11 Walking-Safari Camps in Africa That Will Change the Way You See the Wilderness

By: Scott Dubois, Fauna Travel Designer

I love a good game drive, especially for seeing wildlife up close, but nothing compares to walking for a truly memorable wilderness experience. Back home, I spend enough time in cars! With a highly trained guide, the adventurous traveler can rest easily knowing the activity is safe–you’re probably at more risk in Manhattan. There is a range of camps from which you can base your walking safari, from simple mobile operations to a luxury tent with a private plunge pool. Many are somewhere in the middle with enough comfort to relax after a long day on foot. We love walking and could list dozens of camps, but here are our top 11 to inspire your next walk across Africa.

Serian’s Serengeti Lamai & Mobile North

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Serian’s Serengeti Lamai sits in the remote Lamai Wedge of northern Serengeti National Park, where walking trails weave across acacia-studded plains. Alex Walker is the owner-operator of the camp, a safari veteran, and a purist who understands connecting people with this landscape. His hand-picked team of veteran rangers and traditionally armed Hadzabe trackers lead small groups on foot, pausing to interpret hoofprints or to identify the medicinal uses of fever-tree bark. The camp’s six intimate canvas tents are simple but comfortable, and there is also a mess tent for communal meals. The Serian Lamai camp combines well with their mobile camp for a wild experience. Also, each guest of Serian is assigned a private guide who will tailor your experience to meet your specific needs.

Time + Tide Luwi

South Luangwa National Park, Zambia

Situated deep in South Luangwa along the ephemeral Luwi River, your walking safari at Time + Tide Luwi winds through dappled riverine forest and open floodplains. Armed scouts and guides trained under Norman Carr’s pioneering conservation ethos lead small groups on foot, pausing to identify tracks, scan, and seeds. Back in camp, the four canvas tents are tucked beneath towering ebony and mahogany trees, which provide welcome relief from the Zambian heat. Each tent also had an open-air bathroom, writing desk, and small veranda overlooking the floodplain—everything you need and nothing you don’t. Fall asleep to the sounds of the resident lions hunting at the camp waterhole.

This camp is best enjoyed as part of a longer South Luangwa camp-to-camp walking itinerary.

Kitich Forest Camp

Matthews Mountains, Kenya

In the upper slopes of the Matthews Mountains, Kitich Forest Camp immerses you in forest glades where cycads and tree canopy shelter leopards and a chorus of over a hundred bird species. Your Samburu-warrior guides are home in the forest and can decode every plant use and animal track as you walk. Days may include sundowners at Murit Pass or fly-camping beneath star-cloaked skies. The camp’s eight classic canvas tents perch over the Ngeng River, each offering simple en-suite showers, fine beds, and forest-floor views that immerse you in the wilderness.

Tembo Plains Camp

Sapi Private Reserve, Zimbabwe

Bordering Mana Pools National Park along the Zambezi River, Tembo Plains Camp leads walking safaris, which Zimbabwe is known for, through the private Sapi Reserve. Once a hunting concession, this area is slowly being rewilded into one of Africa’s premier safari destinations. On foot, you can see elephants, bathing hippos, and even predators like wild dogs and lions. Guided walks are helmed by Great Plains Conservation-trained naturalists whose deep wilderness ethic brings you closer to the landscape around you. Game drives and canoe trips are also available to explore this UNESCO World Heritage ecosystem further. Four luxury tented suites are a luxurious canvas refuge, with private plunge pools and river views that stretch to the horizon.

Kokoko Camp

Ruaha National Park, Tanzania

In remote Ruaha in southern Tanzania, your walking safari at Kokoko Camp threads between dry riverbeds and under baobab shade where elephant herds assemble at waterholes. The joy of this camp is the remote location and exclusivity. A senior Asilia guide hosts this private camp and is often the only other guest. The camp’s lightweight mobile setup of just three domed canvas tents on raised platforms offers bucket showers, outdoor seating, and the intimacy of wild Ruaha at your doorstep. It’s the ideal getaway for your private group adventure, and the price is fantastic–less than $500 per person per night for six people.

