory of one of African cinema’s occult jewels , thought to be the first experimental film from Africa. Jay-Z posed on a motorbike with a big pair of zebu horns on the handlebars and Beyoncé sat behind him. It was a reference to a central image in Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki: the two glamorous scofflaws and rebels of Senegal on a bike – like Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg in in the 1960 version of Breathless or Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde. Mory and Anta are a young couple deeply disenchanted with their Senegalese homeland, who dream of escaping to Europe. They need money fast and the only way to get it is crime: stealing, fraud, prostitution or burglary. The movie ricochets and pinballs around from scene to scene and idea to idea, with a loose, rangy vitality, but when it comes to the crunch, it seems that only Anta has the passionate need to escape Senegal; Mory is weirdly constrained by ties of loyalty to the place, as if only Senegal will allow his machismo to flourish, although his motorbike comes symbolically to grief. The subversive energy of Touki Bouki made Mambéty a one-man African New Wave.

1. Abouna (2002)

Mahamet-Saleh Haroun, a film-maker from Chad, has been widely praised for features such as Daratt and his recent excellent A Season in France . But, for me, his great film is Abouna, a classic of African cinema: rich in understated humanity, a film about love and loss, imbued with profound tenderness towards children and childhood. It crams the extraordinarily dramatic events in the lives of two young boys into just 81 minutes, while always maintaining its unhurried narrative. It never harasses or hectors its audience; the performances are calm and deeply felt, and so is the way they are shaped and photographed. Two brothers, aged 15 and eight, are haunted by the disappearance of their father, who has deserted the family home. (We see this man only once, in a sequence at the film’s beginning, wandering across a wilderness.) In sad, but witty, sequences the film shows us the boys’ forlorn attempt to find their father (at the cinema, the younger boy is convinced he can see him on screen and shouts: “Dad it’s me!”). Their mother is not helpful when they ask what has become of their dad, replying only that he is “irresponsible”, a term that baffles them. Finally, the boys are sent away to religious school and one meets a girl, a late-flowering love story that deepens and complicates their own relationship as one boy is to leave the world of childhood much sooner than his lonely brother. There is such poignancy and tenderness in this film.

To buy the Guardian’s Black history wallcharts, visit the Guardian bookshop and use code 15CHART for a 50% discount

This article was amended on 2 October to correct the description of Nouadhibou as a “little village”.

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Safari Movies To Watch Before You Travel To Africa

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Since the genre has developed over the years, there are now a number of films that can recreate the magic of a safari in your living room.

See our selection of the most inspirational safari movies to watch below; the first portion of the list focuses on classic safari movies, and the latter section is devoted to movies. All are quite advisable and definitely worth watching!

I Dreamed Of Africa

Although it didn't merit any Oscars, this movie nonetheless managed to make me want to travel to Africa. The movie is based on the true story of an Italian woman, Kuki Gallman, who moved to Africa to manage a farm. similar to Under the Tuscan Sun but taking place in Africa.

The movie, which is based on Kuki's memoir I Dreamed of Africa, is both devastating and uplifting at various points. It's unquestionably one of the best movies about an African safari you can see before visiting.

The Lion King

It's difficult not to picture the Circle of Life moment from the opening of Disney's epic African adventure, The Lion King , when you think about safaris and large game.

Children and adults alike can't help but be motivated to book a safari vacation after watching Simba on screen, even though it features animation and talking lions instead of authentic natural scenes.

Gorillas In The Mist

Another movie based on Dian Fossey's true story is Gorillas in the Mist (played by Sigourney Weaver). In the movie, primatologist Dian Fossey is seen visiting the Congo to observe gorilla behavior.

Although she must battle poachers who kill her after years of working to save the mountain gorillas from extinction, she learns their language and gestures.

The African Queen

The African Queen is a classic story of adventure, romance, and daring escapades in the wilds of the jungle. It stars Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, two of the most well-known performers of the time.

It was one of the first movies to employ genuine locales and backgrounds, giving the plot an unmatched level of realism. It was shot in Uganda and the Congo.

Out Of Africa

Oh, Merryl Streep and Robert Redford, you two co-wrote and co-starred in a fantastic African safari film when you were young. A movie called Out of Africa, which takes place in colonial Africa, won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The movie chronicles Karen Blixen's life as she starts a coffee plantation in Africa.

Our film, which is based on the autobiographical book of the same name, illustrates Karen's tumultuous existence in Kenya and includes a side plot about a youthful love affair with Robbie Red. It is one of the movies on this list that depicts elements of an African safari.

