Some experiences resist tidy descriptions. You return home with photographs, memories, and a deep knowing that whatever you felt cannot be fully explained to someone who wasn’t there. That’s how a safari with African Bush Camps (ABC) lives in my body months later — not as a checklist of wildlife sightings or luxury amenities, but as a feeling. A quiet awe. A deep trust. A sense of being held by people who understand this land because it is theirs.
From the moment you arrive, it’s clear that African Bush Camps is not simply offering access to wildlife, but an intentionally designed journey rooted in place, people, and purpose. Over several days in Zimbabwe, moving between Nyamatusi Camp near the Zambezi River and Bumi Hills overlooking Lake Kariba, I experienced a safari that felt both once-in-a-lifetime and deeply human.
This is luxury that doesn’t separate you from the land. It draws you closer to it.
How The Land Shapes The Camp Experience
African Bush Camps doesn’t overwhelm you with typical markers of opulence. During my exploration of two of ABC’s 17 safari experiences across Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana, luxury revealed itself as ease — spaces that anticipated my needs before I could articulate them.
The tents feel expansive yet grounded, designed to blur the line between indoors and out. Within minutes of settling in at Nyamatusi Camp, a lone elephant sauntered just beyond my patio. At night, the sounds of the bush replace white noise machines. During the day, common areas become places of connection: coffee at dawn, fireside conversations after sundown, the stillness between game drives.
Each camp feels in conversation with its environment rather than imposed upon it. Located in Mana Pools National Park, Nyamatusi Camp’s proximity to the Zambezi River, Africa’s fourth-longest, offers opportunities for kayaking and riverside sundowners.
Further south along Zimbabwe’s northern border sits the world’s largest man-made lake, Lake Kariba. It is home to Bumi Hills, an equally striking hilltop camp where wildlife curiously, and occasionally mischievously, wanders through the property. It’s a constant reminder that you are a guest here — not just of the camp, but of the land itself.
The People Who Make The Wilderness Feel Like Home
What sets African Bush Camps apart isn’t just where you go; it’s who walks with you. Every interaction carries warmth, precision, and pride. Morning wake-up calls arrive softly, led by Taffy at Nyamatusi Camp, whose calm attentiveness anchors each day, making the bush feel like home. Meals feel ceremonial without being stiff, and each day ends with beautiful dinner presentations under the stars, paired with storytelling and laughter. Crackling bonfires become the heartbeat of the evening, when on traditional nights, staff members invite guests to join in the local rhythm of song and dance — an experience rooted in intention and care.
There is an unmistakable difference when the people guiding you through the bush aren’t just experts, but stewards who know the land intimately because it is part of their lineage. Hearing family stories during game drives offered insight into daily life and culture in Zimbabwe. One such guide, Little Max, embodied that connection with quiet authority and generosity of spirit. Learning that he passed shortly after our visit lent deeper resonance to the time we shared and the knowledge he carried.
Knowing that ABC’s founder, Beks Ndlovu, a Black Zimbabwean entrepreneur, is the visionary behind this transformative introduction to the bush adds another layer entirely. This is a safari experience shaped by someone reclaiming space in an industry where Black African ownership remains rare. African Bush Camps understands that the future of luxury travel in Africa must include the people who call this land home, not as an afterthought, but as the foundation.
The result is hospitality built on living traditions, where small, deliberate gestures connect you to a culture in ways that stay with you long after you leave.
Trusting The Land And Those Who Know It
There is a moment on safari when you realize comfort and control are merely illusions, and yet you’ve never felt safer. That paradox defines the wildlife experience at African Bush Camps. You are fully immersed in nature, aware of its power and unpredictability, but guided by people whose calm comes from knowledge passed down and practiced daily.
What stands out most are the moments that felt less like a game drive and more like being welcomed into someone’s home. Wildlife encounters unfolded without urgency or theatrics, shaped instead by patience, intuition, and restraint. Even when the wild asserted itself, our guides remained steady. Their composure made it easy to surrender control, be fully present, and experience the bush not as something to conquer, but as something to respect.
Each day offered a different way to engage with the landscape: walking safaris in search of lion prides, kayaking down the Zambezi River toward a thoughtfully prepared sundowner, and sunset cruises aboard Lady Jacqueline, African Bush Camps’ private vessel. Watching elephants, zebras, kudu, and other wildlife move freely through their environment reframed our role entirely — not as participants chasing encounters, but as guests bearing witness.
That sense of proximity extended beyond wildlife. Visiting the nearby Mola village while staying at Bumi Hills remains one of the most meaningful moments of the journey. The experience required no performance or prompting. It captivated naturally, leaving a lasting sense of gratitude for cultural exchange, shared humanity, and the quiet dignity of daily life in Zimbabwe. It was a reminder that the land and the people are inseparable, and that understanding one deepens your relationship to the other.
Leaving Changed, Wanting To Return
Some trips end when you board your flight home. Others reshape how you think about travel, luxury, and your relationship to the natural world. African Bush Camps belongs firmly in the latter category.
It feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience, even as you find yourself hoping it won’t be the last. And maybe that’s the whole point: a safari that changes you, not through what you witness, but through how deeply you experience it.
Here, luxury meets purpose: every sunrise, every game drive, every shared meal carries a dual impact — leaving a mark on you as much as it leaves one on the communities whose land and life you’ve witnessed.
