kavey

Lizzie<BR>I am sooo excited for you...<BR>Another Fodorite here recently emailed me that they are now planning to visit Namibia after viewing my photos.<BR>I couldn't be more thrilled!<BR>Kavey<BR><BR>PS Do write to me for more info. (Yes I can ramble on for HOURS about one 2 week trip, you wouldn't beliebe it would you!

kavey

Just to recap...<BR><BR>These photos relate to a trip to Africa in June 2001.<BR><BR>We visited, in this order:<BR><BR>Namibia:<BR>- Wolwedans Dune Lodge, NamibRand Reserve<BR>- Sossusvlei Lodge, Sesriem<BR>- Damaraland Camp, Damaraland<BR><BR>Botswana:<BR>- Little Mombo<BR>- Litte Vumbura<BR>- Chitabe Trails<BR><BR>We will definitely visit Wolwedans and Mombo again. Not only did we love them but we feel there is still so much to see, and we could happily spend more time in both camps and areas.<BR><BR>We also loved Damaraland Camp and Little Vumbura but will likely not visit again, but instead choose other camps in slightly different areas. Instead of Damaraland we'd probably choose somewhere in either Etosha or Skeleton Coast areas, instead of Vumbura we'd choose another water camp in the delta, we liked the camp and the contrast of water activities to land, but would be happy to look at another camp nearby. We would not return to Sossusvlei Lodge (the Movenpick one right at the entrance to the Namib Naukluft Park). Partly because we didn't like the Lodge itself, partly because, although we loved seeing the Sossusvlei Dunes, we don't feel we want to go and do them again. For anyone who does visit Namibia, I strongly urge you to include Sossusvlei but look instead at another Lodge, such as that run by Wilderness Safaris. We would not visit Chitabe Trails again, whilst there was nothing specific wrong with the camp, we felt the service and attitude wasn't quite as polished as at comparable camps (Vumbura is a comparable camp) and the expertise didn't seem as honed re the guides. Whilst game viewing is never guaranteed in the wild we felt there was little reason for anyone to do this camp if doing Mombo anyway where viewing is SO good. We'd included the camp because the literature at the time suggested that sightings of wild dogs were better here than in any other camp, as a large pack lived practically in the camp. We didn't see any even from a distance, but again, we had spotted some at Mombo. We just didn't feel the camp offered anything unique that couldn't be bettered elsewhere.<BR><BR>Anyway, I include this because I am getting wonderful emails from many of you (which I welcome) but just feel a little bad as many are camps I have no experience of, and I can't help.<BR><BR>I enjoy talking about Africa and travel in general, so feel free to email me anyway, I just didn't want anyone to think I am an expert on anything, after this one trip taking in only 6 camps.<BR><BR>Kavey

Kavey

Topping for DE

DE

Thanks Kavey,<BR>I will check out your photos from the trip. DE

Waverley

Kavey, what incredible photos. After looking at Sossusvlei in my book, &quot;Safari Chic&quot; I told my husband that that is where I would love to go next. After seeing your photos, I am convinced. What incredible scenery. Who needs animals??? <BR><BR>Thanks for a great lift to my day.

SusanLynne

Thanks for going the extra mile and posting your photos. Lovely, absolutely lovely. Ah, Africa ... there is truly no place in the world like it.

Kavey

*blush*

Kavey

Hiya
Just spent an hour or so working through all the photos in Photoshop - finally worked out how to adjust brightness and colour balance so that the online scanned versions look more like the actual prints (and reality too).
Hopefully some of the dark ones that were harder to see should be a little improved now.
Kavey

Kavey

Oops
Just realised
I did all the work on the copy located on a different website:
http://www.kaveyland.com/FavellesTra...ca01_main.html

thit_cho

Great photos. Sorry about your negative experience at Chitabe Trails. I too visited Chitabe b/c of excellent reputation for wild dogs, and I was not disappointed. I stayed at main Chitabe camp. Saw large pack of wild dogs on several occasions, including chasing and catching an impala.

Nicci

Thanks for the new link to your photos. They are really great! I wasn't able to see the photos before our trip to Namibia in October 2002, however, we found your posts helpful with some of our planning. We had an incredible time and plan to return in the fall of next year. Some of our photos of Namibia can be viewed at www.slrobertson.com. I may be contacting you about tips for a trip Botswana.

Kavey

Thanks, and you're welcome!

Michael - yes we were just unlucky with game viewing there, which we know is absolutely up to chance. We also didn't feel the staff were quite as polished in their efforts as at the other camps we stayed but that said, they still arranged a sweet thing - on our last night we were the only guests at the camp so they arranged a lantern lit dinner outside our tent as a surprise - the guides kept up the pretence of meeting us for dinner as usual and we didn't know about it until they lead us from the game drive to our tent with the table all set up.

Kavey

Nicci
The pictures of Namibia just blow me away - they are absolutely fantastic - I imagine they must sell well to travel magazines etc - just beautiful!
THANKS!

Nicci

Kavey,

Thank you for the kind compliment! My husband will be so flattered to hear what you said. Actually photography is only a hobby of his, and hopes to someday make it more.

Regarding your photos, where did you see the cheetah and painted dogs? The animals in your shots are quite relaxed and seem close. Were you that close or was it the lens?

Thank you,

Nicci

Kavey

Nicci

We were CLOSE! It was a little scary at first! We could have reached out and touched them in some cases... we were often only about 5 metres away from the big cats.

You'll be able to see from one of the first leopard shots at Mombo quite how close we were - with my wide angle lens I still couldn't get the landrover out of the shot!

We saw the leopards, cheetah, lions and wild dogs at Mombo (staying in Little Mombo, though they are together, so for game viewing purposes, the same).

I did sometimes use my telephoto zoom - a 100-300mm lens, though I used the 28-135mm just as much, and when I was using the telephoto zoom I tended not to shoot much at the 300mm end.

Where are you off to next?

Kavey

Nicci

Kavey,

Glad to know you saw all these wonderful animals while in Botswana. We are in the early stages of planning our trip to Botswana for October/November 2004.
Other than Africa, we are considering a possible trip to Nicaragua towards the end of this year. Another travel option is Vietnam and Loas around Chinese New Year. There are so many places we would like to visit and revisit, it really depends on cost and timing. As Americans our holiday time is limited, my husband and I are lucky to have 4-5 weeks off a year. Most only get a couple of weeks.

Nicci

Kavey

Nicci
Yes it amazes me how little leave some of my American friends get per year - I'd find it very hard.
Even when I was on 25 a year (plus national hols) I often thought it would be nice to give up a little salary in exchange for more -it wasn't an option though.
Now I'm self employed, so provided I can make the income to pay for it, I can take off more time if I want to...
Kavey
PS Your husband's work really is very good - has he sold to any stock libraries etc?

Kavey

Nicci
I just hope other readers of this board don't miss your link to your husband's photos - most people here have probably seen my pics and haven't read the recent posts to this thread and I am sad to think anyone might miss Scott's collection.
I have viewed them again and there are some excellent images there... I want to go back now and try to emulate some of his ideas and approaches.
Kavey

Nicci

The website does contain some wonderful photos and good travel info for those interested in travel to Namibia, Capetown and Garden Route area. I suppose I could add a new post.

Kavey

Go for it! I think it's a superb site!