Africa’s top 5 best safari camps with honeymoon tents are situated in the baking African bush. Here you can enjoy traditional tribal dances and you can see the most breathtaking animals in the wild. Whether you want to see the “Big Five” (The lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros) or other animals such as impalas, tigers, zebras and hyenas, a safari is both about the animals, and about retreating to an ultra-luxurious and romantic tent; sleeping under the stars to the sounds of the surrounding wildlife.
Below we outline what we consider to be some of the most luxurious safari tents and camps, where you can cool off by the pool, fine dine under the stars and sleep with just canvas separating you from the wilderness.
1. Cottars 1920’S Safari Camp In Kenya
Cottars 1920s Safari Camp was one of the first permanent luxury tented camps to take guests out on safaris in Kenya. Little has changed since the 1920s and it extends an era of luxury and quality, returning to the original spirit and essence of ‘safari’, reminiscent of a golden era; an era of romance, professional guiding, adventure, and elegance.
Accommodation consists of six Luxury safari tents including one honeymoon tent. All have large private verandahs but the Honeymoon tent is the stuff of fairytales with beautiful antique furnishings from the ’20s, a private en-suite dressing room, and a bathroom with an old-fashioned shower and flushing toilet. The look is all creams and white muslins and it’s hard to imagine a more romantic tent to lay your head.
Cottars 1920’S Safari Camp camp overlooks the Mara and Serengeti Plains in its very own private concession bordering the Serengeti, Maasai Mara, and Loliondo reserves, which guarantees privacy and an abundance of wildlife. Spot the big five and choose your season carefully, as the camp is on a path to the great migration of millions of wildebeest and zebra. Camp guides are highly qualified and knowledgeable of the area, who share an amazing insight into the Masai culture and the flora and fauna in the reserve.
In the evening, bathe in your outdoor bathtub, have an amazing dinner under the stars (greens from the camp’s own vegetable garden), and give Bambi a hug before bedtime (she is the camp’s resident baby gazelle).
2. Ivory Lodge Lion Sands, South Africa
The Ivory Lodge Lion Sands offers the ultimate in bush luxury. Surrounded by a richly diverse habitat, teeming with game, beneath endless African skies, this lodge is easily one of the most luxurious lodges on the African plains. If Aman Hotels had a safari resort, it would be just like Ivory Lodge.
Villas are private and are surrounded by untamed bushland. All include a private pool, a gorgeous bedroom with integrated lounge areas opening up onto massive dark wood terraces offering astonishing views over the river.
For your honeymoon, you must stay in their luxurious treehouse, where the only thing separating you from the stars is the swathes of muslin draped over your four-poster bed. Spend the hours of dusk fully appreciating the vastness of the bushveld as it transforms from day to night. Slumber directly beneath the Milky Way where you may well lose count of the shooting stars.
3. Mahali Mzuri
Mahali Mzuri is Sir Richard Branson’s East African property located in Kenya’s Maasai Mara ecosystem and perfectly positioned to take advantage of the seasonal great wildebeest migration.
With just 12 tents, this resort feels ultra-exclusive and is ideal for your honeymoon as you have the bush almost to yourself. Cool down in the beautiful 12-meter long infinity-edged swimming pool between game drives and then stargaze until late into the night at this gorgeous property.
4. Linyanti Ebony & Linyanti Bush Camp, Linyanti Wetlands
A remote wilderness area in northeastern Botswana, the Linyanti Wetlands stretch along the Linyanti River and are a key water source for wildlife during the country’s dry season (May to October). At this time, herds of up to 1,000 buffalo and elephants migrate from miles around to quench their thirst, making for some excellent game viewing.
Set just five minutes’ walk apart among Linyanti’s marshes, Linyanti Ebony and Linyanti Bush Camp both offer an authentic safari experience. The former has just four canvas tents making it ideal for an intimate honeymoon retreat.
Each tent is air-conditioned and high ceilinged, with wooden floors and large windows, as well as a shower and toilet. You also have your own deck with recliners facing out over the surrounding wetlands.
Linyanti Bush Camp has six similarly styled canvas tents furnished with wooden beds and armchairs. Private balconies give views of passing wildlife, which could include elephants, zebra, sable, and a host of birdlife.
Each camp has a communal pool area with a raised deck, where you can enjoy private dinners under the stars. The open-sided tented lounge and bar area is another place to take in the views while sipping a sundowner.
5. &Beyond Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp, Nxabega Concession
Our final choice is also in Botswana, tucked among riverine vegetation and ebony trees. This intimate camp looks out over a glassy lagoon and open grassland, where plains game such as zebra, impala, giraffe, and wildebeest graze. Here, nine well-spaced canvas tents offer a stylish base for your honeymoon, with a swimming pool and a well-stocked bar and a lounge area, from which to explore the Okavango’s wildlife.
Raised on a wooden deck, each tent has sides that can open out during the day. The en-suite bathroom features a rain shower and handmade soaps, while the bedroom is furnished with cowhide mats, teak furniture, and a bed that faces the open countryside.
There’s a big focus on water-based activities from this camp, with guided mokoro and motorboat rides taking you out among hippo, spoonbills, pied kingfishers, and egrets. Bushwalks and the usual morning, afternoon, and evening game drives are also offered, giving you a chance to see lion, lechwe, and tsessebe antelope, elephant, and occasional glimpses of leopard skulking in the trees.
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