chelsea2

Johan - thanks for the great trip report and amazing pictures. I really loved your approach of being able to stay with the animals for such a long time which allowed you to get some really great sightings. I am wondering if the mother cheetah with the three almost grown cubs you saw at Mala Mala are the same ones we saw last month at Londolozi? I am not sure how close these properties are, but I suspect that the animals roam quite far. From your pictures they look very much like the cheetah family we saw. Anyway thanks for sharing your experiences.

atravelynn

Back to your prelude. I debate about staying overnight in Joburg vs. flying to Maun the same day. I have usually opted for the overnight because I fear what happened to your flight. I wonder how often those delays occur and how tricky it is to get on a Joburg-Maun flight the next day at the last minute.

You mentioned that the guides felt the incoming floods would not be that high, but how about the level of water due to the excessive rainfall? Any comment on that in the delta or Kwando?

Thanks for all the feedback and good job on being the early bird.

Africa

Thanks Johan, all tips and advice are much appreciated

Gaurang

johan_belgium

Hello everyone,

I am out tonight with some friends - so answers will have to wait till tomorrow.

Greetings,

Johan

jasher

Hello Johan,

Thanks for a great trip report - I'm really looking forward to my own stays at Kwando and Mala Mala. I'll be spending some time with Steve at Kwando which should be brilliant for some serious dog-chasing!

I'm also one of those early-to-rise people who prefers to be out of camp before everyone else has rolled out of bed -- on my last trip to Londoz I was always the last one back in as well.

Cheers,
Julian

johan_belgium

Some answers and thanks again to everyone.

Hari: I'll be in Johannesburg Airport the fourth of August in the morning but I'll fly directly to Windhoek and stay overnight there.

Lynn: On the website of Mala Mala they mentioned the following: hiring a private vehicle will cost you 125USD per empty seat out of six. So quite expensive.

I just asked to the ranger if it was possible to leave early and he said if it wasn't a problem for the other guests we could do so. So I was lucky to share the vehicle with people who were eager to do so.

Like I said there was still lots of water around at Kwara (which is not that far away from Vumbura) and accessing certain areas was almost impossible without a very high chance of getting stuck. Because Kwara is a huge concession they still had enough roads on which they could drive on but the floodplains which I like were almost inaccessible.

At Lebala the water levels weren't much of a problem there - so Selinda which borders Lebala should be fine.

For Duba Plains you should ask Wilderness Safaris what the situation is like.

Like I mentioned in my report, I didn't see many elephants - because of the rainfall there was still plenty of water in the woodlands.

Chelsea,

Those cheetahs were probably the same ones you saw - Londolozi is lying next to Mala Mala.

Greetings,

Johan

santharamhari

Johan,

Ouch!!! I wont get into Joburg until August 16. Another time, for sure.

Hari