Tag: lux travel

Singita Sasakwa Lodge – Where the Serengeti Wears a Silk Jacket

Posted on by James

Some safari camps feel like they belong to the wilderness. Singita Sasakwa feels like the wilderness decided it deserved a manor house.

Set high on the Sasakwa Hill in Singita Grumeti, this is the Serengeti with its collar pressed, its shoes polished, and its Martini served at exactly the right temperature. But don’t let the elegance fool you — you’re still in one of Africa’s wildest theatres, and the action below is anything but refined.

From the moment you arrive, Sasakwa has a certain old-world confidence. The architecture nods to grand estates and colonial-era romance, but without the stiffness. It’s expansive, warm, and quietly indulgent: long verandas, wide views, and interiors that invite you to sprawl rather than perch. The infinity pool looks out over plains that seem to go on forever, and if you’ve ever wanted to watch a storm roll across the Serengeti while wrapped in luxury, this is the place to do it.

And then there’s the safari.

Singita Grumeti is private, which means the experience has a freedom to it that’s increasingly rare. No traffic jams of vehicles. No radio chatter chaos. Just your guide, your curiosity, and a landscape that reveals itself at its own pace. One moment you’re tracking lions through grass that looks like it’s been brushed into place; the next you’re watching a leopard melt into the shadows of a riverine thicket as if it was never there at all.

If you time it right, you also have the Great Migration in your orbit — the kind of spectacle that makes you realise nature is capable of excess. Thousands of wildebeest, zebra, dust, noise, urgency. And then, later, back at Sasakwa, everything slows again. A bath with a view. A drink on the lawn. A dinner that feels like a private event, even when it’s simply your own table under the stars.

Sasakwa is for travellers who love the romance of safari, but also appreciate the finer things: space, service, and the luxury of feeling entirely unhurried. It’s the Serengeti, yes — but it’s the Serengeti dressed for the occasion.

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.

Jao Camp: Let the Water Teach You to Slow Down

Posted on by James

Most safaris begin with a map: roads, tracks, loops and river crossings. Jao Camp begins with a different philosophy — let the water decide. The Okavango Delta is famously unpredictable, rising and receding at its own whim, turning woodlands into lagoons and plains into mirror-smooth channels. Jao doesn’t fight this; it reveres it. And guests very quickly learn to do the same.

From the moment you arrive, elevated walkways signal the shift in perspective. You move through palm islands at tree-crown level, brushing past birdlife that seems only mildly surprised by your presence. Suites are generous to the point of indulgence — private decks, plunge pools, gauzy interiors that glow softly in Delta light — but nothing feels showy. Everything serves one quiet purpose: to invite you to unwind.

The rhythm here is governed entirely by water. When the flood is high, mokoro excursions become poetry in motion — a silent glide past lilies, reed frogs, jacanas stepping delicately across floating leaves. Boat outings open up the wider channels, sometimes revealing elephants swimming in slow motion, or a fish eagle perched in just the right shaft of light. When the waters pull back, game drives explore floodplains now etched with fresh tracks: lions, leopards, wild dogs, and the occasional sable giving you a regal once-over.

One of Jao’s most underrated luxuries is its sense of spaciousness — not in size, but in tempo. There’s permission here to move slowly. To linger in the hide while storm clouds bruise the horizon. To surrender to an afternoon spa treatment because thunder murmuring across the water feels like the day’s natural metronome. To enjoy dinner on the deck by lantern-light, listening to lechwe splashing distantly in the shallows.

Some camps help you see wildlife. Jao helps you feel the Delta. And in doing so, it becomes less a safari destination and more a gentle recalibration — a reminder that life is richer when you let nature set the pace.

Singita Kwitonda: Where the Path to the Gorillas Begins

Posted on by James

Some journeys announce themselves loudly: roaring waterfalls, thundering hooves, sweeping plains. Others begin in a whisper — a curl of mist drifting across a volcanic slope, a soft crackle of bamboo, a quiet exhale in the forest as a mountain gorilla meets your gaze. Singita Kwitonda Lodge exists for that kind of journey: the kind that stays with you long after your boots are clean and your heartbeat has settled.

Built on the edge of Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, Kwitonda doesn’t feel placed in the landscape so much as grown from it. The lodge’s architecture — timber walkways, lava-stone walls, huge panes of glass framing the volcanoes — creates a feeling of being held inside the ecosystem rather than observing it. It’s soft-spoken luxury: fireplaces quietly glowing, deep sofas encouraging you to sink rather than sit, and staff who anticipate your needs with the gentleness of people who understand the emotional weight of a gorilla trek.

