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

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

I just got word about a new Nile River cruise that actu­ally hear­kens back to the days when daha­biehs — lanteen-rigged sail­boats — were the main method of trans­porta­tion on this water­way. These sail-powered ves­sels were used exten­sively up until the 19th cen­tury when steamships made their debut in the area. The pop­u­lar­ity of daha­biehs waned as they were slower than steamships and so fell out of favor with many. Today, these sail­ing ships have been retro­fit­ted for high-end travel up and down the Nile.

Aber­crom­bie & Kent is now offer­ing pri­vate travel aboard the new lux­ury daha­bieh, Zein Nile Chateau. This ship is part of A&K’s Tai­lor Made Pri­vate Travel pro­gram. These inti­mate boats are per­fect for small groups. And, since daha­biehs are smaller and more agile than tra­di­tional Nile River boats, they can visit more areas than their competitors.

Zein Nile Chateau was purpose-built for the lux­ury mar­ket with two expan­sive suites and four state­rooms. Unlike other daha­biehs, the cab­ins on this sail­boat are air-conditioned. Pub­lic areas include the din­ing room with floor-to-ceiling glass doors, cigar lounge, library, sun deck, oasis pool, and out­door lounge designed for stargazing.

Trav­el­ers may char­ter Zein Nile Chateau. Seven-night itin­er­aries start at $29,600 for up to 12 peo­ple. An expe­ri­enced Egyp­tol­o­gist trav­els with all Aber­crom­bie & Kent Nile River tours and with just 12 trav­el­ers on this ship, you’re sure to enjoy a per­son­al­ized jour­ney down the Nile.

For more infor­ma­tion, talk with your travel agent or con­tact Aber­crom­bie & Kent at 1-(800) 554‑7094.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of A&K Egypt — Sarah El Akkad

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

Just about every­one is con­cerned about envi­ron­men­tal sus­tain­abil­ity these days and nowhere is the push toward eco-friendly hotel prac­tices more appar­ent than in the Mal­dives. This chain of breath­tak­ingly beau­ti­ful atolls in the Indian Ocean is dot­ted with world-class resorts like Taj Exot­ica Resort & Spa on Emboodhu Finolhu island.

Just about every­one is con­cerned about envi­ron­men­tal sus­tain­abil­ity these days and nowhere is the push toward eco-friendly hotel prac­tices more appar­ent than in the Mal­dives. This chain of breath­tak­ingly beau­ti­ful atolls in the Indian Ocean is dot­ted with world-class resorts like Taj Exot­ica Resort & Spa on Emboodhu Finolhu island.

In recent years, Taj Exot­ica has chal­lenged itself to reduce its car­bon foot­print while main­tain­ing the high­est level of com­fort for guests. The resort started the process by access­ing its energy effi­ciency, water man­age­ment, air qual­ity, and han­dling of chem­i­cals. Then, the hard work of improv­ing infra­struc­ture began.

New high­lights include…

• a hot water sys­tem that reduces the use of both elec­tric­ity and diesel fuel. In fact, Taj Exot­ica reports that it expects to save 109,500 litres of diesel every year
• a rain water har­vest­ing sys­tem that col­lects 896,000 litres per year
• the plant­ing of only endemic tree species like Jade Tree, Sea Hibis­cus, and Maliku­ruva Rose so no addi­tional water­ing is needed (this saves 10,000 litres of water per day)
• increased recy­cling of metal and other materials

Many trav­el­ers are drawn to Taj Exot­ica for its gor­geous beach and the fact that the resort sits on one of the largest lagoons in the Mal­dives. It’s a short 15-minute speed­boat ride from Male Inter­na­tional Air­port and the resort, with just 62 lux­ury vil­las, never feels crowded. Its world-class Jiva Grande Spa is a pri­vate island sanc­tu­ary that spe­cial­izes in Indian well­ness treatments.

For more infor­ma­tion, talk with your travel agent or visit Taj Exotica’s web­site.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Taj Exotica

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

The Sey­chelles is one of those dream des­ti­na­tions in the Indian Ocean, just north of Mada­gas­car. The Sey­chelles are actu­ally 115 islands and offer lush rain forests, gor­geous beaches, and are sur­rounded by unri­valed marine life.

The Sey­chelles is one of those dream des­ti­na­tions in the Indian Ocean, just north of Mada­gas­car. The Sey­chelles are actu­ally 115 islands and offer lush rain forests, gor­geous beaches, and are sur­rounded by unri­valed marine life.

The Four Sea­sons Resort Sey­chelles will cel­e­brate its one-year anniver­sary this Feb­ru­ary. Despite its secluded loca­tion on the south­west coast of the main island of Mahe, it’s still close to the inter­na­tional air­port as well as the cap­i­tal of Vic­to­ria (a 30-minute drive).

This is the type of place you’d be crazy to pass up. The 67 vil­las and suites are more than spa­cious and all vil­las have their own pri­vate plunge pools, out­door show­ers, and sun­set views of the bay. There are two restau­rants and bars, spa, fit­ness and recre­ation cen­ter as well as meeting/banquet facilities.

