Olo Safaris x Ker & Downey Safaris

“There is a kind of conversation I have hardly ever experienced except in Africa, when one is alone in the bush or desert.” – Ian Player

Mobile camping has been part of the safari story since the beginning and, to this day, remains one of the most immersive ways to experience the African wilderness. You aren't just spending the day out in the wild and returning to camp at night to sleep – you are still completely surrounded by it, falling asleep to the sounds of wildlife, waking up to the chorus of birdsong and stepping outside your tent straight into the vast landscape. To us, this is exactly what a luxury safari is about.

Instead of having a permanent camp in one location, everything is brought into the wild with you and set up specifically tailored to one group. The location can be chosen based on the wildlife, the season, the scenery, or simply how far away from everyone else you want to be. Then, once the safari is finished, the entire camp is dismantled and removed, leaving the area exactly as it was found.

It is also one of the original forms of safari – long before permanent camps and lodges became a thing across Africa, safaris involved travelling with your camp and setting up wherever you wanted to explore.

A relationship built in the bush

Olo Safaris is an Associate of The Original Ker & Downey Safaris, bringing their generations of experience and expertise in running private luxury mobile camps together with our own approach to creating and personally guiding safaris.

Ker & Downey has been at the heart of this style of safari for decades. Founded in Kenya in 1946 by Donald Ker and Syd Downey, the company went on to pioneer customised photographic safaris and develop the mobile camp model that remains key to its safaris today.

Our association with Ker & Downey means drawing on generations of knowledge passed down by those who came before, while staying closely connected to the guides working on the ground today. It’s this combination of experience and lived, local knowledge that gives us an understanding of Africa that is so valuable to the safaris we create.

Olo personally guides these mobile safaris, so we’re not simply recommending an experience; we’re out there experiencing it alongside our guests.

Your own private camp

The mobile camps are anything but basic – the tents are spacious, custom-made canvas structures with proper beds, luxury linen, feather-down duvets and hot water bottles for cooler nights. Each tent also has its own ensuite bathroom with a flushing toilet and hot safari shower, as well as a private veranda.

There is a separate dining tent and lounge, where meals are served, drinks are poured and the sights of the day are discussed. The camp crews are incredibly experienced and take care of everything quietly in the background, from preparing excellent food to making sure the camp is ready for you when you return from a long day out.

All of this is designed to give you the comfort of a luxury safari without taking you out of the environment you have come to experience. You can still hear the sounds of the bush around you at night, and you can still wake up and see the landscape before you've even left your tent, and that is one of the things that makes a mobile camp so special.

Tailored to you

One excellent thing about mobile camps is that each camp is private, and each trip can be different. The location is chosen with the individual group in mind, and access others can't have, whether that means finding an area particularly good for wildlife, somewhere with exceptional scenery, or a more remote setting where you are unlikely to see another vehicle.

The menus and wines are tailored to what you enjoy, while activities and the daily schedule can be arranged to suit your interests and how you want to spend your time.

Some guests want to be out from dawn until dusk, while others prefer a slower morning and more time in camp. If we find something worth staying with on a game drive, there is no reason to rush away – having a private guide means the day can develop naturally rather than following a fixed itinerary.

Ultimately, great guiding is about more than knowing where to find wildlife – it’s about getting to know the people you’re travelling with and understanding what will make the experience meaningful and interesting for them.