That trek is the axis on which every day turns. Mornings begin early with rich Rwandan coffee, boots waiting, gaiters neatly arranged, and a palpable sense of anticipation humming through the air. Guides brief you with the kind of calm, precise storytelling that turns nerves into excitement. And then you’re walking — into a forest that feels ancient, alive, and almost sentient.

The encounter itself is often described as moving, profound, transformative. What’s remarkable about Kwitonda is how it holds you after that experience. You return mud-splattered, wide-eyed, and slightly overwhelmed, and without a single forced word, the lodge creates space for reflection. A hot shower, a warm drink, the quiet crackle of a fire — these aren’t amenities; they’re invitations to process what just happened.

In the end, the true luxury of Kwitonda is its deep respect for the moment you’re here to have. It doesn’t compete with the gorillas. It doesn’t rush you past them. It simply builds a sanctuary around the most extraordinary hour you may ever spend in nature.

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.

Ngala Tented Camp: Where Silence Has a Shape

Posted on by James

Some camps arrive with a flourish. Ngala Tented Camp doesn’t need to. Tucked beneath a line of ancient river trees along the banks of the Timbavati, it feels less like a lodge and more like something the landscape has been guarding for years — revealed only when you’re ready to notice it.

Ngala has always existed in that sweet spot between wild and minimalist. Canvas suites open directly onto the riverbed, where the daily cast of elephants, nyalas, and the occasional leopard drift past with the nonchalance of residents who pay no attention to human check-in times. The tents themselves are masterclasses in understatement: soft palettes, clean lines, and textures that let the wilderness do most of the talking.

And that’s Ngala’s quiet superpower — it knows when not to speak.

This is a camp that rewards the unhurried. Early mornings begin with the soft groan of branches stretching in the cool air, followed by coffee strong enough to stand up on its own. On game drive, the Timbavati reveals its subtler layers: the flick of a white tail through the thickets, a fresh drag mark across the sand, the unmistakable rasp of a leopard calling from somewhere just beyond the bend. The guides here have a knack for making the bush feel like a story unfolding rather than a checklist being ticked.

Afternoons stretch out in that dreamy, in-between way the Lowveld specialises in. You can sit on your deck and watch the river exhale as the heat deepens, or laze in the pool listening to the wind rehearsing through the jackalberries. Here, even doing nothing feels purposeful.

Evenings are lantern-lit and low tempo. Dinner might be under the fever trees or beside the water’s edge, each setting a reminder that Ngala’s real gift is the way it frames simplicity as luxury. No theatrics, no noise — just a deep, resonant sense of place.

Where some lodges make you feel pampered, Ngala makes you feel restored. The kind of refreshed that comes not from being entertained, but from being allowed to simply exist in a landscape that’s been doing fine for millennia without interruptions.

Ngala Tented Camp is safari distilled — quiet, thoughtful, and all the more powerful because of it.

What Would It Take for a Safari Lodge to Earn a Michelin Key?

Posted on by James

Until now, Michelin has mostly told us where to eat, not where to sleep. But that’s changing. The famed guide has unfurled a new rating system for hotels and lodges — the Michelin Key — a sibling to the coveted Michelin Star, and a new yardstick for excellence in stays.

It’s an intriguing idea for the safari world, where barefoot luxury and wilderness don’t always fit neatly into the same tick-box criteria. How do you score a night filled with lion calls against a night filled with thread counts?

Michelin’s inspectors look for five things: architecture and design, consistency of service, personality, value for money, and connection to place. It’s that last one that feels most relevant to safari lodges. Connection to place is the heartbeat of the experience — the sense that the land, the wildlife, and the people aren’t just backdrops, but protagonists in the story.

By those standards, Africa already has its share of Michelin-worthy contenders. The design brilliance of Singita Sabora, the restraint and intimacy of Mara Nyika, the wild purity of Busanga Plains, and the playful luxury of Ulusaba all whisper the same thing: this is excellence defined by soul, not excess.

Of course, no one’s likely to find an inspector with a clipboard crouched beside a termite mound anytime soon. The Michelin Key isn’t just about imported standards — it’s about recognising that the best stays, like the best meals, create something intangible. A mood. A memory. A moment that lingers.

So, what would it take for a safari lodge to earn a Michelin Key? Probably the same things that make the bush unforgettable in the first place: an architecture that listens to its surroundings, service that anticipates without intruding, and a sense of belonging so strong it feels as though the land itself has checked you in.

