Tag: iconic

Singita Kwitonda — Where the Mountain Comes to You

Posted on by James

Rwanda surprises people. They arrive expecting something — usually a vague sense of the continent’s familiar safari rhythms — and find instead a country that is green, cool, mountainous, and unlike anywhere else they’ve been. Kigali is spotless and orderly. The roads work. And in the northwest, rising out of mist-draped forest on the edge of Volcanoes National Park, Singita Kwitonda is waiting.

The lodge sits on 178 acres that share a direct boundary with the park — a detail that sounds like marketing copy until you understand what it actually means. The gorillas are not somewhere out there beyond a gate and a long drive. They are, in the most literal sense, next door. On a clear morning, standing on your suite’s private deck with a cup of coffee and views of the Sabyinyo, Gahinga and Muhabura volcanoes filling the horizon, that proximity feels almost implausible.

Eight suites, each with a heated plunge pool and both indoor and outdoor fireplaces — because at 2,000 metres above sea level, the evenings are cooler than most guests expect. The interiors draw on Rwandan craft traditions: woven ceilings, hand-fired terracotta brickwork made by local artisans, timber-framed windows wide enough to make the landscape feel like a living room fixture. It is unmistakably Singita — precise, considered, nothing wasted — but it wears Rwanda on it in a way that feels genuinely earned rather than decorative.

The gorilla trek is, of course, the reason most people come. An early start, a drive to the park headquarters, a briefing, and then you’re on foot into the forest. The terrain varies — some days it’s relatively gentle, other days you’re pulling yourself up through dense vegetation on a steep volcanic slope — and nobody can tell you in advance exactly how long it will take. The gorillas are where they are. When you find them, and you will, the hour you’re permitted to spend with them passes in approximately four minutes. This is not an exaggeration. It is, for many people, the most affecting wildlife experience of their lives. The scale of them, the intelligence in their eyes, the complete indifference with which a silverback regards you — it rearranges something.

But Kwitonda is not purely a one-trick property. The conservation lounge traces the story of the land from Dian Fossey’s research through to the ongoing work to expand gorilla habitat — Singita is actively working to convert agricultural land on the park’s border back into forest. Golden monkey trekking offers a different but equally compelling primate experience. There are cultural visits, walking trails through eucalyptus forest, and a kitchen garden that supplies a meaningful portion of what ends up on the plate.

The name deserves a mention. Kwitonda was a silverback gorilla known for his gentle nature and quiet authority, who roamed these forests for years before his death. The lodge was named in his memory. It’s a small detail, but it tells you something about how Singita approaches this particular place. They’re not just running a luxury property adjacent to something remarkable. They’re trying, with genuine seriousness, to be part of what keeps it remarkable.

For the right traveller — curious, physically willing, and open to an Africa that looks nothing like the one on most safari brochures — Kwitonda is quietly unmissable.

An Arrangement With Elephants — Ruckomechi Camp, Zimbabwe

Posted on by James

There is a particular tree along the Zambezi’s floodplain — the apple-ring acacia, known locally as the albida — that drops its seed pods in the dry season at precisely the moment the rest of the bush has nothing left to offer. Elephants have understood this for longer than anyone has been keeping records, and they organise entire days around it. Ruckomechi Camp, tucked into a private concession on the western edge of Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park, happens to have been built beneath a particularly fine grove of them. Which means, in practice, that the elephants come to camp. Not occasionally, and not as a curiosity laid on for the cameras. As a matter of routine, the way one might call in at a regular café.

It takes most guests a day or two to stop being startled by this. A bull will wander between the tents at midday, entirely unbothered, working through a low branch with the unhurried focus of someone who has done this ten thousand times before. The camp’s answer is not to intervene but to make room — chairs angled politely out of the way, conversations paused mid-sentence, nobody especially alarmed. Mana Pools is one of the very few places in Africa where this kind of proximity is considered not reckless but simply how the wildlife works here, on its own terms, with people permitted to watch from close enough to feel the air move.

The wider floodplain is where Ruckomechi properly reveals itself. Wide, flat, threaded with the kind of ana forest that gives Mana Pools its particular green-gold light, it draws an unusual concentration of predators through the dry season — lion, leopard, and increasingly, African wild dog, which have found a stronghold here that has become one of the most reliable in the region. Walking safaris move through this landscape at the pace it deserves, led by guides trained to read a floodplain the way a sailor reads weather, while canoe safaris drift down a stretch of the Zambezi so still in places that the only ripples are the ones you’ve made yourself.

What separates Mana Pools from the rest of the Zambezi valley is its UNESCO World Heritage status, granted not for grandeur but for the specific, irreplaceable ecology of this floodplain system — and Ruckomechi’s private concession plays an active part in protecting it, funding the anti-poaching patrols and research that keep the wild dog population recovering rather than retreating. None of this is advertised loudly. It simply happens, the way the elephants simply arrive, as part of an arrangement that long predates the camp and will presumably outlast it.

