We round up our favourite African safari camp openings for wildlife viewing with all the bells and whistles
By Condé Nast Traveller
434343
An African safari is one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that every traveller should have. To be among some of the world's most captivating wildlife and untouched landscapes on the planet, just a few feet away from leopards lounging on trees or gazelles gallivanting across the Lower Zambezi, is a feeling far unmatched by a cityscape. And with a host of new African safari camps, there isn't a better time to venture into the wilderness than now…
These are the biggest safari openings for 2025
Photo: Chris Schalkx
Bisate Reserve
Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
Ever since Dian Fossey highlighted the plight of the endangered mountain gorilla, demand to see this precious primate has soared among the sort of bucket listers who need ultra-salubrious digs for the trip. Enter stage left Bisate Reserve by safari specialist Wilderness, whose four new villas are now Rwanda’s grandest wildlife lodge. Set on 104 acres at the peak of a crater, with views of Volcanoes National Park, this überlodge opened last autumn as a much-needed extension to Wilderness’s impossible-to-get-into Bisate camp. Acclaimed architect Nick Plewman designed the villas, which are constructed from volcanic rock, handmade bricks and local wood and are surrounded by 100,000 indigenous trees. From the outside, they resemble elongated “nests” with plastic faux-thatch roofing. Each villa is a whopping 2,282 square feet and, inside, the spaces are more like architectural bush houses than suites, with contemporary African interiors: parquet floors, wood and reed-and-bamboo-woven ceilings and an undulating living room with spectacular views of the Virunga Massif’s several volcanoes spanning Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The dinner menu changes daily and might feature smoky beef or Lake Kivu fish with steamed beans, cassava gnocchi and local vegetables. Guests – from families to honeymooners and retirees – don’t just come for the wildlife, but also the good life: gorilla viewings in the morning, massages in the afternoon, soaking in a tub with a glass of fine wine, and curling up by the fire with a book. The 12 habituated gorilla families may be the main draw, but Bisate Reserve is undoubtedly a destination in its own right. Lisa Grainger
Website: wildernessdestinations.com
Price: From about £2,475 per person, full board with on-site activities
Photo: Irene Galera
Camp Imbalanga
Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Republic of the Congo
For years, mountain gorillas have stolen the limelight, but now their lower-altitude cousins are stepping out of the shadows. Historically awkward and expensive to reach, Odzala-Kokoua National Park – named a Unesco World Heritage site in 2023 – is one of the best places to see lowland gorillas, and access is now much easier following the opening of a new camp by NGO African Parks. Wrapped by the dense emerald vegetation of Africa’s largest rainforest, four net-and-canvas tents decorated with kitenge fabrics sit on elevated platforms. Rooms are simple but it’s what’s on the immediate doorstep that counts. Waking up in the Congo Basin – a place so wild it generates its own weather system – is otherworldly; whooping screeches from wild chimpanzees flood the canopy and every rustle of leaves could be a passing forest elephant. A nearby hide overlooks a fertile bai (open swampland) where sitatunga graze and lowland gorillas come to “root mine”. Other activities include forest walks searching for rare bongo antelopes, or riverboat rides encountering bathing buffaloes or goliath herons swooping overhead. The tiny details, such as listening to the hammering of headbutting termites, are just as impressive. Eco-guides and housekeeping staff have been recruited from the local community, part of a plan to improve livelihoods for future custodians of the park. Next year a troop of habituated lowland gorillas should be ready for -tracking, making this one of the most exciting wilderness escapes too few travellers know about. Sarah Marshall
Website: ukuri.travel
Price: From about £318 per person, full board
Photo: Natural Selection
Tawana
Okavango Delta, Botswana
For centuries the chiefs of the Batawana tribe have jealously guarded this corner of the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, one of the world’s last undefiled wildernesses. But in 2024 Chief Tawana Moremi opened the door just a crack to let safari specialist Natural Selection build one of the smartest new lodges in the region. Lucky guests have access to 130 acres of unfenced land that teems with such a high concentrations of year-round wildlife (cheetahs and leopards included) that my binoculars remained untouched. For an added fee there are scenic helicopter flights over the delta’s silver-ribbon rivers. The lodge’s main area comprises an open, elevated dining terrace and living space that commands sweeping vistas of the grassy Gomoti River floodplain, a 180-degree stage for grazing warthogs, antelopes and elephants. Hippos wander thrillingly close to the terrace, while the humans enjoy a stellar selection of wines from the walk-in cellar. The camp can -accommodate up to 22 people in eight huge thatch-roofed suites, each with a private pool. The contemporary interiors feature floors made from recycled cork and floor-to-ceiling patio windows that allow guests to watch the elephants and warthogs from the comfort of their bed. From the mainly Italian and French menu (including risotto with chard and sweetcorn, and excellent thin-crust pizzas from a wood-fired oven) to the 16-metre outdoor lap pool and in-room spa treatments, this is safari at its most spoiling, uniting style and life-affirming wilderness. Noo Saro-Wiwa
