Botswana 2007, a Trip Report in Pictures on 5 tented camps

rats. let's try that link again:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=946xn4yk.2ezc6ok0&x=0&h=1&y=vket9p

OK again....
http://tinyurl.com/3bgu7g

Sorry for confusion. 2nd link works. Please ignore tinyurl
Leslie

Hi Leslie,

Nice images!

Since I browsed all the way through, I will add ID's here for you:

1. Impala in tree. Tree does not look to me like Leadwood, more likely an Acacia, like Knobthorn.

2. Giraffe under Raintree. This is a Sausage tree (Kigelia africana or "Moporota").

3. Fireball lilies are Scadoxus multiflorus.

5. Spring flowers is the Weeping Wattle tree (Peltophorum africanum).

6. The next image is the Squacco Heron.

7. Next image is an immature Saddle-billed Stork.

8. Your starling is a Greater Blue-eared Starling.

My favorite shot is the meerkat resting upright against your knee. They are too cute. Nicky and I were just at Jack's this past December and spent a lot of time with the kats. Were they still digging up bull frogs?

We were also at Chitabe and LittleVum. I saw that same impala in the tree at Chitabe - out near one of the sleep-out hides if I remember correctly. Amazing that it seems unchanged and has apparently been there for months now.

James

thanks for the pictures.

Beautiful photos. Looks like a great safari.

Fantastic, I especially love the photo of the brown hyena!

Wonderful photos, even great bird shots! Sounds like a fantastic trip and now back to PP!

I agree, those are great photos. I spent several days in Kgalagadi, including many hours late at night at waterholes, looking for a brown hyena, and I didn't see any -- you're picture of one is great.

Michael

Beautiful pictures. Nice to see that the Kwando pups are doing well.
Your mongooses are Banded Mongoose not Slender.
Michael

Great pics, I love the meerkats! Are there other places besides Jack's where one can experience them like that? (I think Jack's may be out of our price range sadly...)

James and mv,
Many thanks for the corrections to my captions. I wasn't taking notes. I'll correct the information. But pretty sure that tree with the impala head was not an acacia.
Lisa,
I'm not sure about where else to see meerkats. One trip report by Patty on Namibia, she found them as house pets, so search for those pictures. I wonder if the Web site for Meerkat Manor might have info about other places you can find them, otherwise search this site or perhaps other Fodorites will weigh. I wasn't prepared to be excited by them because of all the hullabaloo about the TV show (which I don't particularly like). But they are absolutely chaming creatures.
PB,
We were thrilled to see a brown hyena, and he was gorgeous, more like a German Shepherd than a spotted hyena. The guide drove to his hole, got out of the vehicle to take a look, and woke him up from a nap. (Probably not kosher.) He was shy, but stayed in the area keeping low to the grasses. Very exciting.
Leslie

You had a great selection of camps. The brown hyena is a highlight. Lots of good bird photos. I especially liked the mother and cub lion pair, the couple of warthogs, the wild dog pack in Kwando, and the elephant herd that was not happy.

Thank you for posting.

Thanks Lynn,
We saw so many animals we couldn't get pictures of, such as a black mamba, civet, serval, even an aardwolf! And dogs, dogs, dogs...
James, the meerkats didn't dig up any bullfrogs (probably not enough rain yet) but got plenty of beetles and scorpions. Until we walked with the bushmen, I had no idea how many scorpions lurk just beneath the dirt. I had a hard time not touching the meerkats, but so many of them crawled up into my lap and rubbed against my skin I could feel their soft coats. Just a magical experience.

Leslie,

Lovely pictures all round. You certainly have a wide assortment of camps on your trip. Which one was your favourite and why?

I hope to go to Chitabe Lediba at some stage and you certainly had good sightings.

Who guided you at Kwando Lagoon? The wild dog pack i think is down to 6 pups from the litter of 9.

Cheers
Hari

Hari,
I will try my dardest to file a real trip report about all the camps. Really hard to choose a favorite. Jack's Camp was unique. Chitabe Lediba was fine, but not our favorite. Kwando was basic, and I HATED the Uris, but oh the animals! Our guide was Steve. We called him the Safari Nazi, and I mean that in a good way. First one out, last one in, and relentless. We had a forced night drive AFTER dinner one night! But we saw all sorts of things, and didn't get back till after midnight.
Alas, no cheetah this trip.
Leslie

Oh, and Hari, I believe there are 7 Kwando pups, but don't quote me...

Thanks, Leslie .... although my Jack's experience is not current, i had a great time especially the Meerkats and Brown Hyena den. Glad you had a great trip and your pictures were very enjoyable!