In the late afternoon, with the heat finally loosening its grip and the floodplain turning the colour of weak tea, it becomes easy to forget that any of this required explaining. The elephants are not performing for anyone. They were here first, and they have simply allowed the camp to stay.

Ol Donyo Lodge – Kilimanjaro’s Wild Shadow

Posted on by James

There are places in Africa that feel like they were designed by accident — where some ancient geological tantrum threw up a landscape so unlikely, so otherworldly, that the brain takes a moment to catch up with the eyes. The Chyulu Hills are one such place. Born of volcanic activity relatively recently (in geological terms), their dark lava rock and improbably green slopes rise from the semi-arid plains of southern Kenya like something out of a half-remembered dream, and it was Hemingway himself who is said to have been so moved by them that he described them as the most beautiful hills in Africa. High praise from a man who spent a good deal of time on the continent.

Ol Donyo Lodge sits within this landscape as if it has always been there. Constructed from the same raw lava rock that surrounds it, thatched and open to the mountain breeze, it neither announces itself nor apologises for its presence. It simply belongs. The architects behind its design understood something that many lodges get wrong: that a building should earn its place in a wild space, not impose upon it. Here, the walls feel like an extension of the earth itself.

But what strikes most guests isn’t the architecture at all. It’s what lies beyond it. From almost any vantage point at Ol Donyo, the great white dome of Kilimanjaro floats on the southern horizon — half in cloud, half in sky — an apparition so perfect it seems almost staged. At dawn, when the light is still hesitant and the air carries the cool of the night just past, there are few more arresting sights on the continent.

What sets Ol Donyo apart from many of its contemporaries, however, is an emphasis on getting out. The vehicle is a starting point, not the destination. Guests are actively encouraged to ride on horseback across the open plains, to walk the volcanic ridgelines with an expert guide, to feel the red earth of Maasai country underfoot rather than simply passing over it behind glass. There is a fundamental philosophy at work here — that Africa is most deeply felt when experienced with all the senses, and that the best way to truly understand a landscape is to move through it slowly, on its own terms.

The 275,000-acre Mbirikani Group Ranch on which the lodge sits is Maasai land, and that matters. It means that when the lions roar at night, or a herd of elephants drifts past in the half-light of morning, the people who have called this land home for generations are the ones who benefit most from that encounter. The conservation work supported by every stay here — including the protection of some of the last wild-roaming black rhinos in Kenya — is not a brochure footnote. It is woven into the very fabric of the place.

Nights at Ol Donyo can be spent beneath open African skies on the rooftop star beds — an experience that has a quiet way of resetting one’s perspective completely. There is something about lying under a canopy of stars in a landscape this ancient and this alive that reminds you, without any fanfare whatsoever, of exactly where you stand in the order of things.

Which, it turns out, is a remarkably good place to be.

The Green Dark – Kibale Forest Camp, Uganda

Posted on by James

The great apes don’t know we’re coming — not really. The rangers and habituators do their best to prepare us, briefing us at the forest edge on what to expect, how to move, how to conduct ourselves in the presence of something that shares approximately 98.7% of our DNA. But when the moment actually arrives, when the canopy parts and a chimpanzee drops from a branch fifteen feet above your head and looks you directly in the eye, all the preparation in the world counts for very little. Nothing really readies you for that gaze.

Kibale Forest, rising in the foothills of Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains, is home to the highest concentration of primates on the African continent. Thirteen species move through its shade, from the red colobus to the L’Hoest’s monkey and the grey-cheeked mangabey, but it is the chimpanzee — around 1,500 of them — that draws people here from across the world. The experience of following them on foot through this forest, tracking their calls through cathedral-sized trees, pushing through the undergrowth, then emerging into a clearing where an entire community is eating and playing and arguing and grooming, is one of the most disorienting and quietly profound things it is possible to do anywhere on the continent.

Kibale Forest Camp sits at the forest’s edge, close enough to the park boundary that the night sounds drift in unrestricted: the barking of baboons, the percussion of something large moving through undergrowth too thick to see, the metallic chorus of insects that seems to intensify the moment the light fades. It is a camp that feels deliberately unimposing, which is as it should be. The forest is the reason for being here, and the camp is wise enough not to compete with it.

What surprises many first-time visitors to Kibale is how different this experience feels from the classic East African safari. There are no open plains and no game drives. Instead, there is shade and canopy and the smell of wet earth and the peculiar sensation of moving through a landscape on foot where you are emphatically not at the top of the food chain. It demands a different kind of attention — slower, lower, more instinctive. You stop not because something is in front of you, but because something may be above.

The one-hour rule — just a single hour per day, per group, in the presence of a chimpanzee community — is a reminder that what you are witnessing is a privilege, not an entitlement. Used well, sixty minutes is more than enough. The animals bicker and nurse their young and groom each other with a tenderness that is startling, and stare back at you with an intelligence that is unmistakable and faintly unsettling — then they are gone, back into the green dark of the forest.

