Condé Nast Traveler’s Picks of the Year’s Top Hotel and Industry Openings

Seasoned safari-goers have long considered Jack’s the camp of the Kalahari, with its moody tents kitted out with plush ottomans and canopied beds. So when it underwent a massive redo, loyalists were concerned. Perhaps the most compelling aspect of this nomadic tented camp from Kenya’s design-centric Angama Mara is its access to nature in a year when that felt more vital than ever. Sustainable, sophisticated safari camps in the Okavango Delta are nothing new, and then along came Xigera ticking boxes nobody had ever imagined. Take the triple-story, off-grid treehouse with an open-air rooftop bed, 33 feet high. private-public collaboration with state-owned Marakele National Park is South Africa’s biodiversity hotspot you’ve never heard of, yet Marataba’s sustainable conservation model, since replicated across Africa, was endorsed by the late, visionary Nelson Mandela. On this 120,000-acre private estate, 15 tented solar-powered suites are scattered across a kopje (a small hill) that overlooks plains of camel-thorn acacias and twisted shepherd trees. Habitas, known for its community-minded retreat in Tulum, effortlessly moves guests’ focus among culture, well-being, and breathtaking natural surroundings.

SOURCE: CN TRAVELER