MsPiggy, have you ever been to a 'wet' camp before? The Mekoro experience is something one should do in the Delta, if possible, and this isn't available at Vumbura. If I remember correctly, the Vumbura Plains airstrip was partially covered with water until mid July last year, and Sefofane had to purchase a unique plane that could do short takeoffs and landings. Kind of crazy.

Jao is a special place, and if you aren't into birds at all I think I would probably recommend Vumbura Plains. Both are wonderful, though.

Andy,

Vumbura plains is also offering a mokoro experience. Have a look at the WS website.

You can motor boat, fish, and mokoro at Vumbura Plains and Jao. It was offered at both camps when I was at both of them last May. Jao will be almost impossible to have any land based game drive unless you boat over to Tubu Tree for a morning or afternoon. Vumbura Plains will have space to drive but you will spend a lot of time getting to and from these areas each day through the flood plains (if the rains so far this season keep up). Like I told you before (although you did not acknowledge and started a new thread instead) - just go to one of these two camps given the overall parameters of the trip you laid out elsewhere on this forum.

MsPiggy - not sure why you are so stuck on Premier Camps? Also, why aren't you considering a camp in the Linyanti like I suggested before (Duma Tau, Savuti) instead of two very waterlogged camps. Also - three days at Mombo is too much. No nights drives, no sundowners, land based activities only and a huge premium. Two nights is enough.

Packing for Italy? If you spend a night at the Intercontinental in Johannesburg at the airport they will story your luggage for free while you go to Botswana. Or you can use the service inside the airport.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

well, there you have it! I haven't done a mokoro ride at Vumbura, because I have done them in other locations. Do they use the same boats as Little Vumbura?

Hi Craig,

Actually, I did add Savuti for 2 nights per your recommendation. Sorry I didn't respond or update the itinerary after we made the change.

I made a specific thread about Jao vs. Vumbura camps because I just couldn't decide between the two camps. Jao came highly recommended from two people who've been there but during different times, and I've always wanted to stay at Jao so I'm having hard time letting it go.

We were settled on Vumbura until I realized that Vumbura is a much bigger concession than Jao, and Little Vumbura wasn't available for consecutive nights for the nights we wanted.

Planning this trip is much harder than planning a trip to Europe or Asia!

Per Craig's suggestion, I would also take a look at Duma Tau. It will likely be a better location for wildlife during the time that you are going.

MsPiggy - I just had a group of 14 people "take over" Jao last week for three days or Wattled Crane viweing. They said it was the most luxurious camp they have ever been too (incidentally the birding was excellent as well). Many of the people had been to Africa many times and all are world travelers. You really can't go wrong with Jao or Vumbura but the rooms at Jao are fantastic (if it is a nice room you are after).

Vumbura Plains is a bigger concession but it is a long drive to many parts of the concession and it is sometimes impossible to make it to some of the dryland (in April) in the time typically allocated for morning and afternoon activities.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond
Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

Hi Criag,

I just saw a post on Safaritalk by a visitor who was in the Okavango last week - looks like this year's floods are super early and is going to be a real monstor. Airstrips are already flooded under water and we are still in January.... apparently, lots of water around.

Fingers crossed...

I spoke to a friend of mine with Wilderness Safaris on Friday. Their monitoring point is in the pan handle and they measure volumetric flow rate of the river as it comes into the Detla. It is an all time record for each day of the year so far. Can't wait to see what happens.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

Not sure what the record flood means for our trip. Does it mean that the region will be under water and the concessions as well? DumaTau and Savuti as well?

Hard to tell about the overall flood at this point in time - a lot of the rainy season still remains. The rains in the Angolan highlands supposedly started really early this year. Local rainfall in Northern Bots started a bit late, but, has been brutal for a few weeks ....... really hard to tell at this point in the season as to overall impact. At current rate, I would guess MEGAFLOOD with a lot of the concessions being severely WET.

DumaTau etc etc., even the Linyanti concessions will have some wet areas - i.e., in their flood plains. Areas do get water from the various channels of the Linyanti/Kwando/Selinda spillway systems - which are also impacted with flooding from the source.

We were not into birding until we experienced birding on safari and were instantly hooked - we love seeing all manner of wildlife from the large to the very small, including tiny reed frogs, little dik dik, porcupines, owls and all kinds of critters.

Jao is very close to Jacana and Tubu Tree camps - we sayed at both in 2004 and loved them utterly.

