Design
What works in a photograph and what works at 6am
Some of the most photographed features in this market are the least useful, and a few of the least photographed are the ones people remember.
Sightlines
The private plunge pool is the most photographed and least interrogated feature in the market. "Private" on a website means "not shared". It does not always mean "not visible".
- What overlooks the pool, the path to the next tent, the dining deck, the staff route?
- The same question for the outdoor shower, which is usually more exposed than the pool
- And for the deck, which is where you will actually spend the middle of the day
- Is the front of the tent open to a view, or to the next tent’s view?
Layout
Ask for the camp plan. Good camps have one and will send it.
| What to look at | Why |
|---|---|
| Where the honeymoon tent sits | Usually the furthest from the main area, which is the real benefit |
| Distance to the main area | Two hundred metres is a pleasant walk; twenty is not a separate place |
| Steps and slopes | Matters for mobility and for a late return in the dark |
| Which way the tent faces | East-facing gets sunrise from bed; west-facing gets heat in the afternoon |
| Where the kitchen is | Sound and smell both travel further than the plan suggests |
What is genuinely worth having
- A deck with shade. You will spend three hours a day on it, and the middle of the day is hot.
- A bed you can see out of. The single best feature in this market and it costs nothing extra: a tent whose front opens onto the view from the pillow.
- A proper indoor shower as well as the outdoor one. Outdoor showers are wonderful and they are also cold at 5.30am in June.
- Somewhere to put things. Two people living out of soft bags for four nights need more surface than a bedside table.
- Plug sockets that work when the generator is off. Ask. Camera batteries are the usual casualty.
What photographs better than it lives
- The freestanding bath, which uses a great deal of water in a place where water is trucked or pumped
- The four-poster with heavy drapes, which is beautiful and warm
- The plunge pool that faces the wrong way and is in shade by two in the afternoon
- The completely open-fronted tent, which is glorious and also means insects and, in some camps, baboons
None of these is a reason to avoid a camp. They are reasons to ask, and a specialist who has sent forty couples to a place knows the answers.
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