Hi,

I'm mulling over a 9 day stop (3 nights in three camps) at Wilderness Safaris camps in Botswana in September\October.

The choices are:

1 - 3
Kwetsani, Jacana, Little Vumbura and Xigera Camp
4 - 6
Chitabe Camp, Kwetsani, Tubu Tree and Chitabe Trails
7 - 9
Selinda Camp, Zibalianja, Savuti Camp and Duma Tau

My main interests are predators. I'd also prefer the rustic over the luxurious and the small over the large, if that makes sense!

Going on Johan's posts I'd guess Chitabe would be a certainty...any advice on the others would be most welcome.

Cheers,
Gary.

Of those you listed, I have only been to Little Vumbura, Tubu Tree, and Savuti, so I can only address those. They offer a very good mix with LV being a "water camp" in the Okavango Delta, Tubu being land-based near the Delta, and Savuti being in the dryer Linyanti area. All were certainly nice enough, with Tubu being a notch or two above the other two in terms of "luxuriness." I understand that Duma Tau is similar to Savuti. All three have around 7-10 tents, and so are fairly intimate. The "tents" and other lovely buildings at Tubu are on individual raised platforms, and the camp has a wonderful view across marshlands where wildlife can be observed, and one of the most beautiful and unique outdoor bar areas I can imagine. We saw leopards at Savuti and LV, cheetah at Savuti, wild dogs (pack of three) at Tubu, and just a few lions at Savuti and Tubu. I highly recommend one water camp out of your three, which looks likely. Chitabe gets very high marks from many Fodorites, especially for the wildlife. You will have a great time regardless. If you would like, e-mail me at [email protected] and I can send you some pictures of the facilities at the three camps.

I've just returned from Chitabe and really enjoyed my stay there. Despite being "off-season", we saw leopards twice and lions 3 times.

Tubu Tree and Kwetsani are fairly close together. I think Kwetsani is the nicer of the two, but both are owned by the same people. I've been to both, and enjoyed them. Actually, I think both are considered "water-based" camps during the flood season. I don't know how much of the flood will still be in place by Sept/Oct. However, with all the rainfall they've been getting, I imagine the floods will be higher than ever this year.

Duma Tau was closed for renovations on our trip, so we were moved to Kings Pool. We did an all day drive to Savuti, and saw lions and cheetahs (again, in the off season.) If I were choosing from your list, I would pick Kwetsani, Chitabe, and Savuti or Duma Tau. I don't know about the other camps. I'm sure you'll get comments from others who have stayed there.

I'd say pretty much what hguy47 did.

1-3 are camps with water activities. Jacana most water, Xigera next, then LV, with Kwetsani the driest of the wet camps. To maximize predators, I'd go with the least water, which is Kwetsani.

4-6 Chitabe or Chitabe Trails gets my vote. Since Chitabe and Chitabe Trails are 5 minutes by vehicle from each other the game is the same. The price is also the same. But you preferred smaller and more rustic, which Chitabbe Trails is. I was at Chitabe last August and the main camp is all on a raised platform. The Trails camp is not. I shared a vehicle with Trails guests who always saw lions or hyenas near Chitabe Trails after dropping me off at the main Chitabe. But that could just be luck during those days. Either Chitabe is lovely.

7-9 I've been to Duma Tau, would like to return, and can recommend it. This August I am going to Zibalianja (as opposed to the other camps listed here) due to recommendations of others I've met on safari. Zib is the smallest of those camps listed, but all of these camps are strong for game.

I don't think there is a bad combination in the bunch, no matter how you mix and match.

Have a good trip.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34774192
An update on Chitabe Trails. Looks like it will be elevated on platforms in the future, just like Chitabe. I think that would be a betterment, not a detriment to the camp. Just hope the improvements do not attract the obnoxious! Check the above link for more on that.

Hi All,
Just my 2 cents for this and camps in general. It matters a great deal (from my admitted little experience) on the game viewing restrictions. Which are; is off "road" vehicling allowed, and, are vehicles allowed inside (a park) after sundown. Then there is also the basic factor of the type of vehicle.
regards - tom

Tom,

All those camps mentioned here........are permitted off road driving.......with the exception of Moremi game reserve night drives are permitted. Honestly, at most times,the night drives are just part of your drive back to camp......you may see the odd African wildcat or porcupine or something, but at most times just a drive back home with the added excietement of driving in the dark. Yes, most times it is advertised as stay out as long as you wish.........

