Only a few years ago, the idea of flying to Africa for a honeymoon would seem outrageous. Now safari is one of the most popular types of honeymoon among well-traveled couples who want a little more excitement than two weeks lying in the sun.
Honeymoon safaris are not just a game viewer. You can stop at stunning remote camps, go to the hot-air balloon at dawn, have a champagne breakfast in the bush, visit local villages, and then fly out to a beautiful white sandy beach.
Grootbos South Africa
At first glance, you might think that the Grotbos private nature reserve looks a bit worthy. A five-star eco-resort in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, it is so eco-friendly that it expels non-native trees from its lush vegetation and lectures guests on lichens and algae.
But boring is not the case. Although not visible from the road, the hotel is built on a wooded hillside overlooking Walker Bay, a wild curved beach near the southern tip of Africa. It consists of two wings, both stylish and comfortable. In the original family house there are a dozen cottages hidden among trees with dairy trees, and the modern wing for adults boasts huge bathrooms with floor-to-ceiling windows.
The food is outstanding. I dined on a red novel, succulent fish caught fish, as the owner Michael Lutzeyer spelled out the hotel ethos - “luxury, preservation and social responsibility”. Excited by enthusiasm, he explained why he opened a gardening school, the first in South Africa, to train unemployed men from a nearby village and built four football fields for local schoolchildren. “Children can play only if they appear with a bag of garbage to recycle. We also teach them wildlife, they like it! ”He said.
It is worth visiting Grootbos only to see fynbos. One of the six botanical kingdoms of the world, fynbos is unique to South Africa, a shrub area covering 500 by 50 miles. It has about 9,700 plant species, of which 6,700 are endemic (compare this with the UK, which has about 1,500 plant species, 25 endemic).
A half-hour ride will take you to Dyer Island, where 60,000 fur seals live. It was there that the planet Earth BBC recently appeared, in which animals were eaten by whole great white sharks. Nearby you can see penguins and dolphins, and in the period from June to October, southern whales, located a few meters from the shore.
Grootbos is not cheap - in high season you pay £ 178pp per night, but this includes all meals, guided walks and drives, as well as horse riding. Children pay from £ 65. Details: grootbos.com.
Guludo Beach Lodge Mozambique
Amy Carter and her partner Neal Alcock built a small exclusive beach house in Mozambique, which operates strictly according to the principles of fair trade. Their idea was to reduce poverty, protect the fragile local environment, and provide employment for local people.
The lodge is Guludo, a collection of nine tent gangs on the sugary white sands of the Mozambique Quirimbas National Park. Most of the luxury hotels have a cocoon, but in Guludo they are invited to visit people's homes and play a daily football match against the village team. Local women offer traditional mushi face masks, and Amy, a marine biologist, takes guests to diving and teaches their seas.
Not only was the project a huge hit, but Amy and Nil were recognized as pioneers of a new kind of tourism. Last year, Amy, 25, received the title “Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year” at the awards ceremony for the New Statesman Edge Upstarts Awards. This year, the couple plans to open a game house on the same principles.
Six nights full board in Guludo plus a night in Pemba costs from £ 1,035 with Okavango Tours and Safaris.
Camps Porini Kenya
Everyone pretty much agrees that safari parks are good. In the end, they protect wildlife. But what is the point of view from the other side of the fence?
In Kenya, it seems that the Masaai locals feel excluded from the action - they do not feel that they benefit too much from tourism, and they are not very interested in buses of tourists who make their way to their villages to look at the “colorful” natives,
It is therefore not surprising that the Masai continue to hunt protected animals, which they consider a threat, not a profit.
This inspired Jake Grives-Cook, a white Kenyan, to do something. He decided to open a camp on Masaai land outside the border with the park, hire local residents to build and launch it, and pay them for rent.
The Masai will not only benefit from tourism, but will also have an incentive to save wildlife. Visitors, in turn, will experience a genuine warm welcome and get the mileage of the vast desert, and not follow the path of minivans around the crowded park.
The result was Amboseli Porini, a small tent camp in the Masaai Protected Selenkai, near Amboseli National Park. Since only 12 visitors per day are allowed in the reserve, animals — an elephant, a lion, a leopard, and a cheetah — remain truly wild and unaccustomed to the type of vehicles.
Gore-Cook recently opened a second camp, Mara Porini, built in the Ol Kiniei Nature Reserve, a vast area of river forest, savanna and hills overlooking the Masai Maru.
Prices compare favorably with other luxury campgrounds. Three nights in Amboseli, followed by four nights in María Porini, cost from £ 1,680, including flights, conservation fees, game drives in 4x4 open cars, walking Masai safaris, all meals and drinks. Book with the sky of Africa.
