saxon hotel

Abercrombie & Kent Tour of Zambia Review

I recently embarked on my second safari tour in Africa with Abercrombie & Kent, a Luxist Awards' nominee for Best Family Winter Vacation as well as Best Adventure Getaway. The safari took me through three of the Sanctuary Retreats camps in Zambia, as well as a night at the Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg. My tour was custom-made, so you won't find the exact same one online for booking, but you can arrange a trip just like mine or with additional features if you'd like to. This article will take you through where we (myself, another journalist and a PR representative) went and what we did, what to expect and what to bring on a trip through Mr. Kent himself's favorite destination: Zambia.

Our tour began with a series of flights. Surprisingly, we were scheduled on an indirect route, flying from New York to Heathrow, then down to Johannesburg, then to Lusaka and then, finally, to our final destination in Zambia. It was a 41-hour ordeal. When you book through Abercrombie & Kent, you will have the option of finding flights and airfare yourself. Many choose to do this so they can control the airline and use their miles for upgrades, etc., but I would add that you'll also have complete control over your route and how long your journey will take. A representative of A&K told me that the usual flight route to Zambia is straight to Lusaka via Heathrow. If you arrange the flights yourself, you could try another option, like New York to Johannesburg on South African Airways.

Regardless, as a fellow journalist once told me as we waited to board a delayed flight to Barbados for the third time, "once you get there, it doesn't matter how you got there."

The same was true of Zambia. We arrived at South Luangwa National Park at sunset and excitedly photographed our first game: a sole, poorly lit giraffe. We couldn't have been more captivated by his beauty and sense of calm. The drivers were patient with us as we snapped away, taking tens of entirely unusable pictures. Then, we drove through a river to reach Sanctuary Retreats Puku Ridge.