Tread lightly in these luxury temporary camps

Visits to the Kruger National Park (KNP) may in future be a lot more exciting, since Thebe Tourism Group acquired a 50 per cent stake in luxury mobile tented camp operator Chiefs Tented Camps.

The group is already known for their Kruger Shalati Train on the Bridge project, and will in future also be able to offer luxury camping through this latest investment, while Chiefs Tented Camps will expand its luxury safari mobile tented camp offering into Kruger.

Founded by Allan Johnston and Lysta Stander 20 years ago, Chiefs Tented Camps have come to represent the ultimate experience in mobile tented camps and journalists were introduced to this concept of unique luxury bush camping in the KNP this past weekend.

Speaking about the partnership around a campfire in a riverbed on Sunday night, Jerry Mabena, CEO of the Thebe Tourism Group, elaborated on the potential of the joint venture. “We saw the quality in how these camps are put together, the professionalism of the teams and services they provide, and it resonated with us,” he said.

He also noted the opportunities presented in expanding their model into a more diverse tourism offering.

Johnston echoed his enthusiasm. “The partnership allows us to tap into the group’s expertise and audience and provides us with the opportunity to expand our product to new frontiers.”

These camps can take as long as two weeks to set up and a full week to break down. The plan is for camps that are set up for a specific event to remain up afterwards to cater for other paying guests and to sell additional bed nights, much like pop-up accommodation which appears for a short period of time and then moves on to the next iconic location.

The first local venture of this nature was Kruger Grande, which saw a luxury tented camp set up on a riverbank in the KNP. This camp remained in place for the entirety of the month of July.

This new concept of a collection of seasonal camps will be called Imagine, and follows a “tread lightly” policy, which means that once the camp is gone there is almost no indication that it was there in the first place.

Along with a professional team of full-time staff, more crew and service staff are drawn from local communities. “It is part of our corporate ethos to ensure the upskilling and employing of local communities wherever we have our own operations,” Mabena said.

Similar temporary camps have been operated by Chiefs Tented Camps during the flower season in the Namaqua National Park since 2012.