Website: naturalselection.travel
Price: From about £1,555 per person
Photo: Andrew Howard/Great Plains
Mara Toto Tree Camp
Masai Mara, Kenya
The 15th camp from Great Plains, Mara Toto is an adult treehouse fantasy for conservation-conscious travellers wanting to explore the Kenyan wilderness. Even though it’s in the ever-popular Masai Mara, it sits on private land in a secluded corner, camouflaged by ebony, wild fig and mahogany trees in a patch of forest along the Ntiakitiak River. Toto, which means “baby” in Swahili, has just four suites and a maximum of eight guests. A walkway ascends from ground level into the foliage, linking rooms to a communal space with sumptuous brown leather sofas, a library and a wooden deck where dining tables and a firepit overlook the river and the plains. The walls in my enormous suite are made from cotton canvas for a sense of immersion – I fall asleep to the sound of hippos splashing in the river beneath me, and wake to the patter of monkey feet running across the roof. Breakfast includes gluten-free pancakes and build-your-own smoothies, with locally grown fruit and nuts, and superfood powders. The dinner menu leans towards plant-based dishes, though there are plenty of steaks and grilled meats too. After the evening game drives, in which my excellent guide, Nancy (one of a small but growing number of female guides in Kenya), shares her knowledge of Masai culture, a hot bubble bath or an in-room massage awaits. Best of all there’s a professional Canon DSLR camera provided to every guest for the duration of the stay. Selina Denman
Website: greatplainsconservation.com
Price: From about £1,675 per person sharing, all-inclusive
Photo: Teagan Cunniffe
Desert Rhino Camp
Damaraland, Namibia
People come to this remote expanse of rugged semi-desert in northern Namibia for one reason: to see some of the last desert-adapted black rhinos on the planet – and to help them survive. True, springboks and southern giraffes also make appearances, along with mountain zebras and the occasional cheetah or leopard, but it’s really all about the rhinos. Setting out on a morning tracking expedition, over the Martian-like landscape scattered with red rocks, we are able to get within about 500 feet of one, our guides assessing the bull’s mood (calm and friendly) by his stance. Standing there unperturbed, he moves slowly from side to side until his magnificent horn glows orange in the sunset. Desert Rhino Camp started life 20 years ago as a no-frills rhino research field station in Namibia’s Palmwag Concession. Now, safari specialist Wilderness has scooped it up – its third camp in the region – and it has been entirely reimagined, reopening last summer as a design-forward oasis while continuing its crucial work. Six stone-walled suites hunker down into the landscape, their timber-clad and leather-accented interiors inspired by the terrain; with undulating canvas roofs it’s as if they’ve sailed here on the wind. Between the morning and afternoon game drives is lunch served under the shade of a solitary tree, from a menu that includes bread and lamb potjie cooked over coals and marula nut crumpets. At night we relax on our outdoor bed gazing up at the stars – it’s utterly dark, profoundly quiet. The camp is powered by its pioneering partnership with Save the Rhino Trust Namibia and three community conservancies, and guests are encouraged to help, learning to identify rhinos by their horns and ears, and recording each sighting. On our last drive we follow mother and calf Tuta and Casper. There may not be the sheer number of animals here that other African safari camps offer, but this is a wholly rewarding experience in an otherworldly setting. Karin Mueller
Website: wildernessdestinations.com
Price: From about £442 per person, all-inclusive
Photo: Matt Dutile Creative
Atzaró Okavango
Okavango Delta, Botswana
Perched above a floodplain near a year-round stretch of the Santandadibe River in the southern Delta, this eight-suite and two-villa contemporary thatch-and-canvas camp is Botswana’s smartest new safari destination. One of just seven camps on the community-owned NG32 area, Atzaró is as wild as the Moremi Game Reserve adjoining it. The nearest village is a 50-minute drive away, and the closest airstrip even further, which is why all guests arrive by helicopter. With few other lodgings around, wildlife sightings are joyfully peaceful and prolific, with elephants and wild dogs to two resident lion prides to observe. Night drives are permitted for spotting rarer nocturnal-hunting creatures such as aardwolfs, porcupines, civets, genets, honeybadgers and leopards. Guided mokoro canoe excursions are possible all year, although far better once the floods have arrived. This is not so much a camp as a lavishly accessorised Africa-meets-Bali-styled bush hotel at which to hang out by the 20-metre lap pool, work out in the outdoor gym, have great massages or just hunker down in the wine cellar. The suites and enormous two-bedroom family villas are set beside raised wooden walkways and each has a plunge pool with bush views. They are a bargain given that they start at half the price of some of the most exclusive bush hideaways in Botswana, and include just about everything barring spa -treatments, high-end wines and transfers. Lisa Grainger