The walk back to camp tends to be quiet. Not because there is nothing to say, but because most people find that whatever they might say feels inadequate to what they have just seen. There is a particular kind of silence that follows an encounter like this — the silence of a perspective that has been, without warning, very gently rearranged.

Kibale does that to people. Uganda, more often than not, tends to.

 

Hoanib Skeleton Coast: Desert Lions, Distant Horizons, and the Luxury of Silence

Posted on by James

Safari lovers often talk about sound — the roars, the rustles, the unending nighttime chorus. But Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp flips the script with a different kind of sensory experience: profound, resonant silence. The kind that expands inside you. The kind that makes a single footstep feel like punctuation in an otherwise blank poem.

Set in one of Namibia’s most remote valleys, Hoanib lies at the intersection of desert, mountains, and the unseen pull of the Atlantic Ocean. At first glance, the landscape appears empty. Your eyes skim over pale dunes and ochre ridges, dismissing them as barren. But Hoanib rewards patience, not haste. Shapes resolve slowly: a lone elephant threading its way along a dry riverbed, a pair of oryx holding still in perfect desert camouflage, a fresh track hinting at the improbable wanderings of a desert-adapted lion.

Days here unfold with an exploratory rhythm. Drives trace ancient river systems carved by rains that may only come once in several years. You follow stories written in sand, piecing together the nomadic lives of animals that survive on astonishingly little. If conditions allow, the journey toward the Skeleton Coast is among the continent’s most surreal drives — a cinematic transition from shimmering dunes to the fog-laden wildness of the Atlantic, where shipwrecks tilt like abandoned punctuation on an unfinished sentence.

Inside camp, the minimalist architecture mirrors the desert: calm, tonal, grounded. Canvas, stone, and pale wood create a sanctuary that amplifies the surrounding quiet rather than competing with it. Meals are unhurried, evenings candlelit, and nights filled not with noise but with space.

Hoanib isn’t about abundance. It’s about revelation. It teaches you to look harder, listen deeper, and appreciate the astonishing resilience of life where it shouldn’t logically thrive. And in doing so, it reshapes your definition of wilderness itself.

Mwiba Lodge: Where the Wild Moves Quietly Around You

Posted on by James

There are lodges that place you in the bush, and then there are lodges that make you feel as though the bush has quietly rearranged itself to accommodate you. Mwiba Lodge, set on a private concession bordering the southern Serengeti, does exactly that. It’s a sanctuary of ancient granite boulders, desert-rose trees, and soft, effortless luxury — all suspended above a landscape where wildlife drifts past as naturally as weather.

Mwiba’s architecture is a masterclass in restraint. Timber decks stretch between giant boulders, suites float above the riverine canopy, and the interiors lean into earth tones that feel lifted from the soil itself. Nothing shouts. Nothing intrudes. It’s as if the designers asked the land for permission, and the land gave a gentle nod.

The concession is vast — 130,000 acres of rolling hills, rock outcrops, woodlands, and secret springs. This is the Serengeti without the rush, a private universe where lions pad through the acacia shadows, leopards slip between granite slabs, and elephants wander through the corridors of light that open at dawn. In season, migratory herds move across the reserve like shifting weather; even when the plains fall quiet, Mwiba’s year-round water sources pull life in from every direction.

Safari days here favour depth over speed. Walk with expert guides among ancient kopjes, sit quietly at natural springs as kudu and zebra approach, or follow the soft architecture of tracks along the sand. Drives feel unhurried, as though time itself has stretched to match the pace of the wilderness. And when you return to the lodge, there’s always a sense of calm waiting for you — cool stone, wide views, the hum of the breeze across your deck.

As night folds in, Mwiba becomes a symphony of small sounds: frogs in the riverbed, fire crackling softly, distant hyenas threading their laughter across the hills. Sundowners turn into lantern-lit dinners, and the sky spills more stars than seems mathematically reasonable.

Mwiba isn’t just a lodge; it’s a feeling — of space, of silence, of being held by a landscape older than memory. It’s the Serengeti softened, elevated, and distilled into something quietly magnificent.

Londolozi Earns Three Michelin Keys: Where Connection Is the True Currency

Posted on by James

The Michelin Guide has spoken — and Londolozi has joined a rarified circle. In the inaugural list of global lodges recognised for excellence in hospitality, Londolozi has earned Three Michelin Keys, the highest possible rating.

For those unfamiliar, the new system is Michelin’s way of recognising the world’s most extraordinary places to stay — where design, service, character, value, and connection to place combine into something unforgettable. The restaurant world has long had its stars; now the lodging world has its keys. And in Londolozi’s case, the metaphor fits perfectly.

Because a stay here really is about unlocking something — not just a door to your suite, but a door into the wilderness itself. The luxury is evident, of course: the seamless service, the design that whispers rather than shouts, the food that would make even a Parisian inspector pause mid-bite. But it’s the connection that sets Londolozi apart. Connection to land, to community, to guests, and to a philosophy that’s been evolving for almost a century.