In terms of the camp suggestions,

1-3 either Kwetsani or Little Vumbura (LV of late have had some great cheetah sightings)
4-6 chitabe or trails
7-9 Selinda or Duma Tau (It is all one continuing region, so if you hv a private vehicle/like-minded group you can cover anywhere from Kings pool/dumatau/selinda/zib

That time of the year should have the huge concentrations of elephants also.

September/October is probably the best time for game viewing in Botsw

Hari

Hi santharamhari and All,
Yeah, I was at Moremi (Khwai River Lodge, Sept 2005) and was like you said. PLUS, in Moremi you can not go off road (daylight). The evening drive was across the river on private land that had great elephant viewing. And the night part was just back to camp, like you said. But at Nsefu (Robin Pope) the night drives, after sundowners, were great. For two nights watched lion pride walk right by and next to vehicle starting their hunt and we followed. Third night saw them hunt and take down two Pukus simultaneously and tear them apart.
regards - tom

Tom,

There are a few uneventful night drives......but there have been some fabulous instances also......for example, in Lion sands we were watching a leopard hunting in the dark two nights in a row.....lions roaring and calling out for the rest of the pride (Kwara)that had split up for hunting or whatever.......

What is meant is, by and large....unless you really see something out of the ordinary.....it is usually just an excieting drive back home in the dark!!!

In Malamala, although the game viewing was awesome......we were following the selati pride who were obviously out hunting, but were told that we were really far from camp and had to return for dinner.....(oh yes, we were a party of 4 and had a seperate jeep). We were the last to get back in, but, would hv liked to stay out a bit longer......

Shay Tay:

I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about your experience at King's Pool in March. We're considering staying there at the very end of March next year, so I'm curious as to the conditions, game viewing opportunities, whether the animals were accessible or too far into the mopane.
What types of sounds did you hear around camp? Is it worth visiting in March?

Thanks.

Lisa

Actually, we were there in mid-February. This year, they've seen more rain than in the last 20 years, according to the camp managers, so I would hesitate to say if your experience next year would be the same. Last year, I think it hardly rained at all. The grass was high, although the guide said that it would soon be dying back, even if it continued to rain. Therefore, you might not have so much grass in March and the animals might be out in the open more.

The night before we arrived, dinner was interrupted by lions strolling past camp, roaring as they went. Dinner was forgotten as everyone raced off to see them. They didn't put in an appearance while we were there, though. We caught glimpses of a leopard near the camp. The vervet monkeys were alarming, so we knew it was around.

We saw elephants near the river on several occasions. There were all the "usual suspects", as well...baboons, giraffe, warthogs, impala, and lots of bird life, including ground hornbills. We also saw bat-eared foxes and a genet.

One day, we took an all-day drive to the Savuti Channel, where we found a pride of lions, including cubs. Zebras approached their location and a lioness, caught out in the open, crawled sideways into the grass. The zebras were wary and finally snorted their "I see you" call and got away safely. We spotted a couple of cheetahs, but they were shy and disappeared in the tall grass. We were originally booked into Duma Tau and our guide Cilas was from that camp, so he knew this area well. One special treat was to see carmine bee-eaters flying alongside us, gobbling up insects that our truck disturbed.

King's Pool is set on a lagoon inhabited by hippos. I didn't hear them at night as much as I thought I would, but perhaps I'm just a heavy sleeper. Also, I've read here on the Board that the tents at the other end of camp are closer to where the hippos are at night (we were in #4).

The day we went to Savuti, a huge storm blew through. We were almost completely soaked by the time we arrived back at camp. Much to our surprise, we found the interior of our tent also soaked. No one at the camp had bothered to lower the window flaps. I mopped water off the furniture, books, floor, etc. Our lamps had been knocked over and smashed and our electricity was out, shorted out by water in the plugs. It took a couple of visits to the manager before they finally sent around someone with a mop. We weren't impressed by the camp management and how they handled the situation. It was a shame to see this beautiful room made almost uninhabitable by their inaction before the storm and their lack of interest afterwards. Hopefully, they will pay better attention in the future, because the tents and deck areas are quite beautiful.

The storm was strong enough to tear "rafts" of reeds loose in the lagoon. I watched as one hippo used one of the rafts as a "pool toy", pushing it around the lagoon.

I hope that this helps. I know that sounds are important to you, so I've tried to address that. Whether you'll hear more at King's Pool than at other camps, it's hard to say. I take videos as well as photos and always enjoy the sounds on the tape as much as the pictures. One thing about the African bush that I've noticed: it's NEVER quiet!