Where You Sleep

A lodge is a permanent building of stone, timber and thatch with solid walls, glass windows, plumbed hot water and round-the-clock power. A camp is canvas — either permanent, pitched on timber decks in the same place each season, or mobile, relocating two or three times a year to follow the migration. Camps put you closer to the sound of the bush; lodges are more reliable and more comfortable.

Yes. Every tent we use is en-suite, typically with an eco-flush loo, a washbasin and a shower cubicle behind the sleeping area. At classic and mobile camps the shower is often a canvas bucket filled with hot water on request; at luxury camps and lodges it is plumbed and pressurised. Nobody is walking to a shared block.

Lodges have 24-hour mains or generator power and usually working Wi-Fi in public areas. Tented camps run on solar, frequently switching the inverter off overnight, with charging points in the mess tent rather than in your tent. Remote fly-in camps often have no connectivity at all — which many guests come to appreciate.

Most are deliberately unfenced, because fencing would cut the wildlife corridors the camp exists to sit beside. Animals do walk through at night. The protocol is simple and effective: an armed askari escorts you between your tent and the mess after dark, and you stay inside your tent until collected in the morning. Follow it and the safety record across the industry is excellent.

A lodge, or a permanent tented camp on high ground. Mobile camps are harder work in heavy rain and many close entirely between March and May. Solid roofs, drainage and reliable road access matter far more in the green season than they do in July.

Yes. Several small camps of six to ten tents can be taken on sole use, and there are purpose-built private houses across the northern circuit with their own guide, vehicle and chef. It is the usual choice for multi-generational family groups and works out well per head once you are eight or more.

Camps inside a national park or on a bordering concession put you in the wildlife area from the moment you leave your tent. Lodges outside the gate can mean an hour's drive each way before the day starts. If early-morning light matters to you, that transit time is the single most important thing to check — and we list it for every property we quote.

No. Every camp and lodge we use provides bedding, towels, mosquito nets and a laundry service. Even mobile camps supply proper beds with duvets rather than sleeping bags. Bring a torch and a power bank; everything else is there.