By The UNCHARTED® editors · 2 min readSingita built its reputation on some of Africa’s most luxurious safari lodges, places where architecture, design, cuisine, and service are just as much a part of the experience as the wildlife outside. So its most surprising camp may be the one where almost all of the fancy infrastructure vanishes.
Singita Explore is not your usual traditional expedition-style camp: six canvas tents, meals cooked over open flames, and a private staff in a remote corner of Tanzania’s 350,000-acre Grumeti Reserve, which is adjacent to the Serengeti National Park. There are no permanent walls, no grand communal spaces, and no other guests. The camp is booked in its entirety by a single party – a family, a group of friends, or simply those who place a premium on exclusive privacy – with private guides and a schedule that can be shaped around the group from day to day.
The idea to experience the authentic luxury of immersion this deep in the bush, without distractions.
On the drive from Sasakwa Airstrip, the Land Rover heads west, past Singita’s more representative lodges at Sasakwa, Faru Faru, and Sabora, as the road gradually gives way to tracks through the grass. Eventually the vehicle stops near a stand of balanite trees, and you walk the last stretch into camp.
Six tents sit lightly on the plain, gathered around a fire pit and dining tent. Between late May and early July (depending on the weather), the Great Migration will be passing through, with masses of wildebeest and zebra grazing a few hundred yards away, and big cats marking every move. There is nothing like being in a tented camp in the midst of the migration.
Singita au Naturel
The familiar Singita touches are here, but delivered differently. A comfortable bed waits under canvas. Hot water for the bucket shower is drawn and carried to your tent. Lanterns are lit before you return from the evening fire. A chef cooks over open flames, the camp staff quickly learn how you like things done, and the same private guide stays with you throughout your visit.
Privacy is part of the proposition. Explore is offered only as a private-use camp, whether the group is a honeymooning couple, friends traveling together or a multigenerational family. There is no shared safari vehicle, fixed dinner time, or need to plan the day around anyone outside your own party. Guests can be as active as they wish, or downshift into “slow safari” mode.
That freedom may be the camp’s greatest indulgence. Explore takes away much of what people conventionally associate with a luxury safari lodge while preserving the things that are more essential and elemental: exceptional guiding, attentive service, amazing food, and exclusive access to an extraordinary stretch of wilderness.
After several days of “not-roughing it” at Explore, guests may well wish to spend time in one of the nearby Singita Grumeti lodges or villas, complete with the architectural drama of stone, glass, marble, picture-window views – and baths with hot and cold running water. Singita offers discounts for guests who choose to linger longer.
