The options
Four ways, and most quotes mention one of them
The house. The other three are available on request and are frequently the better answer.
A private house
Four to twelve beds with its own staff, chef, guide and vehicle, taken exclusively by one party. On most properties the house sits apart from the main camp with its own land around it and its own pool.
It is the version people know about, and it is the right answer often enough that it deserves its reputation. Check two things before booking: whether the guide and vehicle are genuinely exclusive or shared with the main camp, and what the house actually sleeps as against what it advertises — a "ten-bed" house is sometimes eight beds and a sofa.
A whole-camp buyout
You take every tent in a small camp. At six to ten tents that is twelve to twenty beds, which is a reachable number for a large family, a group of friends or a small wedding.
This is the least-known of the four and it is rarely offered unprompted, because camps quote rooms unless somebody asks for the whole thing. Outside peak months it is often remarkably good value, since the alternative for the camp is running at half occupancy.
What you get that a house does not give you: the full camp infrastructure — a mess tent, a proper kitchen, several vehicles and a full guiding team — rather than one household’s worth.
A private mobile camp
A camp erected for your arrival and struck after you leave, with a crew moving ahead to build the next site, following a route designed around you rather than around an address.
It is the most flexible of the four and the one that can put you where no permanent structure is allowed to stand. It scales well: expensive for two, comparable with good fixed camps at eight, and buying a great deal more.
It is also the one that depends most on the outfit. At the top end it is indistinguishable from an excellent fixed camp; at the simpler end it is a bucket shower and a long drop, and the honest ones say which they are.
A private concession
An exclusive-use lease over a large area — one operator, sometimes one camp, across land measured in tens of thousands of acres. Most common in Tanzania and southern Africa.
This is buying space rather than buying a building, and it is the most expensive of the four. What it delivers is an absence: no other vehicles, no other guests, and permissions written into the concession agreement rather than a national statute.
Which to ask for
| If your party is | Ask about |
|---|---|
| A family of six with young children | A private house — the chef and the timetable matter most |
| Ten friends | A whole-camp buyout, which most quotes will not offer you |
| Eight people wanting somewhere nobody else is | A private mobile camp |
| A milestone or a small wedding | A buyout, for the infrastructure and the mess tent |
| Four people with a large budget | A house in shoulder season, or a concession |
Ask for two of them priced side by side. The gap is frequently not what people expect, and the cheaper one is frequently the better trip.
Ask us to price more than one
Tell us the party size and our Africa specialist replies within 24 hours with the exclusive-use options and the equivalent in separate rooms, itemised.