Website: atzaro-okavango.com
Price: From about £550 per person, all-inclusive
Photo: Asilia Africa Kokoko Camp
Kokoko Camp
Ruaha National Park, Tanzania
Sleeping beneath the stars is a simple pleasure easily delivered at Asilia’s new exclusive-use camp. Inspired by the curved eyelids of a Verreaux’s eagle-owl (known in Swahili as a Kokoko), three tents have retractable roofs that fold back on a cantilever to reveal the night sky, which is reliably bright in Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park. Returning to the roots of safari, design features are straightforward but effective; rustic bucket showers are heated by a solar-powered donkey boiler, meals can be eaten cosied around a campfire and there’s a homely open-sided main living area for reading, chatting and napping. Set along a river bed, beneath the shade of fig, rain and sausage trees, the camp replaces Kwihala, Asilia’s first foray into one of East Africa’s most underrated parks. Guests might find elephants digging wells between spindly date palms and wild dogs resting below baobabs in an area larger than Serengeti National Park but with a fraction of the visitors. Alongside crowd-free game drives, the camp offers adventurous wilderness hikes far wilder than run-of-the-mill strolls searching for insects and spores. The intrepid can scale a stack of granite boulders to find the pawprints of leopards hunting for catfish in rocky pools, and wander into off-road areas where few humans have ever stepped. Although no-nonsense, the camp still delivers comfort, service and a level of privacy far greater than most high-end equivalents. By stripping away superfluous distractions, the sights and sounds of nature feel much closer. A true eye-opener for safaris to come. Sarah Marshall
Website: asiliaafrica.com
Price: From about £1,315, based on up to two guests, full board with private guide
Photo: Wilderness
Wilderness Usawa Serengeti
Given its presence across Africa, safari brand Wilderness has taken its time to arrive in the Serengeti, but last summer it made its move, partnering with local walking-safari pioneer and TV regular Jean Du Plessis. Solar-powered mobile camp Usawa is designed to leave no trace. It was joined late last year by a second camp and, in July, will become part of a trio, all three easy to disassemble and use at any of the nine walking zones scattered across 5,700 square miles of park. The concept? Seamless private on-foot access to the Great Migration, Africa’s 1,200-mile odyssey of life, death and rebirth. Days at Usawa are a timeless tapestry of wild species amid endless vistas – from lions, giraffes, elephants and hippos to the mega-herds of wildebeests, zebras and elands; and the crocodiles and hyenas who lie in wait. Du Plessis’s knowledge of the terrain curates a Serengeti seemingly devoid of other humans. The six tents were designed by glamping pioneer Luxury Frontiers (Camp Sarika by Amangiri, Nayara Tented Camp) and cater for 12 around a central tent where campfire dining unfurls below sprawling, star-strewn skies. From the tents to the acacia-thorn light fittings, handblown glassware and ebony furniture, everything has been commissioned locally. While the animal kingdom runs through the barks and shrieks of its nightly playlist, guests enjoy a prime selection of mainly South African wines paired with international and regional treats, including the moreish Zanzibari urojo, a coconut- and dhal-rich spiced stew. Andrew Harris
Website: wildernessdestinations.com
Price: from about £750 per person
North Island Okavango
Botswana
If the name sounds familiar, that’s intentional. Similar to its Seychellois namesake, this retreat occupies its own island, is surrounded by wildlife and has all the starry qualities set to make it a dazzling success. Some of the team who worked on the lauded Indian Ocean launch more than two decades ago have since founded Natural Selection, the management company overseeing this, Botswana’s sexiest new lodge. Set in a community-owned concession on the edge of the Okavango Delta’s panhandle shared with only one other camp, North Island enjoys a degree of exclusivity – although game drives often meander into the neighbouring concession, where Natural Selection also manages Duke’s and Duke’s East. Wild dogs are among the top animal draws here, with several known active dens attracting the likes of BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit, which filmed a sequence for Planet Earth III in the delta area. Spearheading a new trend for micro-camps, the lodge has three suites (with a fourth to follow in March) that horseshoe around a lagoon, fanning from an open-front dining area and marble-topped help-yourself bar – an ideal gathering spot for multigenerational buyouts. Especially glorious at dusk, a decking area snakes into the lagoon, negating the need to head anywhere else for a sundowner, and there’s a well-equipped outdoor gym and hot tub. Shaded by ebony and jackalberry trees, the villas sit on elevated wooden platforms tickled by reeds, with plunge pools, outdoor showers and wraparound verandas perfect for watching elephants munch on fallen fruit. Sarah Marshall
True Travel offers three nights at North Island Okavango from £7,700 per person all-inclusive, with regional flights and transfers.
