3 Types of Safari Accommodations and How to Choose

While definitions can blur and names are often used interchangeably, luxury safari accommodations broadly fall into three categories: lodges, luxury tented camps, and mobile camps. Whether you are exploring the best places to visit on an African safari or deciding between the best countries in Africa to visit on safari, you will discover a common thread of outstanding service and unique experiences that define your stay, regardless of the style you choose.

The accommodation is often the great unexpected treat of your journey, an essential part of the experience rather than just a place to rest. Each property is designed to be a complement and an antidote to a day of thrilling exploration. They are tranquil havens that gently pull you down from the high of a day’s adventure. It’s here, amidst the rugged charm of the wild, that you can relax and reflect.

• Warm Welcome: Your experience begins the moment you arrive, where a traditional African greeting awaits. This immediate sense of hospitality sets the tone for a stay defined by exceptional, personalized service that can feel like coming home.
• Natural Seclusion: With monumental landscapes as a backdrop, properties are designed to offer generous space. Individual rooms, lodges, and tents are carefully situated at a secluded distance from one another, ensuring privacy and a connection with the wilderness.
• Distinctive Style: No two properties are alike. Working in harmony with the natural environment, each has a unique style, from the architecture to the interior decor. Expect an inimitable character that creates a memorable and authentic atmosphere.
• Understated Luxury: Luxury on safari is refined and experiential, not flashy. While you will find exceptional comforts and opportunities for pampering, the focus is on quality and authenticity. The true luxury lies in the seamless service and the serene, natural environment.
• Immersive Nature: Your accommodation is an extension of the safari itself. Whether it’s wildlife wandering past your deck or unbroken panoramas visible from your room, these properties offer a complete escape, designed to dissolve the barrier between you and Africa’s incredible habitats.

The safari lodge is the classic and most widely recognized type of safari accommodation. It offers a hotel-like sanctuary in the heart of the wild. These are permanent, solid structures, built from materials like stone, wood, and thatch, meaning they blend in seamlessly with their environment. Often situated in lofty, prime locations with commanding views, lodges provide an exceptional level of comfort and a wide array of amenities. They are the ideal choice if you are looking for the security of a traditional hotel structure combined with five-star service and spectacular wilderness access.

• Permanent Structures: Built to last, lodges feature solid walls, spacious common areas, and en-suite bathrooms with standard plumbing and amenities. This structure provides a sense of security and separation from the elements that many first-time safari-goers appreciate.
• Extensive Amenities: Being permanent allows lodges to offer sumptuous extras you won't find elsewhere. Expect to find infinity pools overlooking the savanna, elegant full-service bars, expansive restaurant terraces, libraries, and sometimes even spas and gyms.
• Commanding Vistas: Lodges are strategically positioned to capitalize on breathtaking scenery. They are often perched on a crater rim, overlooking a bustling river or gazing down upon a waterhole, turning the entire property into a magnificent game-viewing platform.
• Versatile Appeal: The size and structure of lodges make them suitable for all types of travelers. With room capacities ranging from eight to over 80, they can easily accommodate larger groups, families with young children, and solo travelers.
• Varied Options: Much like a hotel, lodges often provide a choice of room categories. You can select from standard suites, family villas, or ultra-luxurious honeymoon accommodation. This lets you tailor your stay to your specific needs and budget.

For more information, take a look at our Reasons to Stay at a Safari Game Lodge.

Embodying the romance of a bygone safari era, the luxury tented camp offers a more intimate and sensory connection to the wilderness without sacrificing an ounce of comfort. These permanent or semi-permanent camps feature spacious, heavy-duty canvas tents erected on solid foundations, often with private verandas. Inside, you’ll find all the opulent finishings of a high-end hotel room, including king-sized beds and full en-suite bathrooms. This style of accommodation is perfect if you want to feel fully immersed in nature while enjoying sophisticated luxury.

• Canvas Romance: Sleeping under canvas evokes the classic "Out of Africa" spirit of adventure. The experience is intimate and authentic, allowing you to feel closer to the wilderness while being completely safe and comfortable.
• Surprising Luxury: This is far from traditional camping. Tents are large enough to walk around in comfortably and are exquisitely furnished with large beds, fine linens, elegant furniture, and private, well-appointed bathrooms with hot running water and flush toilets.
• Intimate Setting: Tented camps are typically much smaller than lodges, often hosting just a handful of guests at a time. This creates a more exclusive and personal atmosphere, with greater interaction between guests and the camp staff.
• Sensory Immersion: With only canvas walls separating you from the wild, you will experience an evocative nightly soundtrack of the bush. The distant roar of a lion, the whoop of a hyena, or the gentle chirping of crickets creates a powerful and unforgettable connection to your surroundings.
• Prime Locations: Because they have a lower environmental impact, tented camps are often situated in pristine and remote wildlife areas within national parks and private reserves, offering exceptional game viewing right on your doorstep.

To find out more, see our Glamping on Safari: The Thrill of the Wild Paired with 5-Star Comfort.

If you are a safari purist seeking the ultimate immersion in the wild, the mobile tented camp is the definitive choice. These temporary camps are designed to be lightweight and move with the seasons, often following vast wildlife migrations to ensure they are always in the heart of the action. Providing unparalleled exclusivity, a mobile camp may cater to just a single group of guests, providing a truly private and personal window into the African wilderness. This type of camping is surprisingly comfortable, as well as being an adventurous way to access the most remote and untouched corners of the continent.

• Ultimate Immersion: A mobile camp places you in the raw, untamed heart of Africa, far from any permanent structures or crowds. This allows for intimate and unfiltered encounters with wildlife in its most natural state.
• Exclusive Use: These camps are often booked on a private basis, making them idolized by families or groups of friends seeking a secluded adventure. You will have a dedicated guide, chef, and camp staff all to yourselves.
• Seasonal Pursuit: The camp’s mobility is its greatest asset. In destinations like the Serengeti, camps move to follow the Great Migration, ensuring you are in the best possible location to witness this incredible natural spectacle, no matter the time of year.
• Rugged Comfort: Despite their remote locations, mobile camps provide remarkably high levels of comfort. Expect spacious tents with comfortable beds, warm duvets, private en-suite bathrooms with bucket showers, and delicious meals cooked over an open fire.
• Remote Access: Mobile camps can be set up in exclusive-use wilderness areas where no permanent structures are allowed. This provides access to unique locations far from the regular tourist trail for a completely personal version of the African landscape.

Zicasso’s Reasons You Should Stay at a Mobile Tented Camp provides further advice.

Africa delights in its inimitability. Just like the diverse wildlife that graces the continent, the accommodations can be wonderfully distinctive. From a luxurious tent hidden deep in nature to a grand lodge perched on a crater rim, the assortment of unique and wonderful options provides indelible highlights and continuous memoirs of your African safari. Understanding these choices is the key to crafting your perfect trip.

Learn more about what’s possible with our African safaris or find more information in our African safari guide to begin planning your adventure.