Mediatorr

We are getting very close to our departure date and we have just received our very final itinerary. For the Botswana portion of our trip, we were scheduled to go to Savuti, then Vumbura Plains, then Mombo. We were never advised of any change to this. The itinerary we received today shows Savuti, <i> then <font color="red"> <b> Little </b> </font> Mombo </i>, then Vumbura thus changing the order and putting us at Little Mombo instead of Mombo. What are the pros and cons of these changes?

santharamhari

I have been to Little Mombo, a couple years ago. Smaller camp and more intimate....rooms etc etc., same compared to Mombo. If i were you, i would be happier to be at Little Mombo, with fewer people around.

As long as you are getting the same number of days at the camp you were committed to, i would say you should be ok.

Hari

afrigalah

I tend to agree with Hari. At least you're not being shunted off to a place of less than equal value, which can happen. You'll be OK.

But I would certainly be concerned about being advised about a change of itinerary late in the piece via such a method, i.e. the presentation of a final itinerary, in other words, a fait accompli. Obviously the changes have been made for what the agent/operator believes are very good reasons, but my agent would consult me first. Did your agent suggest to you at any stage that changes might occur?

Fortunately, the quality of your safari doesn't seem to be affected. But that's not the point. This sounds very much to me like the big company telling you where and when, and not giving you what you expected. This sort of thing is why I stop being a customer of retailers who try to sell me a product which is not what I asked for but who bleat at me, &quot;it's just as good.&quot;

John

Mediatorr

Hari and John,
Your comments exactly reflect my feelings about this change. That's why I posted the question. I will complain but I wasn't sure just how heated to get about it. Thanks for your reassurance.

jweis

One of 3 things happened:

1. A group booked out all space at one of the camps and WS requested permission of agents holding space if they mind having their guests moved. If this happened, your agent should have contacted you to let you decide.

2. Your booking was held provisionally (like flying standby) at one of the camps waiting for a cancellation and the space never freed up. Again, this should have been communicated up front.

3. The agent did not confirm your booking with WS and the space was therefore not being held. If this happened, you are lucky to have what you have now.

If I were you, I would ask your agent for an explanation.

James

afrigalah

Mediatorr,

I guess you try not to get too heated about it, but you certainly make sure they know your feelings are strong. Frankly, it makes my blood boil. What if you had planned to link up at a certain camp on a certain date with friends travelling independently of you? That's just one example of how your plans could be spoiled...and it's not an unlikely example, either. It's exactly what happened to us last year when Chitabe was overbooked. We had planned to link up with friends there. Our agent (who was not to blame) consulted us about an alternative camp, and we chose not to accept it but to drop the first three days of our safari. We joined our friends at Selinda, so luckily not much was lost.

John

atravelynn

I've been to both--before they were renovated--and liked Little Mombo slightly better for the reasons others have stated.

With the Vumburas, Little Vumbura is a step below Vumbura Plains, but not so with the Mombos.

I've had 3 such changes made in my past travel plans, but each was presented to me for my approval first.

Excellent itinerary. In this case, I think you got slightly lucky with the change.

napamatt

This seems to be a fairly common occurence on this board, though I don't have much idea why. When my agent confirms space, she does just that, confirms it after confirming with us that we still want to go. From that point we have never had an issue. As for Little Mombo over Mombo, great.

Kavey

That would annoy heck out of me since when I decide on my itinerary I not only decide on camps but on the order I'd like to visit them.

When I booked our 2004 trip (18 months in advance) the order I wanted was already not possible. WS provided my agent with the availability slots in each camp. She passed that on to me, I worked out my second choice order and WS duly confirmed that to us.

Several months later, WS contacted my agent to let her know that they still had my original itinerary order on file and cancellations meant it was now available. Would I like to revert to that itinerary or stick with what I had confirmed? I chose to swap back to my original request, it was all reconfirmed and that was that. Nothing was ever changed by WS without consultation with my agent who was quick to update me each time.

As for Little Mombo over Mombo, I prefer it because of the intimacy. With a maximum of 6 guests the game drive vehicle never has more than 6 (sometimes less if others have booked a private vehicle or chosen to miss a drive). Whereas I noticed main Mombo vehicles would sometimes have up to 7 guests each.

And I simply liked the smaller group dynamic for meals etc. Even if one doesn't get on fabulously with another guest or couple, it's not a big problem. And I simply don't like the idea of sharing a camp with so many people as at main Mombo camp.

That said, rooms are identical, location is less than a km apart (we walked over to visit main camp during our first visit and the main difference is simply that the public areas - lounge, dining etc. are suitably larger). Staffing, guiding, food etc are all same.

Mediatorr

Does the same chef cook for both sites? Obviously not a highly relevant issue but I'm just curious because there have been so many raves about the food at Mombo.

Kavey

The same chef oversees the food at both but there are subchefs at both sites and he mainly resides at the main camp himself. He's a Scottish bloke, my brain has gone blank on his name, it will come back to me or someone else will remind me.

I'm pretty confident the food at both is of the same calibre.

santharamhari

Craig is the name.

Hari

napamatt

It had better be.

I imagine if a vehicle at Mombo had seven people that was their choice.

jasher

Hello Mediatorr,

You'll be fine -- Little Mombo is a lovely camp. Personally I prefer Mombo Main Camp (it looks like I'm alone in this respect) as some of the rooms are a bit shadier and cooler during the day, but that's because I have some health problems that mean cooler is better.

It does sound like your agent owes you an explanation.

Cheers,
Julian