lilbschaps

I am getting ready to plan a 2 - 3 week family trip to Botswana for August 2010. We will be a party of 10 persons - 4 Teenagers, 4 Adults and 2 Seniors.

We are mostly interested in excellent game viewing, but would like some diversity of experience. Most of the Adults have been to Africa before (5 of us lived in East Africa in the early 70's), but this will be the first trip for my sister-in-law and the kids.

I would love to know what people recommend as their favorite camps and why. Are the any camps that would be particulaly well suited to a group our size?

Can anyone give me pro's and con's of Jack's Camp/Sand Camp vs. Deception Valley Lodge; Duma Tau & Savuti vs. Lagoon and Lebala. Would you recommend a mobile tenting experience? How does that really differ from the permanent camps?

Are there any areas of Botswana that would be worth doing by land instead of flying from camp to camp?

My sister-in-law is very eager for her kids to get a sense of how different it is to live in Africa and would like some exposure to daily life worked into our itinerary. Does anyone have any suggestions in this regard?

Finally, with a group our size I feel we ought to be able to get rates more in line with groups rates offered by a tour than normal private booking rates - any recommendations on how to go about this?

I've been avidly reading your posts and you all seem so friendly and helpful.

Thanks in advance.

LBS

PredatorBiologist

LBS: looks like a brilliant family trip coming together.

In order to get the cultural exposure I would focus on including one or more camps that have heavy community involvement and can arrange a visit to a village -- often difficult due to the terrain and remoteness of the best concessions. One of my favorite camps, Mapula Lodge, has a village where most of the employees come from that is reachable with a two hour drive, which would make it a good fit and it is an outstanding game viewing area with the full diversity of the Delta. Another camp soon to open with a heavy community involvement will be Sankuyo Plains Camp -- I am not positive about cultural visits from there but I believe it will be possible to arrange it. Both properties are marketed by Footsteps in Africa.

Deception Valley Lodge has much much more varied game viewing, especially of large predators than the Makgadikgadi Pan area camps but that is largely because it is a more vegetated environment. The Makgadikgadi Pan area provides the more expansive landscape with dramatic solitude and you can ride quad bikes (ATVs) and see meerkats which cannot be done at Deception Valley Lodge. A day trip from DVL into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve can provide a sense of vastness but August is a tough time to see game there and there is an added cost for the day trip. In my mind DVL and Makgadikgadi compliment each other (if time allows) as the experiences are quite a bit different. Bushmen experience can be done in both areas and should be considered a highlight. In my opinion DVL does a particularly great job with it.

Duma Tau/Savuti & Lebala/Lagoon are all in prime areas for big game and a high diversity of species and both areas are very highly recommended. Many of the wide ranging sexy megafauna, wild dogs and cheetah in particular, range through both concessions so you could see the same individual cheetah or pack of dogs in either place so it just depends on timing. As viewing is exceptional in both places it probably comes down to comparing Kwando vs. Wilderness Safaris to see which companies style, vehicles, guiding, etc. meet your groups desires the best. I've stayed at Duma Tau and Lebala and highly recommend them both. To me there is not a bad choice here as all are excellent.

I think for Northern Botswana flying is the way to go to save time, access the best areas, and maximize your quality as long as you can find the community opportunities such as I referenced above.

You should be able to get some preferred rates by bringing such a nice size group. For one thing you will be filling seats on planes and thus it should be possible to charter entire planes for less than normal seat costs. Hopefully you can find someone to work with who will take a lower percentage commission too due to the volume of the booking or some lodges may offer you a one free for booking the rest etc. Definitely shop around for a volume deal.

HariS

Planning for 2010? WOW ..... a huge head start!

I personally won't plan this far in advance!

thit_cho

What is the earliest lodges will generally permit you to book? Most airlines won't book reservations until 11 months or so before the trip -- do the lodges permit an earlier booking?

I'm planning December 2009 (Ethiopia), and I thought I was early.

HariS

The reason i won't book this far in advance is, because gameviewing is important to me - the enviornment can be constantly changing be it- the animal dynamics, guiding standards, the in-camp changes etc etc etc., and given the cost of safari, it is almost not worth the risk booking this far in advance!

hguy47

I think in lilbschaps situation it is wise that they are trying to plan so far in advance. When you are planning for such a large group, it is perhaps even necessary to get started very early. It is much easier to find availability when you need only one tent and a single seat in a vehicle, as opposed to where your group alone might be filling up most of the camp. A recent thread mentioned that at least one camp had no availability even for one couple a year ahead of time. In addition, with so many people, their schedules will likely not be so flexible as it would be for an individual, so more advanced planning would be good. If you know exactly which camps you want to go to, then less time will be needed to come up with a final plan than if you are trying to decide amongst the innumerable choices Botswana has to offer. Even to come up with a concensus among several people would take some time, so the planning process alone would take a good while, much less the finalizing and then committing and trying to get confirmtion of reservations for 10 people. When I was planning our first safari, it took doing a lot of research, asking lots of questions, making a lot of comparisons, agonizing over a lot of possible choices, making a lot of tough decisions, changing my mind, and then finally taking a big gulp to commit to such a large expenditure.

It can be a long time between planning and booking, and you can always try to fine tune your plans if conditions or circumstances change. A three week safari for 10 people in Botswana could easily cost $100,000, so spending time and getting started early, so that you can hopefully optimize your perfect trip, would seem to be a smart thing to do.

jakester379

I do recommend booking for 2010 by January of 2009, especially for a large group. We booked a month ago for summer 2009 and could not get Duma Tau (there are six: 2 teens, 2 adults, and 2 seniors) or Selinda because they did not have three rooms available.

