A. Stratton 26th – 28th May
Hey Dave,
The trip was fabulous. We had a great time with the gorillas and Buhoma Lodge was excellent.
We are considering a trip with my mother in law, are you free today for a quick chat about it? Thinking Kenya…
Thanks,
A. Schroeder 21st – 6th June
Hi Sam
Thank you for your E-Mail. It is really incredible that we are back already!
The trip was excellent, thank you for all your help and recommendations.
Southafrica: Capetown was great and the weather amazing. More Quarters is really nice and in a great location. On day 1 we explored the City on our own, taking advantage of a hop on/off-Bus. On day 2 Wilderness and a guide took us to the Cape and to Boulders. In South Africa they have daily load sheddings for about 8 hours. The big hotels and restaurants are not affected as they have generators. But for South Africa this really is a major problem.
Botswana: both camps were wonderful and authentic. Lagoon is the older camp with a bit less comfort, but we liked it at least as much as Kwara as it was a bit more personal. Unfortunately the flood has not arrived yet in the Delta. But as both camps are near permanent water we could also do boating and mokoro. We really like Kwando and its approach to Safari. The camps are not ultra luxurious but they have all you need and much more. The staff is very friendly. The focus is on Safari and they really deliver. We have not seen animals in abundance at this time of the year but we saw all we wanted to see, even wild dogs in Kwara (a long wish of mine). We also liked the possibility to chose from land and water activities. We especially appreciated that all camps were informed about our birthdays. We had birthday cakes and staff choirs performing for us. The landscape in Botswana is beautiful. And having all this almost for ourselves in the private concessions was the real luxury of this Safari.
Mozambique: Azura Benguerra is a gem. Wonderful location, great staff, superb food. I can really recommend this place after a Safari, especially as it is not so far from Southern Africa as for example Mauritius or the Seychelles. Unfortunately we could do only one dive. Because of the quite strong wind boating out at the reef was too rough. But we enjoyed life at the beach. Azura supports the local community with a clinic and a school which is really a great thing.
Flights: all flights in Southern Africa were very good and on time.
All in all a wonderful holiday that we will remember for a long time. I think it won’t be very long until we return to Africa…
Best regards,
M. Helsby 18th – 23rd May
Hey Sam,
Our trip was phenomenal from start to finish (excl. the standard BA flights delays which seem to be part and parcel of travel these days!).
Top things to note:
- DumaTau is out of this world!
- The lodge and location blew our minds.
- The service was exceptional.
- The food was great.
- Hot water bottles in the vehicles in the morning and in the bed at night – what a great touch!
- Boma night there was amazing
- The water activities with all the elephant activity was awesome
- We had lunch on the water barge – another great touch
- Land drives in the afternoon we saw a lot less than mornings – so my advice to anyone visiting the same time of year would be to sack them off and go enjoy the water (either sunset cruise or fishing)
- With the mopani being so dense up here I don’t think I’d stay here longer than 3 nights unless of course I simply wanted to enjoy the lodge. I think you said the same to me when we were first discussing all the lodges.
- Chitabe is another beautiful camp, not on the same level as DumaTau but VERY VERY nice too
- The food here was actually exceptional in our opinion. We actually prefer the group dining buffet every night rather than being seated separately
- Staff again were all super and very friendly and helpful
- The game drives were very very good.
- All transfers/connections went perfectly.
- If I was you, I’d seriously sell the heli transfers to as many people as possible, I can’t imagine any of them will regret paying for it! It was amazing and 1000% times better than getting on another one of the little planes.
R. McKenzie 17th – 26th May
Hi Dave,
Greetings from Victoria Falls, where we arrived yesterday. The trip has been amazing. All the connections went smoothly, we have loved Zimbabwe, and overall it has been a brilliant experience. I’ll happily give you some feedback.
The Mack Air guys were great – there were some dignitaries visiting the airport in Harare that day, so closed terminals and lots of chaos, but we were guided through smoothly and didn’t have to wait too long.