Dur­ing 2010 Four Sea­sons Resort Sey­chelles is offer­ing an excel­lent deal on lodg­ing here: its stay longer pro­mo­tion, which is valid from:

Jan­u­ary 10 – March 31, 2010
May 11 – June 30, 2010
Sep­tem­ber 16 – Octo­ber 31, 2010
Decem­ber 1 – 18, 2010

Enjoy a com­pli­men­tary 4th night for 3 con­sec­u­tive nights stay
Enjoy a com­pli­men­tary 6th and 7th night for 5 con­sec­u­tive nights stay

The pro­mo­tion is valid for indi­vid­ual book­ings only and not for groups.

For reser­va­tions, call Four Sea­sons Resort Sey­chelles at 248–393-333; fax: 248–393-331; or send an e-mail to reservations.sey@fourseasons.com.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Four Sea­sons Resort Seychelles

If you’ve been plan­ning a trip to Egypt, you’ve prob­a­bly read a lot about the new Uni­world ship River Tosca that  sails the Nile River. She’ll be out of ser­vice from Feb­ru­ary 1–March 19, 2010, and here’s what the com­pany CEO is say­ing about it:

A Mes­sage from the Pres­i­dent & CEO of Uniworld

Dear Val­ued Uni­world Travelers,

There has been quite a bit of infor­ma­tion writ­ten about the River Tosca since it launched a cou­ple of months ago, and I wanted to take this oppor­tu­nity to per­son­ally give you an update on where things stand.

Over the last sev­eral years, we have seen a grow­ing inter­est in Egypt, which is a glo­ri­ous des­ti­na­tion. As a com­pany, we saw the need and oppor­tu­nity to pro­vide trav­el­ers to Egypt with a Nile River cruise ship that would be of a sim­i­lar high stan­dard as our ships in Europe. Uni­world com­mis­sioned the River Tosca with the goal that it would be one of the most lux­u­ri­ous ships to sail the Nile.

Unfor­tu­nately, we expe­ri­enced some unex­pected chal­lenges in intro­duc­ing the River Tosca and we are not happy with the cur­rent qual­ity of work­man­ship fin­ishes in sev­eral areas of the ship. The most obvi­ous exam­ples are the floors in the state­rooms, main stair­well and cor­ri­dors which were dam­aged and scratched dur­ing the instal­la­tion; the mosaic tiles in the restau­rant; and the paint and wood­work in the state­rooms. We have there­fore made the deci­sion to dry dock the ship for seven weeks to cor­rect the cur­rent defi­cien­cies. The ship will there­fore be out of ser­vice between Feb­ru­ary 1, 2010 and March 19, 2010.

We do have an alter­na­tive ship, the Miriam, which we will use while the River Tosca is dry docked. Uni­world has suc­cess­fully used the Miriam prior to intro­duc­ing the River Tosca and the ship is a good sub­sti­tute. The crew from the River Tosca – includ­ing the Hotel Man­ager, Exec­u­tive Chef, and Exec­u­tive House­keeper, all Uni­world employ­ees from our Euro­pean oper­a­tion, will be onboard the Miriam. We will also bring onto the Miriam some of the spe­cial ameni­ties cur­rently avail­able on the River Tosca, such as bed linens, robes, slip­pers, and bath prod­ucts. We will be offer­ing a com­pen­sa­tion pack­age to those clients sail­ing on the Miriam as we under­stand that some of our guests will be dis­ap­pointed with the ship change; how­ever, we will work very hard to ensure they still have a won­der­ful vaca­tion in Egypt.

We are also going to proac­tively reach out to our guests who are trav­el­ing prior to Feb­ru­ary 1 to update them on the sta­tus of the River Tosca.

This was a very dif­fi­cult deci­sion because we know that this will have an impact on our val­ued guests – some who have cho­sen to travel with Uni­world because they wanted to expe­ri­ence the new River Tosca. It is also a dif­fi­cult deci­sion because, even with the cur­rent defi­cien­cies of the ship, the over­all feed­back we have been receiv­ing from guests who have already trav­eled on the River Tosca is very pos­i­tive. The Cairo pro­gram, the Tour Man­agers, the excur­sions, the food, and the ser­vice onboard the ship have all been very well received. And of course the des­ti­na­tion itself is fab­u­lous. It is how­ever the right deci­sion for us to make.

Uni­world has built our very good rep­u­ta­tion today on being a very reli­able river cruise oper­a­tor and we are com­mit­ted to pro­vid­ing our guests with a fan­tas­tic vaca­tion expe­ri­ence and value – in every region where we oper­ate. When we re-launch the River Tosca in March, we are con­fi­dent that we will achieve this com­mit­ment in Egypt.

After sev­eral years of suc­cess­fully launch­ing ships in Europe, the expe­ri­ence in Egypt has been a hum­bling one for me and the entire Uni­world team. I want to per­son­ally apol­o­gize to any of our guests who we may have let down and please know that we are work­ing hard to achieve our stated goal of oper­at­ing a lux­ury prod­uct in Egypt.

Kind regards,

Guy Young
President & CEO
Uniworld River Cruises, Inc.