Sleeping in a Tented Camp while on Safari

That “Out of Africa” feeling

Sleeping in tents gives you that “Out of Africa” feeling as if you were in the movies together with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.

Sleeping under canvas makes you experience the sounds of the African bush. There is something special about the sound of the bush and many Africa visitors long to return again to the bush not because of its wildlife, the wide open spaces or the glittering night sky as all these things could be found elsewhere. But the one thing you cannot find somewhere else that easily is the sound of the African bush. You want to experience this and the best way is to sleep out in tents, so you don’t have thick walls dampening the sounds coming from the bush.

A sample of a Luxury Safari Tent

Sleeping in tents gives you a sense of adventure and you are more in touch with nature this way as well. All your senses are activated. You could hear the lions roar, the hippos grunt or hyenas whoop as if they were just outside your window – which they may well be! You could smell the poo of elephants as they pass the camp. It is said that our sense and memories are intertwined. The smell goes into the emotional parts of the brain and the memory parts, whereas words go into thinking parts of the brain.

Going on safari with tents gives you the opportunity to visit places otherwise not easily reached or available to the average safari tourist. You can sleep underneath a waterfall or at a remote landing strip. Tented camps are mobile, which means that they can be packed up and moved on to another location. They also leave no trace behind, effecting a minimal carbon footprint.

Tents and Safety

Sleeping in tents is completely safe. Wild animals and predators do not come into the tents, which can be zipped up completely and respect the tent as one big object to omit.

Tents and Comfort

Sleeping under canvas does not have to be uncomfortable. On some of our Air Safari tours, we build up our own tented camp in special places along the way. We equip each tent with best quality stretcher beds of 210 cm length x 80 cm wide, provide linen, shower facilities, lights and have the camp ready for you when you arrive.

What you should not do

Often tented camps are not fenced, so animals are free to walk through the camp. Animals don’t come into tents, so you are safe inside the tent. When leaving the tent, always close the zippers of the tent completely, so don’t leave the tent open and when it is dark carry a good flashlight so you can see where you are walking and what is in front of you.

View from the wooden deck over the Timbavati Riverbed

Tents range from the most basic canvas structures to elaborate African style safari tents with permanent decking, private swimming pool and luxury that would come close to a 5-star lodge.

Non-stationary dome tent equipped with good quality beds and linens

The tents in camps like Tamboti Tented Camp in Kruger National Park are sober. However, they are clean, spacious and have good quality beds. Some of them have ensuite bathrooms while our own build tented camps have the bathrooms, but they are not ensuite. Our own tents that we sometimes use for one or two nights to build up camp in a special place are  300 x 300 x 210 cm in size with good quality bedding on good, stable stretchers and mattresses (210 cm long and 80 cm wide, so that you can sleep well unless it is the sounds of the bush that will keep you awake!

Sleeping underneath the wings of your aircraft

If you really want to rough it, we can also offer you in some places the opportunity to sleep underneath your wings in the African bush. You don’t have to, but for some people, this is the ultimate sense of African adventure.

Camping underneath the wings of the Cessna 182 in the Kalahari Desert