If that’s the benchmark, Africa’s already set the table. Michelin just needs to find a way to reach it.

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.

Tswalu Kalahari: The Luxury of Isolation

Posted on by James

There’s a point somewhere between Upington and eternity where the Kalahari opens up and you start to feel very small. That’s usually the moment you realise you’re getting close to Tswalu.

South Africa’s largest privately protected reserve has never really played by anyone else’s rules. While other lodges might measure their worth in thread count or wine lists, Tswalu deals in something far rarer — space. Here, luxury isn’t about what’s added, but what’s absent: crowds, noise, clutter, deadlines. The silence is a currency all its own.

The new Loapi Camp, Tswalu’s most recent addition, continues this philosophy of elegant restraint — a collection of glass-fronted safari homes scattered like mirages across the dunes. Everything is deliberate yet unforced: natural materials, clean lines, textures that echo the desert itself. It’s architecture designed to defer to the landscape, not dominate it.

But what sets Tswalu apart isn’t just the design — it’s the depth of experience. Tracking pangolins under starlight with researchers. Following a coalition of cheetahs through the ochre grass. Sharing a breakfast of Kalahari truffles and poached eggs while the horizon hums with heat. The encounters here feel less like safaris and more like quiet collaborations with the wild.

Condé Nast’s readers regularly place Tswalu among Africa’s finest, yet its real brilliance is how little it seems to care about that. This is a place that hums to its own frequency — one of patience, purpose, and deep respect.

In a year when Michelin Keys and global accolades are reshaping how we define excellence, Tswalu stands as a gentle reminder: true luxury isn’t found in perfection, but in perspective. It’s the feeling of being utterly alone, yet completely connected — to the land, to the moment, to something far older than both.

Ulusaba: Safari, With a Wink

Posted on by James

Most luxury lodges lean on hushed tones and reverence for the wilderness. Ulusaba, Richard Branson’s private slice of the Sabi Sand, does all that — but it also has a twinkle in its eye. It’s safari, yes, but safari that knows how to have a little fun.

The property is split between three lodges: Rock Lodge, perched high on a koppie with views that stretch forever, and Safari Lodge, tucked into the riverine forest where rope bridges link treehouse-style rooms. And then there’s the newest kid on the block: Cliff Lodge; just two ultra-private suites carved into the rock, perfect for families or friends who want the whole “this is OUR patch of Africa” feeling. Private pools, epic decks, and views so good you might forget to go on game drive (don’t worry, the rangers will remind you).
All three come with the sort of playful details Branson is famous for — think surprise champagne stops in the bush and the kind of storytelling that turns an ordinary sundowner into a small event.

Wildlife here is the main draw, of course. Ulusaba sits in the heart of the Sabi Sand, one of the best places on Earth to see leopards. Lions, rhinos, buffalo, and elephants make daily appearances, but it’s the frequency and intimacy of big cat sightings that has made this region legendary. The rangers and trackers here are sharp, and they know how to read the land with the kind of confidence that comes only from decades of experience.

Yet what sets Ulusaba apart is its refusal to take itself too seriously. The service is seamless, but never stiff. Staff banter with guests as though you’re part of the family, and evenings often end with laughter rising into the night alongside the distant roar of a lion. If other lodges are symphonies, Ulusaba is more like jazz: polished, but with a streak of improvisation that keeps it fresh.

For all its playfulness, the lodge doesn’t skimp on indulgence. Rock Lodge has a wine cellar and spa treatments with sweeping views. Safari Lodge offers shaded pools and private decks perfect for doing absolutely nothing. And when the day’s game drive is done, you can expect a dinner that balances serious culinary flair with a sense of occasion.

Ulusaba is proof that luxury can be lighthearted. That you can sip fine wine and watch the sunset, but also laugh when the resident vervet monkeys make a grab for your toast at breakfast. Because the best safaris aren’t just about what you see — they’re about how it all makes you feel. And Ulusaba makes you feel alive, in on the joke, and right at home.

Busanga Plains: Where Luxury Tiptoes Into the Wild

Posted on by James

If Singita Sabora feels like theatre, Busanga Plains is closer to unscripted documentary — no retakes, no stage lighting, just the raw pulse of the African wilderness.

Deep in Zambia’s Kafue National Park, the camp sits in the middle of a seasonally flooded grassland so vast it makes the horizon feel like a rumour. For much of the year, these plains are inaccessible. When the waters retreat, they reveal one of Africa’s most dramatic safari arenas: red lechwe bounding through the shallows, herds of puku grazing in golden light, and lions that have learned to hunt where most cats would hesitate to get their paws wet.

