Household-friendly safaris throughout Africa – A Luxurious Journey Weblog

Travelling on safari with your loved ones in tow can appear daunting, nevertheless it definitely doesn’t imply it’s important to compromise of the place you go, or in your consolation, house or type. Throughout Africa, a rising variety of lodges and camps are designing lodging that works superbly for folks travelling with youngsters, in addition to for multi-generational teams who need privateness, flexibility and the proper location the place they’ll make and share memorable experiences.

From exclusive-use safari properties in Botswana to interlinked household suites within the Serengeti and spacious safari villas in Zambia’s South Luangwa, these properties mix considerate design with sensible family-friendly options and actions to tick all packing containers for all ages. Listed below are a couple of of Umlingo‘s private favourites…

Mara Bushtops, Masai Mara, Kenya

Mara Bushtops is among the greatest household pleasant lodges within the Masai Mara due to its devoted two-bedroom household suites. Their Leopard and Rhino suites are related by a central lounge, giving households each ample house to be collectively however with lots of privateness too, whereas separate bogs and the choice for further beds make them particularly sensible for bigger households, with a set fee per evening per tent somewhat than per individual, accommodating as much as 5 visitors.

Every suite comes with a 100m2 personal deck with sizzling tub and views over the salt lick which ensures a gradual stream of wildlife earlier than you even set foot in a automobile. Top-of-the-line causes to guide Bushtops for households is that each reserving will get its personal sole-use sport automobile, information and spotter for unique use throughout your keep at no further cost (price USD 400 per day), that means your sport drives might be tailor-made to your particular instances, durations and wishes and also you don’t have another visitors to fret about in your safaris. 

One other actual win is that youngsters aged seven and up staying within the regular tents qualify for decreased youngster charges proper up till the age of 18 somewhat than the same old 12+ lower off.

 There’s additionally a pool with a view on the important lodge to get pleasure from between sport drives – and an award-winning Amani Spa the place mother and father can unwind while their youngsters are cared for by the workers. Kids do should be aged 7 and up.

Bushtops’ Bushcraft Problem introduces visitors, each younger and outdated, to native Maasai traditions and tradition together with bead-making, Swahili donut baking, teaches fundamental survival abilities (monitoring spoor, making a hearth with sticks, archery and spear throwing and so forth) in addition to the significance of conservation and native flora & fauna … hopefully inspiring the following technology of conservationists and safari followers.

With luxurious eating, in-suite consolation, and a extremely personalised service type, Mara Bushtops is good for households wanting a refined safari expertise. 

Warangi Ridge, Serengeti, Tanzania

Warangi Ridge is a reasonably new luxurious safari camp which launched in September 2025, superbly designed by Les Harbottle, with pangolin-inspired safari tents unfold out round a fantastic rocky outcrop within the central Serengeti the place the primary lodge enjoys a chook’s eye view over the savanna grasslands.

Warangi Ridge presents a beautiful, intimate expertise for a household safari in Tanzania with a particular standout two-bedroom household suite which has been created by linking two tents with a central lounge space. This works rather well for households of as much as 5 who need the authenticity of tented safari lodging with out sacrificing house, type or consolation.  Every tent has its personal personal plunge pool on its deck, with sweeping Serengeti views.  A golf cart transfers households safely to their suite.

The principle lodge has great services with the views being the important thing spotlight, and one of many largest, most lovely infinity rock swimming pools I’ve ever seen.  There’s additionally a health club, yoga and meditation deck, present store, library and bar – with a brand new “spa and wellness” idea attributable to launch quickly. Due to its location in a restricted-access part of the Serengeti, Warangi Ridge is a superb base for households to actually reconnect away from the crowds.

Charges for the household suite (as much as 5 pax) begin from $2.200,00 Full Board per evening in off-season.  
Kids aged 5 – 15 pay 25% if sharing with at the least one grownup in one of many regular suites.

Kolokolo Safari Home and Mashatu Lodge, Botswana

Mashatu Recreation Reserve in Botswana is a perfect vacation spot for households on the lookout for an upmarket, personal safari in a big wilderness space with loads of flexibility.