Tarzan from Disney is the best safari film for kids to watch. Most of us are familiar with Tarzan's made-up tale. a baby human who was raised by gorillas in the deepest part of the Congo.

Although there are several movies about Tarzan, I believe Disney does the finest job of bringing it to life. Both adults and children will enjoy this tale, which is a feel-good safari film with killer music by Phil Collins. One of the best animated movies from disney according to Bingepost so this is one recommendation you can't miss.

George and Joy Adamson, a married couple, reside in northern Kenya due to George's employment as a senior game warden. The three tiny female pups of the man-eating lion and its lioness were left orphaned after George's crew had to kill them.

George and Joy wean and care for the three cubs, whom they adopt as pets, despite the initial difficulty. Born Free is a beloved movie about African safari life that features touching human-big cat interactions.

African Cats

This movie follows two families as they try to build a house in an unexplored area in one of the most isolated parts of the world. Stunning photographs will steal your breath away as you come face to face with these majestic rulers of the savanna and their real-life love, humor, and tenacity.

It's a heartwarming, exhilarating event that brings together family ties and the strength and majesty of the wild.

White Hunter, Black Heart

This drama, which stars Clint Eastwood in both the lead role and the director role, centers on a film director who is driven to distraction by a dangerous obsession. Based on Peter Viertel's 1953 novel about his relationship with director John Huston while making The African Queen in central Africa, "White Hunter, Black Heart" tells the story of that relationship.

Road To Zanzibar

Hope and Crosby play Fearless and Chuck, two American sideshow artists lost in the jungle, in the comedy-adventure movie Road to Zanzibar.

After their human cannonball act caused a fire that destroyed the circus, they became involved with a larcenous duo of Brooklyn performers (Dorothy Lamour and Una Merkel) who were eager to take their money from them. After being tricked into joining the ladies on a safari, Chuck and Fearless soon find themselves in the hands of barbaric tribesmen who force Fearless to engage in a wild wrestling match with a gorilla.

People Also Ask

Is safari based on a true story.

The Movie "Safari" is a real footage taken in 2016.

What Are Some Films About Africa?

• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - Malawi.
• Gorillas in the Mist - Rwanda.
• I Dreamed of Africa - Kenya.
• King Solomon's Mines - Zimbabwe.
• The Constant Gardener - Kenya.
• Born Free - Kenya.
• Out of Africa - Kenya.
• Jock of the Bushveld - South Africa.

What Should I Watch Before Safari?

• Out of Africa (1985)
• Gorillas in the Mist (1988)
• To Walk with Lions (1999)
• The Lion King (1994)

Are you eager to visit Africa? Safari movies have never received much attention, but they are excellent if you want to visit Africa soon because they provide you with a preview of what to expect there. Never forget to have fun with your loved ones and friends when getting ready for your subsequent safari.

About The Authors

Tara Weaver - I love Tanzania Wildlife Safaris. 🇹🇿 🦁

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10 Inspiring Africa Movies to Watch

At African Travel we love to connect to the places we love. One way for us to do this is through movies.

Get the popcorn and consider one of these 10 Inspiring Africa movies. Some are old favorites, some are documentaries, some will spur you into action.  Some will make you cry, and some will make you laugh.  Many will make you want to be in Africa right now.

Born Free When most people think of visiting Africa, they think of wildlife.  For a certain generation, Born Free was the film that sparked a desire to see Africa and a movement towards animal rights.  This classic, released in 1966 and based on the nonfiction book, it tells the story of Elsa, an orphaned lion cub in Kenya and of George and Joy Adamson, the couple who forged an emotional bond with her.  You can’t help but for fall for Elsa, whose story ignited a movement around the way we perceive relationships between humans and animals and whose tale pushed the door open wide towards animal conservation.

Out of Africa Another classic that fired people up to explore Kenya, Out of Africa is the story of Danish author Karen Blixen and her passionate love affair with a big game hunter.  Set during colonial time in colonial British East Africa, it doesn’t always show Blixen at her best, but the cinematography will satisfy the desire to escape into the wilds of a place most people only dream about.  

Queen of Katwe If you like a defying all odds kind of story, you’ll love Queen of Katwe . It’s the inspirational real-life story of Phiona Mutesi, a girl growing up in the slums of Uganda who helps her mother sell food in the market and care for her baby brother.  When she meets Robert Katende, a coach who teaches children to play chess, Phiona goes on to become one of the country’s best female chess champions.  The hardship she and her family face offer hefty dose of reality, but her success will win you over.