You feel it in the quiet professionalism of a tracker reading leopard spoor at dawn. You feel it in the stillness of the river at sunset, when the light folds over the granite outcrops and the bushveld seems to exhale. You feel it in the staff who’ve worked here for generations — living proof that hospitality, when done right, becomes heritage.

Michelin calls the Three-Key rating “an extraordinary stay.” But that hardly covers it. Londolozi doesn’t just offer extraordinary stays; it offers perspective. It reminds guests that luxury isn’t about what’s added, but what’s revealed when everything unnecessary falls away.

Earning Three Keys isn’t just a nod to Londolozi’s excellence — it’s an acknowledgment of its ethos: that true hospitality has always been about belonging. The kind that doesn’t just welcome you for a night, but stays with you long after you’ve left.

San Camp: Kalahari Skies

Posted on by James

Billowing white tents on the edge of the endless Makgadikgadi Pans. Desert palms cast their shade here, and you are surrounded by a thousand acres of shimmering, nothingness.
San Camp, a quintessentially romantic, seven-bedroom camp on the edge of the Nwetwe Pan in Botswana’s Makgadikgadi, is something straight out of Arabian Nights. The allure lies in the minimalism here, both within the camp itself and in the broader desert horizons.

Meerkats emerge from their desert burrows, if you’re lucky an Aardvark might emerge at sunset, and you’ll see red hartebeest, springbok and gemsbok scurrying between them. But San Camp isn’t just about wildlife-watching – it’s about the atmosphere and the ethereal surroundings. Disappear into a remote world, a million miles from glowing screens and fruit-themed devices, where the 360-degree panoramas are so vast, you can see the curvature of the earth.

The enormous salt pans are like something off the moon. They are the home of a host of unique desert animals which are for the most part completely different to those encountered to the north-west in the Okavango.Combining the two areas into a single itinerary is highly recommended.
Species to tick include the famed black-maned Kalahari lion as well as cheetah, plains game like wildebeest and zebra, elephant and brown hyaena almost exclusive to this region. The bird list here is extensive and highly localised within the habitat, and of course your trip would not be complete without an immersive interaction with one of the habituated troops meerkats that have delighted guests for years.

The safari experience here is truly remarkable. The stark setting is complemented by the minimalist camp design, and the ever-present Kalahari silence creates an ambience of peace.
The main canvas covered central area is open and wonderfully unencumbered by clutter, inviting you into a stylish dining room where delicious food makes sure you are never hungry.
Dark mahogany furniture and Persian carpets complement each other well and the bedouin feel simply adds to the elegance and romanticism…

The name of the game here is adventure.
Walk with the San Bushmen or go horse-riding across the plains. Take quad bikes out onto the salt flats or charter a helicopter down to see the ethereal and ancient Kubu Island, one of the most remarkable places on earth…
Wildlife aside, this is a safari experience like no other.

If you want to find out more about this incredible destination, and how best to include it into an itinerary, get in touch through info@iconicafrica.com, and let’s start a safari conversation…

A Londolozi Revisit

Posted on by James

Londolozi was where it all began for Iconic Africa.

Years ago, around a boma fire, IA directors John Holley and Terri Abadi – ranger and guest – chatted about life, travel, and how through their respective global positions (Johannesburg and Atlanta, Georgia) and experience in the industry, there was an opportunity for a boutique travel company to service both markets simultaneously.

Fast forward just over a decade, and Iconic Africa now has guests from all over the world travelling on luxury safaris throughout the year.


Our team has grown and we now feature an office in Hoedspruit –  the heart of the South African safari industry.

We send guests across the continent on incredible itineraries and are currently looking to expand our offering to Asia and Antarctica.

We link guests with top Private Guides to create a seamless safari and create continuity throughout their African experience.

So it was with great excitement that the team assembled at Londolozi’s most newly refurbished camp, Founders.

At Founders Camp, classic meets modern. This Londolozi signature camp is clean and uncomplicated and really comfortable, leaving nothing forgotten. You will get the feeling of all the comforts of a stylish African home that is ideally situated to provide an insider’s view of the secrets of river life. Classy, grounded and timeless – Londolozi’s Founders Camp represents a safari style that is inviting and restful.

Ten bespoke and varied superior chalets repose in the shade of ancient Ebony and Matumi trees along the banks of the Sand River.

Founders Camp honours the early Londolozi staff, many of them larger-than-life characters whose names have gone on to become legend in the wider guiding and travel industries (one even attended the wedding of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle).
Their legacy continues to this day through an unwavering commitment from all staff to provide an incredible guest experience whilst doing everything possible to conserve this landscape in as natural a state as possible.

Our small Iconic team could sadly only stay for two nights, but as usual, Londolozi delivered at every turn.

Although our visit felt like it was over far too quickly (it’ll do so no matter how long you stay for), we packed so much in that we could have been there for a week.