Busanga Plains Camp itself doesn’t try to outshine the setting. It couldn’t, and it doesn’t need to. The lodge is deliberately small, with just a handful of tented suites raised on wooden decks. You’ll find comfortable beds, hot showers, and lantern-lit dinners — but don’t expect chandeliers or wine cellars. Here, the luxury is space. Silence. The sense that you’ve stumbled into Africa before the world got crowded.

Game drives roll out across the plains like expeditions. Some mornings are about elephants and buffalo drifting through the mist. Others deliver the famous Busanga lion prides, often lounging on termite mounds like they own the place (which they do). If you’re lucky, you might spot a cheetah carving a line through the long grass, or watch crowned cranes rising in a flurry of wings as the sun sets.

Evenings back at camp are their own reward. Sitting by the fire, the vastness pressing in from all sides, you become acutely aware of just how remote you are. No highway hum, no faint glow of a distant town. Just stars — millions of them — and the steady chorus of the marsh.

Busanga isn’t safari with trimmings; it’s safari distilled. It’s for travellers who crave the edge of adventure but still appreciate a crisp linen sheet at the end of the day. The kind of place that makes you feel small, in the best possible way.

Singita Sabora: Serengeti Theatre

Posted on by James

Some places you check into. Others, you quite literally arrive. Singita Sabora is firmly in the latter camp. It doesn’t just sit in the Serengeti; it unfurls across it, like a lavish set design waiting for the curtain to rise.

Set in the private Grumeti Reserve, Sabora has all the cinematic grandeur you’d expect from Singita, but with a modern twist. Think sweeping canvas tents — though “tent” feels like a disservice when your suite has Persian rugs, curated antiques, and a four-poster bed that could comfortably accommodate a small wildebeest herd. Out front, the Serengeti plains stretch until they dissolve into a mirage. At night, the soundtrack is equal parts hyena cackles and the fizz of your G&T.

Where Sabora really excels is in its balance of indulgence and immersion. One minute you’re lounging in a leather campaign chair, thumbing through a design book you didn’t know you needed in your life. The next, you’re out on game drive, watching a cheetah test the limits of physics as it streaks across the golden grass. The lodge sits right on the migratory route, so if you time it right, you can sip your morning coffee as a column of wildebeest trundles by — a reminder that in this theatre, the extras number in the thousands.

Meals here are another performance. Candlelit dinners on the deck blur into starlit skies. The menu is a masterclass in contradiction: refined yet rooted, locally inspired yet globally polished. Even the wine cellar, improbably stocked with South Africa’s finest vintages, feels like a nod to the fact that luxury in the bush isn’t just about where you are, but how well you’re looked after while you’re there.

And yet, amidst all the design flourishes and high-thread-count whispers, Sabora manages not to lose its sense of place. Step outside your suite and you’re reminded quickly that this is still big wilderness. Giraffes drift like apparitions between acacias, lions call at dusk, and the Serengeti light — that ever-changing, golden wash — steals the show at every hour.

Sabora is proof that you can have it both ways: the romance of classic safari and the thrill of contemporary design. Here, the Serengeti isn’t just a backdrop. It’s the main character, and you, for a few days, are written into the script.

Lemala Osonjoi: Ngorongoro Reimagined

Posted on by James

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is one of Africa’s most iconic and unique wildlife havens. This extinct volcano crater in Tanzania boasts an incredible profusion of wildlife, with its ancient volcanic soils providing the nourishment that brings in the herbivores, which in turn attract the predators like lions, leopards and hyenas.
Some of the most densely-packed game viewing on the continent is to be found on the crater floor!

Scheduled to open in 2025, Lemala Osonjoi Lodge is the latest addition to the Lemala portfolio and being conveniently located close to the Lemala Gate of Ngorongoro, provides a more gradual access road with game viewing en route.

The eastern quadrant of the Crater sees fewer visitors than the west, especially first thing in the morning and last thing in the afternoon – those critical hours when game viewing is at its best.

Lemala Osonjoi stands to offer guests unparalleled access to the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera that is Ngorongoro.

Positioned just back from the crater rim, Lemala Osonjoi is ideally located for early morning and late afternoon game drives, allowing guests to enjoy the environment without the crowds. The quicker descent to the crater floor is perfect for early risers or photographers in search of ideal light conditions. In just 10 to 15 minutes, you can be in and amongst the abundant wildlife that roams here.
For those seeking adventure beyond game drives, guided nature walks along the crater rim and through the nearby forests are available, led by an expert ranger and a Maasai guide team who will share their deep knowledge of the land.