Cheers
Hari

LAleslie --
I would be interested to hear any details you have about Chitabe Lediba and Little Vumbura. We were at Lagoon last year and loved it. We are considering Chitabe Lediba and Little Vumbura for this Decemeber. What can you tell me about the game viewing, guiding, vehicles, accommodations, food, etc.? Thanks in advance.

I enjoyed those! I can't believe how close you got to the meerkats..wonderful! Thanks!

Thanks for the great photos, so nice to escape to Africai if only for a few moments.

Lisa,
Chitabe Lediba was fine, but not our favorite of the 5 camps. This was partly because we requested Newman and didn't get him, even after informing one of the managers when we arrived. We never knew who dropped the ball here, our TA, Wilderness or the camp management, but it could have been easily corrected as far as I could tell because Newman's vehicle wasn't full. We had a young fellow (I have forgotten his name) who was a bit quiet and whose English wasn't the best (but better than my Setswana!). In his defense, out of all the Chitabe guides looking for dogs one afternoon, he found them, purely by tracking. Soon after, the rest of the Chitabe Landies arrived, 4 or 5, and there was a traffic jam racing after the hunting dogs. Not my favorite thing, but understandable that every guest wants to see the dogs. Overall, game viewing was decent, tho Lagoon was better. We got the family tent (No. 5), farthest from the dining tent, which had two bedrooms and one not-very-private bath. Perfectly comfortable though. Vehicles are 2-3-3 configured Land Rovers, if I recall, rather than the truly horrid Uris at Lagoon. We went on a walking safari with the splended Dawson from Chitabe main camp one morning. The food and service was very good, but not the most simpatico ambience I've ever encountered.
Little Vumbura has just been redone and was the most luxurious of the 5. Almost too much so. Gorgeous rooms, fabulous huge beds with billowing mossie nets, indigo batik accents, plush sitting chairs and a large writing desk, gorgeous oublic areas. Also a good souvenir shop and nice pool, a real plus in the stifling November heat. The managers were solicitous and great fun and our guide, Moa, was one of the best we'd had: extremely knowledgable and someone who really cares for the animals and is serious about his work, and a serious photographer to boot (he was a manager of guides at Jao and I believe was on rotation loan at Vumbura). The landscape is highly varied: waterways you explore by boat, stunning plains, mopane forests, a large pond frequented by all manner of bird species and a few crocs. We saw two of the most gorgeous lion prides I've seen. My only complaint (well, we had an obnoxious safari mate, but that's not their fault) about L. Vumbura was that the guests were almost all rich Americans. I see enough of those here! But if you want chic and high comfort, excellent guides and game viewing, you can't beat it.
Matt, many thanks. The pictures aren't really great, but I tried to give an idea of what each camp was like for people trying to decide.
Leslie

This looks like a trip I might like to do at some point; I am a solo traveler not anxious to join a tour but don't want to schlep my own bags around or make sure I have enough bottled water from day to day - or morning coffee for that matter. How did you arrange things? Did you book your own lodges, camps, etc., and do the game drives and viewing through them? And how did you get from one lodge or camp to the next?
Very naive questions -sorry.

Jess215,
We are not tour-taking types or schleppers either. There are many Africa specialists out there who arrange private tours. Once you get outside of the international airport, the ground operators meet you at the airports and drop-off points, carry your bags, provide water, get you through customs, and basically do EVERYTHING for you. We went with Premier Tours, www.premiertours.com
out of Philly and owned by a southern African named Julian Harrison, twice (in 2006 to South Africa, with Vic Falls and 3 days at Chobe thrown in). Both times we were very satisfied, though I only did a little comparison shopping for prices. The ground operator on this Botswana trip was Wilderness (you must book with them thru a travel agent), which is a huge operation that even owns its own airline, Sefofane, to fly you from camp to camp.
Another specialist TA in the U.S. is Africa Adventure out of Florida
www.africa-adventure.com
run by Mark Nolting. But there are many many more, and the big tours operators like Micato, A&K, etc. will also do private tours. They cost a bit more than group tours usually. You never need to worry about being lonely because there are plenty of people to meet at the camps, but you aren't stuck with the same people throughout the trip and you don't have that hurry-scurry feeling of tours. I tell solo traveler friends these are easy trips to do, except for the dreaded single supplement rates. But a few camps (apparently Mala Mala in Sabi Sands, for example)have singles rates. Botswana is a place you won't forget.
Leslie

sorry for my ignorance but what is a Uri vehicle?

ekscrunchy,

A Namibian 4WD vehicle designed for safaris - good for photography!!!

