Help with Botswana Itinerary for Jun2007!
 

I just got my schedule cleared for 2007 and now hope to go to Botswana in June 2007. I know it's rather short notice and many camps may be filled, but i will try my luck. I need some help putting together a good itinerary for that time of the year.
Here are my thoughts so far:
-would like to spend about 3 nights each at 3 different camps.
-since it's a 1st trip to Botswana (previously been to Kenya and Tanzania), want to experience a variety of activities: water, land, some walking, night drives.
-initial thoughts: delta water camp, delta dry camp and linyati area. but open to other suggestions. which areas would be best for June?
-interests are predators, birds and hope to see wild dogs, but not fixated.
-specific camps under consideration: L.Vumbura, Lagoon/Lebala, Chitabe. Is it better to stay with all Wilderness Camps, all Kwando camps or mix? reason to stay with one company was for discount over 7/8 nights. how big is the discount? is it significant?
-so far, we will be 3. do any camps have tents for 3 people? all 3 are adults. we are still working on the 4th person - hopefully she'll come. if not, then are any camps/agents better for reducing single supplement for the 3rd person?
our whole trip will look like this: fly into S.Africa-CapeTown-Bots-Vic.Fall-Back to S.Af-US.
i'm hoping to finalize itinerary quickly and get to booking as soon as i can. thank you in advance for all your help!

You've probably left it too late for June 2007, but probably the best concession for walking is Selinda, and it's among the best for predators-- especially wild dog and cheetah. Check www.linyanti.com for information about its two main camps, Selinda and Zibalianja (the latter means 'place of wild dogs') and two walking trails camps. WS is one of Selinda's marketers, so you may score a discount by going through WS...but equally, three of Kwando's camps would be a good choice if a discount is all-important. Kwando's Lebala and Lagoon camps are neighbours of Selinda in the Linyanti region. Hari's the man to ask about Kwando. Personally, I'd mix and forget about any discount...I'd go for a Selinda camp and do a bit of walking and have a good chance of seeing wild dogs denning; a Kwando camp; and a delta water camp. But I wouldn't fancy your chances of finding a place at the best camps this late. No harm in trying, though.

John

lerasp,

The discounts......it all depends on your travel agent and what pricing they get to you. Hence, it is imperative that you find a good TA.

Mixing your camps may give you a good feel for the different companies....upto you. If you are looking at Kwando, you can do Lagoon/lebala and little kwara or kwara.

Other companies will hv good camps also for that time of the year. All i can say is, talk to your TA and see what camps are available and see what works best for you.

Hari

thanks for ideas. what about delta camps? if we go with lagoon/lebala, what are some of the camps that would be good compliments in the delta?

Kwara/little Kwara is in the delta. land and water activities round the year.

For non-kwando delta camps, some popular ones on these boards are Mombo, Chitabe, Vumbura/little vumbura.

Hari

we are progressing with our planning. here are our initial thoughts:
chitabe 3nts
lebala 3nts
another camp - wanted to do Chief's for rhino (mombo out of question), but it's not available. what would be a good 3rd camp for this trip? Are there any other camps in the rhino area? otherwise, we are thinking about Little Vumbura or Tubu Tree. what about Baine's or Stanley camp? so many choices?
we will finish off in Vic.Falls. There, River Club looks great, but not sure if it's worth the $$$ (considering it's mostly for accomodation and food, not activities. please correct me if i'm wrong).
thank you for all your help.
we are now looking at going at the end of May to get in before Jun1 price increases.

River Club is several miles upriver from the Falls. I would stay in town (Zim side), either Ilala Lodge, Kingdom Hotel, or the historic Victoria Falls Hotel. You can walk to the Falls from any of these properties. On the Zim side, you see much more of the Falls than on the Zam side. I was in Vic Falls in February and didn't have any problems, although the hawkers were desperate to sell you their wares given the drop in tourists.

As to the Botswana camps, you may just have to see what a safari consultant can get for you. You won't be able to book directly with Wilderness. Do you have a consultant and have they checked availability?

thanks for advice on Vic. Falls. i will look into it. For Botswana, i'm at the initial stages of talkig with a few agents and they are checking availability. but it's always good to have a place to start. So far, there's availability in Tubu Tree, Savuti and Chitabe Main.

Those would be great camps. In February, we stayed at Chitabe, Tubu Tree, and Kings Pool near Savuti. In fact, we drove over to Savuti Channel to see more wildlife than what we were seeing at KP. Although it was "off season", we saw leopards and lions at Chitabe. Tubu Tree would be a great water-based camp, being on Hunda island. It's in the same concession as Kwetsani and Jao. Before TT was built, Kwetsani would transport guests to Hunda for game drives.

we are getting closer to going to Botswana this May! it's so late in planning and i'm amazed we are getting any availability. here's what it looks like.
1) Tubu Tree or Little Vumbura? which one is better at this time?
2)Chitabe
3) Duma Tau or Savuti? heard great things about both of them. how to decided between the two?
4) Vic Falls - Ilala Lodge
Can you help me make a decision about these camps?

thank you!

We spent 3 days at Duma Tau this past June and the game viewing was amazing. In the first 2 days we saw many animals including, wild dogs, cheeta, leopard and lions. On one game drive we saw over 80 elephants.

Raelond:
How was the weather in June? We will be at Duma Tau about June 10. Is it as cold as people say? I just was out looking at jackets again, and gloves and hats before there is nothing left in the stores. What happens in the evenings? Do you eat outside?

Yes its cold at Duma Tau in June. The camp is about five degrees warmer than game drives, due o its position amongst the trees.
Meals are served in the dining room, which is open, but with a roof, you'll want warm clothes at dinner and make use of the blankets provided.

Spiegelcjs, I wore a sweatshirt, winter type jacket and gloves on our morning game drives. It was very cold in the morning and warmed up about 2 hours into the game drive. I also wore long underwear under my zip-off nylon pants. For evening game drives I needed my jacket once the sun set. We carried our jackets on the plane. I slept with my under-garments under the covers with me and they were toasty warm when I put them on in the morning. It is very cold waking up with no heat and cold clothing to put on! On one game drive we had a woman from California who thought it would be warm in Africa and brought only shorts and t-shirts. It's better to be prepared as you can always take layers off.