On June 2, Sanc­tu­ary Zebra Plains opened for busi­ness in South Luangwa, Zam­bia. Zebra Plains promises the ulti­mate bush expe­di­tion for adven­ture seekers—a walk­ing safari com­bined with fine din­ing and high-end tented accommodations.

Respected guide Garth Hov­ell leads two walks each day at Sanc­tu­ary Zebra Plains and it’s com­mon for guests to see hip­pos, hun­dreds of species of birds, zebra, ele­phant, ante­lope, buf­falo, puku, lion, leop­ard, and wild dog. In addi­tion to Hov­ell, safari-goers are accom­pa­nied by armed game scouts and a tea bearer. Depar­tures are set on Mon­day and Thurs­day, with a three-night stay minimum.

The inti­macy of this safari expe­ri­ence is main­tained with just four tents—two dou­bles and two twins. Each tent has a bed, com­fort­able fur­ni­ture, mos­quito nets, en suite facil­i­ties and a flush toi­let. Water for al fresco show­ers is mixed to your pre­ferred tem­per­a­ture by a tent atten­dant. Meals are taken in the main mess tent with a full din­ing area, library, and bar.

This sea­sonal camp is open from June to Octo­ber each year and is designed to leave the low­est pos­si­ble car­bon foot­print. In fact, in between sea­sons the camp is packed up leav­ing no trace…as if it were never there.

Zebra Plains is offer­ing an open­ing spe­cial: book a stay for two at Zebra Plains and the sec­ond guest’s stay is half price (a sav­ings up to $825). This deal is valid for new book­ings for travel that takes place between June 1 and Octo­ber 31, 2011.

Con­sider com­bin­ing the walk­ing safari with a stay at Sanctuary’s per­ma­nent lodges in South Luangwa: Sanc­tu­ary Puku Ridge Camp and Sanc­tu­ary Chichele Pres­i­den­tial Lodge, where they are cur­rently offer­ing three nights for the price of two.

For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact your travel agent or Sanc­tu­ary Retreats.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Sanc­tu­ary Resorts

Sanc­tu­ary Retreats reached out to me today to let me know about a change to the yel­low fever vac­ci­na­tion rec­om­men­da­tions in Africa.

Accord­ing to Sanc­tu­ary, the World Health Organ­i­sa­tion (WHO) recently revised its yel­low fever vac­ci­na­tion rec­om­men­da­tions for the con­ti­nent. As a result, the South African Depart­ment of Health issued a state­ment that all trav­el­ers from South Africa to Zam­bia and trav­el­ers from Zam­bia to South Africa will now require proof of a yel­low fever vac­ci­na­tion. This was not pre­vi­ously required.

All in-transit pas­sen­gers between the two des­ti­na­tions, irre­spec­tive of the time period in tran­sit, will also require proof of yel­low fever vaccination.

Con­sult your doc­tor about this change or find a physi­cian spe­cial­iz­ing in travel med­i­cine at the Amer­i­can Soci­ety of Trop­i­cal Med­i­cine and Hygiene or the Inter­na­tional Soci­ety of Travel Med­i­cine. Also, don’t miss the CDC’s Health Infor­ma­tion for Trav­el­ers to Zam­bia.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

NEWS FROM SANCTUARY CHICHELE PRESIDENTIAL LODGE, ZAMBIA—On April 13, His Excel­lency Dr. Ken­neth Kaunda vis­ited Sanc­tu­ary Chichele Pres­i­den­tial Lodge to offi­cially re-open the prop­erty after an exten­sive refur­bish­ment. The lodge was orig­i­nally built in the 1970s for Dr. Kaunda, the first Repub­li­can pres­i­dent of Zam­bia, as his pri­vate retreat in the South Luangwa National Park.

The open­ing cer­e­mony was also attended by other dig­ni­taries includ­ing for­mer First Lady and now Deputy Min­is­ter of Tourism Vera Tembo, The Hon­ourable Min­is­ter of East­ern Province Isaac Banda, His Royal High­ness Chief Makumbi and Tim­o­thy Mushibwe, Chair­man of the Zam­bian Tourism Board, along with mem­bers of the local media.

Dur­ing his speech, for­mer pres­i­dent Dr. Kaunda thanked Sanc­tu­ary Retreats for the sig­nif­i­cant invest­ment made in Zam­bia and the role they are play­ing in pro­mot­ing tourism in the coun­try. He empha­sised that tourism is crit­i­cal for the devel­op­ment of the local econ­omy in Zam­bia as it pro­vides employ­ment for local peo­ple and assists in the fight against HIV and Aids.