We passed Jao regularly, as it really is very close to Jacana. For us, we just weren't interested in spa treatments and so on, so we preferred the smaller Jacana camp, one of our favourites.

We did also visit Little Mombo on that trip, having been before a few years earlier. We chose it for the wildlife not the luxury, and generally prefer the smaller camps as they are perfectly luxurious and charming and comfortable for us.

I certainly would not miss the chance to spend a few days on water, you get a different view of the Delta and experience the much smaller things and sounds.

As for Mombo, 3 days is fine, given that you'll lose time on first day and last travelling. So it's only 2 full days.

Compared to previous years, picking out the right moment to visit the delta has become a burden especially with excessive rains/floods and massive fires at the end of the dry season.

A former friend of mine said the following: The Safari Photographer has decided, Botswana will be a green season destination only!!!!!

Honestly speaking, I would prefer to go on safari to other countries until Northern Botswana is hit by a dry spill again.

As a first time visitor, you can't really compare and Botswana is certainly overhyped these days.

It is a challenging time, for sure. There are always silver linings, though, and without the floods last year I would have never watched an entire wild dog chase and subsequent kill, as a small pack of dogs used the Savuti channel (near Savuti Camp) as a barrier to flush their prey into. At the beginning and end of all of the chaos, we watched dogs swim across the channel for their prey. This image doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea:

http://bit.ly/gAQLCs

Andy, if I look back at my travels to Botswana, sightings were definitely much better during the drier period.

It's not that you can't have good or fantastic sightings now but current conditions are far less favourable now.

If you look at f.e. May - July (shoulder season - high season), your land activities will be seriously restricted due to high water levels.

Just a few camps that come to mind: Jao - Kwetsani - Kwara - Little Kwara - Little Vumbura - Vumbura Plains - Mapula - Khwai river lodge - Duba plains - Xigera - Chief's camp - Sandibe - Shinde.

Big parts of Moremi Game Reserve will also be inaccessible.

You visited Chitabe last year and I would be very surprised if you made it to the Moremi border (Gomoti).

Erratic rainfall during wintertime and the abundance of water around also have the effect that game is much more dispersed than it was f.e. a decade ago.

It's still a great place to visit. But in my opinion, one should focus more on an overall experience.

I would definitely prefer to go to the Linyanti/Kwando instead of the Okavango delta (probably between mid July - mid August) as the big fires aren't normally burning yet. The Savuti marsh (part of a national park) wouldn't appeal that much to me because of the number of vehicles around.

I've been interested in this thread, because we are planning a trip to Botswana in 2012.

Assuming that the current weather patterns continue (I think I read somewhere, that the weather often comes in 10 year cycles) would early September still be too wet? We were thinking of Little Vumbura (for water and land activites), Mombo Camp, and King's Pool Camp. Can the floods be so bad that Mombo and King's Pool will be inundated?

Mombo and Kings Pool were 100% fine during the worst floods ever (May 2010). I was at both camps during that month. A nice thing to do at Kings Pool is drive down the Eastern Edge of the swamp and that was the only thing we could not do.

September (along with August) is the best month of the year IMO and also one of the dryest as the rains usually stop in March and don't start until November.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

We spent three nights at Little Mombo and didn't think it was too long. Have sundowners been discontinued there? Our interest was animals, not luxury, and it didn't disappoint, though the food was mediocre.

Nothing really has been text book in recent times. A couple years ago, mid-end September the rains had already started. Rains also continued into almost June on and off - this is what caused all the massive flooding.

Bottom line, Africa won't disappoint. You are going to have a great time.

I think there is a lot of fear being thrown around in the thread. The past few years I have run July safaris in the delta and they haven't disappointed me or my guests. That's really all there is to say from my end.

BIG thank you to everyone for such great information. We've decided on the following concessions: Savuti, Kings Pool, Jao & Little Mombo (trying to add DumaTau if we can change our outbound flight)

Craig - Thank you for your valuable information. We are very much looking forward to staying at Savuti. Your info on Jao also helped me to make a decision.

Andy - Your photographs are absolutely inspiring. I've bookmarked your website for inspiration. I only have a P&S but a pretty good one, so we'll see what comes out.

Mr.Piggy and I have decided to not worry too much about the flood. This is our first trip to Africa, and we're both going to be totally thrilled with whatever small or big games we encounter! I'm one of those people who refuse to go to a zoo because I can't stand to look at the caged animals, and I know this is going to be an amazing trip as long as we don't end up waiting to be rescued on top of a tent/tree.

