Lightweight Camps

Lightweight camps are designed to move easily, every one or two days if necessary, while providing the maximum amount of comfort possible.

On move days, they can be quickly packed into a pickup truck and transported to the next location where they’ll be set up and ready for dinner by sunset!

The dining area is simple, often just a canvas shade cover or “fly sheet”, with folding tables, chairs, and a cool box with ice for drinks. Meals are fresh, wholesome, and flavorful. A limited selection of beverages, including beers, spirits, and South African wines is typically available.  Solar or kerosene lanterns and candles provide light. Laundry service is generally offered on non-moving days, though ladies’ smalls are usually excluded. Don’t expect WiFi or en-suite bathrooms.

The tents and facilities vary. Most tents sleep two people and are fully sealed from ground to ceiling with zippered canvas doors. They usually feature both mosquito netting and canvas covers for the doors and windows, giving you the option to enjoy the breeze and starlight or close things up for warmth or privacy. Beds are typically cots with mattresses and proper bedding.

Bathrooms may consist of separate facilities of a “short drop” toilet and the iconic safari bucket shower where hot or warm water is filled for you upon request. Facilities are generally shared, with one setup for every four or five guests, though some camps offer en-suite private bathrooms.

We sometimes use these camps on canoeing trips on the Zambezi or on walking safaris in very remote areas, such as Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, the Okavango Delta in Botswana, or Ugalla River National Park in Tanzania. Folks keen to follow the Serengeti migration in November or May when the herds are extremely mobile and unpredictable may chose this mobile camp. That allows us to change plans and move to a different location from one day to the next, making it easier to catch up with the herds. We also stay in these camps when learning about hunter-gatherer communities in Tanzania.

The true magic of these camps is felt when you’re sitting by the crackling campfire with a cold beer, listening to the call of a scops owl or the distant whoop of a hyena, sounds that verily capture the essence of the African wilderness.