After a thrilling day on safari, return to the comforts of Lemala Osonjoi’s luxurious suites.
With twenty spacious accommodations, including two-bedroom suites ideal for families or groups, each room is designed to blend elegance with comfort.
Picture windows allow the highland light to flood into the suites, offering guests breathtaking views of the surrounding forests. In cooler evenings, cozy up by the wood stove, wrapped in a winter-weight duvet, or indulge in the warmth of hot water bottles.


En suite bathrooms feature double vanities, walk-in showers, and even outdoor bathing options, creating a spa-like experience in the wilderness. The lodge also boasts an indoor heated swimming pool and a dedicated spa suite where guests can unwind with treatments from expert therapists.

Osonjoi’s Best Points:

  • Its proximity to the quiet eastern access road to Ngorongoro means fewer crowds and better game viewing during peak wildlife hours. What’s more, one of the lodge’s most unique offerings is a full day catered safari lunch on the crater floor, a rare privilege in this protected area.
  • From the spacious, beautifully designed suites to the spa and heated pool, Osonjoi offers the perfect blend of wilderness and luxury.
  • Whether it’s the early morning game drives or the guided walks with Maasai guides, guests are guaranteed unforgettable encounters with Africa’s most iconic wildlife.

What Lens to Take on Safari?

Posted on by James

The old adage of “The best camera to have is the one you have with you” will always stand true on safari, and the same can be said for lenses.
Most scenes and/or sightings can be reimagined to make your lens work for you, from an 8mm fish-eye to an 800mm zoom.

Ok that might be stretching it a little, as a proper wide-angle won’t get you that nice close up of a bird from forty metres away, nor will you be able to encompass a whole pride of lions next to your vehicle in one photo with a mega-zoom, but if you do happen to find yourself seemingly limited by your lens choice, simply zoom out (figuratively), and start to imagine what’s in front of you in a new way.

The solution of course is simply to have a selection of lenses with you, and move between them as the situation dictates, but multiple lenses can start getting expensive and heavy, not to mention dust-filled if you are constantly switching them out. Multiple camera bodies take care of this latter problem, but again you start encountering extra weight and expense.

What we want to do here is give a brief run through of some of the most commonly used lenses on safari, what they’re good for, and which parts of Africa you should be sure to pack them for.

WIDE ANGLE

These lenses are essentially wider than 35mm. They can be fixed or zoom lenses. The 16-35mm range is a popular one.
Wide-angle are severely underrated in the safari world. The tendency for most safari-goers is to want to zoom in close. This can be great if you’re after detail, or trying to isolate a single subject, but just because you can zoom, doesn’t mean you should. More often than not, by zooming in too much you are excluding critical elements of the photographic story. Wide angle lenses allow you to capture an entire scene, not just one single element of it.
Landscapes, big herds of elephants, room interiors… these are a few things you might want a wide-angle for. Astrophotography is pretty much impossible without a wide-angle, and they can be very effective in exaggerating the scale of something (see the elephant photo below).

Wider is often better, and since these lenses are quite compact more often than not, they won’t take up too much room in your camera bag.

Best Destinations for Wide-Angle: Namibia, Cape Town

MEDIUM ZOOM

Between 50mm and 300mm is generally your sweet spot if yu want a lens to tick as many boxes as possible. Wide enough to capture a landscape is an animal is far enough away from you, but with enough zoom to really be able to isolate a subject if its proximity allows for it. The 70-200mm f2.8 lens is the mainstay of wildlife photographers around the world, and Canon, Nikon and Sony all make one.

The f2.8 aperture is wide enough to be able to carry on shooting in low light conditions (eg. dawn and dusk), and in areas where the wildlife is habituated to vehicles and can therefore come quite close, any more zoom just feels excessive.

Best Destinations for Medium Zoom: Sabi Sands, Lower Zambezi, Gorilla Trekking

FIXED TELEPHOTO

Starting from 300mm, things start to get interesting. Your zoom is starting to pack a real punch, and fixed zoom lenses generally allow for wider apertures, which ultimately means better low-light performance, higher shutter speeds and fewer missed shots. The 400mm f2.8 in particular is an incredible lens.
The image quality tends to be superb, but since the focal length is fixed, you can sometimes feel a bit constrained. This is when a bit of creativity can be necessary.

