I know there are people here who have been to Elephant Plains.
If I remember correctly it has been recommended as a less expensive option in Sabi Sands. I considered it myself for my last trip. But if I remember correctly, they didn't have anything available for the time I wanted.

Do Frommers or Fodors charge for inclusion?

Hey Bill,

My report was not 100% positive. Certainly not when compared to the other camps I visited.

...but if you only speak about Sabi Sands: I know what you mean.

Anyway, there's a few alternatives now:
- Arathusa has about the same rates and is in the same area, with the same traversing rights (or even a bit more)
- Umkumbe does not have any traversing rights, but it has Olifants riverfront and is rather cheap compared to others. Certainly for such a pristine area.

See here: http://www.sabisand.co.za/ssw-map.html

B.regs,

J.

Hi, pixelpower: Yes I did read your report, and I think I understand why you didn't like some of the features at Elephant Plains. But you also had good things to say, including the game drives as to viewing lots of animals. So, to be honest, EP is about all we can afford. We are not likely to return to Africa due to a lot of factors, including age and a long bucket list, so I am tacking this on to the end of two weeks in Egypt. (Since we're in the neighborhood, so to speak.)

Sounds a bit crazy maybe, but it might be the only chance we have to do this safari thing. Whatever the reasons for Fodor's and Frommers not to recommend EP, it seems from the various reviews and trip reports that the food is ok, the rooms are clean, and the wildlife viewing is very good. I can go with that.

PS: I really liked your extensive research and trip reports. It helped me immensely in planning.

PP - can you give the link to your report on EP? thanks

regards - tom

Here is PP's link, which will take you to a blog.
http://www.fodors.com/community/africa-the-middle-east/trip-report-private-reserves-kruger-pt3-elephant-plains.cfm

If you search for Elephant Plains, all sorts of posts come up. In general it has been given favorable comments.

Whether Fodor's or Frommer's, no two guidebooks or any such can include all the many camps in every safari country. There are just so many pages and ink for publishing these guides! And NO, these camps shouldn't be paying for inclusion in a safari guide.

Ok, here's PP report on EP-
http://www.aardvarktravel.net/chat/viewtopic.php?t=47715

regards - tom

Question to Fodors

Do the camps pay to be included?

@LynneB;

I don't think so. Then it wouldn't be neutral information, would it?

TBH I don't even care. I choose my places by reading trip reports of others. If I notice that the trip report is written by a "newbie", then I tend not to give it much credit as the writer does not have a good point of reference IMHO.

@Bill; I hear you. It is indeed the place with the best price/quality ratio (for the non-millionaires among us, heh...).

I'll let you know what Umkumbe is like. 4 months to go...

B.regs,

J.

We had a very nice stay at Elephant Plains and are pretty much in agreement with PixelPower's review. We stayed, however, in one of their "luxury" rooms (not the honeymoon suite but just their regular luxury rooms) and these had nice verandas and views over the property, although we never once saw an animal from it (you couldn't see the waterhole from those rooms.) If at all possible I'd look at these rooms, they weren't that much more expensive then the regular rooms and far better situated. The food was great but yes, the dinner setting was a bit odd (marshmallows and all) and sitting around the "campfire" made it impossible to talk with anyone other than the person right next to you, its truly strange. (We had this same odd dinner arrangement in Nkorho Bush Lodge.) I swear we must also have had the same disinterested tracker that PixelPower did! But, the guides themselves were great and of course, so were the animals (and we saw plenty.)

And yes we even used the pool, although we enjoyed the pool at Nkorho better.

I would, indeed, also suggest looking at Nkorho Bush Lodge...similarly priced to EP's luxury rooms. We really enjoyed their property--its small but they have plenty of traversing rights and covered pretty much the same ground as EP. We had leopard right in their driveway, all to ourselves. Just seemed more homey and personal than EP and all the rooms are open to the bush.

We've stayed at both EP and Nkorho and would happily return to EP; Nkorho not so much.

I'd also look at Chitwa Chitwa.

I'd look at Arathusa. We liked it a lot - they have a water hole at camp and we watched animals visit all day. Like EP though, they can fill the vehicles. For some, that is unacceptable. Our vehicle mates were fantastic, and we had lots of fun with the whole group. No guarantees there. We saw everything but cheetah there - too many lions to have many cheetah.

If I look at Arathusa, it seems their prices have gone up a bit, and now I'd call the price difference between them and EP ...erm ...substantial. I mean:

R1580 compared to R2300 in winter, or
R1880 compared to R2600 in summer.

