Tented camps offer a classic safari experience, combining close-to-nature accommodation with varying levels of comfort, from simple mobile camps to fully serviced luxury tented lodges.
These camps are typically located in wildlife areas and provide an immersive safari atmosphere, often with a stronger sense of being in the bush compared to traditional lodges.
KwaMbili Game Lodge provides is an affordable private lodge offering an authentic safari experience. Situated in the private Thornybush Game Reserve near Hoedspruit, KwaMbili is within the Greater Kruger area. Home to the Big Five as well as an abundance of wildlife and birds, you'll have every chance of good sightings, either on game drives or on foot.
This mobile tented camp is set up in one of the best game viewing spots on the plains of central Serengeti. Kati Kati Camp is rustic rather than luxurious, but with fully-equipped, en-suite tents, you'll experience a more refined version of camping in the wild African bush. It's a true safari experience.
Flatdogs camp is easy to get to from the airport and makes a good first night’s stop into the park, especially arriving on a late flight from Lusaka to nearby Mfuwe Airport. The camp is open from mid-March to mid-January every year. For Jess and her team, making sure you have the best possible stay is what Flatdogs is all about.
Thakadu River Camp has 12 luxurious safari tents on the banks of the Marico River in the malaria-free, Big 5 Madikwe Game Reserve. Thakadu is a wholly-owned, community-based project and an ecotourism success story. This exclusive, tented safari bushcamp is situated in the far eastern part of Madikwe, in a good area for game viewing.
Basecamp Masai Mara is an affordable tented, riverside, safari eco-camp located in the dense tropical forest foliage along the Talek River right on the doorstep to the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Home to the highest density of wildlife in the world, the Maasai Mara is renowned for superb Big Five game viewing and the spectacular annual Wildebeest Migration.
This luxury safari camp is set at the edge of riverine forest, overlooking the sweeping plains of the Maasai Mara, and it lies within the path of the incredible annual Great Migration. At Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp, you can expect an authentic African safari experience with legendary Kenyan hospitality.
Bateleur Safari Camp is situated in the game-rich Timbavati Private Reserve. All fences between its famous neighbour, Kruger National Park, have been removed so the game can freely roam across this vast wilderness area. It's home to the Big 5, a huge variety of antelope and plains animals, predators, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and over 500 bird species on a 10,000-hectare diverse and scenic traversing area. Unhurried, uncrowded and unscheduled, Bateleur offers a unique, personalised safari experience, with a mix of game drives and bush walks.
Although not in a game-rich area per se, Doro Nawas Camp is an excellent base from which to explore the dramatic and stark Damaraland landscape. Arid and inhospitable, it's home to a surprisingly diverse range of desert-adapted wildlife, including desert-elephant, gemsbok, springbok, bat-eared fox – and even the odd black rhino and cheetah.
Camp Shonga is a luxury tented camp situated in a private concession within the Kruger National Park, South Africa's greatest game reserve. Camp Shonga is a small and cosy bush retreat, featuring only 5 luxurious tents with en-suite bathrooms. Spectacular views of the African bushveld and its wildlife can be enjoyed from private viewing decks, as well as during game drives with expert guides.
Sitting atop its very own island in the expanse of Lake Kariba, not far from Bumi Hills, is Musango Safari Camp. As with Bumi Hills, it’s just outside the Matusadona National Park. A small, well-established safari lodge, Musango is owned and run by the well-known Steve Edwards, former conservationist and warden of Matusadona, who personally guides and shares his incredible wealth of knowledge about the area, its wildlife and its history.
Simbavati is a family-orientated safari lodge, situated in the Timbavati Private Game Reserve, which forms part of the Greater Kruger National Park. The lodge offers a choice of six luxury safari tents, two tented pool suites and three luxury, two-bedroom chalets, all air-conditioned, privately situated with en-suite facilities and ideal for those wanting to experience an authentic but affordable African safari experience. Open vehicle game drives afford guests great game viewing opportunities and a chance to see the Big 5, as well as the elusive white lion in its natural environment.