With 500mm, 600mm and 800mm you are dealing with seriously bulky lenses, They can take amazing photos – portraits of a lions face from a good distance, crisp shots of tiny birds that make them look larger than life – but the lack of mobility can be a hindrance. Some sort of support in the form of a bean bag or Wimberley arm is needed when shooting from a vehicle, or a tripod if you are on foot.

Best Destinations for Fixed Telephoto: Serengeti, Maasai Mara, any bird-focused photography trip.

There is no right or wrong in your lens selection.
Certain lenses might be the only way to capture specific images, but sightings need not be restricted to those specific images; it’s ultimately up to your imagination how you choose to represent a sighting.

Be sure to get in touch with us through info@iconicafrica.com if you need any sort of photographic advice for your African safari.

Cape Town’s Culinary Delights

Posted on by James

It came as no surprise to us that the readers of Condé Naste Traveller voted for Cape Town as the Best City for Food in the World.

We have long felt confident that the culinary offerings from this most magnificent of destinations right down near Africa’s southern end would measure up to anywhere else on the globe, through an unbeatable combination of pure quality, variety and location, location, location!

From the azure waters of the Atlantic Ocean in summer to a warm fireside in the Franschoek Valley when there’s snow on the mountains in the depths of winter, the sheer range of overall experiences here mean you could try something new 365 days a year and never run out of options.

There’s certainly far more to Cape Town than its dining opportunities, but at Iconic Africa we certainly feel that a visit to this Iconic destination should certainly feature as much variety as possible when it comes to mealtimes, so that end we’ve picked four of our favourites:

Wine Farm Luncheon:

With close to 600 wine farms within 100km of South Africa’s Mother City, you’re spoiled for choice right from the get go.
Thankfully you barely have to go even ten kilometres to be right in amongst some of the best that the country has to offer, with the Constantia area – only about a 20 minute drive from the City centre – featuring many of the vineyards that have become household names; Constantia Glen, Groot Constantia and Steenberg to name a few.
Moving east towards Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, the choices only multiply, and you can sip on a Pinot Noir from Starke-Conde vineyards in Jonkershoek Valley whilst feeling like you might be in a remote hamlet in the Swiss Alps.

For those on a day-trip from Cape Town, we recommend enjoying a lunch out in the Stellenbosch/Franschhoek winelands so as allow enough time for the drive home.

Seaside Dining Overlooking the Atlantic

Again; spoilt for choice.

From fresh oysters at Tintswalo Atlantic to the incredible menu at The Nines in a high-rise in Sea Point, the view out over the ocean from anywhere along Cape Town’s Atlantic seaboard will immediately elevate your enjoyment of your meal by 15%.
Whether it’s humpback whales breaching in Springtime or simply an impressive cargo ship approaching the port, there’s always some sort of drama to be seen out on the sea.

Pizzas in Town

Whether it’s Italian, Thai, Asian Fusion, traditional South African or of course seafood, there’s something for you in Cape Town.
There has been a recent surge in boutique pizza houses, with three that immediately come to mind as our front-runners; Pizza Shed in Bree Street, Lievita near the Waterfront and Novo in Little Mowbray.
All three feature the latest pizza trend in South Africa; puffy-crusted Neapolitan-style variety, with easily identifiable leopard-spot blisters. The original flavours and combinations of toppings at all three restaurants are superb (the pepperoni and hot honey at Pizza Shed is one of our favourites!), and when we are in town we’re always torn between which spot to choose if it’s pizza we feel like!

Anywhere in Nature

The beauty of Cape Town is you never feel too far from being in the wild.
Whether you’re on top of Table Mountain or settling down to a beach picnic within a kilometre of the CBD, you will still feel removed from the hustle and bustle normally associated with a major city.

Cape Farmhouse Beer Garden is just a stone’s throw from Cape Point Nature Reserve. The restaurant at the Upper Cable Station will feed you after either a hike up Platteklip Gorge or a stunning Cablecar ride. Or African Lynx tours – who we make use of for many of our clients – will provide a sumptuous spread wherever you happen to be spending the day out and about.
Dining outside is the real way to enjoy the Cape Town culinary experience – weather dependent of course – and we’ll try to ensure that all of our guests get to enjoy something of Cape Town’s majesty during at least one of their meals.

There are literally thousands – thousands – of dining options for Cape Town visitors, so the choice can be overwhelming. Small local restaurants compete with the more established household names, and we like to think we know about both.
So if you’re booking with us and travelling to Cape Town, let us know what type of cuisine interests you the most, and we’ll take care of the rest…