Photo: Ultimate Safaris
Onduli Ridge
Namibia
If the Flintstones were transported to Namibia, this is where they’d live: among the giant boulders of Damaraland in one of the least populated areas of the second-least populated country on earth. The landscape – part dry desert grasslands, part Mars-like miles of stone – is spectacular: scattered with rocks of all morphologies and colours, from black basalt to shards of glittering granite, and dotted with huge boulders and stunted, hardy trees. Ultimate Safaris’ Onduli Ridge sits on a neck between two inselbergs, with views from the rooms at dawn and dusk over wide, flat plains and, in the distance, the purply peaks of the Brandberg, Namibia’s highest mountain range. Every room is spacious and set high up on a deck among the rocks. In some, the showerhead juts from a hunk of granite; in all, bathrooms are partly open to the hills and sky, and the bed can be wheeled onto the deck for stargazing. Ultimate Safaris is renowned for upskilling local workforces, and the cooks, trained from the community, turn out inventive and fresh food, from tapas lunches served on multilayered wooden platters to wood-fired pizzas cooked by the pool under the stars. Local attractions include the Unesco-protected Twyfelfontein rock-art sites, the Doros Crater, created by a meteorite, a petrified forest and strange geological formations such as the Organ Pipes and Burnt Mountain. Plus, if you’re very lucky, desert-adapted elephants and wild-roaming rhinos. Lisa Grainger
Website: ultimatesafaris.na
Price: doubles from about £825 all-inclusive
Photo: Brian Siambi
Angama Amboseli
Kenya
In a land where everything is big, the only option is to be bold. Africa’s tallest mountain and some of the continent’s last big tuskers set the scale for Angama’s new camp, close to Amboseli, one of Kenya’s prime national parks. Here, 10 canvas-roofed suites arc around the base of Kilimanjaro, with bedside views of the semi-dormant volcano rising from a magical fever tree forest. Taking up exclusive residence in the community-owned Kimana Sanctuary, the camp is set on an ancient elephant migratory route, protecting an area increasingly under threat from agriculture. Built in partnership with NGO Big Life Foundation, which leases the land from Maasai communities, Angama’s first project outside the Mara has its biggest conservation focus to date, and the best place to get a grip on the story is the mushroom-shaped observation tower. Sink into a rocking chair with a sundowner and watch elephant herds parade across swamps while lights twinkle below Kili – a reminder of the challenges cohabiting humans and wildlife face. Every design detail of the camp pays homage to the elephants who regularly pass through: exterior walls are made from dung and concrete, curved surfaces resemble their physical form and textured table mats mimic their coarse skin. A proposed new road will make Amboseli National Park accessible within 30 minutes, although there’s enough wilderness and wonder inside the sanctuary. Along with game drives and elephant tracking on foot, this is a place to rest and relax; a safe haven for four- and two-legged guests. Sarah Marshall
Africa Travel can arrange a three-night stay at Angama Amboseli from £5,490 per person all-inclusive, with international flights and transfers.
Photo: Olivier Grunewald
Muzimu Lodge
Mozambique
For years, Gorongosa National Park offered basic rondavels and tents with the bare necessities, and a campground for the more intrepid. Those who visited the park – which has undergone a two-decade restoration – weren’t seeking private plunge pools; rather, the extraordinary nature and wildlife. Set at the southern tip of the Rift Valley, Gorongosa has a rich and varied landscape, its dense jungles and infinite savannah roamed by lions and wild dogs. But 2023 ushered in a new era of smarter hospitality with the opening of Muzimu, an intimate tented lodge connected via wooden walkways on the banks of a river bed. The property’s six canvas tents are simple and restrained, with locally made wooden headboards and desks, as well as pendant lights and lounge chairs in colourful printed fabrics. Their wooden decks overlook a thick tangle of palms and acacia trees. In the main spaces, extraordinary salads and home-baked breads created by local chef Vália Dimitri (who did a stint at The Pot Luck Club in Cape Town) are served at dining tables scattered across the deck. There’s also a giant fire pit for late-night stargazing and a tempting pool fringed with sunbeds for a post-drive dip. The traditional daily game drives seem almost mundane compared with the other excursions on offer: you’ll be up mountains; visiting local research labs and coffee plantations; on epic bike rides; and exploring deep limestone gorges and waterfalls. Mary Holland
Website: gorongosa.org
Price: from about £770 per person
Photo: Melanie van Zyl
Fothergill Island
Zimbabwe
