At the top end, canvas stops being a compromise and becomes the point. A luxury tented suite can run to eighty square metres: a four-poster bed, a freestanding bath, indoor and outdoor showers, a private deck and sometimes a plunge pool, all under canvas with the plains in front of you.
Service matches it. A butler or personal attendant per tent, a chef cooking to order, a curated wine cellar, laundry returned the same day, and a private vehicle and guide included at many of them. Camps are small — often no more than ten tents — so you are never in a queue.
These properties tend to hold the best private locations, either deep inside the parks or in exclusive concessions where off-road driving, night drives and walking safaris are permitted when they are not allowed in the park itself.