Ultra Travel - Middle East edition - Autumn 2012

CREATURECOMFORTS

Forget cold showers. Going on safari is no longer a test of endurance, thanks to well-designed lodges and tented camps that promise to indulge your love of the good life as well as the wildlife. Susan Hack picks her favourites

African safaris used to be all about the perfect private guide, whose mobile, tented camp involved some hardship in exchange for the glories of following wildlife mi- grating according to nature’s cues.

Today, luxurious lodges cater to nature enthusiasts who want their lion kill sighting and their comforts too. The 10 we list here offer extraordinary style and privacy; extras from spas to helicopter pads and riding stables; as well as enthusiastic, informative guiding and commitment to conservation of both game and local communities.

While planning, consider your wildlife interests as much as lodge amenities. If you want to follow huge herds of wildebeest in open savannah, think Kenya and Tanzania. To photograph all of the Big Five – that’s elephants, lions, leopards, black rhinos and buffalo – in a single day, South Africa is your destination. Botswana offers great general game year-round without the risk and annoyance of biting tsetse flies. Rwanda, also wonderful for birdlife, offers species-specific experiences such as mountain gorilla tracking.

2. GREYSTOKE MAHALE, TANZANIA

With six open-fronted, thatched bandas, Greystoke Mahale remains one of Africa’s most exclusive and remote destinations. Two decades ago, founder Roland Purcell pioneered chimpanzee trekking safaris along the white sand shore of Tanganyika, Africa’s longest, deepest lake. He chose the location to gain access to Tanzania’s Mahale Mountains National Park, where researchers have made its families of chimps more tolerant of human observers and easier to photograph than groups in other locations. Back from forest trekking, guests can catch their own sushi from a 45-foot dhow and snorkel in clear water among colourful fish. Four nights cost from $4583 (Dh16,831) per person, full board, including trekking ( 00255272555237)

3. SABYINYO SILVERBACK LODGE, RWANDA

Rwanda’s only “five-star” primate trekking property, Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge sits on a hillside adjacent to Volcanoes National Park, whose main activity is strenuous hiking to observe endangered mountain gorillas. Five terracotta-roofed, tea plantation-style cottages and three suites have fireplaces and verandas looking out at the 15,000-foot Virunga Volcanoes range. Room butlers wake guests with morning tea and clean muddy boots and clothes when they return from hikes. The world’s largest recorded silverback is among the several gorilla families living near the lodge. A double room costs from $728 (Dh2,674), full board but excluding the park’s daily $750 (Dh2,699) gorilla trekking fee ( 00 254 20 273 4000)

4. BOULDERS CAMP, NAMIBIA

The intimate Boulders Camp is one of four widely separated accommodations in Wolwedans, a collection of camps and community projects within the 444,000-acre NamibRand Nature Reserve, Namibia’s largest private game reserve created from former colonial sheep farms now given over to wildlife. Four modern wood-and-canvas chalets look over a valley from sculptural boulders once used by San bushmen as hunting hides; leopards may still be seen sunbathing on granite outcrops. A private chef serves meals of farm-raised game and salads grown at Woldewans’ organic garden and non-profit school for young Namibian wilderness guides. You might not see another vehicle the entire day, but you will spot zebras, gazelles, ostriches, brown hyenas and cheetahs roaming rolling red dunes and plains spotted with mysterious barren “fairy” circles in valleys fringed by purple inselbergs.

A double room costs from $1,214 (Dh4,458), inclusive of meals, activities and park fees ( 00 264 461 230 616)

5. LEBOMBO CAMP, SOUTH AFRICA

Singita, one of the first operators to install plunge pools and a modern architectural aesthetic in the African bush, built the 15 suites of Lebombo Camp on top of a kopje in the little-explored eastern sector of South Africa’s Kruger National Park; the pristine local habitat currently boasts four large lion prides. Between game drives, walks and ranger- escorted mountain-bike rides, guests enjoy a large swimming pool, gym, spa and archery range. Sommeliers guide diners through a huge cellar of South African vintages.

A double room costs from 24,500 South African rand (Dh10,992), full board, inclusive of activities ( 00 27 21 683 3424)

6. SARUNI CAMP, KENYA

In a private conservancy on the northern border of Kenya’s famed Masai Mara National Reserve, Saruni Camp’s five solar-powered, thatched cot- tages and brand new family villa have oversized cedar beds, colonial-era antiques, Persian carpets and panoramic views of open savannah from huge wooden decks. The location on a former Masai group ranch now devoted to conservation means guests on general game viewing avoid the safari vehicle congestion of the main park while remaining in driving distance of the Mara River, whose mass wildebeest crossings provide the high drama of the July-to-September migration season. Inventive Italian cuisine reflects the tastes of the founder, writer Riccardo Orizio. A double room costs from $954 (Dh3,504) per night, full board, in- clusive of activities ( 00 254 710 842 000) ( Phone +254 710 842

7. SINGITA SASAKWA, TANZANIA

Singita Sasakwa, Tanzania’s most lavish lodge (wilderness or otherwise), opened in 2006 and was designed for the personal use of the concession holder Paul Tudor Jones, an American hedge fund mogul and conserva- tionist. Nine Edwardian-style stone manor houses and a four-bedroom family villa – each with private infinity pool and decorated with tribal art, chandeliers and Venetian glass – sit atop a plateau with dramatic views over 140,000 hectares of western Serengeti plain where, during the June migration season, hundreds of thousands of wildebeest graze before crossing the Grumeti River. There is a yoga chalet, a permanent satellite link for television and phone access, a spa and a palatial stable whose

18 thoroughbreds and pureblood South African Boerperds take guests galloping among the herds. A mobile camping option launched last year takes three days to set up because of the profusion of film set-worthy tent furnishings.

A double room costs from $2,380 (Dh 8741), including meals, drinks and most activities ( 00 27 21 683 3424)

8. ABU CAMP, BOTSWANA

At Abu Camp, renovated in 2011 by new its part-owner Paul Allen of Microsoft, a breeding herd of trained African elephants transports guests across the rivers and flood plains of the Okavango Delta. Even without the pachyderms, some of whom have been working with tourists for 17 years, the camp would be extraordinary for its 162,000-hectare private concession and setting between a lagoon and a termite mound-studded floodplain where rare African wild dogs den. Six vaulted canvas and wood-decked suites are shaded by jackal berry trees and filled with tribal and contemporary furniture. Guarded star beds enable the adventurous to sleep in the open listening to lions and hyenas roar. Game viewing on foot, 4x4 or local mokoro canoe also takes place. A double room costs $3,878 (Dh14,242), per night, full board, inclu- sive of activities ( 00 27 11 807 1800)

9. TORTILIS CAMP, KENYA

The only luxury accommodation at Amboseli National Park, Tortilis Camp offers stunning views of snow-capped Mt Kilimanjaro and insider access to Kenya’s most studied elephant habitat. Guides know the individual life histories of 1,000 elephants and can arrange meetings with Cynthia Moss, Amboseli’s famed elephant researcher. Sixteen tents, a private villa and brand new family tent – protected by soaring thatched roofs – share a swimming pool and an on-site masseuse. Run by one of Kenya’s most so- cially responsible, guide-owned safari companies, Tortilis leases 12,000 hectares of a Masai group ranch bordering the park, and Masai residents take guests on guided walks in their game-rich conservancy.

A double room costs from $840 (Dh3,083) per night, including drinks, meals and daily game drives ( 00 254 20 6003091)

10. ODZALA WILDERNESS COLLECTION CAMP, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO The first luxury operation in the Congo Basin rainforest, Odzala Wilderness Collection Camp, which opened last August, consists of two six-room compounds in different sectors of Congo Brazzaville’s Odzala-Kokoua National Park. The huge, stilt-raised chalets, linked by walkways to a common dining lounge, offer 360° views from private, wrap-around decks of open glades where shy creatures such as elephants, bongo antelopes and red river hogs come to graze and drink. Game viewing takes place by 4x4, foot and pirogue, a long, narrow canoe. The main attraction is the chance to track large families of Western Lowland gorillas in a group limited to only four guests at a time. A six-night safari costs from $5,350 (Dh19,648), per person, including meals and activities ( 00 27 11 807 1800)