Kavey

LBS, how old are the teens? I just wanted to check as some camps/ companies have lower age limits.

lilbschaps

Predator Biologist - Thank you Thank you Thank you - this is exactly the type of information I was hoping for.

Kavey - the teens will be 12, 15, 15 and 17.

As to booking early, I understand that some of the most popular camps begin to book up 2 years in advance and that, if a party of our sizes wants to be in control of it's itinerary we need to book 24 months out.

PredatorBiologist

LBS: Pleasure to help! Feel free to email me as you have other questions if I don't see them here.

Planning ahead is the way to go for a group your size since you will be taking up 1/2 the camp or more at most of the locations you are looking at. Keep in mind that some of the bigger agents seem to hold unconfirmed spots, sometimes for their own potential groups and that is a key reason why some camps are supposedly almost full far out on the calendar. However, when a group your size is ready to confirm with a deposit they will clear any unconfirmed space to accommodate you so you should be in a very good position with your early start.

JamesTravels

I highly recommend at least 4 days in the Okavango Delta. We stayed at Chief's camp for 3 nights in July 2006 and had an awesome experience. Excellent game viewing and fantastic guides. If that hotel is too pricey search around others in the area.

JamesTravels

We also stayed at Nxabega,http://www.ccafrica.com/destinations...ga/default.asp which may be suitable for a large group. It is more of a tented lodge and the elephants at night literally rub against your 'walls' as you sleep. It was both harrowing and fascinating. Keep in mind it can get very cold in the winter there, so bring warm clothes!! Some morning safaris found us riding around in open jeeps in about 45 degree weather!

Kavey

Hello again

As you've got 10 people travelling you'll be looking at taking 5 double/twin rooms which means you can, if you choose carefully, try for camps which only HAVE 5 tents available, thereby taking over the whole camp and being able to have them tailor the activities to suit your group.

I was going to check out which of the WS camps had that number of tents but their site redesign makes that really difficult. (They used to have a handy key/legend on each camp's page but that's gone). But I'm sure there are a number that have exactly 5 tents or maybe 4 where one is a family tent with 2 bedroom areas.

I can't comment specifically on the Jack's/San v. Deception Valley or Duma Tau v. Savuti but we loved our visit to Jack's Camp and felt it really gave us something different to our camps in the Okavango and the Chobe/ Linyanti areas. A fabulous experience. And what with the quad biking, walks with the San, meerkat visits and other wildlife viewing there's a great range of activities. Savuti was very good for wildlife and particularly for wild dogs, that was in 2004 though I believe it's still the case.

Another favourite of ours was Jacana for water activities. Another small camp in a magical setting (during the floods it's an island with the waters right up against the tents). And particularly warm and welcoming staff.

lilbschaps

Jamestravel and Kavey thank you for the tips - I will check out the camps you have suggested.

In regards to camps that are 'just my size' I've been looking at Chitabe Lediba and would love some first hand impressions.

Thanks,
LBS

luangwablondes

You might consider hiring 2 planes and pilots. That would handle transfers as you please and you can do some scenic flights which you normally would not get in transfers. Also, you would then get more flexibility in camps you choose.

lilbschaps

PredatorBiologist writes in regards to Duma Tau/Savuti vs. Lagoon/Lebala "it probably comes down to comparing Kwando vs. Wilderness Safaris to see which companies style, vehicles, guiding, etc. meet your groups desires the best"

I would appreciate candid opinions that will help me differentiate these two companies.

Thanks,
LBS

lilbschaps

Lungwablondes, I've been think hiring private planes and pilot guides was an unnecessary expense. My experience in Zimbabwe a few years back was that our transfer pilot was very good at adding some scenic extras (including flying over Vic Falls) just because they were there and, as several members of my group are not particularly found of flying we probably don't want to add this as a central activity.

However, I'm interested in your comment 'you would then get more flexibility in camps you choose.' Are there transportation issues when combining camps from different operators?

Thanks,
LBS

luangwablondes

Privately chartered planes charge by the hour. Transfers between camps are flat rates that in Botswana can add up. If the camps are booked that availability means some hopping back and forth, a private charter would make more sense.Besides, the plane arrives when its available. So you may lose out on a morning or afternoon game drive with regular transfer. With a private transfer, you can fly in between normal game drives to maximize your time in Botswana.

Sometimes planes don't arrive when scheduled. This was in Zambia, but I sat with clients for several hours at an airstrip because the plane was late.

Either way, you can submit your travel plans to a couple companies and ask for quotes. Then compare with what the regular transfers would be.

brandywine

Lilbschaps,

If you like the idea of a small camp where your group takes the entire camp, then another camp that we enjoyed is Seba. Seba (along with Abu) is owned by EBS, but is now being marketed by Wilderness. It was the second camp we visited after Chitabe Trails (now called Chitabe Lediba). Seba was a nice contrast to Chitabe, because it has water activities also. The concession is located next to the Jao concession. We were there last June. The scenery is beautiful, good birding, lots of giraffes (that regularly march across the water), and this was also our camp with the best lion action. There are five tents (one is a family tent), and two vehicles in use while we were there. The tents are quite new and nice, but not overboard, it does not have one of the new style large beautiful lounge areas, but we did not miss that, and there is a swimming pool of course. The food there was the best of any 5 paw camp we have been to. The atmosphere was relaxed but very service orientated, and we had an excellent guide. Anyway, just thought that might be a camp for you to consider.

lilbschaps

Brandywine,

Thanks for the tip on Seba. I had definitely overlooked this camp in my research to date and your experience sounds very nice. My mother and eldest niece are both particulary found of Giraffe so your description of lots of them marching across the water is particularly inviting. I will put this camp on our short list.

LBS