Safari means journey. This really was an intense journey through Botswana & Zimbabwe. But a journey with the added bonus of sightings along the way, magical birds at the side of the road and on one occasion slowing down the bus to see a bull elephant only to be gobsmacked by a pack of 10 wild-dog just a couple of trees away! Journeys don`t have to be boring; long bus rides are often part of the adventure. On this holiday we had the added bonus of River safari`s and, in the Okavango Delta, Mokoro rides with only the gentle sound of water lapping by your side, damsel flies and giant hawker dragon-flies buzzing around your ears and in the evening a gigantic frog chorus like something from a Fairy-Tale.
Of course Safari is all about the animals but on this holiday I became more aware of the rich variety of people that helped us along the way. Kaiser the leader of the Polers in the Delta, Rowan our Tour Guide, his trusty driver Siwasu and the dozens of others who did their bloody best to give us the holiday of a lifetime.
Safari at it's absolute best Travelling with a group of friends who met in Botswana on a camping trip 7 years ago, and had so much fun and friendship that we decided to reunite the Botties for a rerun with a bit of Zimbabwe added on! Were slightly concerned that the lodges would lack the intimacy of the wild camping, however this trip was absolutely perfect for us and the tour operator helped us fine tune the experience by switching a day in Vic Falls for an extra day in Hwange for our party of 6. And actually that was probably the highlight of the trip in the end, one of the greatest 24hrs safari experience of my life (and I've had a few)! I was in serious need of a break, but I came home from Africa a different and better person after one of the most amazing trips ever! I am a veteran when it comes to traveling with the tour operator but this had to be the best yet! Thank-you.
Cape Town to Victoria Falls- Hotel/Lodge Reverse Great Tour leader, Driver and group, brilliant trip, wonderful wildlife, great geography and scenery, interesting politics. Great Truck/Bus, and accommodation generally reasonable to good............except. The Orange River Lodge in Namibia was absolutely dreadful and should never be considered again by the tour operator. NO water, had to ask for towels since there was no water we understood why towels were not provided.No toilet paper, had to ask for this, but could not flush the toilet, and the swimming pool was not useable with the cover firmly in place. The Breakfast was like Fawlty Towers only worse, and so dark in the room you could not see. The toaster had blue electrical flashes coming out of it so was unplugged. The Lodge knew that they had no water but did not inform our tour leader, even though he had contacted them many hours in advance of our arrival. The owners were not interested, even though we were the only guests staying there, it appeared that nobody had stayed there for ages, it was really run down. Even the Shell petrol station attendant next door said it was the worst Lodge on the Orange River and nobody ever stays there. Please do not expose your clients to this truly awful Lodge ever again. The owners staff did say that they would not charge the operator for the dreadful breakfast which would now be free of charge.