Sleepouts in the wilderness on starry, starry nights are among the never-to-be-forgottens of your safari in South Africa. Plains Camp, the home of Rhino Walking Safaris, offers a specialist wilderness experience in the deep reaches of a private concession of the Kruger National Park. In a privileged setting alongside a plain and in view of a waterhole, just four safari tents provide authentic yet elegant safari homes at a place where elephants come – often – to refresh themselves. This secluded base camp offers appealing pioneer-style tented accommodation, as well as guided, small-group walking safaris from the camp and unforgettable wilderness sleepouts some distance away from the camp.
Your Plains Camp Safari Experience
The Kruger National Park’s greatest claim to fame is that it has the greatest diversity and concentration of wildlife species in the world. At Plains Camp, you have the special privilege of encountering some of this wildlife on expertly guided walks and drives – not in the well-accessed public areas of the park, but within a superbly well conserved private concession. Here, the wilderness is pristine and your experience of it unfiltered. No crowds. No tourist vehicles. No hype to detract from the main event: an unspoiled wilderness where wild animals thrive.
Set out early in the mornings with your guides on a 3-4 hour walk, which could cover anything from 5 to 8 km. Experienced guides lead a maximum of eight people on these walks – fabulous opportunities to see, hear, taste, touch and feel the miracles of the wilderness, including those that are easily missed on drives.
In the afternoon and evening, there is usually a short walk, a sundowner break, and then a drive. Last on the day’s agenda is dinner back at the camp.
Accommodation at Plains Camp
There is a minimum 2-night stay requirement at Plains Camp. Accommodation is tented and en-suite, and is styled after the great pioneering safaris of yesteryear. Although electricity is excluded to keep the experience authentic, 24-hour lighting is provided and batteries can be recharged. Please note that there is no wi-fi on this terrain.
During your stay at Plains Camp, you can enjoy a tented stay in camp, as well as one night at the sleepouts – exciting, different and very close to all that is wilderness.
Your Sleepout From Plains Camp
A sleepout will usually form part of your walking trail experience from Plains Camp, and it is likely to be one of the great highlights of your wilderness holiday in South Africa.
Set off on foot from Plains Camp in the late afternoon to head for the sleepout decks, built on stilts directly beneath the tree canopy. These offer a really intimate and unrivaled experience of the wilderness, overlooking a waterhole which attracts wildlife activity. Eight people can be accommodated at the sleepouts at any given time.
The sleepouts comprise 4 individual platforms. Each platform has two mattresses, sleeping bags and duvets. There is an elevated eating area where fire-cooked meals are enjoyed. There are two bathrooms on a communal deck, and these have hot showers and flushing toilets. The sleeping decks are connected by ladders and walkways to one another, and to the bathrooms and the main deck. To preserve the natural authenticity of the experience, there is no electricity. Nor is there air-conditioning, telephones, cell signal or wi-fi. Lanterns and torches are used for lighting.
Although these incredible sleepouts usually happen from Plains Camp, they can also be arranged to form part of your stay at Rhino Post Safari Lodge, which is situated in the same private concession.
When To Go To Plains Camp
There is never a bad time to be at Plains Camp, because each seasons brings its own delights and advantages. Game viewing is generally most exceptional in the winter months from June to September. In summer, though, from October through to January, it is the season of new life, when many species give birth to their young. This is also the flowering season for plants. One can witness a great deal of revival in the wilderness at this time of year.
Sleepouts and the Weather
Please note that sleepouts at Plains Camp are weather dependent. They are not available during rain, and nor are they available for a few days after rains, to prevent the risk of erosion on the access road where the soil is particularly sensitive.
To Book Plains Camp
Mail us to book your safari at Plains Camp or elsewhere in South Africa, or call us on +27 21 797-7122 (international) or 0860 102 907 (local).
