I am considering the OAT Ultimate Trip for my family. I would appreciate some commentary on the accomodations offered, especially the Wilderness Tented Camp in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. I am also a little concerned about the length of the trip, is it too many days on safari? Finally, I would like to hear what you thought of the internal flights. How scary were the small bush planes. Thanks.

I think the accommodations, including the Wilderness Tented Camp will be very nice. I have not stayed in this one, but in similar tents and they were great. OAT would not have substandard lodging.

Length of trip--not too long, you are covering 3 countries and could easily stay longer.

Internal flights--not scary at all. I've taken many with no problems. These planes take off and land hundreds of times a day throughout Africa. If a tourist ever suffers harm, it would make world news. You never hear of a problem.

<b>But there are some problems with this trip, as detailed on these threads.</b>

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34954868
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34960960
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34828547

I think you can do better. List what it is you'd like to see/do in Africa and Fodorites will help you create the perfect trip.

You'll notice on one of the above links, the poster ended up with a private honeymoon trip in East Africa, though he started with this OAT Ultimate trip.

atravelynn, I can't figure out from your reply if you have actually taken the OAT Ultimate Africa trip.

No I have not taken OAT Ultimate Africa or any other OAT trip.

I am the one that started with an OAT trip and ended up cancelling the OAT trip and going with another company.

My future mother in law went on the OAT Tanzania trip last June and she loved it. All of the accomodations were nice and she enjoyed the other people on the trip. She liked OAT enough that she is going to Vietnam with OAT in May/June. She was going on the OAT Utlimate Africa trip in October before deciding to give this trip to Jayne and myself as a Wedding present. The only complaint about OAT has been in dealing with the Boston office, not the trips themselves.

We switched from OAT to another company for a few reasons. First we decided to go to Tanzania and Kenya but we then compared the OAT Kenya/Tanzania trip to our itinerary to avoid the OAT cancellation penalty. We were able to get a private safari for two people for almost the same price as the OAT group safari, and when I asked about guaranteed window seats on safari OAT responded that window seats are not quaranteed but seats are rotated daily. We also like our itinerary better; the trip reviews for the OAT Ultimate Safari suggest the Namibia portion of the trip is really just down time; there is not much in that part of the trip. Also, keep your eye on the political situation in Zimbabwe; there are some problems there.

Bob

Family?
How many people and their ages.

I ask the latter, as these itineraries, though small groups, have an average age of 45-80/years, most usually in 50-60s. If you are traveling with young children, young adults or those in 20s-30s, this might not be an ideal group. Something else to think about.

Sandi,

We are 5 people, ages: 75,50,48,45 &amp; 10. The youngest member is my neice. She is an only child and used to taking adult vacations. OAT looked appealing becasue of price. I can't seem to find anything else that gives us 12-14 days in africa, does not include South Africa or East Africa (we have already been there) and features a fairly high level of creature comforts. We do not want to drive ourselves, so need a full package. If you have any suggestions of packages that would better meet our needs, please advise. Thanks.

Lucky neice.
Then if this itinerary works and the price is right, besides the positive responses from those above. Go for it.

My parents took this trip and LOVED it! There was not one aspect of the tour that they did not enjoy. The tour leaders were fantastic and they also had a great group. My Mom has been to Africa several times and still talks about that particular trip.

Mossway1,

You’ve probably checked on OAT’s policy for 10 year olds traveling with a family. That would be question #1 for any of these other companies I’ve suggested.

Check Wilderness Safari’s “Botswana and Namibia Epic” itinerary. It is under Explorations, then Botswana, then Botswana and Namibia Epic.
http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/sa...mp;method=menu
You cannot book directly with Wilderness but you can reserve through a variety of Africa specialists. Some of these agents that have been used successfully by Fodorites include:

Go2Africa in South Africa
Eyes on Africa in Chicago
The Africa Adventure Company in Florida

There are many other good agents too.

This safari goes with a minimum of 4 so you could be your own group.
http://www.africa-adventure.com/prog...g_combo08.html


This is the Wilderness Travel Company in California that does group trips.
http://www.wildernesstravel.com/itins/pjnambot.html

None of these include Zimbabwe but the middle one could be tailored to suit your wishes. Don’t recall when you were planning to travel, but I would think twice before taking a 10 year old to Zimbabwe until at least after the March 2008 elections. Though I trust the judgment of a company like OAT in their choice of destinations, with kids I add an extra level of caution.

If nothing else, it would be worth investigating some other similar places and even chatting with some agents. You can become more educated about your trip and maybe find something better than OAT or confirm that OAT is indeed your best choice.

Good luck!