Searching for Sugarman The power of oral storytelling is revealed in the following the singer Rodriguez generated amongst fans who passed his music along by word of mouth.   Searching for Sugarman is the surprise hit documentary about South Africa’s greatest ‘70s rock icon who never was.  An American folk singer whose bootleg recording made it to a nation struggling through a dark period, Rodriguez’s song “I Wonder” became an anti-apartheid anthem.  The documentary follows two South Africans who came of age listening to him and their journey to find the singer whose sound captured a nation and who became a mythical legend because, despite his popularity, no one had ever seen him perform.  Chase the myth with them, by end you just might become a fan, too.

Virunga This Academy Award Oscar nominated film is the true story of the rangers risking their lives to save Africa's most precious national park and its endangered gorillas from war and damaging oil exploration activity within the UNESCO World Heritage site.   Virunga spotlights the brave people who have dedicated their lives to build a better future for themselves and the animals they protect in Virunga National Park, one of the most bio-diverse places on Earth.  If you’ve ever seen a mountain gorilla, or have a desire to see one, this film is a must.  It will restore your faith in humanity, it will break your heart, but it may also spur you to action.

BBC Planet Earth:  Africa We’ll be honest, we’d be happy to watch a continuous loop of BBC’s Planet Earth Africa on Netflix.  So, sit back and relax as the amazing cinematography and narration carries you away on a journey through five regions of this stunning and diverse continent.  From extraordinary wildlife to unexplored rainforests and mountain ranges, the wow factor doesn’t get much better than this armchair adventure!

The First Grader Another film based on a true story, The First Grader is about a Kenyan farmer and former Mau Mau tribesman Kimani Maruge who enrolled in elementary school at the age of 84 when the country introduced universal education in 2003.  Despite opposition to admitting him into a classroom of six-year-olds, his determination finds him an ally in one teacher.  It’s the story about the power of education, perseverance and the will to learn no matter one’s age.  We hope this hero’s journey inspires you.

The Ivory Game Another Netflix original series, The Ivory Game is about the team of front-line rangers and undercover operatives who embark on dangerous missions to expose and disrupt the dark world of ivory trafficking.  From fighting poachers in Africa to exposing illegal ivory shops in China, the team risks their lives to save our elephants from those in pursuit of “white gold.”  If you support wildlife conservation, it will inspire you into action.

Our Planet It would be wrong of us to tell you to focus on just one episode of Our Planet, but we are partial to the ones that shine a light on Africa and features the wild dogs of the Serengeti.  The wonderous beauty of our planet is revealed in breathtaking cinematography and guided by Sir David Attenborough who explains how we can take charge of our future from the climate change that impacts all living creatures.  

Black Panther We couldn’t help ourselves with this one!  Whether you’re seeing it for the first time or enjoying it the second, third for fourth time around, Black Panther is just what we need right now.  This Marvel classic tells the story of T’Challa, who returns to his family’s kingdom home of fictional Wakanda, an African nation under threat from a rival warlord. In our hero’s battle against evil and his fight to reclaim his throne, this action movie challenges us to think about class structure, racism and our humanity and it also highlights African culture and traditions.  By the end of the film you’ll swear Wakanda is a real place and that’s a good thing.   Wakanda Forever!

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Previous Names: Savoy Cinema, ABC, Cannon

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Located in West Croydon, Surrey, today part of south Greater London. Opened on March 9, 1936 with Sylvia Sydney in “Mary Burns, Fugitive” and Henry Hall & His Band in “Music Hath Charms”, plus Laurel & Hardy in “Thicker Than Water”. The Savoy Cinema was designed by William R. Glen, the in-house architect for Associated British Cinemas(ABC). It was sited a fair distance outside the town centre. Lighting in the large spacious auditorium was entirely indirect, mainly from troughs on the ceiling.

On March 31, 1953 an electrical fault resulted in a fire which totally destroyed the auditorium. Post-war building restrictions were still in force and the repaired Savoy Cinema reopened with a utilitarian appearance on December 27, 1953.

In July 1958, it closed to allow a more extensive reconstruction to take place. When it reopened as the ABC on 19th October 1958, it held 2,118 and had been lavishly appointed. Live pop shows came to the ABC in the early-1960’s, with artistes such as Billy Fury, Cliff Richard, The Beatles, Gene Pitney and the Everly Brothers appearing.

Tripling caused the next closure - from May to November 1972. The rear circle became 650-seat screen 1 with the stalls split into screen 2 (390 seats) and 3 (187 seats). All had bland unadorned décor.