A few more questions:

1. Do we get a different guide each day? If not, can you recommend a guide to request at each camp?
2. How strict is Wilderness Safari on the luggage weight limit?
3. I understand that it's going to be hot in the afternoon. Will it be cold at night in April?
4. Walking safari. How much walking are we talking about? Do I need hiking boots or will running shoes suffice?

Everyone is operating in unknown territory as the flood levels are going to rise from year to year as long as this wet cycle continues.

Looking forward to read the different trip reports.

You can request a guide but if you don't book a private vehicle your chances are slim ending up with that guide.

Duma Tau, Savuti and Kings pool are all part of the same concession.

MsPiggy-

You're going to love Botswana! We were planning a return trip before our flight landed in NYC.

You can get by with much less luggage than you think. Layers, including a light fleece jacket and maybe a cashmere sweater, are needed much of the year. It gets chilly in those open vehicles in the AM! WS includes laundry in their prices, so you only need a couple of changes of clothes. Be prepared to wash your own undies - most camps don't wash "smalls". You can leave your Italy clothes at JNB luggage storage. The walking safaris with WS are quite tame. No need for hiking boots.

A map showing skimmer2's observation:

http://www.eyesonafrica.net/african-safari-botswana/chobe-safari.htm

There are lots of other maps on that website to show alternatives.

Thanks for the answers. SafariCraig--I had started wondering if Botswana was a good idea after all, given all the uncertainty. But, I think you have convinced me that those particular camps should be fine!

Can anybody help - I'm a South African planning to go to Okavango for the first time in March. I have in my mind an idea of boats and canoes and game viewing in this massive flooded plain etc (ie pretty much the cliche), which is what I want. Don't want to just find a Kruger (or Sabi Sabi) type experience in Botswana (so not just game drives, however great the game is). We've been given a bit of info about "water camps" and "land camps" (and mixes of the two), and have some great rates offered from camps in the actual Delta area as well as the Linyanti area. As a high-level starting point, can anybody direct me to the best area for what I'm trying to do?

I'll respond to #4 MsPiggy.
4. Walking safari. How much walking are we talking about? Do I need hiking boots or will running shoes suffice?

If you are doing a midday guided bird and spoor walk around camp, running shoes suffice.

If you plan to walk instead of a game drive for an activity, then I would definitely wear hiking boots with ankle support.

You know what would be a real helpful chart for Talarran? That Wilderness Safaris chart that shows the % of land and % of water activities for the different camps throughout the year. I can't find it now. Even if you don't end up in a Wilderness camp, it is helpful for the region.

If you are interested in viewing animals from a boat, then you are going to the delta at the right time as big floods are now the norm. Water camps that traditionally have good land viewing too, include Kwetsani, Little Vumbura, Kwara & Little Kwara.

For more of a water focus, what does everyone think of Xigera in March?

In the March timeframe I have seen some great reports coming from Kwara/Little Kwara. Those glowing reports have focused mostly on wildlife seen on land.

I know at one time Wilderness offered a 3-day mobile mekoro trip. All mekoro all the time. Don't know if they still do this, but some company might, especially if you are traveling with several people. Always thought that would be both exciting and relaxing.

Lynn,

Kwara/Little Kwara can be a hit or miss by then as it looks that the Tsum Tsum plains will be difficult (or maybe not at all) to reach. Also the heronry at Godikwe isn't best visited during that time of year. At the moment they are using Shinde's airstrip (according to a poster on ST) and if that camp is still using the same strip as last year, I'll expect it to be flooded in the months to come.

Xigera is certainly superior especially if they go as far as the Sinbira floodplains (Chief's island) (don't know if it's always possible by that time of year). I think you can still book the mokoro trail on a private basis but by boat you can cover a lot more ground (or water). But if you in for a mokoro experience, give it a try. We did a 3-day mokoro trip in 2002 and loved it although we had some scary encounters with hippopotami.

Don't know if WS has already updated those charts?

http://www.eyesonafrica.net/african-safari-botswana/bots-water-land.htm (looks like this one is an oldie).

Kwetsani is not really a great land viewing destination.

Thanks Skimmer! That's the chart, but it seems as though any chart or rule or past experience about Botswana is not very meaningful now.