Most safaris start with a flight. This one starts with a full tank of fuel. Here is a 10-day malaria-free road trip from Cape Town along Route 62 and the Garden Route to the Eastern Cape, with Big Five at both ends and the best tented camps, treehouses and glamping stays along the way.
Plunge pools on the deck, a night in a treehouse and dinner by lantern light in a dry riverbed: these are South Africa’s most romantic glamping stays, from Hamiltons in Kruger to Loapi in the Kalahari, with rates and the extras worth asking for.
Nobody has ever come home from safari saying the antimalarial tablets were the highlight. Here are South Africa’s best malaria-free tented camps in Madikwe, the Waterberg and the Eastern Cape, plus a Karoo option most people overlook, with rates, drive times and who each one suits.
If you have done Greater Kruger before, 2027 is a very good year to go back. Ulusaba reopens after a full rebuild, new tented camps arrive in the Manyeleti and Thornybush, and the camps that opened in 2026 settle into their first full season. Here is every new South African safari stay worth knowing about.
Choosing a luxury tented camp in South Africa mostly comes down to which river you want to fall asleep beside. Here are 11 of the best, from plunge-pool suites in Thornybush to a lantern-lit walking camp in the Timbavati, with rates and who each one suits.