ALadyNCal

I am not really a roughing it kind of person. However, if I were going to give it a go, safari seems the time to 'be brave'

I liked the "idea" of it and definitely the price of it for a small portion of the trip.

I guess they lost me with the 'bring your own sleeping bag' part! With all the luggage restrictions -- I don't know how you fit that in.

It makes me think I'd be getting myself in for more than I bargained for -- which could be good or bad I guess

I am sure my hubby would be shocked to find a few nights in a sleeping bag on the itinerary

sundowner

I am going to give this company a try. http://gametrailsbotswana.com/ It's camping but not participating or sleeping bags. I can tell you how it went when I return in October.

ALadyNCal

Thank U ~~ I appreciate you going first and scoping it out

How many nights did you book with them?

sundowner

I'm going with a photography group and it's a 17 night trip. The first two nights are in Livingston at Victoria Falls and I then I believe we are with Game Trails for the rest of the trip. I'm really, really looking forward to this trip and my biggest concern is the "bucket showers" (I believe that's the term they used). Although I can rough it and live without "fixing" my hair (limited generator use and I don't think they are talking about for hair dryers), my hair is kind of thick and takes a lot of water to wash and rinse. Since that is my biggest worry it should be a great trip!

ALadyNCal

How funny ~~~ I was wondering about those bucket showers too! Good luck Wow -- 17 days!

mpkp

We did bucket showers a few years ago and they were fine. The would fill it with 5 gallons of hot water and that was enough for both my husband and me to shower but we did turn it off while soaping up. Not really a problem because you will not have cold or hot water when you turn it on again.

sundowner

Thanks, mpkp. That's how we do motorhome showers too. It just seems like 5 gallons is not enough but I'll go with your experience and not worry about it.

Leely

Hi,
We did 2 nights byosb last summer. Squish, squish, squish: that's how we managed to fit the bags in our luggage. As the bags are actually light, we didn't have problems with weight restrictions.

It's fun, though maybe not for everyone. I'd do it again, but I go camping--not backpacking-- probably about 2x a year anyway. You should give it a try. After a couple of nights like that, any lodge/tented camp will feel like the absolute lap of luxury.

dlo

I went camping for 2 months 3 years ago.I can not imagine not camping on safari but i will not do strictly camping on my next trip.

I will never forget my first night in the Serengeti in a tent with no fences and no guards with lions grunting on both sides of our campsite,awesome and scary.

I am going back in December for 3 months and will camp for about 4 weeks but will mix it up with places like Governors camp and some nice beach resorts.You should do it for at least a couple of nights,but it does get tiring.

uhoh_busted

oh oh, sundowner thanks for that link. That sounds fantastic. Maybe that's the right package for our return to Botswana in the next year or so. I can deal with that kind of camping.