Back from Botswana
 

Hi<BR>Just got back a few days ago from our safari in Botswana.<BR><BR>The itinerary was:<BR>1 night at Vic Falls Hotel<BR>6 nights with Gametrackers in Botswana<BR>1 night Westcliffe Hotel J'Burg<BR>6 nights in Paradise Cove Hotel - Mauritius<BR><BR>I will be writing up the safari report in due course but pressure of work may mean it won't be just yet.<BR><BR>If you have any questions in the meantime, I will do my best to answer them.

Andy,<BR>How was it? Is Vic Falls Hotel ok?<BR>Where did you stay in Botswana? Chobe Chilwero at Chobe National Park?<BR><BR>Hey, why didn't you go with Club Med for your stay in Mauritius???<BR><BR>Thavery

Hi Thavery<BR><BR>We liked Vic Falls Hotel very much although we were there for only 18 hours!! We needed to spend more time there to judge it properly. It obviously has been a splendid hotel but has a slight air of faded glory. Some people used to more modern luxury hotels may be disappointed but we would certainly go back for a 2 or 3 night stay. High tea on the terrace is something to relish.<BR><BR>In Botswana, we stayed at Gametracker's own camps. Savute Elephant camp in Chobe national park, Eagle Island camp in the delta which was a wet camp where we mostly saw fantastic birds, crocs, buffalo and then Khwai river Lodge which is just outside Moremi park. We did game drives both outside and inside Moremi and accessed the park over a very rickety bridge over the river khwai!! (we all whistled the theme tune). The camps were superb with A1 service and we saw lots of wonderful game the highlight of which was a leopard resting in a tree which we watched for 30 or 40 minutes until it came down and stalked and nearly caught a squirrel. Who said big game can't have hors d'oevres?<BR><BR>Why Club Med - do you have an interest?<BR><BR>Andy

Andy how was snorkeling and weather in Mauritius? I would like to find out more about your stay there and accommodation but I am not interested in Club Med.

Gina<BR><BR>The weather was great - 30+ degrees every day and low humidity. A different time of year would bring different weather of course. <BR><BR>We didn't snorkel this time as inertia took over after our safari and all good intentions of being active went out the window. We were at the northern end of the island which is protected by the coral reef about a mile offshore. Reports from others was that the snorkelling on the reef was very good.<BR><BR>Paradise Cove hotel was idyllic in its location and appearance. We had a junior suite which was large and very comfortable. I think all rooms there are of the same standard - the suites just get a few more sq. feet. People very friendly and attentive but the food and service were a bit patchy - sometimes excellent other times less so. <BR><BR>Very enjoyable though and Mauritius is a special place for us as we got married there six years ago.<BR><BR>Hope this helps

Andy Welcome Back!!!

Hi Andy,<BR>Sounds like you have a great time.<BR><BR>I asked about Club Med because I've been to many of their villages and the price is reasonable.<BR><BR>

Thanks Kavey - how's life at Big T?<BR><BR>Thavery - the British aren't into Club med as much as other Europeans, esp. the French I believe. However, I'm sure they are excellent and good value for money.

Aaak, it's OK...<BR>Lot of redundancies coming up... to be announced in January.<BR>I think our dept is not being made redundant but is being moved into a completely different part of the business. Not a good move.<BR><BR>But life goes on... and there will always be travel and dreaming of travel!<BR><BR>Can't wait to hear your trip report. <BR><BR>I do feel bad that I never wrote up the rest of my travel diary. I might do some more over Xmas.<BR><BR>Kavey

Kavey<BR><BR>Glad to hear you may escape the redundancies - there will be an awful lot more I fear!<BR><BR>I know what you mean about the trip reports. I started writing them in full at the end of each day and resorted to using bullet points with a view to filling in the detail on my return with the use of the video as an aide memoire.<BR><BR>...dreaming of travel - where does your dream take you next?<BR><BR>Andy

Andy<BR><BR>Back to Namibia and Botswana!<BR><BR>But we have decided we can't afford that yet and are saving up to do it in 2004 for our 10th wedding anniversary.<BR><BR>In the meantime we are taking a neice to Paris in February, doing another trip to France in the car with a couple we know well, and going to Venice for Easter.<BR><BR>I have been desperate to get to Tallinn for some years, and almost got there this year, so WILL get there in 2002 before it becomes too big a tourist thing like Prague.<BR><BR>There are SOOOOOOOOOO many places on my list.<BR><BR>Will probably also return to Madeira (would be our 3rd trip) which we love for a relaxing week of pottering and gentle sightseeing and fantastic eating)...<BR><BR>And your dreams?<BR><BR>Kavey<BR><BR>PS I was lucky that I did manage to keep the diary pretty detailed right through, but there are still details I wish I had recorded now... I think I should have taken some kind of voice recorder to get all the fantastic descriptions and stories and facts the guides gave us about the land, people and animals.<BR><BR>

PPS When I meant writing up I meant transforming my diary of memories into more polished pieces like those two on Namibia which I posted here in July...<BR><BR>Kavey

Kavey<BR><BR>back to Namibia and Botswana eh? I'm sure I could be persuaded again but as you say - there are so many places!!<BR><BR>Tallinn sounds interesting, I'd like to know more. Unusually for us, we came back from this trip without any thoughts about the next one. We tend to do a few short trips like you plus one big - i.e 2 week - trip. Previously it was a Nile cruise plus Sharm el Sheik as the main one, then a long weekend in Dubai and another one in Copenhagen.<BR><BR>We will try to get another dose of winter sun in feb or march and it could be Dubai again, we'll see. <BR><BR>Your Namibia reports were so good, you should for the benefit of the rest of us, finish the job off. I will determine to do mine asap.<BR><BR>bye.

Andy<BR><BR>We went to Namibia and Botswana in June and the pull to return hasn't abated at all.<BR><BR>If I won the lottery guess where we would be going in June 2002?<BR><BR>Thanks for the compliments about the first bits of my properly written trip report, I will definitely try to write up more.<BR><BR>So much to do so little time.<BR><BR>Really looking forward to yours...<BR><BR>Kavey<BR><BR>Feel free to email me re other destinations, I don't have lots on Tallinn in digital format, but I can give you an idea of what I _think_ it will be like!

Kavey<BR><BR>I forgot to mention that last night on one of the satellite channels I saw the most amazing home video from a Botswana safari. It was by an American couple so it may be well known in the States but they were filming a small pride of lions as they were resting during the day, just as thousands of us have done. All was normal, the lions were happy to ignore the closeness of the vehicle as long as they felt no threat when one of the females became alert to something out of camera shot. She sensed that something was near and turned into the pounce position. All of a sudden an impala came into the shot having run into the pride accidentally and took off high into the air when it realised its danger. The lioness took off, leaping high and backwards like a premiership goalkeeper and caught the impala at about 10 or 11 feet above the ground. Of course the rest of the pride tucked in straight away to this unexpected lunch and what ensued was probably not a pretty sight. A fantastic video clip though.<BR><BR>Andy

WOW! <BR><BR>We only saw a couple of kills, by the same cat.<BR><BR>I can't recall whether it was a cheetah or leopard without checking notes, as we saw so many of each but her name was Maun Road female.<BR><BR>We first saw her kill a baby franklin bird, mama was distressed, then we followed her for hours. she started stalking impala but moved away when a hyena came sniffing and it was getting dark by now so we saw this mostly by ur night vision aided a little by headlights, and she brought down a HUGE baboon... No footage though we do have excellent footage overall which we still need to edit down...<BR>