Morning service. Preparing for breakfast at Bumi Hills Safari Lodge, overlooking Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe
AFRICAN BUSH CAMPS
“If ever there was a subject that makes the [insert your nationality here] sweat under the collar and feel socially awkward it has to be gratuities,” says David Cartwright of ATI Holidays. “The thought of causing offence by giving too little, paying too much or inadvisably proffering a tip is enough to keep you awake at night.”
Often problematic, certainly contentious, the moral dilemma of tipping is one that has been troubling travellers to Africa for decades, a “dark cloud that sits over you during your entire holiday”, as one Travel Africa reader put it: knowing who to tip, how much and whether it is better to use gratuity boxes or not?