We are planning a trip this summer to Botswana. We are considering using Africa Travel Resource to book the trip. Are they reliable and helpful?
We are thinking of going to Mombo camp for 2 days, Duba Plains Camp for 2 days and Savuti Camp for 2 days.
Any suggestions for other camps if these camps are not available?

I would not do 2 nights at Duba (my fav Botswana camp) because if the lions are in an inaccessible part of the park for a couple of days, you miss out on a huge component of the Duba experience. The lions don't go missing for long, but they could be gone the 2 nights you are there. I personally would not do less than 4 nights at Duba, but think 3 would be ok too. There are fewer inaccessible areas in Sept and Oct, so that concern is less of an issue late in the dry season.

Your choice of Wilderness camps offers a great variety. If Mombo is unavailable, maybe Chief's Camp, operated by Sanctuary. They are the only 2 camps on Chief's Island. But switching companies may come at a premium. Mombo is the best located. It is also by far the most expensive.

With the unique lion-buffalo activity, it is hard to find a sub for Duba. Nearby Little Vumbura also has lions that hunt in the day and I witnessed that. Very good other game and LV offers water activities.

In the Savuti area, you could also go to nearby Duma Tau, which is great.

Except for Chief's, I've mentioned only Wilderness camps.

Sanctuary has a variety of camps--in the delta is Baines and Stanleys that offer elephant walks; they have Chobe Chilwaro; and Chiefs.

Orient Express is another company and Footsteps in Africa has caught my attention. Footstep's Mapula camp, not that far from Duba, but without the lion-buffalo action, looks very inviting.

If you search for ATR, you'll see several reports here. I know someone who used them for many trips and was satisfied.

I think you may have difficulty getting into Mombo. A friend of mine booked her August trip for there 2 years ago to get the August week she wanted. I recently tried to see if they had a cancellation for May, (not that it was really in my budget) but it was not available. I am going to Savuti, and have heard wonderful things about it.

Good luck and happy planning

amy

I would pass on ATR. I used them last year on a safari including Tanaznia, Mahale and Katavi and found them to be somewhat helpful but that basically stops once you pay for your trip and they "hand you off" to another representative. It was a real turn off to spend thousands of dollars and have regular (and prompt) communication with a travel consultant and then cease contact and be handed off to someone else. They also got the room rate wrong at the hotel I stayed at upon landing and missed the fact that I could have taken a flight directly to Katavi from Mahale. They offered no transportation between hotel stays and flights (CC Africa was phenomenal in this regard). They had to be told three times to check availability on a property that I was waitlisted on before finding me space. My complaints after the fact reached deaf ears.

There website is an excellent source of information and pictures. But that's as far as I will go. There are better ways to go than ATR. I would shop around!

Thanks Monyline. So you deal with someone else after paying? I have not experienced that with any travel company. I've never used ATR, though.

I agree their website is really helpful and they do not just gush and list positives. The pitfalls of various camps and locations are mentioned too.

If ever Mombo would have openings, now would be the time. Some agent recently posted that there were blocks of openings available, but I think it was in the rainiest time.

If Mombo is not available and you have a set amount of money, but a flexible amount of time, you could increase your overall Botswana holiday.

We haven't been to Botswana with ATR or anyone else so can't comment there.

But our Tanzanian trip a couple of years ago with ATR was great. We sent out a basic plan to lots of different agents and ATR were easily the most responsive, suggesting different options and price levels, and I think we ended up with a much better, and in fact cheaper, trip because of this. I didn't get any feeling that they lost interest once they had the booking - their finance department dealt with the finances, but that's was to be expected. On safari everything went like clockwork and was 'made' by the excellence of our driver/guide.

I'm not at all criticising MONYLINE but it just shows that different people have different experiences.

What I would (rather obviously) suggest, gussie05, is that you shop around a bit, because different busineses will have different specialities and different ideas.

One thing that make's planning a safari such fun is the excellence, and differing styles, of the many websites of the various agencies and lodges. Personally I think ATR's new website is not as good as its old one, with more pictures but fewer hard facts. It is still nicely opinionated though.

i stayed at Mombo in 2004 (before it became so expensive) and if you can go you really should as the game is so good. If you are worried about your agent, then email Wilderness Safaris and they will put you in touch with an agent that they recommend.

ATR is not a safari outfitter, but a safari planning company. As with any other planner, you will be "handed off" to the company on the ground once you reach Africa. I've only used ATR once, to plan an extension to Zanzibar. They did a good job and used an excellent ground operator for Zanzibar, which was important.

I understand the handoff to the ground operator but it appeared from Monyline that once you booked, you talked with different people from ATR.

Yes, let me clarify. Once the arrangements were finalized, my travel consultant passed me off to the finance department and in my circumstances it was like tug of war to get him to answer questions after the payment and to question charges that werent right and to get them to check on waitlists etc. It was terrible. They went back and forth like they were separate organizations and the travel planner went basically Missing in Action. The logistics as described were less than perfect. They just dropped the ball. Might have been the result of a bad travel planner but I'm keeping my distance from them. But I'm glad some of you have had good experiences! Lynn----I emailed Wayne in South Africa and sent him your regards. Unfortunately Im not going to be able to make it to CPT this year but I will in the future.

Thanks for the email to Wayne.

Thanks for the clarification, MONYLINE. That's not good when your planner goes AWOL.