His Excel­lency also had time for a game drive in the val­ley where he spot­ted plenty of wildlife includ­ing the noto­ri­ous Chichele pride of lions on a buf­falo kill with their three small cubs, before end­ing the day with cel­e­bra­tory sun­downer drinks on the mag­nif­i­cent Chichele Hill.

His Excel­lency stayed over at Sanc­tu­ary Chichele Pres­i­den­tial Lodge and left the next morn­ing with these kind words: “How won­der­ful to come back here to Chichele. The recep­tion was as out­stand­ing as always with won­der­ful and mean­ing­ful smiles.”

For more infor­ma­tion about Sanc­tu­ary Chichele Pres­i­den­tial Lodge, talk with your travel agent or con­tact Sanc­tu­ary Retreats.

Photo cour­tesy of Sanc­tu­ary Retreats

Happy Birth­day, Goron­gosa National Park! On this day in 1960, the Goron­gosa Reserve in Mozam­bique was degreed a national park. It had been a game reserve since 1935.

You may have heard about Goron­gosa when reporter Scott Pel­ley fea­tured the national park on 60 Min­utes in a seg­ment called “Sav­ing a Global Trea­sure.” View the video clip of Goron­gosa on 60 Min­utes.

With FIFA’s 2010 World Cup soc­cer cham­pi­onships going on now, many eyes are turned toward South Africa. If you haven’t yet vis­ited one of the country’s many lux­ury safari lodges, you are miss­ing out. Hid­den away in the bush, these opu­lent lodges rival the best Euro­pean hotels in terms of ser­vice, food and wine, and some­times even spa treat­ments. Of course, the real draw of any safari is the chance to get close to the “Big Five:” ele­phant, lion, Cape buf­falo, leop­ard, and black rhi­noc­eros. In most of South Africa’s game reserves, you’ll see those species as well as many others

With FIFA’s 2010 World Cup soc­cer cham­pi­onships going on now, many eyes are turned toward South Africa. If you haven’t yet vis­ited one of the country’s many lux­ury safari lodges, you are miss­ing out. Hid­den away in the bush, these opu­lent lodges rival the best Euro­pean hotels in terms of ser­vice, food and wine, and some­times even spa treat­ments. Of course, the real draw of any safari is the chance to get close to the “Big Five:” ele­phant, lion, Cape buf­falo, leop­ard, and black rhi­noc­eros. In most of South Africa’s game reserves, you’ll see those species as well as many others

If the World Cup has piqued your inter­est in South Africa, con­sider these lux­ury lodges:

Sabi Sands Pri­vate Game Reserve

Leop­ard Hills
Aptly named, you often won’t have to leave camp to see leop­ards. The res­i­dent female is fre­quently seen drink­ing from guest plunge pools and loung­ing on lodge decks. She has even left her cub on prop­erty while she went off hunt­ing. If you don’t spot a leop­ard at the lodge, you almost cer­tainly will dur­ing a game drive. Leop­ard Hills rangers and track­ers reg­u­larly lead guests to sight­ings of lions, ele­phants, Cape buf­falo, giraffe, wild dogs, and occa­sion­ally even chee­tahs. This inti­mate lodge fea­tures eight air-conditioned glass-fronted suites—each with a pri­vate plunge pool and gor­geous views of the bushveld. The spa­cious bath­room fea­tures a stand­alone tub, his and her sinks, and both an indoor and out­door shower. The main lodge offers a spa and small gym, library, din­ing room and bar, deck over­look­ing a water­ing hole, and swim­ming pool. Per per­son rates are approx­i­mately $1,000/night.

Kruger National Park

Sin­gita Sweni Lodge
Sin­gita is one of the most rec­og­nized names when it comes to lux­ury safari lodges. Here at Kruger National Park, Singita—a Relais & Chateaux property—offers two options: Sweni and Lebombo lodges. (over at Sabi Sands you’ll find Sin­gita Ebony, Boul­ders, and Castel­ton Camps). Sweni Lodge, sit­u­ated next to the Sweni River, intrigues many guests since it’s built on stilts—affording you a giraffe’s-eye view of the area. There are six open-concept suites, all with the oblig­a­tory out­door shower. The big draw is the fact that you can sleep out under the stars on the day bed on your view­ing deck. Per per­son rates are approx­i­mately $1,450/night.