Tembo Plains was absolute next-level luxury. The manager Lloyd and all the people there were amazing and couldn’t do enough for us. The rooms were incredible, with private pools, beautiful views, and everything you could want. The game in that area is not so plentiful as other places, but the game viewing experience was actually one of the best, because our guide Mbecs was qualified as a walking guide, and on a few occasions he had us jumping out of the car or boat and stalking elephant or buffalo (safely obviously). The river trips were also wonderful, and we had a very knowledgeable river guide. This was a proper old school luxury safari experience, with surprise pop-up full sit-down lunch by the river one day, a pop-up barbecue for sundowners on another, amazing dinners every night. I also had a lovely massage. I’m so glad we spent four days there and would definitely go back.
The river transfer was a great experience, and definitely the best way to travel between camps on the Zambezi.
Ruckomechi, the game viewing was very good, and we had some excellent lion sightings, including a mating pair. The camp was a little more basic than the others, – not a big problem for us […] The people were friendly though, and the food great, and it was only by comparison with the other camps that Ruckomechi suffered a little. The sky bed was a nice experience.
The Wilderness Air flights were all fine. It took us a while to figure out that they don’t fix the schedule until the afternoon before, so you have to be flexible and just go with the flow.
Linkwasha was probably our all-round favourite. The camp has a great vibe to it, the game is excellent, the food and people are fantastic, and I really can’t fault it. It’s less full-on luxury than Tembo Plains, and a bit more relaxed, but we liked that about it. Hwange was really different from the riverside areas, and it was great to have that mix, so well-planned on your part.
I’m so glad you suggested Zimbabwe – it’s a really beautiful country, and the experience has been fantastic. Judy (who is 79 next week and this is her ninth safari trip) has really enjoyed it, and everyone has been very solicitous making sure she was ok.
Finally, Shongwe Lookout in Vic Falls is a lovely hotel – nice pool, good food, and we’ve just watched the sunrise from the lookout tower. Easy 1k walk into town, and there’s a resident taxi guy who has been ferrying us around.
Overall, absolutely brilliant trip, seamlessly
organised. Thanks for everything, and we’ll definitely be in touch next time we want to do something similar.
J. Beckerman 14th – 25th May
Hi Ted,
Just wanted to let you know we are back and somewhat over jet lag. Our trip was amazing. Each camp different and offered wonderful experiences and staff.
Our favorite camp was little vumbura and we loved the Cape Grace in Cape Town. We did a sleep out in Little Mackalolo which was one of my high points.
All connections went smoothly and every person along the way was helpful, professional, warm, and on time. Really perfect.
I am happy to give you more feedback if you wish, but many thanks for all your help these last five years
Warmest regards
L. Hicks 18th April – 4th May
Hi Sam,
Apologies for not getting back to you sooner, I’ve been really busy.
The holiday was amazing, everything we had hope for and more! The package you put together was perfect.
Slightly disappointed that we only had the 1 big cat sighting when followed 1 male and 3 females one night for 40 minutes before they headed off into the bush. The day we left our fellow travellers came across a pride of lions and a leopard.
That’s the way with the wild and a good excuse to go back and do another one.
Thank you for a great experience
Best regards
C. Didsbury 9th – 16th March
Hi Ted,
I wanted to share some highlights from my time in Botswana. Thank you for making such brilliant arrangements – everything happened exactly as it was meant to and I had another wonderful trip. I was very lucky in that, in both camps, I was on my own in the vehicle for most of the drives – and I had two of the best guides I’ve ever had!
In Nxai Pan, Dabe and Shoes really brought the magic of the Kalahari to life and were very generous in sharing information about their lives and those of the Bushmen, as well as lots of info about the animals and environment. I felt I learned a lot more about their society, the politics, religion, and family life than on previous visits. Nxai Pan camp was as enjoyable as I remembered from my first visit in February 2019. I like the light and space of the rooms and the watering hole drew in lots of elephant and zebra every day and then huge herds of springbok appeared in the area. The downside of Nxai Pan is that you are restricted to driving on the marked roads in the park and we didn’t find any cats whilst I was there. But this time I made the day trip to Baines Baobabs, which were stunning. On the way, I recognised the stretch of road where, in 2019, we had had to reverse up the bank in order to let a very large bull elephant pass. Dabe and Shoes found this very funny, recognising the area from the photos I showed them and claiming to remember hearing about the incident!
I arrived in Vumbura Plains South with my experience tuned to the slightly…
