BEST SAFARI

A private-island camp in the seasonally flooded Jao Reserve, explored by mokoro canoe, motorboat, or game drive depending on water levels. Solar-powered, with a private plunge pool in every suite and villa.

The only lodge inside Chobe National Park, home to one of Africa's largest elephant concentrations, with boat cruises and game drives run on an electric/solar fleet directly from the property. Rooms line a 250-metre riverfront boardwalk on the Chobe River.

Sits on Chief's Island in Moremi Game Reserve, known for dense predator populations including lion, leopard, and wild dog, with twice-daily drives across a private 45,000-hectare concession. Rebuilt in 2019 with panoramic windows and a wellness area.

The only permanent camp inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, overlooking a waterhole with a resident pride of black-maned lions. Game drives and Bushman-guided walks reach Deception Valley; a rooftop deck allows overnight sleep-outs.

On the Transpantaneira road in the world's largest tropical wetland, one of the most reliable places on Earth to see wild jaguars. Jeep, boat, and horseback safaris run from the lodge, which has operated a hyacinth macaw conservation project since 1976.

A 1920s-style tented camp on the edge of Ranthambore, where game drives pass the 10th-century fort inside the park and track one of India's most-viewed wild tiger populations. The Royal Sher Suite has its own plunge pool.

Set on 45 private acres bordering Bandhavgarh, which holds the highest recorded tiger density of any Indian reserve. Mud-walled cottages in local tribal style each open onto a private courtyard.

25 minutes from Kanha's Khatia gate, in sal and bamboo forest that inspired Kipling's Jungle Book and remains the last stronghold of the barasingha swamp deer. Cottages are built in Gond tribal style from mud plaster and local stone.

Borders India's oldest national park at Dhela village, where wild tigers and elephant herds move through the Ramganga river valley. A machaan overlooks a waterhole for wildlife viewing without a game drive.

Unfenced on the Mara River beside Musiara Marsh, a primary Great Migration crossing point, and on the same site since 1972. Up to three game drives a day are included, plus hot-air balloon safaris via the camp's own aviation company.

Overlooks its own 30,000-acre conservancy bordering Amboseli, where large-tusked "super tusker" elephants roam beneath Mount Kilimanjaro. Fully solar-powered, with bush breakfasts and Maasai-guided walking safaris.

On the Ewaso Nyiro River inside Samburu, a dry-country reserve where elephants regularly pass through camp and drives target species found in few other Kenyan parks — reticulated giraffe, Grevy's zebra, gerenuk. Tents are raised on platforms with private plunge pools facing the river.

Beneath the Chyulu Hills in Tsavo West, where volcanic springs concentrate game around the property and give the park's elephants their red-dust coat. Activities extend beyond game drives to cloud-forest hikes and lava-flow walks.

On a hillside inside the fenced soda-lake sanctuary that protects both black and white rhino. An infinity pool overlooks the lake, home to nearly 450 recorded bird species.

Not a Big Five safari — this is a rainforest reserve for lemur viewing, above all the indri, the largest living lemur. The lodge's own Lemur Island lets habituated lemurs and sifaka be seen at close range.

On the Shire River, where boat safaris are the main way to see hippo, crocodile, and elephant along the banks; rhino and cheetah have been reintroduced. A treehouse deck and underground hide add two more vantage points.

On the riverbank inside the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the most reliable places in Borneo to see wild orangutans, proboscis monkeys, and pygmy elephants by boat. Opened in 1995 and named a National Geographic Unique Lodge of the World in 2015.

At the park's historic Chitengo Camp, base for a major post-civil-war rewilding program that has restored elephant, buffalo, wildebeest, and predator populations. Game drives, walking safaris, and boat trips on Lake Urema all run from the property.

The main rest camp of Etosha, built around a floodlit waterhole that draws black rhino and elephant after dark. Self-drive game viewing covers the park's vast salt pan; a lookout tower sits directly over the waterhole.

