By definition, mobile camps are just that...designed to be relatively easily moved every few days. This means that they have to be lightweight enough to be packed in a day into trucks and popped up in new sites. In the early days of hunting or photographic safaris this is exactly how people got out into the bush for weeks or months (well, in the very early day you would have substituted trucks for dozens of porters). There were no permanent lodges or hotels, few roads and you had to carry absolutely everything with you. Jump straight to some of our favourite Mobile Safaris.

Regrettably, we don’t have to be so intrepid these days, but the great news is that there are still plenty of places where you can enjoy the pleasure of simple yet comfortable mobile camping.

Since they are mobile, there is a certain amount of compromise on the frills and add-ons that you might expect in a lodge. For one thing, have you ever tried to get a swimming pool into the back of a truck? That said there is a scale from super-simple lightweight (fly camps) to very comfortable barely-mobile camps. One or two may just use mosquito nets and bedrolls.

In general terms, a mobile camp will use either Meru-style tents or dome tents. Meru tents are large and rectangular with openings at front, and sometimes rear, and usually a covered verandah. Dome tents are self-explanatory but are generally smaller with little stand-up room inside. Furniture will vary from mattresses on the floor to camp beds or proper beds. Lighting is normally by paraffin, solar or re-chargeable lanterns.

The more sophisticated camps will have en-suite bathrooms with bucket showers. These are either actual buckets or canvas bags fitted with a showerhead, and are filled with hot water and hoisted up a convenient tree above the bathroom...the rest is down to gravity. There will normally be a “short" drop loo which is dug fresh every day or two and is remarkably clean...you use the shovel provided to, well, “flush".  Whatever the style of camp though, you can normally expect a hot shower, good food and a comfy bed.

Now, why would you want to forego your creature comforts and slum it in a tent? Well, quite simply, this is the absolute best way to experience the African bush. Unencumbered by buildings and all the paraphernalia, you will go to sleep hearing only the noises of the bush, waking up to the dawn chorus and the morning smells. You’ll be able to wander round camp with your morning coffee and see what nocturnal visitors have been through by the spore they’ve left or enjoy the birds for which your camp-site is home. It’s the kind of intimacy only achieved by locating yourself right in the middle of the action and moving to a new spot before the birds and animals have got used to your presence and adapted their behaviour accordingly.

Activities at mobile camps will vary depending on the area and the best way to see the game.  In the Okavango Delta, for example, you can expect to get out and about in boats and open vehicles while in Zambia, there are companies that specialise in walking...it just depends.

Take a closer look at these ideas for Mobile Safari experiences:

Camel trekking safari with the Samburu in Northern Kenya

Follow the Serengeti Wildebeest Migration in a Light Mobile Camp

Walking and sleeping out in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia