How an out-of-this-world safari can bring you back down to earth...

With all due respect to progress, sometimes it feels like the world could do with a little less technology, plastic, sparkle and, well, excess...

Our wonderful planet is spinning a little crazily on its axis these days – and there seems no better way to steady the nerves and quiet the mind than getting ‘back to basics’.

And, of course, we can’t think of a better way of doing that than going on safari...

There’s something about being out in the African wilderness that helps us understand our place in the universe. In wild, raw, magnificent Africa, our senses are sharpened; emotions are closer to the surface and the cares of our everyday lives seem to fall into insignificance when we experience the immensity of it all. It feels good to slow down to the pace of Africa, too, where nature works to its own timetable, thank you very much. And the freedom that comes with that is incredibly liberating!

Forget the impressively luxurious safari lodges that display their effusive homages to extravagance. They have their time and place in many of our safari itineraries. But for now, we’re putting aside the spectacular showpieces for the more classic, authentic safari experience, the one that stays true to the romantic days of Blixen and Hemingway and helps us get really close to the essence of Africa.

The original tented safari, although now redefined with modern-day advantages, provides a ‘proper’ adventure. Why? Because you’re closer to it all. Many of the camps only operate seasonally, and so keep perfectly in tune with nature. The mobile camps, especially, offer a return to simplicity and move around with the highest wildlife concentrations. In a mobile or tented safari camp, you’re under canvas; it’s more intimate and captures the spirit of safaris in the old days. The ground is underfoot. The night sounds are all around. But the most defining aspect of a tented camp is the experience that comes with it. Track lions on your own two feet, hear the soft pad of an elephant as it passes by just on the other side of your tent, see the stars in all their sweeping glory from your bed and hear your own heartbeat as you take it all in... this is the kind of safari that allows for deeper interactions and closer connections. But wait. It gets better. Because there’s certainly no hardship in a classic tented safari camp. You will sleep in real beds, enjoy 3-course meals under the night sky and sip on sundowners from the most perfect vantage points. Most tented camps are not much bigger than just eight or ten tents, a set-up that provides an appealingly laid-back and personal exclusivity. Unspoiled, often far-flung settings, exhilarating wildlife interactions, private vehicles and expert guides are the norm in these camps.

Camps that live up to the term ‘authentic’ are some of our favourites because of the safari experiences they provide and the life-changing moments they present. Okay, so some teeter on the really luxurious end, admittedly, but still manage to somehow maintain a sense of reality. Others are more basic and practical, but always comfortable. We’ve listed a few here and invite you to take a look, bearing in mind that it’s less about the camp and more about the encounters and interactions you’ll have, the memories you’ll take home with you - and, most of all, the new lease on life, the new view of the world, the new you that is sure to emerge from these.

What we like to do is combine one or two of these camps in an itinerary, such as Jack’s Camp in Botswana with the Mana Pools Safari Company’s tented camp in Zimbabwe. You can literally follow the migration in Tanzania or, to up the ante of authentic, we can suggest a walking safari, where you venture out and walk from one camp to the next in the South Luangwa along the Luwi River or in Botswana in the Okavango and Selinda areas.

If you’d like us to arrange an exclusive and authentic safari just for you, please contact Nicci or Laura now. We hope these ideas may spark off some of your own.