Jock Safari Lodge
If you’re trav­el­ing to South Africa with chil­dren, Jock Safari Lodge should be at the top of your list. The lodge allows chil­dren over 7 to join the daily game dri­ves (although kids need to be over 16 to go on a walk­ing safari). If you need sev­eral rooms for your fam­ily any­way, con­sider book­ing “Lit­tle Jock.” This trio of suites come with a chef, wait­ress, and ranger. This level of pri­vacy and flex­i­bil­ity is appre­ci­ated by fam­i­lies who may need to adjust the times of daily game dri­ves to coin­cide with their children’s sleep and wake sched­ules. Per per­son rates are approx­i­mately $650/night. (Chil­dren 7–11 charged 50% of nightly rate. Chil­dren 12 and older require a sep­a­rate room and are charged full price.)

Tim­ba­vati Pri­vate Game Reserve

Kings Camp
Kings Camp is one of the only places in the world where you have a chance to catch a glimpse of white lions in the wild. You may assume that white lions are a sub­species of Pan­thera leo, but they are not. These ani­mals actu­ally carry a reces­sive gene that acts as a color inhibitor that’s respon­si­ble for pure white coats instead of the usual tawny ones. Res­i­dents of the Tim­ba­vati area have told sto­ries of these lions over the cen­turies. A pride of white lions is cur­rently tra­vers­ing the area near Kings Camp, so it’s def­i­nitely worth a visit. The rangers at Kings Camp also under­stand all aspects of wildlife pho­tog­ra­phy and are fan­tas­tic when it comes to maneu­ver­ing the game drive vehi­cle so you’ll get the best shot of the ani­mals being viewed. Per per­son rates are approx­i­mately $560/night.

Kapama Game Reserve

Camp Jab­u­lani
For some­thing com­pletely dif­fer­ent, look no fur­ther than Camp Jab­u­lani (another Relais & Chateaux mem­ber). Not only is this one of Africa’s most opu­lent game lodges, it also offers elephant-back safaris. Here you’ll be granted one-on-one encoun­ters with a herd of trained ele­phants, includ­ing six babies. (Many of these ele­phants were res­cued from Zim­babwe, where they had been tagged for slaugh­ter.) Now these ani­mals live a priv­i­leged life at Camp Jab­u­lani and guests are thrilled to make their acquain­tance. The accom­mo­da­tions are no less exhil­a­rat­ing. Dur­ing the day, the walls of your suite can be rolled back so you are one with the great out­doors. On chilly evenings, you’re sure to use the in-suite fire­place. There’s also an on-site spa that offers a vari­ety of mas­sage and skin care treat­ments. Per per­son rates are approx­i­mately $1,000/night.

Madikwe Game Reserve

Madikwe Safari Lodge
For those who are a bit ner­vous about safari vaca­tions in the first place, a good first step is a trip to Madikwe Pri­vate Game Reserve, because it’s located in a malaria-free region. No spe­cial health pre­cau­tions are required to visit this area of South Africa. &Beyond’s Madikwe Safari Lodge is one of the best accom­mo­da­tions in Madikwe. At twenty suites, this is a larger lodge than those men­tioned above but the rooms are dis­trib­uted across three sep­a­rate camps so you’ll still get the “out in the bush” vibe. Ani­mal sight­ings have been very good recently and often include chee­tah and wild dog in addi­tion to the Big Five. Per per­son rates are approx­i­mately $400/night.

To fur­ther research safari get­aways in South Africa, visit South African Tourism.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Camp Jabulani

Sanc­tu­ary Chief’s Camp in Botswana’s Oka­vango Delta reopened on April 21, 2010, after exten­sive upgrades. Return­ing guests will notice the extended deck in the lounge and din­ing area as well as a new fur­ni­ture and thatched roof.

Views from the boma now fea­ture the inspi­ra­tional flood plain and the bar and gift shop have also been refurbished.

The flood waters of the Oka­vango Delta have already reached Sanc­tu­ary Chief’s Camp for the sea­son and guests are enjoy­ing the pop­u­lar mokoro excursion.

If you’ve been dying to try this camp, now may be the time to do so as it’s are offer­ing a “Stay 4 Nights, Pay for 3″ spe­cial. Travel dates are May 1–June 30, 2010.

For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact your travel agent or Sanc­tu­ary Retreats.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Sanc­tu­ary Retreats

Eller­man House in Cape Town, South Africa

Rep­utable tour pack­ager Kens­ing­ton Tours is offer­ing a new 8-night lux­ury vaca­tion to South Africa. Dubbed “Sophis­ti­cated South Africa,” the pack­age is pri­vately guided so there’s no set depar­ture dates. Go when your sched­ule dic­tates, not some­one else’s.