Lake Kariba is like an inland sea in Zimbabwe: a 1.38-million-acre man-made lake bordering Zambia, fed by the Zambezi river and surrounded by spectacular conservation areas. Two wildlife lovers took over Fothergill Island, within the remote Matusadona National Park, in 2019, and transformed it into the lake’s smartest camp, reopening it in 2021. The five one-bedroom canvas-walled suites, two two-bedroom suites and one three-bedroom private retreat are more like mini villas than rooms, most with an outdoor sala, plunge pool, ponds and pretty gardens protected by electrified elephant-proof fences. A practised team of staff serve modern multicultural cuisine, serious international wines and sundowners around a starlit boma and in upscale safari-style living and dining tents, with views over the pool and lake. The real treats, though, are the activities on land and water: game drives with sunny, well-read guides to track lions, elephants and buffaloes; bush breakfasts on sandy river beds over which gem-coloured sunbirds flit; sunset trips into river gorges teeming with hippos and giant crocodiles; and catch-and-release fishing excursions to try to snag the lake’s famously ferocious tigerfish. For the restless there’s a gym, yoga deck and running track; for children, archery, swimming and wildlife excursions with guides who ooze enthusiasm for this special wild spot. Fothergill has a landing strip for charters, and smart speedboats for whizzing to Kariba airport. Lisa Grainger
Website: fothergill.travel
Price: from about £590 per person
Photo: African Bush Camps
Khwai Lediba
Botswana
Striking the balance between creature comforts and adventure isn’t always easy. But African Bush Camps (ABC), helmed by Zimbabwean former guide Beks Ndlovu, has mastered the art of delivering smart, Champagne-popping safaris without compromising on the thrill of waking up in the wild. Its latest project, Khwai Lediba, in the Okavango Delta, is a prime example, bridging a gap between the company’s portfolio of high-end and expedition-style camps. Hidden in a quieter corner of Botswana’s community-owned Khwai concession – now booming with camps – it neighbours slightly more upmarket sister property Khwai Leadwood, opened by ABC in 2020. Both are a decent distance from the mobile campsites used by self-drivers and Khwai’s main airstrip, though a helicopter can provide faster transfers for an additional fee. Much closer is the Khwai River crossing into the Moremi Game Reserve, where most game drives happen, clocking up sightings of lions, leopards and wild dogs. When four-wheel fatigue sets in, walking safaris and breezy late- afternoon mokoro rides unfold in the concession. Elephants frequently pass quietly through, leaving telltale footprints on sandy paths leading to seven wooden-framed canvas tents, including one honeymoon suite and a family room, both with bathtubs. In the main sitting room, bright murals and thatch-woven lampshades foreground local artists. And shared dinners are the place for the local staff’s storytelling skills to shine. Sarah Marshall
Abercrombie & Kent offers three nights at Khwai Lediba from £4,250 per person all-inclusive, with international flights and transfers.
Photo: Andrew Morgan
Loapi Tented Camp
South Africa
Loapi is the newest and smartest addition to Tswalu, South Africa’s largest privately owned reserve, in the arid Kalahari. The reserve has been a 25-year passion project for the South African Oppenheimer family, involving three high-end properties, as well as land restoration and conservation initiatives focusing on animals such as rhinos, pangolins and meerkats. Loapi is the most ambitious arrival yet: a collection of six sustainable standalone homes with private house managers, chefs, guides and trackers. Gapp Architects’ striking glass, steel and canvas houses, spaced at least 165 feet apart, are self-sufficient and can be dismantled and moved, leaving the land untouched. Inside, interiors by Cape Town’s Gregory Mellor are flecked with mohair tapestries, clay sculptures, carved wooden panels and textured umber and cream sofas. But it’s all just backdrop for the main view of golden grassy plains and rust earth that bleeds into distant mountains and a cloudless, electric-blue sky. Tswalu is not for the first-time safarigoer who wants to see the Big Five all in one day. But those searching for rare pangolins or aardvarks, black and white rhinos, wild dogs and cheetahs, may be rewarded. At night, guests eat alfresco – a private chef prepares bright butternut salads, droëwors and biltong, tapas treats or cauliflower soup next to a roaring fireplace – so as to stay in nature. It’s big and bold, and, without another soul to be seen, invites introspection. Mary Holland
Red Savannah offers six nights in South Africa from £7,962 per person all-inclusive, with four nights at Loapi Tented Camp, including international flights and transfers.
Photo: Melanie van Zyl
Duke’s Camp
Okavango Delta, Botswana
Thirty year ago, Jack’s Camp blazed on to the safari scene, pioneering the under-canvas luxury safari in Botswana’s Makgadikgadi Pans. Three decades later, sister camp Duke’s has opened in the northern Okavango Delta. It is named in honour of 80-year-old Sarefo “Duke” Sarefo, the official custodian of the land. The camp is set in the Moremi Game Reserve, home to hundreds-strong elephant herds, wild dogs, lions and leopards that occasionally lounge in trees. On the gin-clear water of the delta, which wiggles its way through the camp, sapphire-backed malachite kingfishers pose next to water lilies. They can be spotted from the camp’s mokoro dug-out canoes; from the sun-drenched deck and plunge pool; from the eight eccentrically styled tents (four more are in planning), with large decks for delta-watching. Inside the tents, wooden four-poster beds with scalloped canopies are topped with cosy feather-filled duvets and pinstripe linen. Paisley fabric is draped from the ceiling and vibrant floral cushions are scattered on armchairs. Bathrooms hark back to the 1920s, with brass fittings and mahogany dresser tables. There’s a theatrical vibe in the communal Bedouin-style dining area, where velvet sofas, Persian rugs and silky pouffes circle a low table often topped with silver tea pots and muffins. Sunlight floods in during the day; by evening it is transformed into a cosy lantern-lit dining area and bar. Hannah Summers