Samara Plains Camp

Samara Karoo Reserve, South Africa

Perched on a hill overlooking semi-arid Karoo plains, Samara Plains Camp’s walking safaris tread through wild-flower-studded scrub where springbok, gemsbok, and black wildebeest roam. And because of a deliberate reintroduction program, the reserve is one of the best places in Africa to see cheetah on foot. Guided by Samara’s expert guides, each walk tells the conservation story of the 67,000-acre reserve. I love taking a longer hike up the escarpment for a panoramic view of the reserve. At dusk, retreat to one of four off-grid tents with bucket showers, giving you a taste of East Africa in the heart of South Africa.

Shinde Footsteps

Okavango Delta, Botswana

Shinde Footsteps sits on the edge of the western Okavango Delta, where seasonal floodwaters carve ribbons through islands of ebony and sausage trees. Walking safaris here are led by FGASA-qualified Wilderness-certified guides and expert mokoro polers in flood season. Thread narrow trails between floodplain grasses, pausing to read elephant and hippo dung and spot shy sitatunga slipping through the reeds. The camp is luxuriously simple, comprising six raised Meru-style tents—each with private veranda, en-suite bucket shower and composting toilet. The thatched mess deck overlooks the delta, where you will enjoy communal meals and sundowners at the end of a day of walking.

Walking Wild at Lewa Wilderness

Lewa Conservancy, Kenya

Walking Wild threads a path across The Lewa Conservancy’s grassy plains in the high plateau near Mount Kenya. Here, rare species like Grevy’s zebra and reticulated giraffe roam alongside one of the largest rhino populations in East Africa. Walks are administered by Kitonga, a Maasai warrior and expert guide, who immerses you in Samburu, tracking traditions and cultural insight alongside camels transporting your camp gear. Each evening, a simple camp is set up at a scenic location for the night. A standard itinerary covers three days and two nights, bookended with a stay at the luxurious Lewa Wilderness Lodge.

Makubi Safari Camp

Nyerere National Park, Tanzania

Makubi Safari Camp lies in a remote pocket of Nyerere National Park, surrounded by Tagalala trees and silver cluster trees on the shore of Lake Minyamiruba. The private camp has a maximum of five tents and is ideal for small groups looking to mindfully reconnect with nature. FGASA Level 3–certified guides like owner/operator Tendekayi Guni, a veteran birder and naturalist, lead low-impact safaris with a philosophy of ahimsa, a nonviolence principle informing all camp operations. Walking is emphasised over game drives, and the camp’s five solar-powered canvas suites feature overhead showers, composting toilets, and no wifi. It’s the perfect place to meditate to the sounds of the wild.

Camp Hwange

Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

Set within a private concession in central Hwange, Camp Hwange’s foot safaris cross the open savannah ecotone between rugged mopane woodlands and teak forests, where honey badgers forage and resident lion prides track the dry-season waterholes. Founded in 2010 by a renowned Zimbabwean guide, each walk is led by veteran rangers and interpretive guides whose expertise in tracking and bushcraft ensures intimate encounters with elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, and sable—often followed by sundowners at a log-pile hide overlooking a natural waterhole. Accommodations comprise eight canvas-walled tents beneath thatch, each overlooking its own waterhole and offering rustic comfort in authentic wilderness style.

Kutali Camp

Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia

Kutali Camp sits on the southern bank of the Zambezi River in Lower Zambezi National Park, where morning walks thread through teak and Winterthorn groves and onto sandy floodplains where elephants, buffalo, and impala graze. Your guides are fully accredited professionals with decades of experience in walking and canoe safaris. After tracking the river’s edge, return to one of just five sleek but simple canvas tents nestled under towering Winterthorn. Unwind in the shaded mess tent, watching the epic sunsets the Zambezi is famous for.