Safari Blog

Brett recently assisted an American and Irish couple plan their honeymoon to Botswana and Zambia. read their feedback below.

Hi Brett

Here are a few more detailed comments that hopefully you will find helpful:
 
Sandibe:
All of the staff were fantastic. Guides were brilliant (ours was Katembo, James was the tracker).  We saw a LOT of game here.  Cheetah, Leopards, 2 male lions, lioness and her cub, elephants (running through the water and a group of 4 even charged the truck at one point!), hyena, etc.  The game really was excellent.  At the night drive we even saw a wild cat and a serval.  The game viewing was simply outstanding.  Food was all very good, the staff was very accommodating (we skipped the first morning game drive and they brought us breakfast at the room at 830, champagne and private dining in the room our last night, etc).  They just did everything right.  Management was there if you needed them, they introduced themselves and you saw them around during the day but they didn't constantly try to talk to you, which we thought was the right approach to take.  Rooms were perfect, clean, etc.  Definitely our favorite and we were very glad we stayed 3 nights here. 
 
Jao:  Already mentioned the lodge, disappointing breakfast, worms, not being romantic, mgmt over-attention.  There were high points to be fair.  The activities were great.  The guide was very knowledgable.  First evening we did a game drive and had a sun-downer.  Saw lions the first day and a lot of nice birds, and a small croc in the water.  Day 2 we woke up, did a game drive as we made our way to Kwetsani where we got on the speedboat, flying through the narrow reed-lined waterway to the island where Tubu Tree camp is.  Got on a truck, did a game drive there and saw 2 leopards feeding on an impala among other things.  Relaxed at Tubu Tree for a bit, then made our way back to Jao in the afternoon.  We did the makoro ride in the evening which was relaxing and enjoyable.  Day 3 in the morning we got on the boat again and went through some of the larger channels which was fun, and saw some locals on their makoros fishing.  We talked to them for a bit and they gave us 3 Bream which the camp cooked up for us for lunch before we departed, which was a nice touch.  We definitely enjoyed the activities, and they made us forget about what we disliked about the camp itself while we were out, but I think you can get the same experience for the activities at Kwetsani as you mention (and I'm assuming Kwetsani is cheaper than Jao...).    We liked the contrast of the setting (water-based) when compared to Sandibe.  As you told me, it was very different and nice to be in such a different setting.  One other thing about Jao we didnt' like was that we were in the LAST cabin on the walkway, which we were told is a whopping 0.5km from the main camp area.  That got old, especially after dinner and drinks in the evening.
 
Savute Elephant Camp:  Very unique.  Tent overlooked the watering hole.  Facilities were all fantastic.  You were far enough away from the neighboring tents to have privacy, but not miles away like Jao.  And the tents had Air conditioning, which was VERY welcome!  The food was very good here as well, and although they coudln't do private dining due to recent animal activities (leopards, wild dogs in camp) they did set a special table up for us right at the edge of the drop to have very good viewings of the elephants while we ate.  The management were great (Wayne and Sandy I think were their names), which we think were new to that camp (not real sure though).  We were getting a little tired of game drives at this point, and it was very dry there, but we kept seeing things that kept our interest.  Wild Dogs during the day (which is very rare - so rare that the guide made us leave our tea and the table, etc, jump in the jeep immediately, as we gave chase!), lions, leopards, giraffe, ostrich, and obviously huge hoards of elephants.   2 nights here was enough for us, but we definitely enjoyed it.  They did mention that Sept wasn't the peak season for game viewing, but it was still good.  The one thing that was noticeably different at Savute vs. the other 2 is that it was not a private concession -- we missed being able to drive wherever you wanted to drive...but we still had great viewing angles of the game.  They actually lost their generator the day we were leaving, but they were working very hard to get a new one flown in, etc, and we saw how the management were dealing with newly-arriving guests and were very impressed with how upfront they were and professional.  They also left a bottle of champagne in our room on DAy 2 after the morning game drive... 
 
Royal Livingstone - out of all the places I expected to be bug-free, this was it, but there were a decent number of mosquitos in the room each night.  The staff were accomodating, and gave us bug spray which helped us get the situation under control, so I'm not going to complain about the mosquitos...  The food was outstanding and reasonably priced (contrary to some reports we read on the internet).  The location is fabulous.  We loved being able to walk to the Falls at our leisure and not have to go with / pay for a tour.  The sunset Deck is great for a drink.  I really loved the bar also.  We would have liked to have had another night there to relax but we got to do everything we wanted.  The helicopter flight was very fun, especially since we got to sit in front...we even bought the cheesy $40 video...  We did the 30 minute flight which we enjoyed because you got to fly through the canyon, but the 15 minute flight would have left us just as happy as you get to see plenty of the falls in that amount of time.  We booked this through the hotel and flew with United Air Charter.  The lunch on Livinstone Island was fun, but unfortunately we left our swimming togs at left luggage at Jo'burg airport so coudln't go swimming which was unfortunate.  The food served on the Island was good.  The sunset cruise was relaxing but a little cheesy.   I think we would have enjoyed it more on the first night instead of after all of our activities.  It also came across a bit as a booze cruise, since you really didn't go very far at all, the snacks served were pretty bad, but they did serve drinks pretty promptly.  It would have been a lot less romantic had we not nabbed two great seats in a corner of the boat.  
 
Kasaka - Game viewing was surprisingly good here, which we didn't expect.  We were really tired of game drives at this point, obviously, but the scenery was again different and we had a night leopard sighting on the first drive, then the next morning we saw four lions eating an impala.  A leopard killed the impala, which was chased off by a hyena, which was then chased off by the 4 lions.  So we saw the lions chase the hyena off, and as one of our group looked around for the hyena as the lions were devouring the impala, he sees the leopard in a nearby tree.  So we saw all of these at the same time.  And I had been close to lions several times at this point, yet found the deep growling noises they were making a bit unnerving!  It was really the best lion encounter we had.  We did a canoe trip which was very relaxing and enjoyable, and saw an elephant in the river eating away.  It was cool to pass by the elephant as he was eating.   The fishing was great.  I ended up catching an 8 lb tiger fish on our first fishing trip!  The 2nd day we got to go out on the pontoon boat which was very relaxing and enjoyable, and I almost caught a big fish (30 lb or so) but the line broke.  The last morning we slept in.  The food wasn't as good as the Botswana camps but was still OK.  It wasn't an issue really because we enjoyed everything else there so well, and the private dining they set up for us was really nice (and the food served that night was very good).  We also liked the fact that the honeymoon tent was at the end of the footpath and had a nice outdoor bath overlooking the river.   I didn't like the big huge hairy spider that was in the bathroom but fortunately for me, my wife is not afraid of them so she killed it with my sandals.  No bugs in the tent at all, which really we found surprising.    The managers were Melany, Chris and her husband (whose name we can't remember now).  Chris is absolutely lovely.  
 
You clearly did a great job in helping us put together a tough itinerary on short notice, especially considering we were going in peak season. We really appreciated being at 4 camps, all of which were very different and unique. We also really appreciated that all of the transfers were taken care of and that everything ran smoothly. Also in the planning process I very much appreciated your responsiveness to all of my emails.
 
We are considering a trip to Namibia and South Africa (not sure when exactly), but you'll be the first person to know if we decide to come back. And I've already talked to someone at work that is going to Jo'burg for work and he wants to go to the Lower Zambezi...if he gets his business trip arranged, he'll be dropping you an email to help him arrange his trip.
 
Thanks again Brett. 

Jonathan