Website: naturalselection.travel/dukes-camp
Price: From about £645 per person per night full board
Photo: Andrew Howard / Great Plains Conservation
Tembo Plains Camp
Mana Pools, Zimbabwe
It wasn’t always so easy to sit and watch a relaxed bull elephant tug grass from the ground at the edge of the Zambezi before gently shaking it off in the river. But Tembo Plains Camp, in the Sapi Reserve east of Mana Pools, is the result of a remarkable relocation project by conservationists Dereck and Beverly Joubert and their Great Plains Foundation. Having seen the wildlife overpopulation in the Savé Valley Conservancy in Southern Zimbabwe, the Jouberts began Project Rewild Zambezi, an ongoing plan to relocate more than 3,000 animals 600 miles north to the under-populated Sapi Reserve, including 400 elephants, painted dogs, lions, buffaloes, impalas and more. Tembo Plains, tucked into a forest by a hippo-friendly stretch of the Zambezi, is a classically styled camp, with canopied beds and wildlife-friendly cameras provided in each of the four suites, as well as wooden decks and private pools looking over the river. The staff are some of the warmest in southern Africa, including charismatic manager Lloyd Mushure, who serves G&Ts and stories while angling for tiger fish or on canoe trips spotting hippos and crocodiles. In camp, the steady flow of the river provides a hypnotic backdrop to massages, fireside drinks and Zimbabwean dishes such as Lake Harvest bream curry. Hannah Summers
Price: From about £860 per person per night full board
Photo: Mark Williams
Sanctuary Tambarare
Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya
In a corner of the 90,000-acre Ol Pejeta Conservancy, two females have achieved superstar status. Najin and her daughter Fatu are the last remaining northern white rhinos in the world. Their eggs are safely preserved in a hi-tech lab in Italy in the hope of continuing the species via IVF. For now, a new tented camp – Sanctuary Tambarare – offers a welcome base from which to visit these wildlife sensations, whose diets are lovingly and obsessively monitored and who are protected 24/7 by armed guards. Tambarare’s 10 luxury tents, each different but embracing a simple, golden-age-of-safari look, with billowing white curtains, are ensconced in fever trees under the shadow of Mount Kenya. Their deep-blue walls are dotted with Masai-inspired artwork, and there are private verandas with epic grassland views. Reports indicate that Africa’s rhino population dropped by a staggering 97 per cent in less than 30 years. In 1993, only 2,300 wild rhinos remained. Today that number has more than doubled, and Ol Pejeta is home to nearly 150 critically endangered black rhinos – the largest sanctuary for the animals in East and Central Africa. Here, you can ride horses alongside the rhinos and zebras, cycle across the Laikipia plains; walk past the hippos wallowing in the Ewaso Nyiro River or night-ride past polecats, bat-eared foxes and aardvark (a privilege banned in most Kenyan national parks and reserves). Tambarare can sign you up to meet the local anti-poaching canine unit (the bloodhounds are friendlier than you might imagine) and the park’s rapid-response team, who deal with everything from first aid to chasing bandits. Divia Thani
Price: Abercrombie & Kent offers four nights all-inclusive at Sanctuary Tambarare and one night at Hemingways Nairobi from £3,995 per person
Photo: Adriaan Louw
Sungani And Kulandila
South Luangwa National Park, Zambia
When the Davy family decided to create their own safari camp (having run Anabezi, on the Zambezi, for relatives), the far south-western part of Zambia’s game-rich South Luangwa National Park was fairly untouched. But it had access to nearly 70,000 acres of wilderness and only one other camp nearby. In 2019 they took up the challenge, moving into a couple of tents and designing and building eight-bedroom Sungani, as well as the nearby private-use safari camp Kulandila. Both feel like elegant, welcoming family bush homes, efficiently run by mother and father Lynne and Paul. Their son Michael expertly oversees the walks, canoe trips, boat rides and game drives, while moreish meals are masterminded by former Singita chef Quinton Spocter – from French-patisserie-standard tea spreads to evening feasts that might include delicate Malay-spiced fish or fire-cooked beef. Each of Sungani’s spacious villa-style, canvas-walled rooms is linked by wooden platforms, below which animals can roam – by day warthogs and, at night, hippos waddling from their lily-covered oxbow lagoon. With netted beds, airy living rooms, big baths and outdoor showers, the classic tents are soothing spaces from which to birdwatch or lounge by a plunge pool before heading into the wild to enjoy prolific game: leopards, lions and wild dogs, and almost 500 species of birds. The delivery of a plane and the new Luangwa airstrip means the bumpy if interesting three-hour road trip from Mfuwe is now optional. Lisa Grainger
Website: sungani.com
Price: Doubles from about £1,965 all-inclusive
Photo: Legendary Expeditions
Mila Tented Camp
Western Serengeti, Tanzania
