The Best of Sub-Saharan Africa from Above

Former DVOW Winner and 2023 DVOY nominee davetke2002 brings us this compilation of drone video clips taken over the course of a two year period working in Sub-Saharan Africa.  The video opens with shots of Victoria Falls, on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.  Then you'll see safari animals in Botswana, a landlocked country just south of the falls.  At the 1:42 mark, you'll head to the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius.  Starting at 2:38, you'll see a number of spots in Namibia, before winding up in Cape Town, South Africa.  

Drone pilot Face du Monde brings us this magnificent video production from the West African country of Gabon. This video uses drone footage to pay tribute to the American environmental scientist J. Michael Fay and the Spanish-born National Geographic "explorer in residence" Eric Sala, who spent extensive time exploring Gabon's fragile eco-systems and were credited with helping this stunningly bio-diverse country establish its national park system as well as its extensive system of oceanic reserves. This video earned a nomination for the landscape category at the NYCDFF.

Top contributor and drone pilot ZilverSchmitz spent 100 days traveling around southern Africa.  This DVOW winning video of his trip is astounding, featuring dozens of shots from seven different countries. Watch it for magnificent aerial views from across this rapidly-modernizing region, which is home to teeming cities as well as some of the world's most spectacular natural scenery.  Featured sites range from the South African city of Durban to the Maputo–Katembe bridge in Mozambique to the savannas of Kenya.

Top content creator and pilot David Divisual spent three months traveling the Dark Continent with a DJI Phantom 3 drone.  His journey took him over thousands of km/mi of the countryside of Sub-Saharan Africa, visiting South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Tanzania, and Zambia. The video he created from his trip contains some truly epic aerial footage of the most amazing landscapes and wildlife that southern Africa has to offer, from mountains, to oceans, to sand dunes, safari animals, and much more! 

Top contributor Merr Watson travels the world making videos of her adventures, which combine drone and ground camera footage.  In this video, you'll be able to vicariously accompany her on a trip to southern Africa.  Enjoy incredible drone views of Victoria Falls on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia (one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World), gorgeous Cape Town (frequently considered to be the world's most beautiful city), and other nearby surroundings along the southern coast of South Africa. 

Award-winning content creator Sandrine Hecq brings us this fantastic drone video tour of a lodge in the heart of Africa's safari country.  The Hideaways Mogotlho Safari Lodge is located on the Khwai River in Mababe, Botswana.  It's situated in a region of national parks and preserves in the northern part of the country, not far from the country's northern border with Angola.  Featuring luxurious tented camps, the lodge offers environmentally friendly access to diverse safari wildlife ranging from hippo's and giraffes to lions and zebras.  

Former Drone Video of the Month Winner and Drone Video Award Finalist Ghadir Shaar returns to AirVuz after a two year hiatus with this fantastic video from the African country of Namibia.  The title of the video refers to the 22nd parallel (south), which roughly bisects the country and at its eastern end serves as the border between Namibia and Botswana.  Some of the featured locations include the vast Namib Desert, one of the world's driest; the Namibian coastline along the Atlantic Ocean, and the spectacular Fish River Canyon.  

Top AirVuz contributor Soaring Heights Imagery created this stunning piece from South Africa, which was selected as a DVOW finalist in July 2020.  Shot from across what many to be the world's most beautiful country, the video highlights some of its most spectacular scenery.  Opening with some epic shots of the mountains which form the Great Escarpment, the video then cuts to some great shots of the country's coastline.  Other highlights include some great waterfall shots, aerials of some gigantic mines, downtown Johannesburg and more. 

Behold this magnificent aerial tour of Kenya, compliments of top contributor iDrone Aerials.  He was able to fly a drone over some of the top spots for seeing safari animals in this African nation: Masai Mara National Park on the Serengeti, Lake Nakuru National Park in the Rift Valley, Lake Naivashi, and the Amboseli National Park.  Watch it and you will see some incredible views of hippo's, zebras, elephants, giraffes, buffalo, lions, and more. This video was nominated for Drone Video of the Week.

