When Ashish Sanghrajka was planning his honeymoon, he wanted it to be big, bold and bespoke – just like his two wedding receptions.

So how do you top a week-long Indian wedding ceremony, complete with gold-threaded saris and a crowd of nearly 300 well-wishers? If you’ve got wanderlust like Ashish, you set off on a safari in South Africa and Kenya for one month – and, in between, throw an even larger wedding reception in Nairobi.

Ashish opted to keep the getaway details under wraps from his fiancé, Purvi Patel, who’d never been to Africa, let alone on a safari. I said to her, “you’re marrying someone like no one you’ve ever met before, so I might as well continue the trend with our honeymoon and really ‘wow’ you!” said Ashish.

A Fairytale

If it all sounds like a fairytale, that’s because Ashish and Purvi’s story reads just like one, starting with the fact that they were introduced to each other at a wedding. While dating, they realized that their parents had once lived across the street from each other in the coastal Kenyan town of Mombasa. Although they didn’t remember it, Ashish and Purvi had actually met years before at a New Year’s party they had both attended as kids. “It really was meant to be” says Purvi 31, a bank Vice-President. “At the time, I was living in Canada and Ashish was in the U.S., but we somehow ended up finding each other again.”

After exchanging vows in front of family and friends near Purvi’s home in Canada, the newlyweds boarded a plane bound for Cape Town, South Africa. But rather than head directly for the most popular digs in town, Ashish had arranged to spend the first two nights at an off-the-radar bed and breakfast, which happened to have its own vineyard.

“One thing I learned from talking to other newlyweds, is that you need to work in some down-time on your honeymoon, so I had a car take us from the airport straight to Roggleland Country House” says Ashish, 32 a business owner. “The place has no WiFi or TV’s in the guest rooms and you won’t see another tourist for miles. But what you do get is a roaring fireplace every night, amazing home-cooked meals and all the wine you can drink!”

Before embarking on their adventures in the bush, the couple also spent a few nights in Cape Town at the Cape Grace Hotel, located in its own quay along the Victorian & Alfred Waterfront. The hotel’s prime location made it a perfect base for Ashish and Purvi to explore the city’s candy-coloured Cape Malay Quarter, the Stellenbosch wine country and the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, where southern right whales converge each winter and spring to mate and calve. (For truly intrepid honeymooners, the Cape Grace Hotel can arrange for a close encounter with another infamous aquatic resident – on a full day great white shark cage dive off Dyer Island).

Keeping their own National Geographic moments to dry land, Ashish and Purvi hopped a quick flight from Johannesburg to Lion Sands, a private game reserve within Kruger National Park that’s been managed by the same family since 1933. “I chose Lion Sands because I was looking for an intimate safari experience” says Ashish. “We were on our honeymoon after all and I didn’t want to feel like we were vacationing like the average tourist.

His expectations were met – and then some – from the moment the couple checked into their suite at the camp’s River Lodge, built on the banks of the Sabie River. A self-professed ‘city girl who doesn’t like roughing it’, Purvi was smitten with the thatched-roof spread, equipped with a luxe bathroom, private viewing deck and a romantic, open-air shower. The food wasn’t bad either. “The chefs were so creative and really catered to our dietary needs, which speaks volumes since we are vegetarians” she says. “I probably gained ten pounds!” For Ashish, the best amenity was the king-size bed, which the staff hoisted atop an outdoor platform so the couple could slumber under the stars.

The White-gloved Treatment

It’s this level of personalized service that makes Lion Sands an equally popular spot for destination nuptials. Couples can tie the knot under one of the camp’s 800-year-old Marula trees, then host a sundowner cocktail hour and a lantern-lit reception (with a photo op-worthy campfire) in the bush. If the sky’s the limit with your budget, a bride can prep for the big day inside Chalkley Treehouse – a suite nestled high in the branches of an ancient Leadwood tree – and make her grand entrance via Lion Sands’ own heli-pad.

The white-glove treatment also extends to the daily game drives, bush walks and hippo tours. “The rangers immediately understood that we were honeymooning and made sure we had our own vehicle each day,” says Ashish. “We saw all the Big Five, including a leopard on the hunt during a night safari.” As the camp’s name implies, this is prime lion country and the couple came across a giant pride just 500 feet from the lodge. “There were about a dozen cubs chasing at the wheels of our car,” says Purvi. “I just wanted to jump out and play with them. It was that priceless.”

With the South Africa leg of their trip complete, Ashish and Purvi headed for Kenya. Along the way, they made a pit stop in Zambia to see the majestic Victoria Falls, one the seven natural wonders of the world, and spent two nights at The Royal Livingston Hotel. “Although there were no major animals to see in the area, we signed up for an elephant-back safari at a nearby national park,” says Ashish. “The other highlight was a private picnic we shared on Livingston Island, which sits in the middle of the Zambezi River, on the edge of the Falls.”

After the lion-cub sighting, Purvi thought she’d had her ultimate honeymoon moment. That is, until the honeymooners indulged in a riverside couples massage back at the hotel. “They pitched a spa tent on the banks of the Zambezi, which is definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences” she says.

Of course Purvi hadn’t yet landed in Nairobi, where she would meet Ashish’s extended family and friends – all 700 of them. Their second wedding reception featured musicians strumming and singing old-fashioned Indian songs dedicated to the deities, several bridal ensemble changes and a menu of classic local dishes like ugali, a simple yet delicious blend of kale and corn maize that’s meant to be eaten with three fingers of the right hand. “Looking back, it’s as if the whole village came out to wish us well,” says Ashish.

Their auspicious send-off brought them to Tortilis Camp next, in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. The luxury tent retreat is owned by professional guides, so the emphasis here is on the animals – and the tens are set up in the heart of the habitat. Tortilis is so well respected that Steve Irwin, the late Australian Crocodile Hunter, had visited the camp just a week before Ashish and Purvi. If you plan well in advance, the guides can arrange a visit to the neighbouring Cynthia Moss Amboseli Elephant Research Centre, a non-profit organization focused on conserving the local pachyderm population.

Of all the well-choreographed honeymoon highlights, Ashish’s careful planning really paid off at their final destination, the Governor’s Il Moran Camp in the Masai Mara. “They put the Four Seasons to shame,” says Ashish of the secluded tents that border the Mara River. “We had a huge California king bed and we were greeted each morning with a gentle knock on our tent flap and a full tea and coffee service.”

Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve is home to the Great Migration and one of the largest populations of big cats in Africa. Ashish and Purvi can certainly attest to this: Around 2:00am one night, they heard loud rustling outside their tent. Then something crashed against one of the canvas walls, jolting Purvi wide awake. The culprits turned out to be a pair of mating leopards. “We were that close!” exclaims Ashish. “I’d been to Kenya a million times, but that had never happened to me before.”

During the game drives, the couple also spotted a Cape buffalo, rhino, elephant, lion and the notoriously elusive cheetah. One afternoon, they came across a female who was on the hunt, her trio of cubs now in tow. “She jumped on the hood of our vehicle, and just as quickly took off after a gazelle, shaking the entire car,” says Purvi. “She was running so fast that we had to use binoculars to track her.”

Witnessing the Masai Mara wildlife in action is a specialty at Governor’s Il Moran Camp, especially if you’re willing to float over 500 feet up to do it. With a five-star champagne breakfast spread before them, Ashish and Purvi took a hot air balloon safari one morning, just before sunrise. As they toasted with bubbly, a lion lounging in a tree let out a sonorous roar, which reverberated through the balloon’s basket. “It was the pinnacle of our trip,” says Ashish. “At that moment, we felt like we were on top of the world!”