Want to know what it’s really like to sleep under the stars on safari? Wendy Hunter, founder of The Safari Edit, has just got back from Garonga, part of the Greater Makalali Private Nature Reserve in South Africa. Her verdict? If the thought of sleeping in the open air excites you (rather than terrifies you), go for it. It’s a safari experience you will never forget!
It has been a dream of mine for years, ever since I realised it was something you can do. The idea of sleeping in the wild without a tent, exposed to all of the sounds of the African night. Breathing in the dusty evening and feeling it settle into a calm stillness was something I couldn’t wait to experience.
Now I realise that the concept of sleeping under just a mosquito net in the middle of the bush doesn’t evoke the same romantic feelings for everyone…my brother actually referred to it as a “lion lunchbox” when I sent him a photo…so let me explain what it is really like to stay under the stars – and why you absolutely must add it to your bucket list and next safari holiday.
What’s it like to sleep under the stars on safari?
Finlay and I took a weekend trip to visit the fantastic properties in the Garonga Safari Company collection, flying from Cape Town airport directly to Hoedspruit airport, just a short 2.5-hour flight away. We were met at the airport and taken to Garonga, which lies within the Greater Makalali Private Nature Reserve.
Our first evening was to be spent at their new lodge: Garonga MCH Luxury Tented Camp. This fabulous tented camp evokes feelings of the early explorers. Described as such by the owner, MCH was built to offer a completely different style of lodging to the other two accommodations that can be found at Garonga. Each of them has a unique location, style of accommodation and vista – MCH taking a prestigious position high on the hill, offering unparalleled views across the bush.
Garonga MCH Luxury Tented Camp
Our first evening was spent in that beautiful, peaceful and indulgent way that only a luxury safari can offer: game drives with excellent guides, sundowners by the cerulean swimming pool, followed by a candle-lit dinner and a soak in a bubble bath on the deck of our tent, listening to the quiet rustle of elephants next to us. A dream scene. So why opt to give it up the next night? This is exactly what a couple we met at the lodge reasoned. Why would they give up at night at this beautifully appointed lodge for a night left alone in the bush with a picnic dinner and nobody around?
For anyone yet to experience the thrill of a safari, perhaps this is an experience that seems extreme. However, for those who have enjoyed the magic of the African bush, it’s an intoxicating call that lingers with you long after you have gone home – sleeping under the stars on safari is the ultimate luxury. Life has become so busy, so full of technology, so urbanised, so demanding of our time, an unrelenting need to respond is silenced for one night. A wild sleepout offers life’s true luxuries: quietness, wilderness, freedom.
A bucket list sleepover
Earlier that day, we packed an overnight bag and set off for our afternoon game drive, which would conclude at our bed for the night: the sleepout deck. We had fantastic sightings of lions, rhinos, huge tusker elephants, and two beautiful male kudus rutting – a stunning moment we shared in complete privacy.
As the sun was starting to set, we turned a corner, and there it was, the platform where we were about to be dropped off. Our guide helped us unload our overnight bags, along with a few supplies from the lodge. A huge cool-box filled with enough drinks to last us for a week… “Take more than you need,” said the owner, who had joined us at breakfast that day. We also had a box with our packed dinner for the evening, some torches, a first-aid kit and a radio, which the guide kindly briefed us on how to use! Essentially, there is always the option to be collected at any point during the evening if you have a change of heart.
For us, this was a setting straight out of a dream. Atop the platform was a beautiful, huge king-sized bed with a thick duvet, abundant pillows and two warm, fluffy robes. A fully functioning WC to the back of the platform had electricity and lights to lead the way, and a huge viewing platform was where we could have our dinner, watch the sunset across the horizon and take in the evening sounds.
We unpacked our dinner – cottage pie, as we had requested from the menu, which was accompanied with roasted vegetables, bread, salad, and dessert. Cracking open an ice-cold beer and a crisp glass of South African Chenin blanc, we ‘cheersed’ to the moment and sat back to let it sink in.
We finished our meal and sat with our drinks listening to the sounds of the bush until we decided to get ready for bed. Inside our mosquito net, we got under the covers and settled in for the night just as we heard that wonderful, unmistakable call: the hyenas were out! The call of a hyena is one of the most distinctive sounds of the African bush and one of our family’s favourite to try to replicate! We listened to them calling until we drifted to sleep under the stars, a sleep which was one of the best and most undisturbed I had had for a long time. Finlay woke in the middle of the night to the roar of a lion far in the distance, but the sounds of the bush lullaby had me sleeping through the night.
I’m sure it was the smell that woke me, not the dawn bird calls. There is a smell so unique to the African bush that awakens all your primal senses. And then from the corner of my eye, I saw the smallest of movements down below. Sitting up, I couldn’t believe my eyes as a magnificent white rhino quietly grazed directly below us. It was an absolute pinch-me moment as I gestured to Fin to look down. We stayed there silently in our platform bed, the rhino completely oblivious to our presence, and watched as he meandered below us and past us, backlit by the sunrise casting a golden glow over him.
It was only then that the approaching rumble of a safari truck made us realise our magic night under the stars was over. Our safari guide arrived and loaded the truck for us whilst we enjoyed a coffee and savoured the rest of the sunrise and that most special start to the day.
It is difficult to explain why a wild sleep-out under a mosquito net in the middle of the bush felt like such a privileged experience, especially after we had already been enjoying the crystal-clear swimming pool, luxury tent, air conditioning and claw-foot bath of Garonga MCH Luxury Tented Camp. Isn’t that the definition of luxury? Yes…and no. Luxury is what we can’t necessarily always have, and, for me, this moment of being transported to a place so different from our day-to-day routine was a moment of pure joy. Transported to real nature, taking us back to our days of living in a tent on the edge of the Luangwa river, drifting to sleep with the calls of the wild.
