Georgie2007

My husband and I are finally going to Africa for our first trip in May/June 2007. I have been reading this forum to get ideas and after much confusion and deliberating we have the following itineray booked. We would like to know your thoughts.

May 27 Fly to Johannesburg from Sydney Australia.

May28 to 31st Victoria Falls hotel. We are doing the helicopter flight over the falls and the Boma dinner. We would like to go canoeing or fishing for a day whilst in Victoria Falls. Has anybody done this and if so which company did you book through and was it worth it?

May 31st Two nights at Chobe Chilwero. Thought we might go tiger fishing on Chobe river. Has anyone done this?

June 2 Walking safari Linyati. 2 nights at Zibialnja and one at each fly camp, Tshwene and Mokoba.

June 6 Two nights at Baines camp where we are doing the elephant experience.

June 8 Two nights at Kanana Camp.

June 10 Three nights at Chiefs Camp.

June 13 Two nights in Johannesburg. We are going to go to Soweto and Apartheid museum. Looking at going with Jimmy face2face tours as I ahve read some good reports on this forum about them. Any other suggestions about companies or what to do in Johannesburg for a day.

June 15 Nine nights on Quilalea Island in Northern Mozambique diving and fishing.

Then back to Johnnesburg overnight and catch the plane back to Sydney.

We had planned on staying at fewer camps in Botswana but there was some problems with availability so this was the best we could do.

Any comments would be great.

Cheers,

Georgie

atravelynn

I don't fish so I can't answer those questions. I did a gentle raft trip on the Zambezi that was nice. You can book at your hotel, I'd suggest arranging it from home to be sure you get what you want. I've canoed other parts of the Zambezi and it was enjoyable. Can't remember the operators, but would get suggestions from your agent.

I loved Zib and did one night of a walking safari. This should be a highlight.

Baines--you can read Rocco's report "Flying Solo in Africa." He stayed at Baines and did the ele walk. Lin's report is "Namibia/Botswana Trip Report" and she walked with eles from Stanley's. Both are very recent reports.

Kanana-no experience

Chief's--good to stay 3 nights there.

Nice activities in Joburg. Should be a great trip. Mozambique eludes me.

Georgie2007

Thanks for the info. I have read both Rocco's and lin's report and I can't wait to get there. Quilalea island is off northern Mozambique and is a sanctuary where there is great diving and fishing (mainly catch and release)and we plan to rest and relax for nine days before heading home. I am sure we will enjoying either fishing or canoeing on our spare day in Victoria Falls, would like to hear if anybody has done one or both of these activities.

YvonneM

9 days is a long time to stay even in paradise but I would happily return for 9 days to Bazaruto peninsula in Mozambique - great diving great food and a few different lodges to move between : just a thought

afrigalah

Georgie,

You should enjoy a canoe trip above the falls. I did one with a guide but for the life of me, I can't remember the company and I threw out my itinerary long ago. However, your agent or the hotel should be able to help you. It's a gentle, meandering way to experience the river for a few hours, and it is possible to get quite close to wildlife on the river bank or islands and pretend you have the whole river to yourselves. The guide carries a cooler with snacks and drinks, and will take you to safe spots for pit stops. You would also enjoy a sunset cruise on a motor boat, though that's a more touristy experience because a whole fleet of these craft loaded with people sets out an hour or two before sundown.

Like Lynn, I suspect you'll love the walking experience from Zib. The two fly camps are much improved since the time I stayed in them. There was nothing wrong with them then as far as I was concerned, but I understand there have been some refinements. Assume you've looked at the camp descriptions on www.linyanti.com?

John

santharamhari

Georgie2007,

Guess what.....we bump into each other while at Zib in June. Just checked my dates and yep i'm going to be there before i head off to Lebala (Kwando concession).

Kind regards,
Hari

Georgie2007

Hari,

How about that. We will be staying:

Saturday 2nd June Mokoba fly camp
Sunday 3rd June Tshwene fly camp
Monday 4th June Zib camp
Tuesday 5th June Zib Camp

We are waitlisted for:

Saturday 2nd June Zib camp
Sunday 3rd June Tshwene or Mokoba fly camp
Monday 4th June Tshwene or Mokoba fly camp
Tuesday 5th June Selinda Camp

This is supposedly because it is the best way to do the walk.

