Novak

My friends are going on safari for the first time over Christmas. These are the camps they have on hold. Any comments please.
Dec. 21, 22 Duba Plains
Dec. 23, 24 Jack's Camp
Dec. 25 - 27 Victoria Falls Hotel
Dec. 28 to 30 Mala Mala main camp
Looking for a beach resort for 31st to Jan. 6, but having trouble finding openings.
Anyone know about Ibo Island Lodge or Marlin Lodge? Thanks for your help.

PredatorBiologist

Novak: those are some outstanding places to stay. Make sure they understand though that Duba and Jack's are both very special but also somewhat specialized camps so they are not the places to see the entire spectrum of diverse Botswana wildlife. Duba is really about lions & buffalo -- best place in world for that interaction but the general game is not very diverse. There are some other ocassional excellent sightings like aardwolf or breeding herds of elephants but you are not likely to see 1/2 as many species as some other camps in N. Botswana. Jack's of course is desert habitat, that's a good time of year for wildlife there and there will again be specialties like meerkat but not the classic array of wildlife. I think they will love them both and then see the wide diversity of species at Mala Mala so its a great itinerary as long as they understand that specialization.

I do not know anything about Ibo Island but the Marlin Lodge would be a great place to stay. I stayed at the neighboring Benguerra Lodge and the island and its surrounds is pure paradise! You can have picnics on beaches where you will not see another person, the water is luxurious, you eat amazing seafood, and best of all is you can snorkel or dive on phenomenal reefs. This is deserted type quiet paradise rather than beach party so it depends on style but if they like out of the way paradise Marlin Lodge would be an incredible choice. I believe the lodging is pretty nice too but I'd be ecstatic just to hang a hammock on Benguerra Island.

HariS

Jack's is fantastic ...... but, you can't do the quad bikes in December. You will still hv a super time.....

If i were you, from the places you have mentioned ....... i would drop one night at Vic falls and add that to Duba Plains.

atravelynn

Predator's comments are right on.

My concern with Duba is that if the lions head to where the vehicles cannot go, then you may not see them. They only stay away a couple of days, but you are only there a couple of days. It is hard to say what the floods will be and how that will affect you in December. If you were there 4 days or more, then no problem. Not trying to discourage you from Duba, it is one of my favorite places.

Jack's is top notch, but San Camp, nearby with a nicer view of the pans is less expensive and only slightly less luxurious. You do the exact activities. I loved San.

3 nights at Vic Falls? Do you have several activities you'd like to do there? If not, that's too much time. You could put one of those days in Botswana. The Victoria Falls Hotel is lovely, classic, classy, colonial, easiest access to the falls on foot. Near by is Ilala (spelling?) that is really nice but more basic. You can also walk to the falls and it takes 5 minutes longer. Either VFH or Ilala is a good choice as long as you know what you want.

MM Main should be wonderful.

I'm not a beach person. Do you really want that many days at the beach instead of on safari when you can go to a beach anywhere?

Novak

Thanks for all your comments. I'm not sure there is too much choice at this time for Christmas. And yes, some of the party want beach time in Africa! Hard to believe, I know!

atravelynn

How many of you are there?

Besser

Hi all, Novak was nice enough to post for my family and now I am putting up the changes to our itinerary. Our travel agent messed up so now Duba Plains is out. Here is the new itinerary:

Dec. 21,22 Kwetsani Camp
Dec. 23, 24 Jack's Camp
Dec. 25-27 Victoria Falls hotel
Dec. 28-30 Mala Mala main camp

We are still looking for a beach resort from the 31st to the 6th of January or possibly doing Cape Town.

So here is my big question--I have been on 2 safaris in Kenya and Tanzania, but the rest of my family has been on none. Would this itinerary suit our needs?

Would it be better to do one delta camp (Kwetsani or another) and then one camp in the Kwando/Linyati areas? Your suggestions about the camps being too specialized is my concern as well since my family has not seen the other animals before. We are therefore looking for quantity and variety including predators since I am more interested in the rare animals and my family is interested in seeing lots of the more "standard" animals. My other question is that I am very keen on seeing wild dogs and am nervous we might not see them with this itinerary.

Are there two better Botswana camps in this price range for the December time of year? Or should we try to add on an additional South Africa camp? Any more help would be great! Thanks!!

PredatorBiologist

Hi Besser, glad you came on with more info for your desires.

Your best chance to maximize the variety of species seen as well as give yourself a chance at wild dogs is going to be one Delta camp with one Kwando/Selinda/Linyanti camp.

Wild dogs outside of the denning season are very hit or miss but Chitabe (Delta/Moremi area) is well known for dog sightings and also good for other predators and a wide diversity of species. If you want more of a water/Delta experience your chance of dogs will go down but you could stay at Little Vumbura or Kwando Kwara which both offer water experiences but still have outstanding all around wildife including an array of predator species.

Any of the camps in the Kwando/Selinda/Linyanti region will give a fair chance for dogs and likely deliver the most diverse amount of mammals and predators of anywhere in N. Botswana including a good chance at night of some of the less seen species that you are interested in. Kwando Lebala & Lagoon, Selinda, Savuti, and Duma Tau all offer excellent sightings and are in the same price range. In fact the Kwando Camps may be 40 to 50% less using the 5 Rivers Special unless there is a Christmas time exemption to the special but I don't think there is so if they had availability you could save a large chunk going with them.

Besser

Thank you for your reply predator. I think we will talk to the travel agent on Monday about switching to one delta camp (hopefully either LV or Chitabe) and one camp in the linyati area (hoping for Duma Tau?). I will update everyone once we find out what camps are available in those areas. Again thank you for your insights, especially about the wild dogs as every piece of information is extremely helpful. Thanks again. I'll post again soon.

PredatorBiologist

Besser: pleasure to help. Duma Tau was actually my first camp in Botswana and I had planned with hopes of seeing wild dogs as well. I was there close to your time, second week in January and had the incredible good fortune on my first morning gamedrive to chase a pack of 21 dogs on the hunt. We lost them in the mopane woodlands and then found them within 5 minutes of making a kill of an impala. It was a great camp for diversity, I think I saw more species there than I have at any other camp -- it's an especially rich area for night drives. I hope you have similar luck!