You’ll spend four nights at Eller­man House in Cape Town. This chic hotel is know for its per­son­al­ized ser­vice, and celebri­ties like Oprah, Sting, and Bono have all stayed here while trav­el­ing in South Africa.

The first part of your jour­ney in Cape Town will take you to Table Moun­tain, Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, Simons Town, Boul­ders Beach (for some play­time with the pen­guins), and nearby vineyards.

Next you’ll fly to Johan­nes­burg and then con­nect to Kruger National Park, where you’ll make your­self at home at either Sin­gita Lebombo Lodge or Sweni Lodge. Eight game dri­ves are included, along with all meals (break­fast, lunch, and din­ner) while on safari.

Pric­ing for Sophis­ti­cated South Africa has been reduced for depar­tures between Jan­u­ary 15–May 31, 2010 and August 1–December 15, 2010. The pack­age is approx­i­mately $8,995 per per­son, based on dou­ble occupancy.

For more infor­ma­tion, talk with your travel agent or Kens­ing­ton Tours.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

This page will be con­tin­u­ally updated to archive a list of the lux­ury accom­mo­da­tions on the Zam­bia side of Vic­to­ria Falls. If you know of an option that’s not listed, please let us know!

Islands of Siank­aba
Post­net 621, Pri­vate Bag E891, Lusaka
Tel: 260 211 260 279

The Royal Liv­ing­stone
Mosi-oa-Tunya Road, Liv­ing­stone
Tel: 260 213 321 122

Tongabezi Lodge & Sind­abezi Island
Pri­vate Bag 31, Liv­ing­stone
Tel: 260 213 327 450
Rates: from $450 per per­son per night

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo of Sind­abezi cour­tesy of Tongabezi Lodge

This page will be con­tin­u­ally updated to archive a list of the game lodges in Zambia’s Lower Zam­bezi National Park. If you know of a lux­ury lodge that’s not listed, please let us know!

Ana Tree Lodge
P.O. Box 32661, Lusaka
Tel: 260 211 250 730
Rates: $575 per per­son per night (doesn’t include the bar)

Chi­awa Camp
P.O. Box 30972, Lusaka
Tel: 260 211 261 588

Chongwe River Camp
P.O. Box CA 102, Lusaka
Tel: 260 211 278 248

Kasaka River Lodge
Tel: 260 211 256 201
Rates: from $395 per per­son per night

Royal Zam­bezi Lodge
P/Bag CH42, Lusaka
Tel: 260 211 840 682
Rates: from $380 per per­son per night

Sanc­tu­ary Zam­bezi Kulefu Camp
Rates: from $400 per per­son per night

Sausage Tree Camp
P.O. Box 35139, Lusaka 10101
Tel: 260 211 845 204

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Sausage Tree Camp

I’ve been doing a lot of online hol­i­day shop­ping and recently picked up some nice travel gifts at Magellan’s Travel Sup­plies. When my items arrived, the box also con­tained a flyer about Magellan’s part­ner­ship with a non­profit orga­ni­za­tion called SEE Inter­na­tional.

Accord­ing to the orga­ni­za­tion, 75 per­cent of the world’s 37 mil­lion cases of blind­ness are actu­ally treat­able, mak­ing the loss of sight a human­i­tar­ian emergency.

SEE Inter­na­tional puts together teams of vol­un­teer oph­thal­mol­o­gists to go where their help is needed, includ­ing places like Thai­land, Mex­ico, Bangladesh, Viet­nam, and Zimbabwe.

Since 1974 SEE’s eye sur­geons have per­formed more than 360,000 sight-storing procedures.

Magellan’s has been a cor­po­rate part­ner of SEE Inter­na­tional for over 20 years, pro­vid­ing travel kits for sur­geons as well as adver­tis­ing out­reach to its customers.

Expe­di­tions to the fol­low­ing coun­tries are sched­uled for 2010: Swazi­land, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Ghana, The Gam­bia, Nige­ria, Namibia, and Kenya.

Dona­tions are tax deductible and may be made online via a secure server. Visit See International’s web­site or call 1-(805)963‑3303 and men­tion that you heard about the orga­ni­za­tion from Magellan’s Travel Supplies.

Sur­gi­cal Eye Expe­di­tions (SEE) Inter­na­tional is a 501©(3) non­profit orga­ni­za­tion. Tax ID #31–1682275.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo of Maa­sai woman and child cour­tesy of iStockPhoto.com