Contributor Sandrine Hecq, who hails from Australia, travels the world making videos of her adventures.  In this video, she shows us the beautiful sub-Saharan African nation of Zimbabwe, where she spent seven days.  Using a combination of footage from a DJI Phantom 4 drone and ground camera footage, she gives us the highlights of her trip, mostly from a bird's eye perspective.  Join her as she pursues what this amazing country has to offer, including bungee jumping, cage diving, and waterfalls.

Luanda is the capital of the southwestern African nation of Angola. The port city was founded in 1575 by Portuguese explorer Paulo Dias de Novais.  Situated on the northern part of Angola's Atlantic coastline, Luanda is considered the largest Portuguese-speaking city in the world.  Pilot ArturCarvalho brings us Luanda at dusk by DJI Mavic 2 Pro in this stunning high-definition video of the city, the center of a metropolitan area of about 8 million.  This video was selected as the winner of the Drone Video of the Week award in June of 2019.

Top contributor Fabio Knoll created this masterpiece of a drone video of the mighty Victoria Falls in southern Africa.  These Falls lie on the Zambezi River, Africa's fourth longest, more or less at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.  It has a total drop of 108 meters (355 ft.) and is an incredible 1.7k meters (5.6k ft.) wide, making it the largest waterfall in the world in terms of the area of its water curtain.  This UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the top tourist attractions in southern Africa.  

Madagascar is an Indian Ocean island nation off the coast of East Africa.  The country consists of the main island plus many small islands.  The main island of Madagascar is enormous; covering 587k square km (227k square mi) it is the fourth largest island in the world by land area.  Once part of the French Empire, it's been independent since 1960.  Contributor Zerodrone created this spectacular aerial tour of the island, which includes bird's eye views of the capital city Tana and the beach of Anakao.

Airuz contributor Luke Maximo Bell is one of the top drone pilots and aerial videographers in South Africa.  In this film, which was chosen as a finalist for the Drone Video of the Week contest in April, 2018, he has put together some of his very best aerial footage of Cape Town, the great city on the cape that separates the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  The video, which features footage from the city as well as the surrounding mountains, advances the common claim for Cape Town being the world's most beautiful city.  

Here's an amazing drone video from the small African nation of Malawi, compliments of contributor and pilot MochaMoments.  This landlocked country has borders with Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia.  About a third of the area of Malawi is taken up by Lake Malawi, which is part of the chain known as the African Great Lakes.  The world's fourth largest freshwater lake, it's featured prominently in the video.  Despite its physical beauty, Malawi is one of the world's poorest countries.  

Get an aerial tour of the West African republic of Liberia in this fantastic drone video.  The first modern African country to declare its independence, Liberia plunged into a bloody civil war in 1990, which was followed by a period during which it was regarded as a pariah state under the dictatorship of Charles Taylor.  At peace since 2003, the country's natural beauty is now appealing to international tourists.  The video will give you glimpses of the country's hilly interior as well as coastal spots like the capital city Monrovia.  

Zanzibar is a tropical Indian Ocean island archipelago consisting of two main islands and many small islets.  It is part of the nation of the Tanzania, although it has semi-autonomous status.  Content creator and pilot Al used a DJI Mavic Pro drone to capture the sights of Zanzibar from an aerial perspective.  Prepare to be amazed by the bird's eye views of this magical tropical island paradise just a few km/mi off the coast of mainland Africa, which has been inhabited by humans for 20,000 years.

Courtesy of SJetMan, here's a rare drone's-eye view of one of the largest and most important countries of Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Formerly known as Zaire, it's the largest Sub-Saharan country by land area and the fourth-most populous on the continent.  The DRC was a Belgian colony from 1908 to 1960.  It plunged into internal strife in the late 1990's sparked by chaos in neighboring Rwanda; by some measures, its two-decade civil was has been the world's bloodiest since World War II.  

