Tented camps
With 20+ years of safari experience we have learnt that the best way to experience the real and undiscovered Africa, including its many sights and sounds, is to stay in an authentic mobile tented camp. One of the most memorable safari highlights is to fall asleep to the sound of Africa’s wildlife, or to wake to a cacophony of beautiful birdsongs in one of the continent’s most spectacular wilderness areas.
When we first started planning for the launch of Drive Into The Wild, we needed to address a couple of logistical questions. To do so, we had to think long and hard about our brand’s founding principals and priorities. The reason for Drive Into The Wild’s existence is to provide our customers with one-of-a-kind self-drive expeditions of discovery, where our guests can visit a selection of East Africa’s off-the-beaten track wilderness areas, away from the tourist crowds.
We are not a traditional permanent or mobile (also known as semi-permanent) tent operator, the likes of which one typically finds in the Serengeti and Maasai Mara. ‘Permanent’ means the tents are permanently stationed in their locations, whereas ‘mobile’ implies seasonal camps which tend to move once or twice during the Great Migration to get as close as possible to the wildebeest.
For both these above mentioned tent options, it can take days to set up a fully functioning camp, valuable time which Drive Into the Wild, as a self-drive expedition of discovery specialist, does not have. After all, one of our key priorities is to show our customers as many wilderness areas during a limited timeframe as possible, and therefore our tented camps must move from one destination to the next as quickly and efficiently as possible, without impacting our guest’s comfort.
After a lot of deliberation, our hybrid solution came to fruition. Closely matching the comfort levels of traditional tented camps, we use specialist tent equipment which can be assembled or dismantled in the space of hours, rather than days.
Drive Into The Wild’s spacious canvas tents (660 x 300 x 210 cm) feature an open plan bedroom, living room and enclosed foyer. With a 2+ meter internal standing height our guests can stand comfortably, without needing to crouch. At a height of 46 cm off the ground, our king size beds and bed linen will remind you of your own bed at home. Each tent has it’s own ensuite bathroom, including a shower, flush toilet and washbasin. The living space area is comprised of a table and chairs. Each of our escorted expeditions includes a mobile kitchen, with our chef preparing tasty dishes for when you’re in camp.
"In my camp I feel the tempo, the pulse and the freedom that is Africa. To live any other way is to lose that bond between myself and nature."
– John Hanning Speke