Here is a trio of game lodges in Africa. A perfect itinerary starts with flying into Johannesburg and being picked up by Shambala Private Game Reserve’s capable driver. Three hours later, you drive through an inches-deep ford and under a ceremonial arch to enter a 25,000-acre private park that belongs to multinational insurance magnate Douw Steyn. He has a rarely-used Palladian house and thatched rondavels for his friends.
The hotel, 10 miles away, consists of eight thatched ‘Hobbit’ villas, all identical. Villa Two, a total of 580 sq ft with wood floors and a big, old-fashioned bed with modern mattress, has a large bathroom with free-standing shower and separate tub. A secluded deck, big enough for breakfast for two, overlooks a lily pond. There is no gym but weights and balls can be brought to your villa. Free WiFi is available in the main lodge, an open-sided affair cantilevered over a river. Here there is a library, a display of rare whiskies and, at night, blazing log fires and the cacophony of frogs. Bespoke dining means eating what and when you want. Game, viewed from high-backed diesel Land Cruisers, is plentiful thanks to annual animal stocktaking. GM is Conrad Meyer.
www.shambalagamereserve.co.za
From Johannesburg, fly on to Maun, Botswana, for a couple of Orient-Express Okavango Delta lodges. Both have similar units, namely 400 sq ft thatched-top tents on wood platforms raised three feet above the ground. A glass-end wall, not typical in safari camps, allows you to look out. The four-post bed, with decorative mosquito net, is the focal point of your space. You have an indoor and outdoor shower, and free WiFi. Area GM Warren Stone arranges all itineraries, with private-plane transfers between lodges.
Start at 12-tent Savute Elephant Camp, perched on the banks of Savute Channel in the 2.7 million-acre Chobe National Park. A day typically starts with a bearer bringing pre-dawn tea or coffee wake-up, and after an early breakfast you have a three-hour safari. Brunch is a copious feast, after which you need a rest, or a swim. Afternoon tea with cakes is followed by the sunset safari, with your choice of cocktail at stop-off time, and dinner, probably shared with other guests, is another memorable meal. Since 2010, the Channel has been free-flowing, attracting a multitude of elephants (the Park probably has over 120,000). See them in matriarchal packs, rolling in the dry mud, forever eating mopane bark, and learn about them from excellent guides. Savute also has more than 250 bird species.
At the 15-unit Khwai River Lodge, all tents overlook the Khwai River – tent nine comes with an outside infinity hot-tub, a great way to watch hippos wallowing in the river 30 yards away. This lodge is deliberately more animal friendly, so you do not walk outside at night unescorted. Khwai River Lodge is in the 1.2 million-acre Moremi Wildlife Reserve, named for the Batawana King, Moremi III. Animals here include black rhino, buffalo, cheetah, leopard, lion, impala, wild dog and zebra: a souvenir book allows you to check what you have seen. As variation from hours in a vehicle, try a walking safari, with guides and marksmen right ahead of and behind you as you trek, their eyes continuously scanning the horizon.
www.orient-express.com
