duh, forgot the link to the map

http://www.sabisand.co.za/ssw-map.html

OK, jczinn, I looked and have sent an inquiry. Now I have three camps to pick from. Whew!

All the camps seem to have that boma thing in a semi circle, and a lot of the reviews seem to complain about it. Uhmmm!

I am encouraged by the relatively affordable prices of EP, Arathusa, and Nkorho. I'm sure the game viewing is essentially the same possibilities. This is good.

Bill - If the rates are about equal, I might go with Arathusa for the waterhole. Ask for room 6 or 7 (from 2 years ago, might have changed) as they were "waterfront". They were doing some work at Arathusa while we were there - minor upgrades like brick walks and a bit of updating, and I heard recently the food is better which was an issue in the past.

Arathusa's traversing rights are a tad bigger than EP's, and the rangers from the two camps (and probably Nkorho, but I'm not sure about that) keep in touch so there are more eyes out there. At africam.com you can "go on safari" with Nkorho. It's fun if you can get to a computer at the hours they are out.

Why would anyone complain about the boma setup? We much prefer communal eating - you get to meet all the other visitors. Don't let that deter you.

Where else are you going on this safari?

Yes, Nkorho is on the same radio as the others.

The problem with the Boma thing really is that its anti-communal--because its impossible to talk with anyone except the people next to you. In fact, if you have more than two people in your party, the one on the far side can't really converse with the one on the other side--its nutty. But at both Nkorho and EP most folks spent some time before dinner in the communal bar room--that's where you get to meet people.

Anyway, I don't think you can go wrong at any of the three.

BTW, if you are interested photos of my trip are here:
http://www.jczinn.com/South%20Africa/safindex.html
You will see that we had great sightings at both EP and Nkorho!

Hmm, guess there are BOMAs and then BOMAs
BOMA for me setting at the same size table, same mates, as in the dining room made little difference for conversation.

regards - tom

Good thing to see that my comments on the "Boma setup" in my trip report are stirring things up a bit.

@Christabir; I much prefer a large table. Then you can actually talk to people.

For me, EP was the first lodge that had this boma setup. All others so far had...
1) drinks around a campfire
2) large table to eat on
3) more drinks, if you want to.

I don't know who came up with this TV-dinner setup (albeit without TV but with a fire to look at), but he deserves a public execution. ;-)

B.regs,

J.

The Bomas at Elephant Plains and Nkorho were set up the same...single rows of tables around the circle with all seats facing the "campfire"...so if your party was six people, you'd all be in a single line of six. Think school desks facing the teacher! Maybe its done differently at the more expensive lodges.

"... tables around the circle with all seats facing the "campfire".."

Not my experience with maybe 8-9 different BOMAs. Tables had seating both sides. And some put the tables perpendicular, end wise to the center so the center fire is on your left/right side.

regards - tom

Our boma experience has been a semi-circle with people on both sides of the table (I always take the side closer to the fire). Not too different from a big table - you can basically speak to the closest five people or so. A one-sided boma could be annoying, but still better than separate tables for each party. That is MUCH worse.

@Christabir; but that's actually the way it is at EP; a separate table ...per person!