How to Choose a Safari Lodge

Start with location. A camp an hour from good game viewing costs you two hours of every day. Inside the reserve or on conservancy land next to it is worth paying for.

Then bed count. A twelve-tent camp and a sixty-room lodge at similar rates offer completely different experiences — vehicle numbers, meal service, how well the guides know you by day three.

Then guiding, which is the part brochures never quantify. Ask who guides at the camp, how long they have been there, and whether guides are shared or assigned.

Then the details that actually affect your comfort: whether tents have fans or power all night, how far the walk from the main area is, whether there is a plunge pool for hot afternoons, and family or child policies.

Style comes last. Beautiful interiors are lovely, but nobody remembers the furniture. They remember the morning the lions walked past the tent.