T+L Reports: Luxe Lodges

Just when it seemed that African safari camps had maxed out in the luxury department, three more over-the-top lodges have opened. Set along the Boro River in Botswana's Okavango Delta, Abercrombie & Kent's intimate Baines' Camp (800/554-7094; www.abercrombiekent.com; doubles from $780, all-inclusive) has five elevated, balconied suites, each with a mobile four-poster bed meant to be wheeled outside for starlit slumbering. During the day, guests can walk the grounds with the camp's trio of adopted elephants. • CC Africa's Madikwe Safari Lodge (888/882-3742; www.ccafrica.com; doubles from $850, all-inclusive) occupies a corner of the 190,000-acre malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa. The 16 suites, spread through three camps, highlight design guru Chris Browne's simple touch with natural stonework and tree-trunk frames. • The conservation company's other addition, Zuka Lodge (entire lodge $2,537, all-inclusive), at Phinda, sits in 8,600 previously inaccessible acres in the private game reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It's made up of just four thatched bush cottages, which are furnished with cowhide rugs and have verandas that overlook an active water hole.
—Peter Hyman