DESTINATIONS — AFRICA 4 2
5
l THE MIGRATION LODGE Singita Explore is an off-grid mobile
camp run on solar power where the focus is on sustainability and the pure safari experience itself, rather than design bells- and-whistles. It’s particularly good for clients who want to see the epic spectacle that is the Great Migration, where millions of wildebeest and zebra move across the plains. Set in the private, 350,000-acre Singita Grumeti Private Game Reserve in Tanzania, the exclusive camp has a maximum of six tents, and its location is decided upon the request of the group – thus placing it directly into the path of the migration, or in a particularly scenic or remote location, depending on the season, weather or movement of game. It’s hardly roughing it, however – the beautiful mobile tents are en-suite, there’s a private chef and spa treatments can be organised.
l THE HISTORIC LODGE Many a client may have fallen
in love with the idea of a safari through Born Free, the movie and book relating how conservationists George and Joy Adamson raised Elsa, an orphaned lion cub, and
later released her into the wild. Photos from the filming are displayed at Elsa’s Kopje, the lodge that sits in a remote, tranquil spot on the hill above the filming site in Meru National Park, Kenya. It tops Somak’s lodge selection for something “romantic, elegant and beautifully styled”. The 10 cottages have open sitting rooms, verandas and rock-hewn bathrooms, all with views that rank among the best in Africa. There’s an infinity pool, the camp grows most of its own fresh
produce, and game
activities are varied, with night drives, fishing
and, unusually for East Africa, walking safaris also permitted.
l THE ELEPHANT LODGE At Wilderness Safari’s Abu
Camp there are more elephants in the resident herd than there are tents for guests. The camp’s six stylish, airy tents, all with en-suite bathrooms and private decks shaded by fig and jackalberry trees, sit within a 450,000-acre private concession in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Guests are offered total elephant immersion with the seven members of the herd – they can walk and physically interact with them, learn about their behaviour and take elephant-back safaris, and even sleep out on a ‘star bed’ on a
platform overlooking the elephant enclosure. But this is not a circus – the camp, along with NGO Elephants Without Borders, works to reintroduce captive elephants to the wild. The other game activities that make the Okavango so popular are also available – game drives, safaris in mokoro canoes and scenic flights.
l THE BEACHSIDE LODGE
Sand and safari make great
bedfellows, so twin a bush stay with the idyllic beaches of African up-and-comer Mozambique. Send high-end clients to the Bazaruto Archipelago, where they’ll find brilliant white sands and incredible diving – think manta rays, turtles and Africa’s only population of endangered dugong. Established but low-key favourite Benguerra Lodge closed in October for a
complete makeover and will reopen in June as &Beyond Benguerra Island, with a look described as “warm, intimate and distinctly African”. Looking at &Beyond’s other properties, we’re fairly confident it’ll be gorgeous. It’ll need to be to compete. This corner of Mozambique is in demand, with properties from Singita and Anantara rumoured to be on their way.
l THE GORILLA LODGE Coming face to face with an
endangered mountain gorilla is an utter thrill, but to do this clients will need to trek through the jungle – the experience is more active than your average safari. Which makes a sumptuous base even more welcome, and they don’t come much sleeker than Virunga Lodge in Rwanda.
5 March 2015 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 51
E
FAST FACT Wilderness
Safaris will open the deluxe eight-tent Linkwasha Camp in Hwange, Zimbabwe, in May
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