Staying in a tent or cave with an ensuite bathroom, getting up close and personal with the wild animals - you can expect the unexpected when you go on a luxury safari in southern Africa.
Namibia: - Wolwedans Dune Camp/Lodge: This desert area features stark scenery - golden grass savannah, purple mountain ranges, spectacularly clear stargazing - and creatures small and large, from white dancing spider to oryx. - Little Kulala Camp: Here in the Namib Desert each beautifully curved red sand dune invites you to climb up its sharply defined ridge where sunlight meets shadow.
Botswana: - San Camp: A meerkat might climb on to your lap, to gain some height for that famous lookaround pose as you sit on the ground near their burrows. Then you meet the Bushmen, who chatter away happily in their click language as they introduce you to their traditional way of life.
- Vumbura Plains Camp: Lions, leopards, giraffes, hippos, warthogs, kudu, painted dogs, baboons - all the animals roam free. You see them during the day, you hear them at night.
Zimbabwe: - Elephant Camp: "Walking with Sylvester" literally means walking with and patting a three-year-old cheetah, who has been raised as an orphan. With your face centimetres away from his head, you feel privileged to be allowed to be so close to him.
- Somalisa Camp: You walk out of your luxury tent with its four-poster beds and ensuite outdoor bathroom - and look directly into an elephant's eyes, barely a metre away. Is this when you are supposed to blow the emergency airhorn? Well, no. This is just another one of those amazing, unexpected "on safari" moments. - Amalinda: Hike half an hour up to a cave in the Matapos area to see wellpreserved and amazingly realistic rock art. Then return to your luxury villa which has been carved out of and into a giant rockface. Amalinda also supports several local community initiatives (orphanage, school) you can visit.
"There is a safari for every budget, but sometimes it's worth the extra money to stay at the smaller, more exclusive camps, where fewer guests mean more personalized attention and activities," says Monika Korn, of The Safari Source (safarisource.co.za/).