For over a century, mountain climbers around the world have flocked to the great volcanic peak of Mt. Kilmanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain.  Part of a national park in Tanzania, the great mountain rises to a peak elevation nearly 6km (almost 4 miles) above sea level, an altitude which does not require oxygen to scale.  In this video, top contributor Scientik used a DJI Phantom drone to chronicle an epic hike/climb to the top of this mighty peak, famously described by novelist Ernest Hemingway.

Professional drone piloting company GlobalAirMedia was created this amazing drone video of Nigeria's Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in the state of Akwa Ibom, in the southern part of Africa's most populous country.  Built in 2004, the stadium seats about 30k fans.  It's home to a professional football (American soccer) team, and is also used for various cultural and recreational events.  The modern complex was designed to be similar to Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, one of Europe's top football stadiums.

For a first upload to AirVuz, brand-new contributor F.Kokfootage brings us this magnificent drone video from southern Africa.  The video features footage from South Africa as well as Namibia, South Africa's northwestern neighbor which broke away from the larger country in 1960.  Its title, "Some of God's Paintings" evokes the intense natural beauty of the region.  Some of the highlights include the Table Mountain area around Cape Town, South Africa as well as the vast Namib Desert, which runs along Namibia's western coast.

Lesotho is one of the smallest countries in Africa.  Fully surrounded by South Africa, it's the only enclaved country outside of Italy.  Lesotho has a population of about two million, and it covers about 30k square km (around 11.5k square mi.).  Lesotho was formerly known Basutoland, which was a British crown colony until 1966.  You can see this small but beautiful country in this video by contributor Videography_CT, who created it using a combination of drone (DJI Phantom 3) and ground camera footage. 

Contributor and pilot Elevated Perspectives International created this magnificent drone video of the Okavango Delta in the southern African country of Botswana.  It's a most unusual type of delta, as there is no outlet to the sea in this landlocked country.  Rather, because of the unique geology of the area, the waters of the Okavango River simply evaporate and disappear here.  The eastern part of the delta is the Moremi Game Reserve.  The entire delta area has been named one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.  

Contributor and pilot Yassin Skartt created this amazing drone video of Nyiragongo Volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of the most spectacular natural sites in the region of Sub-Saharan Africa.  It's in the Virunga Mountains, just west of the country's border with Rwanda.  With an altitude of about 3.5k meters (around 11.4k ft.) above seal level, the mountain is home to a lava lake which varies in depth but which at times is the largest such lake in the world as measured by volume.  

Explore the southwest African nation of Angola by drone in this excellent piece by contributor davetke2002.  The video opens with a footage of Luanda, the Angolan capital and the center of one of the largest metropolitan areas of Sub-Saharan Africa.  Then you'll head to the Valley of the Moon, an area of unique rock structures about an hour outside of Luanda.  After that, it's on to Cabo Ledo, a stretch of coastline a bit south of Luanda.  Other featured locations include the Black Rocks at Pungo Andongo, the Cuanza River, and more. 

Top contributor ArturCarvalho earned his fifth Drone Video of the Week Finalist spot with this tremendous video of the African island of São Tomé.  It's one of the two main islands of the nation of São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea, about 250 km (around 150 mi.) west of the mainland country of Gabon.  A popular eco-tourism destination, São Tomé offers fantastic beaches, jungle exploration, snorkeling, fishing, and more.  A former Portuguese colony, São Tomé once played an important role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.  

Check out this stunning drone video from Angola, compliments of top contributor and pilot ArturCarvalho.  It was shot in a bay created by the Mussulo Peninsula, a sand spit that is about 30 km long (around 18 miles).  It's located just to the southwest of the national capital Luanda.  Shot with a DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone, the video shows off the almost surreal beauty of this part of the coast of southwestern Africa.  The proverbial "icing on the cake" is the footage of the flamingoes which inhabit the area.  

