Into the wild, in style
Without wanting to forgo the usual five star lavishness yet yearning to get closer to nature, glamping has married the best of these worlds.
Camping has been around for as long as man has sought shelter from the elements. Not that I have camped too much, just saying.
From Native Americans setting up temporary homes, to armies on the move in the last two centuries camping has been a way of lighter living in the wild. But it was only by the later part of the Victorian era when camping suddenly changed from being a rather pragmatic function to an actual recreational activity. A British traveling tailor Thomas Hiram Holding stoked this leisure fire and wrote a book in 1908 called “The Camper’s Handbook” to share his enthusiasm for the great outdoors – over a 100 years later the enthusiasm is inextinguishable.
Around the same time as camping became about enjoyment, glamping (glamorous camping) started to become favored. European and American travelers were exploring Africa but unwilling to abandon the good life and all the thrills of a luxury lifestyle. No hassles of pitching a tent or unhappiness for the lack of hot water everything (and so much more) was considered and the proverbial “Out of Africa” escapades could now be enjoyed in total and utter splendor – all the way from Colorado’s Dunton Springs, Africa’s Maasai Mara to India’s Rajasthan.
In response to the excess of the 1990s the world has wanted to pare down and strip back in order to get back to the basics. “Glamping is the antithesis of a gilded overdone classical hotel model,” says designer Boyd Ferguson of Cécile and Boyd’s, Singita’s safari lodge designers. “Some people have experienced camping before, for instance as a child in a tent or at a camping site, where it’s stripped and utilitarian and usually even compromises basic comforts. But now we are able to create a five star hotel experience in a fabric shell that offers extreme human comfort mixed with exposure to the wilderness”.
Mara River Tented Camp
For Singita there was to be a careful balance between utility and creature comforts in terms of design for the ultimate experience – ample hot showers, extra comfortable beds, delicious top-tier food, sublime lighting, and privacy such as at the exclusive use mobile-tented camp Singita Explore and their Mara River Tented Camp. “Building with an impermanent tent and a deck allows one to consider sites that are more remote and less serviced than one would with a built hotel – therefore allowing a true commune with mother nature like never before” says Ferguson. “Even the less habituated wild animals that are further away from urban or semi-urban areas and the threat of man, as predator, will naturally come closer to these camps”.
As glamping means fabric thin walls and no glass windows or wooden doors it truly unites the senses with the natural surroundings in the most immediate and extreme way. “The sounds, sights and smells of the bush are quite alarming – it can make guests feel naked as they are in total unity with their surroundings. A never felt before sensation in a man made setting, whether urban or rural,” says Ferguson.
This way of approaching adventure is truly new and takes glampers out of their comfort zone where they are now able to experience using their faculties in a more challenging manner. Mridula Tangirala, Director of Operations of Taj Safaris who believes that “people crave memorable experiences, especially as they become increasingly time poor”. And so in conjunction with &Beyond the Taj Safaris combine the finest private luxury experiences, like world-class spa services, bespoke yoga, personal butlers and cooking with a chef from market to table, with direct access to the wilderness. The Banjaar Tola tents with the river flowing below and uninterrupted views of the National Park across and sleeping with the sounds of the jungle at the Baghvan property present nature in a way that simply cannot be accessed generally.
Deep in the pristine wilderness where privacy prevails as the utmost extravagance there is also a focus on conservation and that is where Sujan pitched home. With three campsites in India, each with only a handful of simple yet utterly stylish tents, the experience of getting close to the wild with the luxury of privacy in the most conscious way. The camps are deeply committed to nurturing culture and wildlife and as evident in their latest, the Jawai Leopard Camp - a low-impact eco safari with local community involvement. The regal Sher Bagh has “for over 40 years played an active part in the conservation effort at Ranthambhore and have witnessed regeneration - a life cycle of the wild in motion and evolved with the changing narrative of this magical land”. And the Serai spa is where to find peace and solace with treatments using ayurvedic products that are made with ingredients from the Thar Desert nearby.
And then there is the ultimate in opulent glamping. When it comes to the pundits of luxury, the Aman Resorts have created the Aman-i-Khas on the border of Rajasthan’s Ranthambore National Park with simply ten ultra-luxury tents. In hefty canvas and the finest cottons, the tents are modeled after antiquated Moghul fine traveling caravans. Inside the splendor of mahogany and leather forge the ultimate boudoir as tigers roam the grasslands and forests nearby.
And so as luxury starts to shed the “bling”, for some, and espouse the intangible qualities of time, space and freedom, glamping fits right in. From the access to privileged wilderness to the awareness of conservation as the ultimate luxury glamping with your massaged feet up with the finest champagne at the watering hole simply cannot be bought.
From the experts on glamping:
“The quiet nature and amazing scenery is an ideal place for reflection. It also encourages interaction in the best way, sitting around a fire, telling and listening to stories – and making new ones. All of this is refreshing for the soul” says Jonny Bealby, owner of Wild Frontiers - an adventure tour operator with luxury tent trips in Northern India’s Ladakh.
“There's an authenticity of place at these lodges that is not only a rarity but also touches guests on every level - spiritual, emotional and physical. Being in the wilderness heightens the senses beyond anything that could ever be experienced back at home. People feel good, precisely because they are out of their comfort zone. They have a sense of well-being, as if they are participating in something far bigger than themselves” says Luke Bailes, CEO of Singita – the finest African luxury safari company.