It’s easy to become blasé about the herds of eland, topi, Thomson’s gazelle, zebra, giraffe and wildebeest grazing around this explorer-style camp in the western Serengeti’s Nyasirori area. Very close to the Grumeti River, where hippos jostle and giant crocodiles bask, it’s free of crowds even at the height of the migration. Brilliant year-round wildlife viewing is the reason Mila went from being a seasonal camp to a permanent one, debuting this May with five tents and a two-bedroom family option in the tawny grasslands. The interiors are romantic yet restrained, and natural fibres rule, from deep khaki Italian-cotton bedsheets to linen throws, slip-covered sofas and handwoven jute underfoot. Reclining leather chairs and bean bags are perfectly positioned to spot jackals and hyenas slinking across the open plains. Multiple mess tents mean not having to share space, so private dining is the norm, and everyone gets a private vehicle. Chefs rotate between Legendary Safaris’ camps, keeping standards high in the humble tented kitchens. An authentic Swahili feast wows as much as chilled pea soup with a swirl of chilli oil followed by seared beef or gnocchi, butternut churros and masala chai. When the morning safari is too good to miss, breakfast is delivered wherever you are – fresh fruit, croissants with pineapple jam, East African-style omelettes and strong Tanzanian coffee. This is the way to safari, with a real sense of intimacy with the wild, vast landscape. Jane Broughton
Website: cartologytravel.com
Price: Cartology Travel offers seven nights from about £7,210 per person, including transfers
Photo: Patricia Parinejad
Camp Sossus
Sossusvlei, Namibia
It’s no surprise that the deserts of Namibia are regularly used as backdrops for sci-fi movies; few places look as unearthly. On a 60,000-acre private concession bordering the World Heritage Site of the Namib Sand Sea, Ultimate Safaris’ founder Tristan Cowley has created an eco desert camp that makes this Mars-like environment not only habitable but comfortable. Every detail has been designed so visitors can connect with nature: the six newly redesigned canvas-and-mesh-walled rooms, clad with protective, rust-coloured “skins” made from recycled oil drums, now have open-air bathrooms with star beds so guests can shower and sleep under the clearest skies on the planet. Private outside areas have shaded day-beds sited to trap cooling westerly breezes for afternoon naps, and a deck has been expanded for sunset yoga, sundowners and lamp-lit dinners. Unlike at most other desert camps, here guests have the family-friendly private reserve to themselves: to walk or mountain bike, to watch zebras and oryx graze on shimmering grasslands, to swim in spring-filled bush pools, to dine on summits with views of the rippling Tsaris Mountains and the mammoth dunes of nearby Sossusvlei. Best of all, Cowley is one of Namibia’s leading guides, and for Sossus, as with the camp he launched on Onduli Ridge in Damaraland last year, he has created immersive experiences from children’s botany walks and family cycle rides to astronomy lessons by the fire. The camp can be taken privately, as can Namibia’s most inventively designed home, The Nest, tucked up in the hills like a giant thatched bird’s nest. Lisa Grainger
Website: ultimatesafaris.na/camp-sossus
Price: doubles from about £435 full board
Photo: Andrew Morgan
Grumeti Serengeti River Lodge
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
The site of the greatest migration on Earth, Serengeti National Park has become increasingly busy – with more than 40 vehicles at some river crossings. But because andBeyond’s Grumeti Serengeti property is in the far north-west, with few other camps around, wildlife spotting here is relatively private. That is, if you can tear yourself away from the rebuilt designer lodge. Strung above the Grumeti River, in which pods of hippos harrumph and baboons screech, 10 teak-clad modernist villas lie either side of an open-fronted living area, with decks dropping towards the water. As with the company’s other star project, Lolebezi in Zambia, designers Fox Browne have made this Tanzanian outpost a showcase for contemporary pan-African design: kitenge-covered pouffes alongside hand-woven sisal tables; wooden bamileke tables from West Africa, beaded Namji dolls and a collection of artefacts. For those who don’t want to go on the twice-daily game drives (on which lions are pretty much guaranteed year-round, alongside hundreds of thousands of migrating wildebeest in June and July), there is a circular pool to laze beside, plus morning walks, in-room massages and yoga sessions. In the evening guests converge around a central domed bar lit by orbs of locally blown glass, before migrating to a boma dinner, cigars around a star-lit fire pit and late-night whiskies beside their private plunge pool. Lisa Grainger
Price: from about £1,875 per person per night full board
Photo: Felix Studios
Waterside At Royal Malewane
Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa
Along with enviable locations and pitch-perfect service, lived-in opulence has become a trademark of the Royal Portfolio’s South African hotel collection. Not too far from where it all began at Royal Malewane 22 years ago, this latest addition to Thornybush – a private game reserve that forms part of the Greater Kruger conservation area – feels more like a private home than a hotel. Owner Liz Biden has gone all out to create lavishly layered spaces where jewel-bright colours enliven everything from rugs to walls, antiques to repurposed junkyard salvages. This is a theatrical, transportive experience that amplifies rather than detracts from the vibrancy of the surrounding bush, which crackles with life deep into the night. Even the luminous fever trees, towering above the thatched lodge on the water’s edge, look like they’ve been touched up. There are seven suites with one or two bedrooms, as well as a four-bedroom villa – all with solar-heated pools and air-conditioning that runs on solar power and recycled water. A buzzing open-air bar serves cocktails made with local spirits, and a sommelier picks bottles from the wine cellar to enjoy with seasonal menus. There are many reasons to stay in camp, including a library, lap pool, gym, yoga studio and spa, plus a games room geared to children of all ages – but there are also 34,600 acres waiting to be explored by vehicle or on foot. From birding to epic sightings of lion prides and wild dogs, every outing is amplified in the company of experienced guides and trackers who, collectively, have the highest professional qualifications in the business. Jane Broughton