The vary of actions on provide right here is de facto interesting for households, together with guided day and evening sport drives, strolling safaris, biking, cultural visits and you may even mix a stick with horse-riding safaris.  A family-friendly session will also be booked on the well-known Matebole Cover, which now has improved entry.

Kolokolo Safari Home is a wonderful exclusive-use possibility for bigger or multi-generational households because it runs as your “personal residence from residence” within the wild, with 4 en-suite bedrooms and beneficiant shared dwelling areas – providing you with absolute privateness and adaptability.  It comes with a non-public chef, outside braai and boma space, devoted sport viewing automobile and information and reservoir swimming pool overlooking the Limpopo River.

Mashatu additionally has two different 4-star safari lodges which might be properly outfitted for households together with Mashatu Lodge and Tuli Safari Lodge Mashatu. Mashatu Lodge contains 14 luxurious suites (sleep 4 in a double, single and day mattress), a discovery room and two massive swimming swimming pools, while Tuli presents 8 luxurious tented suites, in depth gardens, stargazing deck, waterhole, disguise and fabulous rock pool. 

They’ve some fabulous household Inexperienced Season presents together with
– One youngster beneath 12 stays free when sharing a room with their mother and father at Mashatu Lodge and Tuli Safari Lodge Mashatu.
– Kids keep half value: Two youngsters staying in a separate room (youngsters beneath the age of 12 pay half the kids’s fee. Kids over the age of 12 pay half the grownup fee).
– Safari Properties Pay for two, Keep for 3: E-book an exclusive-use safari properties (as much as 8 individuals), and luxuriate in your third evening free of charge.

The Inexperienced season runs from 1 October to 31 January 2027 and is a superb time to journey for households, after the primary summer time rains, with implausible sightings of child animals in birthing season and plush inexperienced landscapes with golden carpets of yellow satan thorn flowers.

Mashatu is a straightforward 6-hour self-drive or personal street switch from Johannesburg through Pont Drift Border Submit, or a 90-minute flight from Lanseria Airport in Johannesburg to Limpopo Valley Airfield which is a non-public worldwide airport positioned proper inside the reserve. 

Carmine’s River Lodge, South Luangwa, Zambia

Zambia is a superb vacation spot for households because it presents a really private, genuine and unhurried expertise. South Luangwa presents a wonderful mixture of wildlife viewing, surroundings, and down time – and, for households with older youngsters, its acclaimed strolling safaris. 

Carmine’s River Lodge, when it launches in July 2026, can be particularly family-friendly in each its structure and services. Its three expansive, two-bedroom lagoon dealing with Villas can be properly suited to households, with every boasting its personal deck and personal plunge pool. The air-conditioned bedrooms embrace freestanding baths and infinity showers, with one villa thoughtfully designed for visitors with mobility challenges, making it very best for multigenerational households. Absolutely solar-powered, the lodge presents a peaceful, personal keep in shut concord with its pure environment.

  The central visitor areas provide a selection of indoor and outside eating, a bar, a wine room, a boutique, a health club, a media room/photographic studio and spa therapies. The lodges will provide a Little Rangers programme together with conventional African video games, plant identification walks led by a information inside camp, massive chef little chef expertise lessons, garden video games together with mini golf, puzzles and board video games, story time beside the hearth with s’mors and babysitting can also be out there.

With a devoted automobile for every Villa, the choice to personally tailor your safaris round your individual household’s particular person wants is priceless. 

Mozhi Bush Camp, Kafue, Zambia

Mozhi Bush Camp in Zambia’s well-known Kafue Nationwide Park presents an genuine bush-camp type household keep, whereas nonetheless offering the house and construction households want. Its two-bedroom Mozhi Household Unit is a haven of consolation and connection inside the coronary heart of nature, together with a shared lounge and dwelling house, two ensuite bogs and a non-public deck, making it a sensible selection for smaller households.

A non-public deck or veranda presents a super spot to sip your morning espresso or wind down with a sundowner, whereas the encircling vistas invite you to take pleasure in the great thing about Kafue Nationwide Park.