That's about 1/3rd higher.

@jczinn; I am very interested in Nkorho. Care to share some price info? I could not find any prices on their website. You say it's comparable to EP prices, so...

Thx,

J.

For fun, did some searching, found rates here for Nkorho -
http://www.e-gnu.com/nkorho_bush_lodge_rates.html
2100-2400 ZAR pppn two sharing

regards - tom

Thanks Tom.

But of course THE question is: is that via a TA, or direct?

J.

Hmmm Nkorho used to have prices on their website, but you're right I don't see them now. We went in 2009. I do remember the price for their standard room was the same as the luxury room in Elephant Plains--not the regular room. Unfortunately I don't have the exact price because we booked it all through an agent and I don't seem to have a record of the prices broken down.

Since I decided on the Luxury room at EP, which is R2600 pppn, it is the same rate as the standard room at Arathusa.
Traversing rights are the same, as far as my research has determined. They are next to each other.
Uhmm, now I have to make more decisions.
I think both have excellent wildlife viewing possibilities.
Thanks for all the comments, folks.

Love Fodors.

"It's a great life if you don't weaken."

You might take a look at this great map to see what areas each covers. It does look like Arathusa has more traversing rights. I can't say anything about the lodge, though!

Wildlife viewing will really be comparable at either of them, I'm sure. I'd still look at Nkorho if you haven't--we really liked their situation much better than EP. (More room to walk around, open to the wild, all rooms face the waterhole, etc.) But the food was better at EP!

duh, forgot the link to the map

http://www.sabisand.co.za/ssw-map.html

OK, jczinn, I looked and have sent an inquiry. Now I have three camps to pick from. Whew!

All the camps seem to have that boma thing in a semi circle, and a lot of the reviews seem to complain about it. Uhmmm!

I am encouraged by the relatively affordable prices of EP, Arathusa, and Nkorho. I'm sure the game viewing is essentially the same possibilities. This is good.

Bill - If the rates are about equal, I might go with Arathusa for the waterhole. Ask for room 6 or 7 (from 2 years ago, might have changed) as they were "waterfront". They were doing some work at Arathusa while we were there - minor upgrades like brick walks and a bit of updating, and I heard recently the food is better which was an issue in the past.

Arathusa's traversing rights are a tad bigger than EP's, and the rangers from the two camps (and probably Nkorho, but I'm not sure about that) keep in touch so there are more eyes out there. At africam.com you can "go on safari" with Nkorho. It's fun if you can get to a computer at the hours they are out.

Why would anyone complain about the boma setup? We much prefer communal eating - you get to meet all the other visitors. Don't let that deter you.

Where else are you going on this safari?

Yes, Nkorho is on the same radio as the others.

The problem with the Boma thing really is that its anti-communal--because its impossible to talk with anyone except the people next to you. In fact, if you have more than two people in your party, the one on the far side can't really converse with the one on the other side--its nutty. But at both Nkorho and EP most folks spent some time before dinner in the communal bar room--that's where you get to meet people.

Anyway, I don't think you can go wrong at any of the three.

BTW, if you are interested photos of my trip are here:
http://www.jczinn.com/South%20Africa/safindex.html
You will see that we had great sightings at both EP and Nkorho!

Hmm, guess there are BOMAs and then BOMAs
BOMA for me setting at the same size table, same mates, as in the dining room made little difference for conversation.

regards - tom

Good thing to see that my comments on the "Boma setup" in my trip report are stirring things up a bit.

@Christabir; I much prefer a large table. Then you can actually talk to people.

For me, EP was the first lodge that had this boma setup. All others so far had...
1) drinks around a campfire
2) large table to eat on
3) more drinks, if you want to.

I don't know who came up with this TV-dinner setup (albeit without TV but with a fire to look at), but he deserves a public execution.

B.regs,

J.

The Bomas at Elephant Plains and Nkorho were set up the same...single rows of tables around the circle with all seats facing the "campfire"...so if your party was six people, you'd all be in a single line of six. Think school desks facing the teacher! Maybe its done differently at the more expensive lodges.

"... tables around the circle with all seats facing the "campfire".."

Not my experience with maybe 8-9 different BOMAs. Tables had seating both sides. And some put the tables perpendicular, end wise to the center so the center fire is on your left/right side.

regards - tom

Our boma experience has been a semi-circle with people on both sides of the table (I always take the side closer to the fire). Not too different from a big table - you can basically speak to the closest five people or so. A one-sided boma could be annoying, but still better than separate tables for each party. That is MUCH worse.