Check out this beautiful aerial video of an island off the coast of Mozambique in southeastern Africa, compliments of contributor and drone pilot Sublime Film.  Benguerra Island is one of the main members of the Bazaruto Archipelago, a group of islands which lies near the middle of the country's long eastern coastline on the Indian Ocean.  The island is well known for its pristine white sand beaches, as well as its scuba diving and horseback riding.  The video was created using a DJI Inspire 2 drone.  

The mid-sized African country of Botswana has some of the largest populations of safari animals.  Many of these animals live on large game preserves and in national parks which dot the landlocked country in the southern part of the continent.  Perhaps the most important of these is Chobe National Park, the first national park in the country and now its third largest.  In this video, content creator and drone pilot FreD ...///... does a phenomenal job of filming a herd of zebras in the great park. 

Contributor africabees created this remarkable aerial collage of four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Malawi, is a land-locked country in the southeastern part of the continent; roughly a third of its area is taken up by Lake Malawi.  Sierra Leone, recently returned to peace, is a nation which sits near the southwestern extreme of West Africa.  Uganda is another landlocked country, located in east-central Africa.  The last, Swaziland, is also landlocked and sits to the south of Malawi.  

Although it is less than a minute in length, this piece by contributor and drone pilot Ty Poland brings you over a dozen aerial views of some of the safari animals in Tanzinia. The east African country is known for its seemingly endless wilderness areas (particularly the vast Serengeti grasslands) and is a home to thousands upon thousands of what are known as the "big five" safari animal species - elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards, and buffalo. We'd call this video an adventure to remember for Ty and his crew. 

Top contributor Face du Monde was a winner at the first annual Drone Video Awards; "This is Yunnan" was the winner in the "People" category. In this video, he has created another masterpiece with a look at the Sub-Saharan African nation of Ethiopia. Combining aerial and ground camera footage, the video does a phenomenal job of showing both the people and natural landscapes of this country, Africa's second most populous country and believed to be the birthplace of modern humans. This video was a DVOW nominee in August, 2019.

Check out this DVOW nominated video from the great country of Ethiopia in Sub-Saharan Africa, compliments of top contributor haussmannvisuals. The video was filmed at the Danakil Depression, a geological structure formed by the convergence of three major tectonic plates. It's part of the Great Rift Valley, one of the principal geographic features of East Africa.  Located in the northeastern Afar region near the border with Ethiopia, the floor of the Danakil is below sea level and is known as one of the hottest places on Earth.  

Lake Assal is one of the natural wonders of Africa.  It's a saline lake in Djibouti, one of the countries on the "horn" of East Africa.  Seen in this drone video by Papa Drone, the lake is situated at the northern end of the Great Rift Valley.  Assal lies about 150 meters (around 500 ft.) below sea level, the lowest point in Africa and the lowest in the world outside of Israel.  Covering a surface area of about 54 square km (around 20 square mi.) and with salinity levels roughly 10x that of the ocean, it's one of the world's largest salt reserves.

Contributor Onefotos created this fascinating aerial view from the city of Accra, capital of the West African country of Ghana.  The area shown is called Jamestown, a port district which is the historical heart of the city.  Accra was a town of only modest importance until the late 19th century, when it became the capital of the British colony known as the Gold Coast.   Situated on the giant Atlantic Ocean inlet called the Gulf of Guinea, it's the center of a metropolitan area of over two million, one of the largest in West Africa.  

Check out this spectacular drone video from some of the highest mountains in Africa, compliments of contributor Global Air Media.  The Simien Mountains form part of the highlands of northern Ethiopia.  They were formed by a highly unusual geological process shared by only one other mountain range (the Drakensberg in South Africa).  The highest of the Simiens is Ras Deshen; with a peak elevation of 4.6k meters (about 14.5k ft.), it's Ethiopia's highest and one of the tallest on the continent.  

