Wilderness Therapy, Kenya
Nairobi-based writer Jane Barsby takes time out from the city to join a relaxing circuit of four exclusive Kenyan safari camps.

Summer is in denial, traffic is in trauma, schedules are schizoid and performance is paranoid. Time for therapy? Then try this: relax, take a few deep breaths and imagine being lifted out of the humdrum of everyday life onto a small white plane. Deposited on a dusty airstrip encircled by lion-gold savannah, you notice a small dust cloud hurtling towards you. It materialises into an open-topped Land Rover stuffed with wicker picnic baskets, gingham tablecloths and chilled champagne. Whisked through an Eden-green landscape dotted with zebra, giraffe and topi, you arrive at a whimsical home with an undulating thatched roof, timbered decks, far-reaching views and a warm welcome. You poach gently, beneath the stars, in a bath of rose petals before dining en famille and retiring to the crisp cotton sheets of your four-poster. An inner world? No, just the alternative reality of a small Kenya-based company. Private Wilderness Safaris operate four exclusive camps in the increasingly elusive wildernesses of Kenya. Depending on how much time (and money) you have to spare, they will shepherd you between two or more of them on one of their six-seater Cessna 206 planes.

Your personal odyssey begins at Saruni, a safari camp on the western escarpment of the spectacular Masai Mara National Reserve. Styled to echo the cut-crystal, starched damask and Persian-carpeted splendour of pre-colonial safaris, Saruni offers six sandstone, timber and canvas cottages. The camp has sweeping panoramic views, antique elegance, limitless luxury, home-cooked cuisine, campfire cocktails and atmospheric moments ad infinitum. At Saruni, you can also walk with wildlife and hone your bushcraft skills with the Maasai.

Your lust for wildlife partially sated, you then fly upcountry to Rusinga, a tiny island anchored in the fresh waters of Lake Victoria, where eight stone-and-thatch cottages cluster around a secluded lodge, swimming pool and spa. Now it's time for the ‘squeal of the reel' as you wrestle to land one of the 225kg Nile perch rumoured to lurk in the lake. Alternatively, you can potter in pursuit of the unimaginably vivid birdlife, take a boat trip to Ruma National Park (a refuge for the endangered roan antelope) or stroll to the site where, in 1948, Mary Leakey discovered the 20 million-year-old skull of Proconsul africanus.

Next on the itinerary is Campi ya Kanzi, where six stylish tents straddle the serpentine coils of Hemingway's "Green Hills of Africa", offering uninterrupted views towards the "Snows of Kilimanjaro". In addition to sumptuous accommodation (Edwardian bathrooms, canvas chairs around the campfire, etc), Campi ya Kanzi offers mountain treks, ornithological trails and game drives. The lamplit dinners, set against mango-coloured sunsets, provide some of the finest soul therapy anywhere in Africa.

Finally you descend from the hills, forsake the plane and gear up for a sensational game drive across Tsavo West NP and into the blazing wilderness of Tsavo East (jointly comprising one of the world's largest national parks). Here, on the banks of the Athi River, where crocodiles doze in the shade of doum palms and vast herds of dust-red elephant gather to drink, is Kilalinda. A family-built sanctuary, Kilalinda offers six cottages, a limpid pool, exuberant Italian cuisine, four-poster beds, private jacuzzis, rough-tough game drives, sundowners atop the Yatta Plateau and chilled champagne in star baths down by the river.

And that's it. Your wilderness therapy is over. As cameo safaris go, this 7-10-day tour scores well. Not only does it guarantee kaleidoscopic flora, fauna, culture and topography, but it also takes the stress out of long-distance travel and provides a faultless cocktail of service, cuisine, eco-sensitive surroundings and homely ambience. Best of all, it provides a privileged glimpse of primordial Africa - a teeming wilderness of resounding solitude and riotous beauty.

Royal Livingstone and Zambezi Sun, Zambia
Nothing quite prepares you for that first mesmerising sight of Victoria Falls as the Zambezi swirls inexorably into the abyss. If access to the Falls is your priority, then accommodation choice is straightforward, says Tricia Hayne.

Sun International's Zambezi Sun and Royal Livingstone hotels have effectively monopolised the immediate vicinity of Victoria Falls on the Zambian side. Set within Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, they share unlimited direct access to the Falls through their own private gate.

Perhaps surprisingly, it is the three-star Zambezi Sun that has won the toss in the proximity stakes. All fun and colour, the place is like an exuberant teenager in party mood. Desert-red, crenellated walls (somewhat reminiscent of a North African mosque) encircle landscaped lawns, through which snakes a large, brightly tiled pool. Vervet monkeys, the bane of the staff, cavort through the grounds as if through a children's playground (and there's one of those, too). Overlooking the pool and partly open to the skies, there's an extensive buffet restaurant where the food makes up in quantity for what it lacks in quality. If the rooms are on the small side, they're certainly well thought out, with a real sense of place and all the trappings of a good business hotel. So what's the catch?

The answer is in the view - the trump card of next door's Royal Livingstone, where sweeping lawns lead from wide verandahs to an unparalleled frontage along the Zambezi. Gone is the frippery of youth. Here, all is taste and elegance, from the vaulted opulence of the reception area to the long, wood-panelled bar and the comfortable, almost chintzy restaurant. The watchword is attention to detail. It starts on arrival with a personal welcome - there's nothing so vulgar as a check-in desk - and an individual butler allocated to each cool, traditionally-styled room to ensure that it comes fully up to expectations. But ultimately it's that view that matters. Never mind the activity centre, the casino, the business centre and the café. Gaze in awe from the verandah at the river in all its guises or revel in a personal candle-lit dinner under the stars - these are the things that really count.