Diwali usually means a full house, a table of sweets and a calendar of visits, but five safari stays across Tanzania, Kenya and Botswana offer a version of the festival with a waterhole view instead. Singita Milele hands a group of up to 10 the entire villa along with a dedicated guide, chef and butler, while Finch Hattons has a stargazing deck that suits the festival of lights.
Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti has a waterhole right next to the lodge that guests can watch from the infinity pool, and Mashatu Euphorbia Villas gives every villa a private plunge pool and a deck for outdoor dining. These are ultra-luxury safaris for families who want to celebrate Diwali together, with game drives, private decks and a few days away from the usual round of gatherings.
Singita Milele sits high on Sasakwa Hill in the Grumeti Reserve, an area of about 350,000 acres in northern Tanzania. It is an exclusive-use villa with five suites and room for up to 10 guests. A private guide, chef and housekeeping team looks after the group.
The villa has an infinity pool with an adjacent spa pool, a 10-person cinema room, a fitness centre, a wine cellar, and a boma with a firepit. Two of the suites have private spa pools. Game drives are private, and rates include meals, drinks, laundry and return road transfers from the Sasakwa airstrip. Singita describes the setting as a front-row seat to the Great Migration.
Watch out for: The rules for children. All ages are welcome and babysitting is available. Bush walks have a minimum age of 16, and children’s place on game drives is at the guide’s discretion.
Richard Branson’s Mahali Mzuri is in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy, part of the Maasai Mara ecosystem in Kenya. The name means beautiful place in Swahili. The camp has 12 tents and takes a maximum of 24 guests. Each tent has a private outdoor deck for wildlife viewing.
Game drives run daily. The fully inclusive package covers accommodation, all meals, select drinks and activities.
Watch out for: The private deck on each tent, which is built for watching wildlife from your own space.
The lodge sits in the heart of the Serengeti. It has 77 rooms and suites: 60 rooms, 12 suites and five private villas. A waterhole sits beside the lodge. The Discovery Centre covers conservation and the Serengeti, and the lodge offers hot-air balloon safaris.
The inclusive package covers accommodation, all meals, select drinks and activities.
Watch out for: The waterhole. It draws game through the day, and the lodge is built around watching it.
Finch Hattons is set inside Tsavo West National Park, on 35 acres, with views of the Chyulu Hills and Mount Kilimanjaro. The camp has 17 tented suites, including two-bedroom family suites and the Finch Hattons Suite, which has its own private butler. It has an infinity spa pool and a stargazing deck, and natural springs on the property.
Excursions go to Mzima Springs, the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary and the Shetani Lava Flow. The camp also runs game drives twice a day, guided walks and hikes, Maasai cultural visits, bush breakfasts and sunset cocktails.
Watch out for: The Shetani Lava Flow, which the camp describes as Africa’s youngest volcanic landscape.
The region carries a piece of railway history too. In 1898, two maneless lions attacked workers building a railway bridge over the Tsavo River for the Uganda Railway, and work stopped when hundreds of workers fled.
Mashatu Euphorbia Villas is in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve. The property has eight villas modelled on the pod of the mopane tree, and each villa has a solar-heated private plunge pool.
Rates include local and imported drinks, all meals and snacks, and either two game drives or one game walk and one drive for each night of the stay. They also include a conservation levy of USD 10 (approx. Rs 840) per person per night.
Watch out for: The villa design, which is shaped around the mopane pod.