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the world's largest church is the structure you'll see in this excellent drone video by AirVuz contributor Alexparfix: the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in the West African nation of the Ivory Coast.  It's located in the city of Yamoussoukro, the de jure national capital, near the center of the country.  Completed in 1989 and inspired by the Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican City, the church covers an incredible 320k square ft. (30 k square m) and reaches a height of 518 ft. (158 m).    

Former Drone Video of the Week Finalist LeHublot brings us this rather stunning drone video from the African nation of Gabon.  The video was filmed in on and around the Santa Clara Peninsula, which forms the northern side of the Gabon Estuary and on which the capital city of Libreville sits.  This is part of the Estuaire, one of the nine provinces of Gabon, which occupies the northern part of its western coastline along the Gulf of Guinea and runs up to the country's northern border with Equatorial Guinea. 

Contributor Specsphoto created this magnificent aerial video of Boti Falls, a twin waterfall just outside of Koforidua in southeastern Ghana.  Described as male and female by the locals, the twin waterfalls come together during the floods of the rainy season. Locals call it a 'mating ceremoy' when this happens and the falling water forms a rainbow near the base of the falls. This video showcases the tranquility of the falls with its natural sounds and beautiful views, not far from the Gulf of Guinea.

Award-winning contributor and drone pilot Mike Bishop was supported by DJI to make this incredible film of wildlife in Namibia in southern Africa.  Shot on the Erindi game reserve, it features elephants, lions, cheetahs, hyenas, ostriches, crocodiles, other exotic animals only found in Africa.  Chosen as a winner of the AirVuz Drone Video of the Week and Drone Video of the Month, it went on to win the Drones for Good category in the second annual Drone Video Awards and was named the Drone Video of the Year.

Check out this drone video of the tiny African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, compliments of ArturCarvalho.  This former Portuguese colony consists of two main islands, the larger of which (São Tomé) lies about 140 km (90 mi) off the coast of Gabon in the Atlantic Ocean.  The islands are part of a line of volcanoes which extends northeast to the mainland of Africa.  Once a vital cog in the worldwide slave trade, STP won its independence from Portugal in 1975 and is Africa's second-smallest country.  

AirVuz contributor davetke2002 brings us this excellent drone video from a well-known waterfall in Sub-Saharan Africa.  It's called Maletsunyane Falls, and it's located in the tiny landlocked country of Lesotho.  The horsetail-type falls sits on the Maletsunyane River.  With a height of 630 ft. (190 m), the plunging water creates a distinctive-sounding roar in the canyon at its base.  In 2017, an Australian team shot a basketball from the top of the falls, which was later certified as the world's highest as a Guinness Record.  

Prepare to be amazed by this stunning drone video from Namibia, compliments of contributor davetke2002.  Starting at the :16 mark, you'll see the Sossusvlei, a giant salt pan at the southern end of the Namib Desert.  At the 1:00 mark, you'll see the nearby Sossusvlei, a white clay pan which is home to some of the world's highest sand dunes.  At 1:45, you'll fly past the Spitzkoppe, a mountain which is sometimes called the Matterhorn of Namibia, and at 2:40 you'll see Walvis Bay.  Interspersed are some magnificent safari animal shots.   

Top AirVuz contributor and first person view (FPV) drone pilot 2RAW Aerials spent three weeks filming this fantastic video of Tanzania's Serengeti National Park, one of the natural treasures of Sub-Saharan Africa.  The video was put together in collaboration with the park rangers, who closely supervised the filming to ensure the safety and welfare of the many forms of animal wildlife shown in the piece.  This video was picked as a Finalist for the Drone Video of the Week and also earned a spot on the FPV Pilots to Watch list.  

Top content creator and pilot Scientik built his own drone to create this video of the amazing Aruu Falls in Uganda, in the heart of Sub-Saharan Africa.  The falls are situated in the northern part of this landlocked country, not far from the border with neighboring Sudan.  Uganda is far less well known than some of its neighbors, namely Kenya, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  As you'll see from the video, it has beauty which is fully the equal of other countries in the region.