Our Second Annual
The Soul of Luxury Adventure Travel
As the world’s premier Global Safari Brand™ we recognize our favorite and finest Outposts — camps, lodges, ranches, and small ships — while expanding the awards this year to include newly introduced categories.
The standard we answer to
Thirty-five years of judging camps the hard way — by staying in them — became a standard the industry now competes for. The awards exist to honour the camps, guides and conservation work that hold the safari world to its word.
Bold Ideas, Untold Stories, Captivating Visuals, Real-life Adventures
The planet’s premier safari-style camps, boutique boats, lodges, and city-side hideaways with the most extraordinary design, hospitality, and sustainability.
16 winners
New Outpost
Magashi Peninsula Camp
Set in a huge private concession of Rwanda’s Akagera National Park — Africa’s latest and most inspiring conservation comeback — Magashi Peninsula Camp proves that Rwanda offers more than gorillas. Lions, leopards, rhinos, buffaloes, and elephants abound in a dreamscape where other humans are few and far between.
See OutpostAkagera National Park, Rwanda
Royal Chundu Island Lodge
Set on a secluded Zambezi island near Victoria Falls, Royal Chundu is pure river romance. Lantern-lit tubs on private decks sit directly on the bank, turning a simple soak into a front-row seat to one of Africa’s great waterways, with hippos surfacing and elephants nearby.
See OutpostKatombora Island, Zambia
Samode Safari Lodge
In Kipling country — evolved, yet timeless and still wildly evocative — Samode Safari Lodge delivers intimate guiding in prime tiger terrain. Its dozen breezy villas blend into a buffer zone between a national park and a neighboring village, creating an adventuresome immersion in India’s storied jungle.
See OutpostBandhavgarh National Park, India
Puqio Camp
South of well-trodden Machu Picchu and Cusco, Puqio Camp rises in the high-altitude Colca Canyon as a new, safari-style outpost. The tented camp introduces guests to traditional Andean culture where condors with ten-foot wingspans soar through canyon walls.
Colca Canyon, Peru
Manzili Mara House
Perched on the Siria Escarpment with sweeping views over the savanna, Manzili Mara was the home of the late Anthony Russell, a renowned photographer with deep ties to Nairobi’s art scene. Reflecting traditional Maasai artisanal style, it offers an utterly private and fully staffed safari experience lived entirely at your own cadence.
Maasai Mara, Kenya
Chisa Busanga Camp
Inspired by ingenious weaver birds nests, Chisa Busanga’s treehouses perch above a seasonal floodplain turned island refuge in farflung Kafue National Park. Fully solar-powered and delightfully design-forward, this flight of fancy offers a stay unlike anything in Zambia — or anywhere else for that matter.
See OutpostKafue National Park, Zambia
Estancia Cerro Guido
Where authentic gaucho traditions endure, Cerro Guido offers working-ranch immersion unlike any other in Patagonia. Ride the steppe, learn shearing, and track elusive pumas. This is Patagonia’s soul — rugged, cultural, and deeply connected to its apex predator.
See OutpostTorres del Paine National Park, Chile
Mount Mulligan Lodge
Set beneath a monolith ten times the size of Uluru, this lodge delivers pure Outback fantasy — horseback mustering, cattle drives, billy campfires, barbies, and a deliberate digital detox. On a vast station rich in Indigenous and frontier history, this is rustic Australian luxury at its most cinematic.
See OutpostFar North Queensland, Australia
Suján Jawai Camp
Established by the son of wildlife documentary filmmakers, this glamorous yet grounded camp honors the region’s leopards, who are regarded locally as semi-divine. Impeccable service and deep community partnerships frame a safari where elusive big cats and nomadic Rabari culture mesh in unforgettable Rajasthan style.
See OutpostJawai, Rajasthan, India
Singita Sweni Lodge
An intimate riverine sanctuary in the Kruger wilds, Singita Sweni Lodge offers a masterclass in safari hospitality, with exceptional cuisine and world-class wine. Guests can engage with the Singita Community Culinary School through hands-on classes, while the lodge’s acclaimed wine program introduces the next generation of African sommeliers.
See OutpostKruger National Park, South Africa
Miavana
At Miavana, an Indian Ocean island safari unfolds by land and sea — crowned lemurs leap through the forest, giant chameleons cling to branches, and vibrant birdlife fills the canopy. Offshore, crystal-clear reefs teem with colourful fish, sea turtles and the occasional dolphin or migrating humpback whale. Helicopter-only access makes this the kind of castaway hideout
See Outpost
Erebero Hills Safari Lodge
Opening in 2026 beside the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Erebero sets a new standard of luxury in Uganda, with its organic-chic design. Anchoring a visionary reforestation project, the lodge supports displaced Batwa people while opening a thrilling new frontier in Uganda’s primate country — home to over half the world’s mountain gorillas.
See OutpostBwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda
The Aqua Mekong
Asia’s most stylish river safari: Days unfold slowly between tributary towns, temples, and artisan workshops. Cabin windows frame limestone peaks and rice paddies, elephants bathing along banks, and Irrawaddy dolphins surfacing. With a plunge pool, rooftop bar, and spa, it’s a legit Port Out, Starboard Home (POSH!) river trip.
See OutpostMekong River, Vietnam & Cambodia
The Kazazian Arax
This is a Nile experience unlike any other: Drift past towering temple pylons, slip ashore to deserted sandbars, explore Nubian villages, watch feluccas glide by, and gain intimate access to ancient sites from Luxor to Aswan. This is a river odyssey crafted for contemporary pharaohs and queens who prefer their kingdoms uncrowded.
See OutpostNile River, Egypt
The Ralph Bousfield Trail
From the shimmering Makgadikgadi salt pan to the labyrinthine Okavango Delta, this trio of camps — Jack’s, Duke’s and Mbamba — traces Ralph Bousfield’s singular vision, a combination of vintage caravanserai style, museum-worthy curiosities, and indigenous savvy. This desert-to-delta odyssey evokes the romance of safari without sacrificing an iota of substance.
Makgadikgadi Salt Pans & Okavango Delta, Botswana
Cottar’s 1920s Camp
Among its many progressive initiatives, the family of safari pioneers that led the shift from hunting to conservation now offers a multi-day experience for young adults — blending adventure and education to inspire future conservationists. The tented camp may evoke an
See OutpostMaasai Mara, Kenya
A full itinerary or a one-day wonder — a walking safari, a wellness program, a shamanic spiritual journey, or a Zodiac expedition.
4 winners
The Andean Crossing
Spanning Chile’s Atacama Desert and Patagonia to Argentina’s Mendoza wine country, this journey between three Awasi lodges imports the spirit of safari to South America. Private guides share an extreme variety of landscapes from salt flats and steaming geysers to Patagonian glaciers and puma country. Quality time in world-class vineyards completes the picture.
Chile & Argentina
Nomad’s Walking Expedition
Deep in Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park, intrepid guests set out on foot in predator country. Guided by expert trackers, this pilgrimage leads travelers through raw bush. No vehicle, no barrier — just stripped down, high-impact immersion, with mesh-walled fly camps, a deep connection to Africa’s wild heart, and the creatures that come with it.
Ruaha National Park, Tanzania
Volcanoes Safaris
Trek to chimps in the sunken “lost world” gorge of Kyambura, meet habituated troops in Kibale’s rainforest, and track gorillas from Bwindi Lodge itself. It’s the only safari where chimps and gorillas share the spotlight — and where every step supports their future.
Uganda & Rwanda
Ahipara Spiritual Safari
With Ahipara’s guides and experiences, wellness goes way beyond spas and straight into the spiritual — Māori ceremonies, healers, energy-rich landscapes, and enlightening fireside philosophy. Connect to New Zealand through hosts whose ancestry runs deep, leaving uplifted by something grounding and possibly life-changing.
New Zealand
Celebrating those who make a difference — visionary changemakers, chefs, guides, and stylistas shaping the future of travel.
3 winners
Sue Roberts
Sue Roberts is the definition of a safari matriarch — the steady heart and quiet force who holds everything together when the ground shifts. She leads Sirikoi Lodge in Kenya like a great elephant mama, with earned wisdom, fierce devotion to place and people, and an unwavering commitment to what matters most, no matter what.
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Kenya
Samson Parashina
A proud son of southern Kenya’s Chyulu Hills, Samson Parashina has risen from lodge staff to guide to U.N. Champion of the Earth. He leads the way of regenerative tourism at Campi ya Kanzi and Chyulu Lodge — Africa’s first zero-emissions lodge — and has mobilized hundreds of Maasai in conservation and community empowerment.
Chyulu Hills, Kenya
Beks Ndlovu
From having a single camp to more than 17 African Bush Camps across Southern Africa, Beks Ndlovu’s rise has been meteoric. By advancing Black leadership, opening doors for female guides, and creating thousands of livelihoods he has turned safari into a powerful engine for opportunity and lasting conservation impact.
Zimbabwe, Botswana & Zambia
The foundations and businesses making a major impact in wildlife and community empowerment projects.
2 winners
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
Founded by Daphne and David Sheldrick and carried forward by their daughter Angela and grandsons, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust has saved, raised, and rewilded generations of elephants while deploying Kenya’s leading anti-poaching, veterinary, and aerial teams. With camps across the Tsavo landscape, SWT remains a pillar of elephant conservation.
Nairobi National Park, Kenya
Great Plains Foundation
Through decades of National Geographic storytelling, Dereck and Beverly Joubert changed how the world sees wildlife; through Great Plains, they protect it. Across Botswana, Zimbabwe and Kenya they operate lavish camps designed to rewild and protect critical habitats. They have evolved — perhaps even perfected — the art of the photographic safari.
Botswana, Zimbabwe & Kenya
These are the camps, journeys, people and organizations we stake our reputation on — and the ones we send our travellers to. Let’s build yours.
Begin your dreamCo-founder · Since 1991
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