Perched upon the banks of the beautiful Rufiji River, this tented camp in Selous Game Reserve offers spectacular views across the hippo-filled river. Visitors are not only treated to game drives but boating safaris, safari walks and fly-camping, too. This is truly wild, untamed Africa, in an area rich with game.
Elephant Bedroom Camp is perfectly situated in Samburu National Reserve to get the best lion, leopard and rare northern species sightings the park is well-known for. There is also a wealth of unusual flora to look forward to.
With beautiful panoramic views of the towering column of spray rising from the Victoria Falls, The Elephant Camp is the ideal intimate, peaceful retreat. Situated 10 km from the Falls on its Zimbabwean side, The Elephant Camp offers 12 exclusive, luxury tented suites and plenty of opportunities to get up close with the Wild Horizons elephants.
Plains Camp is part of Rhino Walking Safaris in the Kruger National Park. As the name implies, Rhino Walking Safaris specializes in foot safaris and guided bush walks. Often, Plains Camp is combined with Rhino Post Lodge on the same trip, offering the guest a combination of game drives and walking safaris.
Hamiltons Tented Camp in the Kruger National Park offers luxury accommodation in six luxurious, fully-equipped safari tents. Styled according to an African safari of the early 19th century, Hamiltons captures the romance and elegance of a bygone era. The lodge is in an excellent game viewing area within a private concession in the Kruger National Park.
Katavi Wildlife Camp is one of a handful of camps in the remote Katavi National Park in Tanzania, offering an uncrowded and spectacular African safari. Unobtrusively built amongst the trees on the edge of the Katisunga floodplains, the small and simple yet stylish tented camp offers incredible views. During the wet season, the plain fills with water and the birdlife is spectacular. During the dry season, expansive herds of game can be seen making their way to the permanent water source nearby.
Located in the remote north of Zimbabwe's rugged Matusadona National Park, Changa Safari Camp overlooks Lake Kariba. Family owned and run, this East African style tented camp offers authentic accommodation and a wide range of lake, beach and bush excursions that take advantage of its unique location.
With raised, beautifully decorated permanent tents placed far enough apart to ensure privacy, Lake Masek Tented Camp offers guests stylish accommodation in the African bush. Its position in the Ndutu area of Ngorongoro, just south of the Serengeti, is on the annual Great Migration route of millions of wildebeest, zebra and antelope, followed closely by predators. Depending on rainfall, the plains are filled with herds between November and May.
Aptly named, Desert Rhino Camp has the largest number of free-ranging black rhino in Africa. Set in the sprawling, rocky Palmwag Concession, Desert Rhino Camp enjoys spectacular scenery and a surprising abundance of desert-adapted wildlife.
Simbavati Hilltop Lodge is an exclusive, river-facing luxury lodge set in the private Timbavati Game Reserve which shares unfenced borders with the Kruger National Park. This allows the Big Five and many other animals to move freely over more than 20,000 km² of pure wilderness.
Set on the banks of the Mara River in Kenya's Mara North Conservancy, Karen Blixen Camp is a luxury tented safari camp that echoes back to the bygone days of the original safari adventurer. From the comfort of their private veranda, guests can watch elephant, giraffe, zebra and impala gather at the Mara River to drink.
About 140 km south of Nairobi, Amboseli National Park is second only to the Maasai Mara as the most popular safari area in Kenya. Tortilis Camp is recognised as the only boutique safari camp in the area, famous for its huge elephant population and scenic beauty with the iconic snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro acting as a backdrop.
Ol Pejeta Bush Camp is a charming tented safari camp located in Kenya's Laikipia region. All seven spacious, eco-friendly canvas tents look out onto the Ewaso Ngiro River and, with activities like the Junior Ranger Programme, Ol Pejeta Bush Camp is a fantastic choice for families.
Why not chat to one of our safari experts who can answer all your questions and help you design your dream trip to Africa.