Website: theroyalportfolio.com/royal-malewane
Price: from about £1,035 per person per night full board
Photo: Great Plains Conservation
Mara Plains Camp
Masai Mara, Kenya
This small, remote camp combines a splash of Indiana Jones with a great dollop of luxury in the middle of Kenya’s Masai Mara. Tents are spaced apart amid a cluster of acacia trees, where the only sound at night is the occasional snort of a buffalo. The place has the air of a Thirties film set, with wooden campaign furniture and Eastern-inspired carpets. But channelling wilderness camping on a seven-star level is the new Mara Plains Jahazi Suite, a spacious two-bedroom tented pavilion set on raised railway-sleeper decking (past which a steady stream of wildlife parades). An indoor dining area leads to a private outdoor veranda and copper baths to melt into. By night, Mara Plains is an enchanting place: candles glitter in lanterns as chefs prepare dishes of tender grilled lamb, potato fritters, passion-fruit roulades and cheese platters with homemade chutney. Breakfast is a treat of orange-zest-flavoured pancakes and fresh coffee served on canvas chairs outside. Game drives reveal a pride of lions sprawled on a rocky escarpment, a breathtaking sight as cubs frolic and snooze in the pampas grass. Other wildlife surprises include kudus, fork-tailed drongoes, hippos mating in the river and mongoose hurtling across rutted tracks. This is the African safari dream, remote and restful, skies with fleeting Daliesque cumulus cloud formations in a landscape untouched for millennia. Geordie Greig
Website: africatravel.com/mara-plains-camp
Price: Africa Travel offers stays from £1,190 per person per night full board, including game-viewing activities, park fees, flights and transfers (minimum two nights)
Xigera Safari Lodge
Okavango Delta, Botswana
Sitting in the richly biodiverse Okavango Delta, Xigera has lions, leopards and semi-aquatic red lechwes on its doorstep. What’s maybe more surprising about this opening from global operators Red Carnation Hotels is that it’s home to one of the world’s largest collections of South African art and design, curated in collaboration with Cape Town’s forward-thinking Southern Guild gallery. This commitment to art shines in everything guests see and touch, from handmade black clay coffee cups by Cape Town ceramicist Chuma Maweni to the dining tables with warped fairy-tale legs by Kenya-born artist Stanislaw Trzebinski. The food is a few notches above most safari fare: a team of five bake the lightest, flakiest pastries for morning game drives and six-course chef’s-table meals, with each chef given free rein to follow obsessions (one menu has a dish dedicated to the much-overlooked onion). Food waste is composted and given to local farmers for free, with vegetables purchased back from them. Herbs are bought from a female-run collective in Maun, the closest city. The 12 suites, reached by a series of raised light-impact wooden walkways, are so large that the super-king beds look modest. Each is different, but all have statement lamps, colourful patterned sofas and indoor and outdoor rain showers stocked with all-natural tulip- and yuzu-scented toiletries. A remote three-storey steel baobab tree with a roof deck can be booked to sleep out in the bush itself. Hannah Summers
Website: xigera.com
Price: Doubles from about £2,355 full board
Photo: Greg Funnell
Usangu Expedition Camp
Ruaha National Park, Tanzania
Ruaha is one of those wildernesses that safari lovers keep to themselves. Unlike the busy Serengeti, Tanzania’s second biggest park has just 12 camps, and no one had ventured to this particular corner for decades until this summer, when Asilia constructed a light-footprint camp in the Usangu Wetlands in the far south. Poachers roamed freely and unchecked rice farms on the park’s perimeter drained the Ruaha River. Conservationists hope the opening of an expedition camp here will halt this destruction with the help of visitors. When not relaxing in the four solar-powered, mesh-fronted rooms overlooking the plains, guests help guides with research on game drives. Each of the camp’s recycled ethanol-powered four-wheel-drives is fitted with technology to feed information back to the Eco-Research Centre: telemetry systems to track collared cats, GPS radios to pinpoint sightings and thermal night cameras to spot nocturnal creatures. Half of the 16 Tanzanian staff are young villagers who are relishing Asilia’s training – from guide Anderson Pakomyus Mesilla, who three years ago didn’t speak English and now reels off Latin tree names, to Aly Mang’unda, the 22-year-old chef, who creates delicious dishes using just a fire. Beside each room is a square-netted star tent, so guests can sleep with the Milky Way above and the sounds of lions and hyenas roaring and whooping around. Treats on game drives include huge herds of topis, alongside sables, roans and cheetahs. Lisa Grainger
Price: Doubles from about £1,290 full board
Read the original article on Condé Nast Traveller.
Comments