Re-named Cannon in 1986 and Safari Cinema in the late-1990’s a small 4th screen was created in the lower part of the building. The Safari Cinema closed in 2004 and was torn down in stages between March 2005 and April 2007.

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I think it may have lost. Closed and rumoured to be awaiting demolition as we go into 2004.

The former Savoy Cinema is being demolished late March/early April 2005. The site is earmarked for residential use.

From what I have been told only the adjacent shop units have been demolished. The cinema building still remains in April 2006, awating its final ‘death’.

still standing but only just – great bites taken out of the Eastern side! Sept.2006 For some very good pictures of the interior – Safari-time – go to the Local Studies at Croydon Library filed under “London Road” plus huge queues for the opening night. Benrayner

The remains of the building were finally demolished in April 2007

oh safari cinema…the 50p days to watch a movie and now it is just flat land waiting to be built most probably into flats…and the music shop next door got the taste of the bulldozer too :(

Photo still operating as the Safari in 2001:–

SAFARI CINEMA

Aerial view taken from 9th Floor of Zodiac Court in 1967. Colour exterior shows cinema being prepared for demolition.

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Louisville Zoo

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Cinema Safari: The Super Mario Bros. Movie

August 9, 2024 @ 8:00 pm - 11:30 pm.

Gate opens at 8 p.m. Movie starts at sundown

“Let’s a go!” Power up and SHELL-abrate your favorite video game heroes as they go on a SUPER awesome adventure. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is an animated film based on the beloved video game franchise. The movie follows two brothers, Mario and Luigi, after they fall into a magical world and have to help stop a battle for control of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Special character meet and greet beginning at 8 p.m. until film begins.

Catch a $5 Flick at the Zoo (free for Louisville Zoo Members). Tickets must be purchased at the gate. Guests enter from 8 – 9 p.m.

Cinema Safari returns this summer to your Louisville Zoo! Enjoy a movie under the stars at the wildest theater in town. Join us in the Oasis Field at sundown to watch your favorite family-friendly movies on our giant inflatable screen. Snacks and other refreshments will be available for purchase. Don’t forget to pack your blanket or lawn chairs!

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Surrender Cinema has been steaming screens for 20 years with its unique brand of adult entertainment that fuses soft-core erotica with science fiction and comedy. 

Harrow Safari Cinema

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Watch CBS News

Bay Area film producer, theater owner honored at S.F. Film Festival

By Loureen Ayyoub

Updated on: April 26, 2024 / 9:57 PM PDT / CBS San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO -- For Gary Meyer, the movie theater is a sacred space. The Bay Area film producer who co-founded the Landmark Theatres cinema chain sees local theaters as more than just a place to catch a new film but as a meaningful bridge between community and storytellers. 

Set to receive the prestigious Mel Novikoff Award at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival, Meyer contemplates the significance of the theater experience in an era marked by post-pandemic economic challenges and digital streaming dominance.

"I think that most filmmakers, at least those who are working with big-screen films, they want to see it projected on that screen with an audience reaction," Meyer said as he stopped by the historic Presidio Theatre in San Francisco's Marina District. "They don't get to experience an audience reaction if it's streaming in people's homes."

According to Jessie Fairbanks, the SFIFF director of programming, the heart of the event is fostering an immersive audience experience.

"I think, when the city is continuing to go through some very interesting times right now, being able to return to an event that is known and beloved, that is trusted for its presentation of independent and international stories and cinema, is something that is very welcomed by the community and our audiences," Fairbanks said.

While the nostalgic aroma of popcorn keeps movie lovers hooked, the post-pandemic landscape has left theaters reeling from significant revenue losses. The Motion Picture Association reports a staggering 72 percent decline in global box office revenue in 2020, compounded by a shift towards digital streaming.

To navigate this new terrain, Meyer emphasizes the need for filmmakers to embrace innovation and prioritize showmanship to draw audiences back to theaters.

"Now it's going to be about showmanship and about presentation. To get people coming into the theaters, you have to have a film they want to see, a way of letting them know it's playing there and make sure that when they come to see it in your theater, they have a great experience," Meyer explained.

For theater chain owner Frank Lee, he says adapting programming to suit evolving tastes and demographics is crucial in a post-pandemic world. 

"The programming of correct films, it is very important. Taste has changed, the neighborhood has changed, post-COVID," Lee said.

Still, despite challenges and changes, Meyer believes in the enduring allure of the communal cinematic experience.

"On the big screen, with great sound, laughing and crying and cheering with an audience, you don't get that at home."

The 67th annual San Francisco International Film Festival will continue into the weekend, with screenings throughout the Bay Area.

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