Run with Save the Rhino Trust in the Palmwag Concession, built around multi-hour foot tracking of free-ranging black rhino. Desert-adapted elephant, lion, and Hartmann's mountain zebra also range the concession.

At the boundary of Volcanoes National Park, home to habituated mountain gorilla families and a separate golden monkey population reached on treks from the lodge. Villas are built into the amphitheater of an eroded volcanic cone; the lodge has planted over 120,000 native trees since 2017.

In Kruger's northeastern Lebombo concession, open and unfenced along the N'wanetsi River for year-round Big Five drives. Suites are built on stilts along a river gorge, some with private plunge pools.

In a reserve known for close, consistent leopard sightings from decades of ranger habituation, on an unfenced border with Kruger. Suites are raised on stilts among Jackalberry trees over the Sand River.

In a malaria-free Big Five reserve known for its reintroduced wild dog packs, with shared traversing rights across the whole reserve. Just five suites sit in the Gabbro hills above the Twene mountain range.

Yala has the highest documented density of leopards of any protected area on Earth, along with elephants, sloth bears, and crocodiles tracked by open 4x4 on twice-daily safaris. Wild Coast Tented Lodge sits on the park's boundary where its scrub jungle meets the Indian Ocean, with 28 cocoon-shaped tents built around rocky terrain and five watering holes.

Udawalawe is built around a reservoir and grassland that hold some of Sri Lanka's largest resident wild elephant herds, seen on open-jeep safaris; the park borders the Elephant Transit Home for orphaned calves. Grand Udawalawe Safari Resort sits five minutes from the park entrance across five room categories.

On a hilltop in the private 350,000-acre Singita Grumeti Reserves in the western Serengeti, a corridor the wildebeest migration crosses between the southern plains and the Mara River. Each Edwardian manor-style cottage has a private infinity plunge pool.

On the crater's western rim, overlooking one of Africa's densest concentrations of resident wildlife, including black rhino, lion, and elephant that never leave the caldera. Rooms are built into the hillside from river stone, each with a private balcony over the crater.

On the border of Tarangire, which holds one of the highest elephant densities in Africa around its river and seasonal waterholes. The main lounge is built around a centuries-old baobab beside a waterhole that draws wildlife past the property.

On a rocky outcrop in Tanzania's largest and least-visited national park, known for large elephant herds and a resident lion population along the seasonal Mwagusi River. An infinity pool overlooks baobab trees; the lodge closes mid-March through May.

On the mile-wide Rufiji River inside Nyerere National Park (the former Selous Game Reserve), East Africa's largest protected area, where boat and walking safaris supplement game drives. The camp closes mid-March through May.

Beside Bwindi's Buhoma sector, one of the last strongholds of the mountain gorilla, with a private footpath straight into the forest for trekking permits. Run by Volcanoes Safaris since 1999, with a nearby Batwa cultural program.

On the edge of Kyambura Gorge, home to its own chimpanzee population, inside a park also known for Kazinga Channel boat safaris and the tree-climbing lions of Ishasha. Converted from a former coffee store; guests can join the property's carnivore-monitoring team.

On a Luangwa River meander in the "Valley of the Leopard," birthplace of the walking safari, with guided walks led alongside an armed national park scout. Established in the 1950s as Zambia's first safari camp and now a protected national monument.

Directly on the Zambezi opposite Zimbabwe's Mana Pools, running canoe safaris, boat cruises, night drives, and walking safaris. Established in 1989 as the first camp in the Lower Zambezi.

Beside a year-round waterhole in Hwange, home to an estimated 44,000 elephants. Guests can join the camp's elephant-monitoring conservation project; a pool overlooks the waterhole.

On the Zambezi River at the western edge of Mana Pools, a UNESCO site known for guided walking safaris and canoe trips among elephant, buffalo, and lion. An elevated star-bed platform allows overnight sleep-outs.