The enchantment at Mozhi lies within the stability between rustic allure and luxury. Households can get pleasure from a real safari ambiance whereas nonetheless having sufficient room to chill out collectively. Actions embrace guided sport drives and boat cruises alongside the Lufupa River. Shearzone Safaris additionally has its personal privately operated fleet of Cessna plane so households might be assured of speedy, seamless connections for his or her safaris.

Nsele Recreation Reserve, South Africa

Nsele Personal Recreation Reserve is an 8,000-acre property inside South Africa‘s breathtaking Waterberg biosphere, simply 2.5 hours’ drive north of Johannesburg.  It’s in a malaria free space so is good for households with younger youngsters. 

Nsele is a family-owned lodge and is booked on an unique use foundation as your very personal “home-from-home” within the bush, which sleeps as much as 12 adults in 6 double rooms plus as much as 6 youngsters in two youngsters’s bunk rooms. Anticipate stunning interiors, stunning bedrooms with ensuite bogs (two rooms have a selection of each indoor and outside bogs) and far-reaching views over the plains beneath that may actually take your breath away.

There’s a wealthy tapestry of wildlife on the reserve, from unique antelope, wildebeest, hippo, giraffe, warthog, zebra, ostrich, jackals, vervet monkeys and baboons.  Throughout a moonlit sport drive, it’s possible you’ll even spot wild canines, hyenas, porcupines and honey badgers. Hen life can also be distinctive.

As a result of there aren’t any main predators on the reserve, it’s comparatively protected to discover on foot with Nsele’s skilled guides Mei and Neil. Your actions are utterly at your individual leisure and tempo – be it exploring on horseback (there’s a steady of 10 horses providing driving for all ranges of expertise), mountain bikes and quad bikes (50km of sandy tracks) – or you’ll be able to decide to get pleasure from some bass, barbel and tilapia fishing.  Guided sport drives and bush walks are in fact out there at your leisure. Helicopter excursions will also be booked.

The lodge itself seems like a correct high-end household residence, with a big front room, eating space, totally stocked bar, cosy hearth, TV room, library, heated infinity pool and outside deck. There’s even a grand piano for extra musical visitors!

Each aspect of this unique lodge is tailor-made particularly to your loved ones’s particular person wants, with the devoted workers available to make sure your keep is unforgettable – together with a non-public chef who designs the menus every day to your explicit tastes. Their all-inclusive charges are from £650 per grownup per evening and £450 per youngster (5-11 years) per evening. Below 5s keep free.

Onguma Nature Reserve, Namibia

Onguma Nature Reserve is a family-owned personal wilderness space on the jap fringe of Namibia’s iconic Etosha Nationwide Park. It’s the excellent base for households eager to discover Etosha’s well-known salt pans, but in addition nonetheless have the services and adaptability of a non-public reserve.   

Anticipate wonderful sport viewing, together with plains sport, greater than 300 chook species, and 4 of the Large 5 (no buffalo) together with lion, leopard, elephant and each black and white rhino.

Onguma has two family-friendly camps, Bush Camp and Forest Camp, that are each largely fenced for added peace of thoughts, however which nonetheless permit wildlife to come back proper up near the central eating space and lounge on the watering holes in order that the wildlife involves you.  

Onguma Bush Camp has 3 beautiful loft rooms and three household rooms the place youngsters get pleasure from their very own sleeping space – giving households house to be collectively but in addition that welcome little bit of privateness.  The camp’s wider services embrace a pool, waterhole views, Wi-Fi, and a youngsters’s exercise/ video games space.  

​Onguma Forest Camp provide simply 11 thatched bungalows and can also be superbly laid out with the boma, eating space, lounge and pool overlooking a watering gap that ensures a relentless stream of wildlife.

Kids 3 – 11 pay youngster charges of fifty% and beneath 3’s keep free.

Each camps additionally provide a Younger Explorers Stroll interpretive stroll round Onguma Bush Camp – empowering kids with chook, tree and bug identification abilities.  Some actions do have age limits, for instance youngsters beneath 7 will not be permitted on sport drives until you rent a automobile for unique use, and youngsters beneath 16 will not be allowed on bush walks.

Tembe Elephant Park, South Africa

Tembe Elephant Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal is residence to a wonderful community-owned and run sport lodge inside a proclaimed Large 5 sport reserve, identified for its indigenous elephants with large tusks.

