Brick and mortar hotels are nice and all but nothing says safari like spending endless African nights in a tented camp out there in the middle of nowhere.
The thing about tented lodges is that they do an awesome job of marrying two, seemingly incompatible worlds: luxury and the wild! They are perfectly designed for people who want to go out there and test their own mettle in the bush yet, are savvy enough to know that the trip wouldn’t be complete without their prefered luxurious comforts.
You know:
- Gourmet dinners prepared by some of the world’s finest chefs.
- Beautifully air-conditioned tents complete with mosquito netting.
- Spa treats that wash away their otherwise tense and busy lives.
- Romantic breakfast, lunch and dinner settings that etch themselves deep into their memories.
Everyone deserves a treat from time to time and going out off into the wild to a camp with designer tents and impeccable luxury is one way to extensively decompress and find your centre. That being said, here are five of the top designer tented lodges for a romantic getaway.
Most eccentric designer tented camps in Africa
1. Mahali Mzuri, Maasai Mara, Kenya
Mahali Mzuri directly translates to “a beautiful place” in Swahili. A name like that simply conjures up visions of a spectacular camp designed with unique luxury in mind. True to its name, Mahali Mzuri is a tented camp to behold. Owned by Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin Group, Mahali Mzuri is in direct keeping with the excellent design, service and expertise that the brand has become synonymous with over the years.
Located within the Olare Motorogi Conservancy of the Maasai Mara, this is a 12-tented luxury camp which gives you a front-row seat to one of the worlds new seven wonders – The Great Wildebeest Migration. Excellent dining, uniquely stylish tents, uninterrupted views of the wildlife around you and all-around unabashed luxury is what you will get at Mahali Mzuri, one of Kenya’s most uniquely designed tented camps.
2. Camp Okuti, Okavango Delta, Botswana
Lying alongside the Maunachira River within the renowned Moremi Game Reserve, Camp Okuti is a special kind of luxury tented camp. For starters, it has oddly shaped tents that can only be described as “sliced space ship looking”.
That, however, isn’t the main reason this luxury tented camp makes the list. It’s on this list because despite being a luxuriously designed and decorated camp that offers her guests unhindered views of the abundant wildlife within the game reserve, it is markedly much more affordable than the typical designer tented camps.
One of the biggest selling points is that Moremi Game Reserve offers guests consistent all-year-round game viewing opportunities of all kinds from birdwatching, to powerboat excursions and the good old-fashioned game drives. The beautifully designed tents are just a much welcome bonus to everything else that is just so perfect with this place.
3. The Highlands, Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
An architectural marvel in its own right, The Highlands is simply breathtaking for more reasons than just one. For starters, you can’t miss the bulbous domes that make up the tents. Hospitality powerhouse Asilia made sure that the tents at The Highlands weren’t designed to mimic your grandpa’s safari camp or any other safari camp for that matter.
The domes, which are placed on a ridge, have transparent sections that act as windows which allow you to have unimaginably beautiful sweeping views of the Serengeti beneath you. Designed to resemble designer igloos, the tents at The Highlands are almost as gorgeous as the flora and fauna surrounding the camp – almost!
4. Mumbo Island Camp, Malawi
This particular tented resort makes the list for two good reasons:
- It’ on an island: Located on an otherwise deserted island on Lake Malawi.
- It has a weird design: The thing about the tents on Mumbo island is that they have what might seem to many, a redundant design.
The entire resort is designed with strict adherence to eco-friendly guidelines which means almost everything, at least the accommodation structures, are made out of timber, reed and thatch. The tents have a redundant design in that they are all situated under thatched grass. Which means that the tents have two roofs – that of the tent itself and a thatched grass roof. Here, see for yourself:
Apart from this peculiar design, Mumbo Island is simply the place to be if you want to reconnect with nature. As part of the Lake Malawi National Park (which is a World Heritage Site), the waters around the resort is home to more than 500 different species of fish and the best part is that 90% of these fish are endemic. Which makes them rather unique.
Activities to be enjoyed here include snorkelling, scuba diving, kayaking, bird watching or you could just gently and lazily float over the lake on one of the many relaxing hammocks.
5. Makanyane Safari Lodge, South Africa
What are your thoughts on sleeping in the open under the starlit African sky? Seriously…what do you think about that? If it sounds like something you would like to try out then you might want to head down to Makanyane Safari Lodge in the North West Province of South Africa. Nicely tucked away in the Madikwe Game Reserve, this is a small lodge that can cater for 16 people and chief among its attraction is an opportunity to sleep out under the African stars.
Apart from that, you get all the trappings of luxurious living that comes with a world-class resort:
- Exceptionally delectable cuisine.
- 1,800 hectares of exclusively pristine African jungle.
- Exciting game viewing activities.
Of course, you also get excellent service. What more could you want in a bush experience?
Honestly speaking, part of the joy of going somewhere you have never been before is seeing what kind of accommodations you will find. Far from the run-of-the-mill brick and mortar establishments that have amazing decor in their own right, these uniquely designed tented camps bring architectural style and awe as an added benefit to your safari.