Conservation + Luxury: The 'New' Safari

A safari can be a difficult thing to define. In many temperate countries, the experience is reminiscent of Jurassic Park, where free-roaming animals weave among traffic that might as well be on rails. In this case, visitors serve as exhibits for curious monkeys, just as guests come to experience life among wild creatures. 

In Africa, things can be quite different. A safari in Kenya or Rwanda intrudes into the territory of the ‘Big 5’: namely, elephants, rhinos, buffaloes, leopards, and lions, often with no fences to keep things civil. It’s a trip associated with ‘roughing it’.

An article published by UpscaleLivingMag in April described one safari camp as a place of “kerosene lanterns, shared bathrooms, and a bucket shower". However, the writer adds that the site in question, in Kenya, is “barely the same place” in 2026.

The Great Migration

It’s a running theme. While the stereotype of the safari as a dusty, difficult trip pervades, developments in East Africa mean that journeys across the savannah don’t have to begin and end at ramshackle camps. The aforementioned source notes that accommodation now occupies the “proper spectrum”, from simple lodges to five-star resorts.

Surprisingly, many high-end safaris aren’t established tours with a new coat of paint. They’re brand new - and there are big names involved. The Business Traveller website points to the Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara Safari Camp in Kenya and Tanzania's Marriott Mapito Safari Camp as examples of the latter. 

The Ritz-Carlton is positioned to take advantage of one of Africa’s most famous phenomena - the Great Migration around the Serengeti. This constant movement of two million wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, and opportunistic predators begins between January and March each year.

Our Innate Fascination with Animals

Humans have long had a fascination with animals. The Paleolithic (c. 21,000BC) cave paintings at Lascaux Cave, France, depict horses, deer, and the extinct aurochs, suggesting an appreciation for our fellow mammals that pre-dates agriculture by about 4,000 years.

This fascination continues to creep into modern art, with films such as The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017) exploring our capacity for fondness to transcend species, and Jaws (1975) conversely highlighting the potential for real terror and conflict. Likewise, contemporary interactive media has taken boundless amounts of inspiration from animals. The Buzz Bingo website has several safari-themed slot games including Safari So Good, Max Chance and the Safari's Secret, and Jumbo Safari, each of which leaning into the visual appeal of animal life, while mobile or web games like 4x4 Safari focus instead on the harsher realities of being a game hunter, where the rules are "hunt or be hunted". Series such as the documentary program This Wild Life even more intimately explore life among the majestic megafauna of Africa.

This saturation of safari content in our media can be said to play some part in the push many people feel today towards real-life safaris or previously underappreciated philanthropic efforts, like shark conservation in the case of Jaws.

Where Conservation meets Luxury

This brings us to the point at which luxury tours of Africa become inextricable from their broader conservational responsibility.

It’s impossible to separate safaris from the need to protect the animals on display. Efforts are being made to limit high-volume tourism in favour of “conservation-led travel”, to quote Business Traveller. This means remote destinations, better integration into the local area, and a limited footprint. Even on a surface level, modern luxury hotspots are increasingly being marketed in ‘greener’ terms, like ‘eco-lodge’.

Botswana is leading this approach. The UNESCO World Heritage Site at the Okavango Delta is a watery paradise that attracts animals like hippos. For travellers, LuxuryLifeStyle Magazine mentions private islands "accessible only by light aircraft", plunge pools, and other high-end treats at safari basecamps in the area.

Perhaps more than ever before, safaris are placing the environment and its animals above entertainment for foreign visitors. Still, with gorilla walks, game drives, and other options, it remains well within reach to get up close with Africa's wildlife.