Thanks, Leslie - I guess my only real concern then is the cost.... the only downside of my Micato trip was that I went to Africa for a little peace and quiet and didn't get any -- until Zanzibar, when it was just me and my guide -- and that too can be a little bit awkward at times.
Jess

Your photos are wonderful and appreciated as I'll be going to L.Vumbura, Chitabe L, the desert (some combo of Planet Baobab) - to be determined and a few other places.
Loved all your shots, but enjoyed seeing the brown hyena and the dogs.

Hari, I think Uris are made in South Africa, no? They are very simple vehicles, easier and cheaper to fix that Land Rovers, which need more highly trained (and expensive) mechanics. At Kwando camps, they don't have tops for shade, and that can be brutal in hot weather (but yes, better for photography). The problem is that they are bumpy and very uncomfortable, particlulary in the back row. I have spine problems, and thought I was in hell a couple of times (but nothing, not even terrible pain, will stop my game viewing quest!). At Kwando Lagoon, they make the guests take turns in the back row.
Jess, Botswana is not cheap, that's for sure, but IMO worth saving up for. I don't go to Africa to rest, frankly, but the afternoon breaks are a good time to catch up on ZZZZ's in these comfortable places. As for quiet, there's nothing there but animal and weather sounds. Sublime.

Leslie,
Also, that deep Kalahari sand during the dry months make it very deep! Remember how deep the sand tracks can get with that soil? I think, it gets deeper the further North you go like Lagoon especially around all that Kalahari apple leaf area - down South, south of Lebala and the Selinda etc etc., not so deep.

During the rainy months, that soil gets compacted and firm and could be easier to drive through without being too bumpy! Ofcourse, will be very bumpy when u are running wild after the dogs!!!!

I like the open top - and can't ever imagine going on safari in a covered vehicle!

I'm sure you're right Hari. We did tons of off roading at Kwando because of our maniac guide Steve, who will track dogs across the bumps for hours. So the season is a consideration. But when it's 120 outside, I prefer a top! I'm there to see the animals more than I am to photograph them (my husband will disagree, but he sits in the front and has few problems. Actually, the deepest sand, caried down by the waters from Angola, was at Kwetsanoi. It takes an hour just to get from the landing strip to camp thru very deep fine white sand. But it's beautiful stuff! They should import it to beaches.
Leslie

Leslie, Your photos are sterling. Would you mind sharing a list of your photo equipment? Camera(s), lens (sizes), filters, etc. Did you PhotoShop the images once home? I am especially interested in your bird photos as we are birders as well.

Thanks for posting such lovely images and report.

Ooh, thank you!
Enjoyed looking through the photos.
We too visited Jack's Camp (in 2004) and particularly enjoyed seeing the meerkats and brown hyenas.
I enjoyed your other pics too, especially the one of the two wild dogs having a go at the intruding hyena!

We also had cabin 5 at Kwetsani in Oct 07. It was the best camp we stayed at.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=4&tid=35086423

Great pics.

BTW, we also had our trip planned by Julian Harrison at Premier Tours.

TC,
My husband John shot most of the photos with a Canon Power Shot S3, with the standard 12X zoom with image stabilizer. No other lenses or filters. The little zoom didn't work properly right from the start (we had only used it once before, on our '06 trip to S. Africa) because of grit. We sent it back to Canon and they fixed it free of charge. But John was frustrated at the camera's limitations. It's easy to use and small, but not for serious photos and your bird options and long shots are hampered. Also we both hated the view finder.
Kavey and Jed, thanks. Yuo can't imagine how exciting that dog/hyena chase was! Even the tracker was grinning with glee.
Leslie

I just loved your bird photos! I'm a birder and it's rare to see that many bird photos from African travelers. Thank you so much!

I was looking at the pics again and having a vague deja vu. When I hit the ele yarmulke I knew I'd seen them.

Thanks for sharing those great photos! I loved the meerkats and wish we had seen some while we were in Kenya & Tanzania...after "Lion King" I thought they were a given!
And, that was a beautiful leopard shot and interesting of the antelope kill. I also liked the lighting of a lot of these, especially the elephant ones. Botswana looks captivating with all that water...and the camps also looked great.

Wow. Amazing photos. Although we are not staying at Jack's Camp which I have heard is amazing, we're going to Botswana for the first safari trip in Sept. I hope we get to see atleast 1/2 of what you got to see! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you. Your photos are lovely! Helps me think about another safari

Leslie, did you remove your photos? I can't get any of the three links to work for me. What kind of sightings did you have at Kwetsani?