Do you know much about the walk? Are you doing the walk? How long are you at Zib?

Reading this forum I feel that Zib is nicer than Selinda, maybe I should just leave it the way it is. Any thoughts.

Georgie2007

Thanks for all your replies. I am getting so excited but it is still a long way off. We are staying at Quilalea for 9 nights which seems like a long time but it goes quickly. We stayed at Vatulele island for 10 days in 2005 and it went so quickly with diving, fishing and relaxing, so we decided due to international flights etc, we would stay for 9 nights so we can get a direct flight home. We don't mind staying in the one place as we will have been jumping around prior to then so this is the big relax before we go back to our hectic work schedules.

YvonneM - Where did you stay at the Bazaruto peninsular. We thought seriouly about Benguerra but we wanted somewhere even more remote and a little warmer in June. Maybe next time. Bazaruto penisular wouls certainly be easier to get to than Quilalea although the prices worked out very similar with discounts etc.

afrigalah

Georgie,

The 'standard' way ('best' depends on personal preference) of doing the walk is to stay at Selinda, then walk to Mokoba one day, Tshwene the next and Zib on the final day...that's what my wife and I did in 2000. Or the walk can be booked in reverse, or even sampled in much the same way as Lynn did last year...she stayed at Zib, then spent a night or two at Tshwene. Walking between camps usually occupies a whole morning, and the early afternoon is spent resting before walking again for a few hours in the vicinity of camp until dusk. Walking can be a quiet experience or full of thrills (the guides are careful to keep elephants at a distance), but always interesting. On the second day of our walk, my wife and our companions preferred to stay in camp for the whole afternoon, so I had the good fortune to have the armed guide and the tracker to myself. I spent much of the time trying to sneak closer to zebras and wildebeest for photographs, while the guide and tracker made sure nothing nasty sneaked up on me . We walked back to Tshwene camp as the setting sun shone on zebras and wildebeest through a cloud of dust. Wonderful!

I regard Zib as the 'nicer' camp, though that is a subjective word. Zib is much smaller and therefore more cosy. It accommodates just six people (eight if the pilot tent is used as well), while Selinda can take up to 20 and is more upmarket. I don't think you'd miss anything if you didn't stay at Selinda camp. Selinda and Zib cover the same territory, but the Zib vehicle has a better chance of being solo.

John

Georgie2007

John,

Thanks for the info. I was really trying to change it to the 'best way' but I think a night at Mokoba, a night at Tshwene and 2 nights at Zib should be just fine. It is our anniversay on 5th June and thought it would be better spent at Selinda being more upmarket but Zib sounds just fine. Should I leave it the way it is or try and change? What are your thoughts?

Georgie

afrigalah

Georgie,

Because of my preference for Zib, I'd leave it as is. Our trip in 2000 was our honeymoon. While I like Selinda camp a lot (though I'm not so sure now since it grew in size and they made the tents fancier and installed fans and bathtubs; what is the world coming to? ), Zib has always struck me as the more likely camp to celebrate a special occasion. But it's all a matter of personal taste. Some people like the lap of luxury and hordes of people to help them celebrate; I prefer the small, quiet, intimate venue. Zib's semi-open air dining area has a better view of the surrounding countryside than Selinda's (though you'll see on the Selinda website that they are about to construct a new main building with an improved view) and Zib also has a fantastic separate bar under thatch with a great view of the surroundings, including the little waterhole in front of camp. And, the very few tents are well apart from each other...Selinda's are not close together, either, but the separation-- allied with the much smaller number of people-- is better at Zib.

On a slightly different tack, I have a website of photos taken in Africa and Australia, and several pages deal with the scenery and wildlife of the Linyanti region (Selinda and Kwando)... www.afrigalah.com . I don't differentiate between Selinda and Zib or any other camps because that's not the site's purpose. It will just give you a good idea of what can be seen.

John

santharamhari

Georgie,

I am only doing Zib and lebala on the trip, but, i do hope to do a few walks while at Zib. Definitely at Zib at the dates you are in teh concession.

Rgds,
Hari

Georgie2007

Hari,
See you in June at Zib. Can't wait.

John,
We also like quiet and small intimate camps so I will take your advice and leave the itinerary as is. Thanks for your help.

Cheers,

Georgie