The Best New Safari Camps and Lodges
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Courtesy Asilia Jabali RidgehotelAsilia Jabali Ridge
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Gold List 2023 
Hot List 2018Tanzania's Ruaha National Park is forty percent bigger than the Serengeti, with only a fraction of the visitors—it also has ten percent of the world’s lion population and East Africa’s highest concentration of elephants. Eight-suite Jabali is the first truly luxe lodging here, meaning you’ll have the thunderous buffalo and all the wildlife and open grasslands pretty much to yourself.
Courtesy Wilderness SafarishotelWilderness Safaris Bisate Lodge
$$$ | Gold List 2018, 2020 Hot List 2018 
Readers' Choice Awards 2020, 2022Pint-size Rwanda has become one of Africa’s most buzzed about—and exclusive—destinations, and nowhere more so than the gorilla-rich Virunga Mountains. Top-notch operators Singita and One&Only have opened here, and very lovely they are, but Wilderness Safaris’ Bisate Lodge was the original. Arranged like giant birds’ nests around the natural amphitheater of an eroded volcanic cone, its six thatched pods are inspired by the former royal palace in the southern city of Nyanza. Inside, the swooping ceilings and woven-grass walls curve around to huge windows with knockout views of the peaks where Dian Fossey studied gorillas.
Courtesy Duba Plains CamphotelDuba Plains Camp
$$$ | Gold List 2018 Hot List 2018This spot on a 77,000 private reserve in Botswana's Okavango Delta is the very one that Great Plains founders Dereck and Beverly Joubert chose as their home many years ago. It’s easy to see why: The main tent, five smaller tents, and suite open onto the flood plains with a campaign-style look that’s a romantic throwback to the pioneer era of safari.
Courtesy Time + TidehotelTime + Tide King Lewanika Lodge
$$$ | Hot List 2018Liuwa Plain was one of the earliest protected areas in Africa, and as a result, this Zambian lodge—the only permanent camp in the national park—feels like a privileged perch from which to take in the surrounding wildlife. You'll hear the cries of animals through your canvas tent, but if that's not enough, there are also day and night game drives, walking safaris, canoeing safaris, and more.
- Readers' Choice Awards2024 Readers' Choice Awards Survey
Courtesy One&Only Nyungwe HousehotelOne&Only Nyungwe House
$$$ | Hot List 2018 Readers' Choice Awards 2021Set within a working tea plantation at the edge of the pristine Nyungwe Forest National Park, this luxury lodge with 22 suites is one of the most upscale hotels in Rwanda. Plus, it gives you easy access to the park's population of chimpanzees, monkeys, and other wildlife. The nature treks in Rwanda aren't your average roll-around-in-a-Jeep safari. They often involve hours of hiking, up steep volcanic slopes and on occasionally muddy trails. Which is to say, the people who are coming here are the adventurous types—albeit those who want to come back to a king-sized bed, full-service gym, and spa at the end of the day.
Courtesy Wilderness SafarishotelWilderness Safaris Qorokwe Camp
$$$ | Hot List 2018Qorokwe is beautiful, comfortable, and incredibly well-staffed. The price point can be around three times less than other high-end camps in Botswana, but with no sacrifice to the quality of viewing or service. Also, it is on a private concession inside the Okavango, meaning you can off-road and do night drives unlike other parts of Botswana's Okavango Delta.