Condé Nast Traveler has published its Readers' Choice Awards 2026 list of the best resorts and safari camps in Africa, and this year's edition zeroes in on one specific slice of the continent: the top 15 properties outside South Africa and outside Central and Eastern Africa. That effectively means the shortlist draws from safari heavyweights such as Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Rwanda and the Indian Ocean islands, regions where high-end lodge tourism is deeply established and competition for the top spots is fierce.
What makes these rankings worth a look is that they're reader-voted rather than critic-picked. Hundreds of thousands of the magazine's audience rate properties they've actually stayed at, so the results tend to reflect real traveller experience — service, guiding, food, setting — rather than press-trip gloss. For anyone weighing a safari that can easily run into the thousands of dollars per night, that kind of peer validation is genuinely useful.
The 2026 list covers both classic safari camps and standalone resorts, which is a helpful reminder that an African holiday doesn't have to be all game drives. You can mix a bush camp in the Serengeti or the Okavango with a beach lodge on Zanzibar or the Seychelles, and both styles feature in the rankings. The full list of winners is published on the Condé Nast Traveler site alongside the rest of the 2026 awards.
If you're planning a trip and want to use the list as a starting point, a few practical thoughts. Book early — the best-known camps in Kenya's Maasai Mara, Tanzania's Serengeti and Botswana's delta often sell out six to twelve months ahead, especially for the July-to-October dry season. Consider shoulder months like June or November for lower rates and thinner crowds. And note the geographic carve-out: if South Africa is your target, this particular ranking won't help — the magazine covers those properties separately.