Dinner in the bush, getting stuck in a dry riverbed, constant laughter, and more stunning wildlife than we could ever have hoped for to point our cameras at; we were truly spoilt during our short stay.


We love the safari industry for how varied it is. Africa is an incredible mosaic of destinations and accompanying experiences.

But for a stunning level of consistency across the board – be it food, rooms, guiding standard, wildlife sightings or just simply having an amazing time – we have no hesitation in putting Londolozi right up there on the podium.

If Founders Camp, or any of the other four amazing camps on this reserve, feature on your to-do list, let’s get chatting…

Get in touch through info@iconicafrica.com, and let’s start planning your dream safari…

Sala’s Camp: Prime Migration Viewing

Posted on by James

Sala’s Camp first hosted guests in 2004 and has become renowned for delivering an authentic Masai Mara safari experience with exceptional personalised service and fine dining.
Seamlessly combining a traditional ‘under canvas’ safari experience with contemporary comfort, including private plunge pools and glass fronted tents, Sala’s Camp offers an unforgettable and magical Mara retreat.

Owned and operated by The Safari Collection, it can be booked for the night or as part of a complete tailor-made safari. The magic of a Kenya safari doesn’t end with Sala’s Camp. The Safari Collection is the proud owner of four distinct lodges in some of Kenya’s most spectacular locations, including Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, Solio Lodge in Laikipia, Sasaab in Samburu and Sala’s Camp in the Masai Mara.

Sala’s sits in one of the best locations in the whole of the Masai Mara National Reserve. Intimate and secluded, it is nestled along the tree lined banks of the Sand River in the southern tip of the reserve. One can literally look out from your room to the Tanzanian border only a kilometre or two away, with the Serengeti National Park forming the backdrop with its rolling, grass-covered hills. This also means that it is one of the first camps in the Mara to witness the annual wildebeest migration which comes pouring in from June to September each year. Major crossing points on the Mara River are only an hour’s drive away, and the Sand River itself, right on your doorstep, regularly sees herds streaming over in their thousands

With teeming wildlife year round, Sala’s game drives never disappoint. Lions in particular are plentiful in this part of the reserve, and being far from the entrance gates means that you will enjoy regular sightings all to yourself. Cook-out breakfasts and sundowners out on the savannah make for magical memories. The landscape is spectacular, the birdlife impressive and the feeling of being totally immersed in nature cannot be beaten.

Enjoy world class bird watching, spectacular star-gazing and epic sundowners on the savannah with our vintage mobile bar. When you’re not out discovering the wonderful wildlife there’s plenty to do back at camp, including nature walks and games in the Sand River when the water is low enough.

Kenya’s Masai Mara is home to one of the largest overland migrations of animals in the world. Between June and September each year, 1.5 million wildebeest, 500,000 Thompson gazelles, 200,000 zebra and thousands of other antelope cross the border into Kenya from Tanzania on their seasonal migration. Drama, dust and danger abound. Guests of Sala’s camp who are lucky enough to catch this famous spectacle are treated to one of the greatest shows on earth. Witnessing the Great Migration is a real bonus to an already mind-blowing Masai Mara safari experience. Searching for greener pastures, exact movements of the wildebeest herds change each year. As they enter into Kenya however, crossing the Mara River is one path they cannot avoid. Famous for providing documentary-worthy footage, river crossings are a tense spectacle. Predators lurk and the journey is treacherous. Be sure to have your camera at the ready as you never know what might happen.

The word ‘Mara’ comes from the Maa word for ‘spotted’ (Maa being the official language of the Maasai people). The name comes from the spotted appearance of the land from above, as it is all dotted with Acacia and Ballanites trees. The professionally trained Maasai guides at Sala’s Camp are passionate and knowledgeable about all the animals, plants and trees you will encounter on safari and offer fascinating insights into the ecosystem as well as their traditional culture.

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At Sala’s you will feel like you have the great plains of the Maasai Mara all to yourself, a rare thing in a conservation space which of late has started to gain the reputation for crowds.
This almost untouched part of Kenya will provide almost everything you could want on an East African safari.

Get in touch with us through info@iconicafrica.com to find out more about Sala’s Camp, the Safari Collection, and the endless plains of the Maasai Mara and Serengeti in general…

Sussurro: Indian Ocean Whispers

Posted on by James

Few places in the world can offer a true sense of peace.

Yet at Sussuro – Portugese for “whisper” – does just that, with the gentle lap of tiny lagoon ripples on its shoreline, birdsong in the trees around, and the soft creaking of ropes from the dhows moored just offshore all combining into a lovely susurration that fills one with a sense of calm.

The tropical breeze that ensures warm weather pretty much year round means this ocean paradise is a place of swimming costumes and bare feet, with the ever=present option of having a margharita in hand…

Sussurro’s private bungalows provide over a thousand square feet of personal space. Each suite includes indoor and outdoor bathing facilities and generous water front verandahs. Looking out over th lagoon sheltered by the Nhambue peninsula, it is not uncommon to see a school of dolphins moving by close inshore, and one feels completely immersed in nature.

