We are planning on doing a two week safari in Botswana. We have done 3 safaris and never tire of game drives and other means of seeing animals. Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced tour operator. We have been to Victoria Falls and Chobe but we don't mind repeating part of it. We have the Wilderness Travel book but it seems very expensive.

rebelruth,

There is an ongoing thread right now by rickmck ..... he did a mobile safari with Wilderness and basically, traversed the same game drive areas as where the expensive camps are located ......

Give it a read!

Hari

Hi Rebelruth,

I can recommend Wilderness dawning, http://www.wildernessdawning.co.uk and have had good responses to emails from Masson's www.masson-safaris.com and Game Trails both located in Maun,www.gametrailsbotswana.com

Cheers,

Pol.

I did a mobile with Game Trails and had a blast. If I were to do it again I'd go with Masson's. Our guide's daughter and son in law own Masson's.
It's always nice to have a personal connection to the people you are working with. I've e mailed her a couple times and she always replied quickly.

Thank you for all your input.
Does anyone know a company in the United States that I can contact who does extensive safaris in Botswana?

I have used Africa Adventure in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and Eyes on Africa in Chicago, IL for Southern Africa. Great results. There have been some good reports on Fish Eagle in Houston, TX, too.

I wonder if for Masson and GameTrails you book direct with them.

The Wilderness mobiles are much less expensive than the camps. The one I did was fantastic.

I know someone who used this company and had a marvelous time.

http://capricornsafaris.com/index.html

Lynn, (or anyone else who can answer this)

Question ....... how does the WS mobile trips differ from Massons' or Game trails mobiles in relation to the game viewing? (i'm sure the facilities are very good and must be a lot of fun)

Ofcourse, we did read Rick's recent report that the WS mobiles operate in some common gamedrive areas providing good opportunities ..... wonder how Masson's mobiles etc., are operated.

Thks
Hari

Also, what is the minimum number of people that the mobile operators require? anyone know?

Thks
Hari

Hari, you can normally join a scheduled safari, or as a single traveller there are guides that take people on private safaris.These can cost a bit more ,depending what level of safari you require.

Hi Bots,

Thanks ...... happy to note that there isn't a minimum number of people required to make a mobile trip, work!

Hari

Hari,

It's nice not to have too many, though

My first two safaris had mobile components...I joined each as a single, making totals of 7 (Botswana) and 5 (Kenya). Those numbers, especially the latter, were just right.

John

Hari- the mobile I went on was a pre set itinerary with a max of 8 people. But when I emailed Masson's about a custom mobile she said they can do it for even 2 people and if I remember correctly she said the cost is about $300-350 pppn!

Lillipets,

Thank you!!! Massons sounds wonderful ....... i will write to them at some point over the next few months for perhaps, 2009 and probably try to go into the Kalahari, Nxai pan etc etc., and perhaps Savuti marsh too!

Cheers,
Hari

rebel,
I've recently booked an upcoming trip with Bert at Fisheagle from Houston. He's from SA and has been on safari on many occasions. Thusfar, he's been extremely helpful and his pricing is very fair compaired to others that I tried.

I previously used African Adventure but found their pricing was too high for this trip. I also found their service for this and last trip to be lacking.

Rebel,
I used Bert Duplessis from Fish Eagle Safaris in Houston for my June/July trip to Namibia and Botswana this past summer. He was absolutely fantastic. He is very responsive and his pricing is very competitive. I will definitely use him again.

He recommended the perfect combination of camps in Botswana and got me bookings at a pretty late date. You can find my trip report by clicking on my name.

I did have a problem with the Namibia portion of my trip, but this had nothing to do with Bert. The problems happened while in Namibia and were the result of a horrible family I was teamed up with on a group trip. When I told Bert what happened he made sure I was properly compensated by the operator.

I would highly recommend Bert with Fish Eagle Safaris.