If what feels like the longest, coldest winter has you daydreaming about hot sun, arid plains and majestic beasts, a week or two on safari in Africa will have you all thawed out. But where are the best places to spot lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo (the “Big Five” African animals) in the wild? Here’s our selection of the most stunning destinations for a epic safari experience…
Singita Milele & Kilima, Greater Serengeti, Tanzania
If you’re looking for a luxurious private-group safari, one of these two exclusive-use five-bedroom retreats are just the Big Five ticket. Opened in 2024, they have “gobsmacking views across the vast grassland plains” of Gremeti, the “unfenced western section of the Serengeti ecosystem” that is Africa’s “best game-viewing region”, said Condé Nast Traveller. Each retreat, with its infinity pool, heated plunge pools, cinema room, fitness room, wine tastings and personalised service, offers a “peerless experience”.
Singita Lebombo Lodge, Kruger National Park, South Africa
South Africa’s Kruger National Park is the most “popular safari destination of them all”, thanks to its “superb” wildlife spotting opportunities, said The Times. The leopards particularly are “extraordinarily nonchalant around vehicles”. Singita Lebombo Lodge is made for the “stylish safari-goer”: each suite has a panoramic game-viewing deck, indoor and outdoor shower, air con, and open fireplaces. Room rates include all meals and drinks, as well as a series of game drives and walking safaris.
Roca River Camp, Maasai Mara, Kenya
Mornings at Roca River Camp “unfold beneath sprawling acacia trees, where hearty al-fresco breakfasts are accompanied by an unusual dawn chorus – the resonant grunting of hippos wallowing in the nearby Mara River”, writes The Week’s Sorcha Bradley. Local guides possess an almost “uncanny ability to spot lions from staggering distances” and the camp’s engagement programme with the local population “maintains the delicate balance between conservation and community development”.
Akagera National Park, Rwanda
Akagera National Park, which borders Rwanda and Tanzania, is a “patchwork of wetlands, lakes, savannah and woodlands”, said The Times, making for “a geographically beautiful park that’s full of fascinating wildlife, including the very rare shoebill stork”.
And it’s a conservation success story: since 2010, degraded land has been restored and thousands of animals, including lions and black rhino, have been re-introduced. The four-star 60-room Mantis Akagera Game Lodge overlooks Lake Ihema and is a great spot to appreciate the results of the conservation work.
Asilia Kokoko Camp, Ruaha National Park, Tanzania
Kokoko’s three ensuite tents with retractable roofs mean there is “nothing but a canvas wall between you and a vast, dense wilderness”, said CN Traveller. It is a real luxury to be tucked up in a proper bed under a canopy of “fig, sausage, and jackalberry trees” overlooking the Mwagusi riverbed. The camp is located in a four-million-hectare “unfenced ecosystem”, with “one of the continent’s most healthy predator populations”. You get your own guide and vehicle, so you can take safari at your own pace – and for a “bargain” price.