At Granite Camp – This is where we stayed. Granite camp has four villas
This Varty camp next door. There are four camps total on Londolozi
The first night we got there, we were so lucky and saw so many animals. You are taken out on drives two times a day. Once at 6 am then again at 4 pm.
This is Rob and Sean. They drove us all week. Rob sitting at the front is a tracker and is searching for animal tracks the while we’re driving. Sean the driver and amazing guide works with Rob to get you as close to the animals as possible. They are the best!! Ask for them.
This next group of photos is from the room. Which are stunning. Londolozi is a Relais Chateaux property.
My Mini Photo Diary
This picture was taken in a tree house that Londolozi set up for us to have lunch at one afternoon. It’s seriously amazing, be sure to ask.
On the drives, you stop in the bush and have coffee in the morning and cocktails at night.
Varty Camp
Rob making us cocktails. Love him!!!
The camp we stayed at was Londolozi, Granite Camp. It’s the middle camp on the property for a total of 5 camps on Londolozi. The rooms are stunning complete with private pool, outdoor shower and bathtub, lounge and full outside deck overlooking the river.
Meals are served at your camp or at another camp if your prefer. We stayed at our camp. We were the only ones staying at Granite for the last two days, and they went above and beyond to make it different and special every night. The camp feels like you own personal living room stocked with anything you can imagine to drink and an impressive wine list. The camp overlooks the river where a lot of the animals roam. You can see Hippo, Elephants, Buffalo, and a ton of MONKEYS! I’ll get to that shortly.
A day at Londolozi goes pretty close to something like this:
5:30 am – Awake to a nice lady who knocks on your door. She’s in hand with either coffee or tea of your choice and a little fruit to get the morning started
6:00 am – She then comes back after thirty minutes and walks you to the truck where you start your first drive of the day.
6:00 am – 8:30 am- Drive and probably a coffee stop
9:00 am – Breakfast back at Camp
9:00 am – 12:00 pm – Free time ( pool, photo editing workshop, gym, cocktails at the other camps, a nice nap!)
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm – Lunch
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Free Time
4:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Evening Drive
7:30 pm – 8/8:30 pm – Shower/ Change
8:30 pm – Dinner
10:30 pm – You are exhausted – BED
Now, back to the monkeys. On the grounds, at camp, you can see many different animals, but you will definitely see monkeys. They are smart, so they know to hang out close to camp so that they can steal food. I found this animal sighting intriguing and was excited for them to steal food from me. I decided to leave my muffin conveniently placed on the edge of the table, so they would be enticed grab it. Let me stress, this is not necessary! They will rob the whole place blind in a matter of minutes. They will take anything they can ge their little hands on. You also need to very conscience of locking your room and shutting doors behind you. The guides tell you up front if you don’t latch the doors, you will come back to find them drunk on your mini bar, wearing your clothes and going through your stuff. I also found this appealing and wanted to leave the door wide open, but my boyfriend wasn’t keen on his stuff being stolen, so I decided best let that safari fantasy go.
Animals you will see on your drives are Lions, Leopards, Hippo’s, Giraffes, Elephants, Rhino, Zebras, Hyena, Buffalo, Wart Hogs, possibly Wild Dogs and about eight different species of animals with antlers. Such as Gazelle. We saw all those. The only thing we wanted to see and didn’t are Cheeta. So, that was pretty much a Safari success.
The food, meals, and wine at the camp where amazing. I am a vegetarian, and they accommodated me well past any expectation. I also prefer gluten free bread and almond milk. So the first morning we sat down, and I requested those things, I never had to ask again. Almond milk and GF toast were always on the table. The attention to detail is immaculate, and the service was some of the best I’ve experienced. Relais Chateaux sets a high bar and sticks with it.
The experience was a once in a lifetime and unforgettable. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email.
Check out Londolozi and other Relais Chateaux Properties here. Check out my packing list below.
Clothes to pack while on Safari:
- A hat
- Lightweight pants ( Depending on how long you stay I would say one pair per day)
- Lightweight long sleeve shirts ( one per day)
- Sneakers
- Shorts
- A couple of nice dinner outfits
- Swimsuit
- Lightweight scarf
- A lightweight jacket
- A fleece of insulated jacket
- Workout clothes if you like
- a pair of sandals to wear at dinner
- Bug Spray
- Sunscreen
- Camera