Nestled in a uncommon and exquisite sand forest ecosystem, Tembe Lodge lies on the coronary heart of unspoiled wilderness, providing an genuine and deeply significant safari expertise.  Lodging contains 20 luxurious safari tents, thoughtfully designed for privateness and luxury, together with air-conditioning, followers, ensuite bogs with outside showers and personal decks with tenting chairs for these early morning coffees.

There are seven Tusker Suites furnished with two ¾ beds (which might be joined), with house for 1 further single mattress in order that they sleep 3 in complete. There are additionally six Household Models that are bigger and sleep as much as 5 individuals per evening, with two queen-size beds and house for 2 further single beds. The within lavatory has a basin, rest room and dressing space, plus ach suite has a non-public outside bathe.

Households can get pleasure from two guided sport drives on open automobiles with skilled native guides.  The Mahlasela Cover is a superb place for a consolation break mid sport drive, with good ablution services and a raised disguise overlooking a busy watering gap the place elephants come to swim and dirt bathtub – and a gradual stream of wildlife that comes all the way down to drink. My boys liked it!

Charges at Tembe are very affordable and household pleasant, ranging from simply 160 USD / pp sharing per evening in off-season together with all meals, two each day guided sport drives and transfers to and from the disguise through the day. Kids 12 and beneath pay 50%. 

The Northern Drakensberg, South Africa

The Northern Drakensberg is a superb “free vary” vacation spot for multigenerational households seeking to reconnect with Nature and one another.  The dramatic mountain surroundings of the Maloti-Drakensberg World Heritage Web site, the Royal Natal Nationwide Park and the Amphitheatre, mixed with a plethora of outside actions and family-friendly lodging makes for a successful mixture that retains households coming again yr after yr – therefore its motto of “Many Joyful Returns”.

The Berg is particularly good for households who get pleasure from nature, brief walks, wild swimming in waterfalls, recognizing wildlife, fishing, mountain biking, horse driving and wide-open areas.  There’s additionally close by All Out Adventures for tweens and youths on the lookout for an adrenaline rush!

The Cavern Drakensberg Resort & Spa, Sungubala Eco Camp and Montusi Mountain Lodge provide a spread of lodging choices to go well with all tastes and budgets beneath the household banner of The Carte Assortment.

The Cavern Drakensberg Resort & Spa presents an actual buzz with loads of enjoyable actions and services for households all set in vibrant gardens with breathtaking views over the valley.  It’s totally catered with buffets and a set menu with selections in addition to a youngsters’s menu and eating instances for beneath 7s. There’s a playroom staffed with nannies, protected and thrilling playgrounds and a spread of instructional video games and enjoyable actions. There are numerous choices for households from rooms that sleep 3 to interleading rooms, in addition to a two bedroomed Superior Household Rooms and Superior Household Suites with shared lounges.

Sungubala Eco Camp gives an genuine, rugged and eco-friendly, self-catering possibility for households on a tighter funds – geared for enchanting evenings round campfires beneath starlit skies overlooking the Sungubala Valley.

Montusi Mountain Lodge rounds out the checklist with its particular person two-bedroom household cottages surrounded by personal gardens, which sleep as much as 4 adults and consists of two en-suite bogs, a lounge, a fire, and a non-public patio. The structure of Montusi is particularly interesting for households who need that further little bit of privateness and house to unfold out with out shedding the cosy really feel of a mountain retreat.  Its additionally has a pool, spa, tennis courtroom, laundry service and a variety of outside actions.

Household enjoyable for everybody

For households planning an African journey, getting the correct mix of luxurious, flexibility, exercise and down time, while additionally guaranteeing that genuine sense of place might be difficult – however no matter your type or funds, Africa guarantees to be a memorable vacation that may go away you wanting extra! These above are only a few of my favourites. What are yours? Please share within the feedback.

Claire Roadley

Claire Roadley is Founding father of Umlingo. Umlingo promotes genuine, sustainable accommodations and safari eco lodges throughout Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. If you want to be a visitor blogger on A Luxurious Journey Weblog with a purpose to elevate your profile, please contact us.