Luxury safari Holidays are easily arranged in most  of Africa these days.

In Namibia, there are some idyllic lodges in the desert, where you have open sided rooms with magnificent vistas and windows in the ceilings where you can watch the stars. In Kenya, you have magnificent lodges which overlook Mount Kilimanjaro, where you can ride during the day, or simply relax and look out over these views. Perhaps you might like your own villa, set on three floors, with its very own ‘cool pool’.  Perhaps you would like your own farmhouse and private tented camp erected for you, flying in between with your own helicopter and aeroplanes at your disposal.

luxury safari Kenya from AfricanExplorations.com

In the Selous in southern Tanzania, take over your own house and spend the days walking, game viewing and boating on Lake Tagalala. In South Africa, take the children to a malaria free lodge in Madikwe, complete with its own private villa where you take the property in its entirety – purely for a couple of famillies or for those wanting space as well as their own butler and fantastic guide. Then, finish off at an exquisite villa in the Cape, overlooking the sea!

luxury safari Tanzania with AfricanExplorations.com

In the Serengeti, stay at a beautiful lodge or luxury tented camp with inspiring views of the wildebeest migration.

In Zimbabwe, there is a gorgeous lodge called Pamushana in a fantastic, game rich area. In Zambia, there are stunning lodges dotted all across the country, from the waters of the lower Zambezi, to the south Luangwa with its concentrations of wildlife, especially leopard, to Kafue and Livingstone.

luxury safaris to Botswana with AfricanExplorations.com

Luxury Kenya – something which is easily achievable! There are some truly beautiful lodges that have been recently built in Kenya. Top marks go to Ol Donyo Wuas, which is truly beautiful in the most wonderful location, facing Mount Kilimanjaro.

Ol Lentille with AfricanExplorations.com

The other place is Ol Lentille located between Laikipia and the Matthews range on the Ol Lentille group ranch. The lodge sits high on a rock boulder filled kopje at 6000 feet. Therefore it is always cool in the mornings and late afternoons but the swimming pool lies in full sun and always a lovely warm area. All funds support educational bursaries for local children and students. The lodges décor is chic safari with a mix of elegant masks, teak, hordes of fireplaces, rare wooden furniture, soft sofas in neutral colours, grasses and hessian matting. The unique design and architecture makes use of the light and was designed with eco-responsible elements in mind as they gather rainwater for the reservoirs. All plants are indigenous. The lodge was built with the dignified purpose of making communities work for themselves. Certainly of all the Lodge projects started in Kenya, Ol Lentille is by far the most luxurious.

Shompole with AfricanExplorations.com

Shompole is another of our favourites. With the lodge, a two bedroomed villa and a private villa/house called 360 – situated in Magadi in the Great Rift valley. The game viewing is extraordinary here and the cool, white exteriors and interiors shield one from the harsh midday sun. Each room is built on three levels, starting with a cool pool at the bottom, with views over the plains, then an enormous bathroom with great views and then on top, is your bedroom, completely open fronted, with a large verandah and day bed, where you can flop onto and read, as well as a driftwood dining area on your deck. Romance doesn’t get better than this!

Anyone who has an interest in conservation or luxury safaris to Africa (or India) in general as well as walking safaris, elephant safaris or special interest safaris will welcome the CITES decision late last month to uphold the ongoing ban on ivory trading. The story is well reported by CNN, which we precis as follows:

Quote:
(CNN) — Conservationists have welcomed the decision to reject a bid from Tanzania and Zambia to temporarily suspend a worldwide ban on trading in African elephant ivory so they can offload legal stockpiles in a one-off sale.
The 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Monday, voted to reject the proposal amid concerns about elephant poaching.
A petition from the two African countries to remove elephants from a list of animals “threatened with extinction” to allow trade in other parts of the animal was also thrown out.
“It’s welcome news, but my anxieties remain about the increased levels of poaching in Africa,” Save the Elephant’s Dr. Ian Douglas-Hamilton told CNN.
“There are huge problems ahead for the elephants,” he said. “I do see this huge demand which is emanating mainly from the prosperity of China. We have to win their hearts and minds for conservation and for the elephant so that they have more of an idea of sustainable use and not over-taxing populations.”
CITES banned the international commercial ivory trade in 1989 after elephant populations dropped dramatically across the world due to widespread poaching.
But in 1997 and 2002 it permitted Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to sell limited stocks of ivory to Japan, in recognition of the fact that some southern African elephant populations were healthy and well managed.
Five years later at a CITES meeting at The Hague further sales of stockpiled ivory were permitted in return for a nine-year moratorium on further sales.
Both Zambia and Tanzania claimed elephant numbers in their territories were on the rise after years of decline. They also said the proceeds from the sale of government stockpiles would be put back into conservation and enforcement projects. But wildlife experts in Kenya, part of a coalition of 23 African elephant range countries calling for an outright ban, say poaching has increased since the announcement of the last sale.
“Though Zambia’s anti-poaching enforcement measures are better than those of Tanzania, there is no justification for downgrading the elephants from the endangered list,” said Douglas-Hamilton, an expert on Kenya’s elephant population. Tanzania has increased poaching and increased illegal markets. Their main elephant population has decreased by some 30,000 in the last three years. In Zambia there were huge declines in the elephant population in the 1970s and 1980s. Whereas other elephant populations across Africa have recovered slightly since the introduction of the ivory trade ban, Zambia’s never have. They remain the same. In the mid-1970s the population was something like 160,000. It is currently estimated to sit at around 26,000.”
He added that the situation was particularly desperate in central Africa where there are estimated to be just 20,000 elephants left from a population numbering 1 million 30 years ago.
CNN’s David McKenzie contributed to this report.
Unquote

Naturally we are all delighted at the announcement but it is clear that charities such as Iain’s Save The Elephants, which can be visited as part of an itinerary to Kenya (and is a charity we support, as is the Sheldrick Elephant Foundation, see the video below), and those involved with our special interest safaris and Elephant safaris in the Okavango Delta need ongoing support, as do all those with a focus on elephant conservation in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and Zambia.