junger

My husband and I are planning a trip to Botswana this summer.

I have been looking at safari packages, but
the posts I'm reading suggest that you are able to customize exactly what you want to do. Are you working with safari companies that customize the tour? If so which ones and how do I contact them.

This is our first trip to Africa. I'm not sure that we want to strike out on our own.

atravelynn

Junger,

This summer for Botswana may be booked. Not trying to put a damper on things, but Botswana books up very early.

You certainly can customize your own safari and it is quite common and easy to do--provided there is availability.

The fact that you are a bit hesitant about customizing on your own and the probable lack of available space points to doing a luxury mobile safari in Botswana. There may be a couple spots left on some of these. One other advantage of these small group mobiles is they make Botswana much more affordable.

I’ve done one mobile safari through Wilderness that was fabulous and ranks very well in comparison with permanent luxury camps.

Although Wilderness does not offer the itinerary that I did, they do offer a nice variety of trips.

http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/

Follow these directions on the site
Explorations/Safaris
Explorations
Botswana
About 5 different mobiles come up

Here is a link to a trip report from Thembi who did Migration Routes
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34957250

You cannot book directly through Wilderness. You need an African specialist agent.

Here are 3 agents that book Wilderness.
Africa Adventure Company http://www.africa-adventure.com/
Eyes on Africa http://www.eyesonafrica.net/
Fish Eagle http://www.fisheaglesafaris.com/

All three have been used by Fodorites with success. I’ve used the first 2 and found Bert of Fish Eagle very helpful when I’ve called. You could also ask each of them about customizing a safari to Botswana for you.

Here is the Botswana mobile I’d like to do next:

http://www.africa-adventure.com/prog...otswana11.html


Also check out Wilderness Adventure (not the Botswana company, but the California company that specializes in small group trips worldwide.)
http://www.wildernesstravel.com/itins/botswana.html


Natural Habitat is does wildlife trips. I’ve done 3 with them but never to Africa. They are good. Here are 2 Botswana trips from them.

http://www.nathab.com/destinations/i...full_itinerary

http://www.nathab.com/destinations/i...full_itinerary


Good luck!

StewartFenyang

in fact, we too are planning to visit this year but before Christmas. from atravelynn, we understand booking needs to be done well in advance. can you also, suggest accommodation.. no star accommodation please. would simply love to try something camping accommodation. for now, we've these three locations locations http://africafreak.com/blog/top-3-ac...otswana-safari including Moremi Game Reserve and chobe national park. please let us know, if we missed out equally worthy locations in our list. thanks a bunch.

christabir

Again, atravelynn gives great advice.
Here are some mobile safaris: (with pricing)

http://www.eyesonafrica.net/scheduled-safaris.htm

This is the TA I used. Their website is informative, with general pricing for private safaris and prices on some:
http://classicafrica.com/

Also look into &Beyond. If they have availability, they can arrange everything for you. Make sure to ask for specials. Botswana is high end, so be prepared.

pixelpower

Wilderness and &Beyond are two big players that operate a lot of the camps in the delta. But there's other possibilities. To name but one thing; there's very experienced guides like Ewan Masson offering mobile tented camp safaris that imho are hard to surpass in terms of quality and bang-for-the-buck.

But a tented camp will not offer the same level of luxury as a lodge, of course. Although you will eat delicous food, you will sleep comfortably, and you will be able to shower every day (bucket showers are provided).

If you want to go for lodges, you might want to consider booking through an African TA instead of a TA from US/EU. This can save you quite some $/€. I used Sun Safaris in Cape Town, and like them a lot. They also get things done quicker, as they are closer to (and in the same timezones as) the lodges. This can be important when putting together an itinerary with places that fill up rather fast.

Ciao,

J.

cary999

Another thread 5 years old
Wish I had those 5 years back
Tempus fugit

regards - tom

christabir

But a new poster asked a question, so it's not really old.