Mozambican architecture weaves a natural canopy above billowing mosquito nets. Large apertures allow the colours of an ever changing landscape to permeate the space.

Rooms are dressed with furniture created and carved onsite and thoughtfully collected artisanal pieces from sub-saharan Africa.

As well as being a place of complete relaxation, where lounging sleepily with a book is the perfect way to pass the time before your next delicious seafood meal, Sussurro is also a place of activities.

Optional dhow trips into the bay or up the Govurha waterways can end in a snorkelling experience on a reef, or a cold Laurentina beer in an isolated cove.
A day trip to Santa Carolina Island in the Bazaruto Archipelago is also a wonderful cutural experience; as well as the thrill of the boat ride, and the natural beauty of the reef systems, one has the opportunity to wander into the Santa Carolina hotel ruin; a throwback to the days of the Portugese colonialists.

Beach picnics under a shaded tent, Stand-up paddleboards, simply lounging by the pool… Sussurro is a place where “urgency” is not part of the vernacular…

Whereas some resorts operate around set mealtimes, time tables and an idea of what they think should happen to make your stay that much better, Sussurro puts the decisions firmly in your hands.
They welcome you in, let you know what’s on offer, and leave it to you to how you want your tropical ocean resort experience play out…

Get hold of us if an idyllic warm-water ocean getaway is what you’re after (inder tip: it’s an amazing way to cap off an African safari…), then get hold of us on info@iconicafrica.com…

 

What Camera Do I Need on Safari?

Posted on by James

This question is as broad as safari options on the continent.
Camera bodies marketed with a huge pixel count, 96 000 focal points for auto-focus, this-and-this sensor with some kind of tracking you’ve never even heard of.

Then a lens with nitrogen filled glass systems, nano AR coating and an 11-blade circular diaphragm… is it all just designed to confuse you so you buy?

Maybe.

But choosing a camera is usually easier than you think, and doesn’t have to break the bank.

The first thing to remember, is that the best camera is always the one you have with you. No camera? No picture.

An iPhone can take great photos for memories (although they are limited in their capabilities, which we’ll get on to just now).

The main questions to consider when it comes to choosing a camera to buy (or to rent, as lots of lodges offer on-site rental options these days) is: what are you going to do with the pictures?

If you are simply going to be taking a few snaps to show your friends or send to them via Watsapp, or post on Instagram, then an iPhone – or Android – is probably more than enough to capture some memories (which is really the whole point).
But if you are going to look to print anything, make it your computer background, use it as a presentation, or anything that might require a slightly more professional approach, you’ll need to think beyond a simple phone.

The reality is that photography is about storytelling, and you need to consider how best to tell the story in front of you.
If you are sitting with a pride of lions, don’t try to get a photo of a single lioness, rather zoom out and capture the whole pride. That’ll give people a far better sense of your experience.

So what do we need for the wide-angle vs zoomed shot in terms of lens?

Well, versatility for one thing.
The most versatile lens we favour when starting out in safari photography is the Canon 28-300mm. It’s really the ultimate tool for photographers looking for the ultimate solution. Kind of like an all-in one shop. Sure there are lenses that allow you to shoot at a wider angle, or zooms that allow for a wider aperture (and more light), but for sheer number of options, there is no better than this beauty for starting out:

As one gets into more advanced photography, maybe a two lens setup (one wide-angle and one zoom) would be better, but when starting out, versatility is your friend.

Then in terms of camera bodies, you are essentially spoiled for choice.

Don’t be fooled by the big numbers presented to you in a camera’s specifications. You probably don’t want the 54 megapixels offered to you in the latest body to hit the shelves; your file size is going to be huge, you will need a bigger (and more expensive) memory card, the camera’s processor won’t be able to handle the files quite as quickly without a decent memory card, slowing your frame rate, and unless you are planning to print your photo to go on a billboard or to fill the size of a house, the megapixel count is completely unnecessary.
The camera picture below is the Canon R10. It’s a third of the price of the more professional bodies, but has more than enough processing power to get you the shots you need.
The beauty of most mirrorless cameras now (swiftly becoming the norm in photography circles) is that most of them offer a handy video component as well…

Stick around the 20 megapixel range for your first camera and you’ll be absolutely fine. Sure you might not be able to crop in as much when editing, but if you literally have to crop out half of your photo, you probably got something wrong whilst taking it in the first place.

A high frame rate can be handy when capturing action, but the difference between 11 fps (frames per second) and 20 is negligible when it comes to real-world situations. With 11 photos in one second, you will capture more than enough when there’s action happening, believe me!

Photography should be enjoyable, yet wildlife photography can be so frustrating, largely due to the unpredictability of the animals themselves. This is where a good guide comes in handy; he or she will understand behaviour to the point where they can position the vehicle in the right place in order to capture the moment, as well as being able to advise you on what settings to use when taking your pictures in what situations.

