As much as I love the bush, I find most safaris exhausting. No matter how decadent the food or luxurious the lodge, they’re often gruelling, rigidly regimented affairs — involving crack-of-dawn starts, interminable jolting drives, as well as that introvert’s nightmare: oodles of incessant small talk with staff and the other guests you’ve been lumped with at dinner or on a drive. In the mad dash to the next sighting, the beauty of your setting is often overlooked by your camera-toting compatriots (and the guide that’s determined to impress them). Should you endeavour to make time to soak it all in — by bunking a game drive, perhaps — this is seen as heretical by the set-in-their-ways staff who, too used to the sheep-like obeisance of guests, seem at a loss to accommodate this contravention of preordained routine. Fortunately, there is an alternative that offers a way to enjoy the bush on your terms — as leisurely and privately as you want to, without sacrificing on luxury. With the...

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