A Private Group Safari to Tanzania

Overview

Deep in the Serengeti National Park is where you’ll find Wilderness Usawa Camp, a mobile camp that follows the wildebeest migration. The location of the camp shifts as the migration progresses, with a preference for sites that offer easy access to key highlights, like river crossings, but that are also set apart from the more crowded spaces offering you a sense of privacy. Attention is also paid to the game-viewing experience in general when selecting camp locations from month to month.

Wilderness Usawa Camp accommodates 12 guests in six spacious en-suite tents. These are solar-powered and completely mobile so no fixtures are left behind, meaning only a light footprint is left on the Earth. During your stay you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy a locally sourced and grown gourmet menu, which supports the surrounding communities, small businesses, farms and suppliers in Tanzania due to how the camp reduces food waste through its creative preparation methods.

As the seasonal migration moves throughout the year across the expanse of the park, the camps will be in rotation around the key locations closest to the herds. Though reasonably predictable, herd movements are dictated by rain and tend to migrate from the south in a north-westerly direction before making their way up north around September. From there, the journey begins back to the south. Locations include Kusini, Moru West Area, Ngarenanyuki/Gol Kopje area, Kilimafetha area, Grumeti, Bologonja and Lamai. The wildlife you’ll be able to spot include Thomson’s gazeles, Wildebeests and lions.

Activities to take part in during your adventure with Wilderness Usawa Camp consist of early morning game drives, during which you can watch as the sun’s rays seep across the Serengeti’s savannah,  along with guided walks across the plains. You can also settle back against a blanket under the night sky and watch as the stars shimmer above this African haven.

Overview

Lamai Serengeti Lodge has a pride of place up on a kopje overlooking the vast open Serengeti plains towards the Maasai Mara in Kenya. With just 12 delightfully stylish rooms all perched in, around and on top of the rock, you will be extremely well catered for and feel heartened by this little bit of paradise.

Ideally placed to catch sightings of the migration as it attempts to cross the Mara River (July to October), this lodge offers you an experience that is highly sought after in relation to the epic journey of these fantastic beasts. The northern Serengeti, which is where Lamai is perfectly located, is a rather different world to the southern part of the park.

With a continuous supply of lush foliage to munch on, the plains game in this area rarely needs to move on in search for greener pastures. This in turn means that the predators don’t have to leave the sanctuary of their territories to hunt and they remain rather smug in the areas around the lodge.

Although leopards have a larger territorial space to traverse, they don’t need to exhaust themselves and can sometimes be seen elusively stalking among the kopjes that are so typical of this part of the Serengeti.

Not far from the main lodge is a smaller, more private and exclusive lodge which has four rooms and neither lodge has any idea they exist. Each camp has its own pool, dining and lounge areas. Both are classically designed and made to completely fit in with their surroundings. Making use of the rocks they are built on, the rooms are a mix of canvas and more sturdy materials and have spectacular views from on high. Each has its own private viewing deck and veranda for those spectacular sundowners.

Overview

Built around the rocks of the Kogakuria Kopje, the private Mkombe’s House is the perfect safari retreat for families, especially those with young children.

With two airy open front rooms for adults and two secure children’s bedrooms, the house can sleep up four adults and six children. All the rooms have en suite bathrooms.

The contemporary House is entirely self-contained and has its own dining room and lounge, plunge pool and larger swimming pool and outside chill-out areas with fabulous views across the plains of the Serengeti. Looked after by dedicated waiting and house-keeping staff, guests can plan a varied daily menu with the in-house chef.

Days are completely flexible with no schedules or other guests to worry about. Head out on privately guided game drives, guided walks (for over those over 12), bush picnics and sun downers. Youngsters can also explore the kopje in search of lizards, hyrax and other harmless creatures.