Whatever camera set-up you go for, remember to practice with it before going on safari,. You don’t want to be stuck fiddling with buttons and settings whilst the leopard is about to launch into the tree with its kill.

Any questions about photography, be sure to get hold of us at info@iconicafrica.com…

Lodges of Legacy

Posted on by James

Dotted amongst the myriad of safari offerings out there are a few camps who have truly stood the test of time.
Tracing their roots back to the early days of safari in their particular areas of operation, these gems have refined their offerings to the utmost degree, understanding their environments and their guests’ needs superbly. Some offer luxury, some offer a quaint rustic charm, but all of them are steeped in history and have already left a legacy within their chosen corner.

Here are three of our favourites, from South Africa, Kenya and Botswana…

Londolozi

Family-run Londolozi has been around since 1926, although technically only as a commercial safari operation since the early 70’s.

Bought by the Varty family as a bankrupt cattle farm almost 100 years ago, the land was slowly regenerated and rewilded, until it turned into the thriving ecosystem guests enjoy today, with some of the best wildlife viewing on the planet, the highest density of leopards yet recorded in Africa, and a percentage of repeat guests that most lodges only dream about, so loyal to this unique brand do its visitors become.

With its progressive approach to the safari space, Londolozi has been at the forefront of many innovations in the industry, setting the tone for how the bush can – and should – be so much more than simply a place to view animals. Instead, they have recognized it as a place of healing and connection, and this ethos has tailored their whole safari and lodge offering to reflect that.

Londolozi was the training ground for many big names across the industry. The head of Kruger Park anti-poaching, a world authority on the Okavango Delta, CEOs of big lodge portfolios, award-winning wildlife cameramen, internationally-renowned public speakers… all former rangers at Londolozi who have gone on and continue to go on to shape the industry across the continent.

The legacy of Londolozi has not only been the mark it has left on the many guests who have passed through its gates, but the ripple effect out across African safaris in general…

Cottar’s 1920 Camp

The award-winning Cottar’s 1920s Camp is situated in the 7608-acre private Olderkesi Conservancy bordering the famous ‘seventh’ natural wonder of the world, the Maasai Mara in Kenya and the Tanzania Serengeti game reserve. Owned and managed by the oldest established and continuing safari family in Africa it extends an era of luxury and quality and returns to the original spirit and essence of ‘safari’.

Cottar’s Safari Service was founded in 1919, which means over 100 years of experience in the industry.

The Cottar family was renowned amongst the British administration for being rebellious and anti-establishment, preferring long stints with African tribes in wildest Africa. The Cottars’ were the first to import American vehicles for safaris, the first to reach new areas such as Lake Paradise, the first to obtain never before seen wildlife footage. In this family it was normal to have lions, leopards, wild dogs and chimpanzees as family pets. Mike’s son Glen, with his wife Pat, continued the family business and pioneered hunting and explorations expeditions into remote parts of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan, Zaire and Botswana.

Having established and run photographic safari camps since their first one erected in Tsavo National Park in the 60s, the Cottars’ legacy has long been established, only furthered by the building of Cottar’s 1920 Lodge in the 1990s by Calvin Cottar, the great-grandson of Charles Cottar, who founded the business all those years ago.

The camp itself provides the romance of safari under cream canvas tents, the style of the bygone era of the twenties, while at the same time supplying the amenities required by today’s modern world travellers. It has two main mess tent areas for fine dining, drinking, reading and relaxing, and an amazing pool and spa where guests can relax after a game drive. Guests can also enjoy a traditional canvas safari bath, a genuinely unique way of bathing specifically set up on the tent’s verandah, with views out over the plains. The location of the camp provides easy access for day and night wildlife drives in the Maasai Mara National Reserve and the Olderkesi Conservancy, wildlife walks, and cultural interactions with the Maasai community.

The professional guiding team that will handle your safari rank among the most qualified in Africa.

Nxamaseri Island Lodge

Nxamaseri Island Lodge is one of the oldest camps in the Okavango Delta. It was established in the early 1980s by PJ and Barney Bestelink. PJ, an experienced guide, spent months exploring the permanent water channels of the delta in search of a perfect location for his home and camp. He favoured the Nxamaseri Channel for its beauty and seclusion, and eventually elected to build his lodge on a large shady island hidden in the Nxamaseri waterways.

The lodge is best summed up in the video below:


These are just three of our favourite picks, each offering their own unique insight into the wild ways of Africa.

Get in touch with us through info@iconicafrica.com to find out about some other gems who have left their indelible mark on the industry…

Celebrating 10 Years of Iconic Africa

Posted on by James

When Londolozi Ranger John Holley picked up guest Terri Abadi from the Londolozi airstrip to host her and her family for their safari, little did he know that over a decade later they would be business partners in a venture revolving around the ruling passion in both their lives; safari.

