I'm not sure if it was the elephants wandering through the villas, the hippos munching all night in the back lagoon, the baboon party around my private plunge pool or the just-renovated villas that I liked best about Sanctuary Retreats' Chief's Camp on the prized Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana.
The combination, however, certainly made for a fitting finale to what had already been a trip of a lifetime as an invited guest on Abercrombie & Kent's annual Special President's Journey, one of its luxury small-group offerings.
This year's president's trip visited four of the A&K-owned Sanctuary-brand camps in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Each had its own unique and luxurious elements, from hammocks to outdoor bubble baths, not to mention the 10-day trip's game drives, safari river cruise, a helicopter tour of Victoria Falls and dinner aboard the Royal Livingstone Express, a vintage luxury steam train that runs along the Victoria Falls Bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
But the surprises kept coming on our final stop at Chief's Camp, which has just reopened following an extensive renovation of its luxury bush pavilions.
In the first of what A&K says will be a series of upgrades across its Sanctuary camps during the next few years, the villas have been expanded and updated throughout to include private decks that run the full length of the pavilions, complete with plunge pools, shaded cushioned seating areas and outdoor dining tables overlooking the lagoon created by the seasonal flooding of the delta where hippos spent the first night grazing till dawn.
The pool at Sanctuary Retreats' Chief's Camp in Botswana. Photo Credit: Jeri Clausing
The camp has also added a luxurious suite, named after founder Geoffrey Kent, which offers families and small groups their own private enclave with a living room, fully-stocked bar and a kitchen area that joins together two villas. It also includes a huge outdoor dining area and fire pit, as well as private attendants.
The villas, now some of the largest in the area, have been remodeled in what Sanctuary aptly describes as "safari chic." The simple but naturally elegant suites have large living and sleeping areas with all the modern touches, including multiple types of outlets and USB charging stations, Nespresso machines, heating and air conditioning and luxurious bathrooms with indoor and outdoor showers as well as soaking tubs set in front of glass walls that give unfettered views of, and for, the wandering wildlife.
While the villas are situated for maximum privacy with or without window shades or curtains being pulled, I did step out of the shower one morning to see a party of baboons peeping into my cabin, drinking out of my plunge pool and scurrying across the roof.
A renovated bathroom at Sanctuary Retreats' Chief's Camp in Botswana. Photo Credit: Jeri Clausing
A few minutes later I heard a loud crash as an elephant felled a tree. And after navigating around three elephants on my way to breakfast, we watched a herd of about a dozen elephants, including a few babies, swim across the pond.
The renovation of Chief's Camp, which offers some of the best wildlife interactions in the Sanctuary portfolio, is keeping with A&K's vision to continue redefining luxury, said A&K USA president Phil Otterson, who had to cancel his participation in the trip due to the company's just-announced sale to Chinese real estate developer Zhonghong Group, which the company says will help it continue innovating in the luxury space.
But in a follow-up telephone conversation, Otterson said that while much talk in recent years has focused on experience, luxury still is "about thread count," the right beds and all the extras, no matter how far-flung the destination.
Indeed, the modern upgrades at Chief's Camp, along with the multiple special touches like free laundry service, gourmet cuisine, morning coffee delivery, heated mattress pads and personalized services at every stop along the way, offered nonstop pampering before, during and after the main event of any safari: the twice-daily game drives that yielded multiple successful close-up views of the famed Big Five and countless other wildlife.
They also prove that while experience is a key component of any modern-day excursion, at the end of the day, high-end travelers still want to be pampered, even in the wilds of Africa.
Perhaps one fellow traveler summed it up best when asked by one of the guides what his favorite animal was.
"The bush babies," he responded, referring to the nickname for the fleece-coated hot water bottles the guides provided us to stash beneath our blankets on cold, early morning game drives.