I didn’t think it possible. Probably the biggest surprise on my recent trip back to South Africa was this place – Nako Safari Lodge. It’s in Dinokeng North Private Game Reserve, 45 minutes from Pretoria, 90 minutes from Sandton. When asked to have a look at it, with recent visits to my favourite Zambia and…

At time of writing, veteran safari guide Kevin Johnston is busy putting the finishing touches to Babanango Game Reserve’s Trails Camp. In the valley of the kings, between the traditional Zululand capital of Ulundi and the historic boer stronghold of Vryheid – and about 45 minutes from Isandlwana – Babanango is one of the newer…

It’s a question I’ve been asked on countless occasions over the past two decades. And why not, for East and southern Africa staked their relative claims as safari destinations well over 50 years ago. In 1966 Joy and George Adamson’s movie, ‘Born Free’, set in Kenya, sparked commercial interest in the notion of safari. A…

Assistant camp manager Justin Mtunjwa told me that Machaba Safaris ‘grabbed’ this location on the lower Zambezi as soon as it became available. ‘Everyone wanted it’. Normally I’d write it off as marketing spin, but as Justin has spent a fair chunk of his working life in Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park, I’ll take his…

The hippo bull chasing a rival n front of my kaya is quite an intro to this newest of the Bushcamp Company’s offerings in South Luangwa National Park. The site is vaguely auspicious, being former president Kenneth Kaunda’s ‘home in the park’ – he apparently loved it. It’s about 3.15pm and Letisha, my private host…

So you know by now, after seeing my previous posts that all of the Bushcamp Co. camps are utterly different in design, in their safari ‘look ‘n feel’. I shouldn’t assume anything really, but as the safari enthusiast visitors to this site are, will want to read all my reviews and posts. About the Lodge:…

Wow wow wow. A family of Pel’s fishing owls roost in the trees at this camp. It’s a big deal for birders, even guests waiting to go on the afternoon game drive have settled in to take some shots of the most obliging Pels I’ve yet seen or heard. I can’t think of a better…

For Kapamba and its sister camps, the name says it all. It’s a bushcamp, a product that Zambia does better than anywhere else in the safari universe. As you may have seen in my previous post (Chamilandu camp), all bushcamps took root in the DNA of South Luangwa National Park. Kapamba is distinguished from the…

Senior Bushcamp Company guide Prince Mutale told me he believes Chamilandu is owner Andy Hogg’s favourite of Bushcamp’s five or six camps. Maybe it’s because it was one of its first, dating back over 20 years. Either way, it’s a stunner. Design and atmopshere: Chamilandu is classic rustic luxury / comfort, where barefoot won’t be…