Although having moved to Atlanta from Johannesburg in the 90’s, Terri’s love for her home continent of Africa led her to begin her own boutique travel agency in 2013. John, having a solid business pedigree and loving the safari industry himself, was looking to get involved in his own way too, largely with the aim of using travel to help promote and fund conservation initiatives.

John Holley as a young ranger at Londolozi in 2011.

And so in December of 2014, Terri and John joined forces to turn a traditional travel agency into a world-beating online travel platform that showcases the African destinations which best represent Iconic Africa’s values of opulent luxury, world-beating African hospitality, delectable contemporary cuisine and most importantly an authentic commitment to wilderness conservation.

 

Fast forward ten years, and Iconic Africa has introduced hundreds of guests from across the world to the wonders of Africa.
From the Okavango Delta to Cape Town’s foreshore to the majestic plains of the Serengeti, Iconic has left no stone unturned in their continued search for the best options for their bespoke safaris.
Each guest has a highly experienced travel specialist work through their whole itinerary with them from beginning to end, answering any questions no matter what time of day. Although Iconic works with hundreds of lodges, the preference is and always will be for those that have a heavy focus on community upliftment and conservation initiatives, whilst reducing their environmental impact at the same time through a shift to green energy and systems that reduce their carbon footprint.

Now with an office in the safari town of Hoedspruit, bordering South Africa’s Kruger National Park, Iconic Africa keep their pulse on the latest safari trends, new lodges, flight specials, and anything else that might contribute towards making a guest’s trip that much more memorable.

It’s been an amazing decade of fun, adventure, learning and making safari dreams come true.

Here’s to the next 10…

 

 

‘Phones in the Bush: Dos and Don’ts

Posted on by James

(Disclaimer: We know not everyone is on an iPhone specifically, so if we use the term iPhone we are meaning it generically – it can be both iPhone or Android)

Phones rule our lives these days.
From communication to social media to direction finding to taking photographs – you name it, they’ve got it.
But whilst these seemingly indispensable little gadgets can be exceptionally convenient in an urban environment, they have the potential to distract you from the real beauty of your safari, so we thought we’d run through a couple of Do’s and Don’ts that might help you know when or when not to pull your phone out of your pocket..

Do: Have your phone with you

We are torn when it comes to the above, since we are very much in favour of the fully disconnected bush immersion, but given that not everyone will have a mirrorless camera and big lens with them, a phone is a fantastic way of capturing images of your safari, and with camera technology improving almost daily, one can have some stunning photos to take home, but…

Don’t: Have it connected to the network

Rid yourself of messages, emails, newsfeeds or anything that might cause you to be looking needlessly at your screen, at least until you’re back at the lodge. Who knows; that split-second when you glance down to check your inbox might have been when the leopard appeared briefly in your peripheral, but you missed it. Have your phone with you, but leave the signal for after drive.

Do: Take photos

Don’t: Post them straight away

You want the record of your safari. You want to be able tho show people what you saw, what it did, how quickly the leopard climbed the tree, how close the elephants came to your safari vehicle… But there’s no need to post any of the content you capture until you’re back in your room (many safari lodges only provide wifi in the rooms, and not on deck – this encourages guests to be off their phones and present).
Posting takes time; picking the right filter, cropping, editing, maybe selecting a nice song for a reel.. all this serves to do is distract further from the magic of what’s around you. Take the photo, record the video, but once you’ve got it, put the phone away again. Save the posting for later…

Do: Use reference apps.

Don’t: Forget to ask your ranger first.

There is an untold number of apps out there providing detailed information from anything from tree longevity to frog mating calls. Most places in the world have some sot of reference for that particular area.
The Roberts’ Bird App for Southern Africa is amazingly detailed and provides a wealth of information on bird plumage, calls, distribution, mating habits and everything else that go with their life history.
Star apps can help you identify individual constellations at any time of the year. There are many wonderfully useful tools that are highly applicable in the African bush.

However, too-heavy a reliance on these apps does exactly what we’re constantly trying to discourage when out there: screen-time.

Don’t forget that your ranger (and/or tracker) are highly qualified guides into this world, and they are there for a reason. They will know the answer to most questions you might throw at them.
If the whole vehicle is stuck identifying a specific bird, by all means delve into the app, but see how fun it is trying to work it out with your guide to work it out beforehand…

Do: Keep the phone in your pocket

Don’t: Keep it on the seat next to you

We’ll end here so that we don’t end up sounding like we’re completely against the use of phones in the bush, but the best way to not be distracted by something is to limit your exposure to it. Out of sight, out of mind is very applicable in this case, and by simply keeping the phone in your seat pocket or in the pocket of your pants, you won’t be wondering who tried to call you or how many likes your latest post got. You will be left to bask in the magnificence of nature all around you, soaking in every glorious moment.

More and more phones are becoming a part of being in the bush, whether to photograph, reference or (and hopefully not) find your way home.

We’re simply saying to remember why you journeyed there in the first place; it wasn’t to look at a screen…