Trip Report - Skeleton Coast, Jao, Mombo, River Club, Singita Ebony May 2006
May 30th, 2006, 07:01 PM
#21
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Chelsea,
To share your pics here, just send an email to yourself from Kodak.....you will get a link with that email that contains the slideshow. Just post that here.
Incase, it doesnt work........i will be glad to receive your email with pics.
[email protected]
Hari
To share your pics here, just send an email to yourself from Kodak.....you will get a link with that email that contains the slideshow. Just post that here.
Incase, it doesnt work........i will be glad to receive your email with pics.
[email protected]
Hari
May 30th, 2006, 07:28 PM
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May 30th, 2006, 08:27 PM
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Chelsea,
What a terrific report. Your viewing experiences, especially at Mombo, were terrific.
We will be at Londolozi for two nights in September so I was interested in your impressions of Singita and the Sabi Sand.
Thanks for taking the time to write, and for the good summary of your thoughts (and next trip!).
CW
(And thanks to you and to Lynn about the snake info. I'm not really worried about them, but fears aren't always rational, and I wondered about your comment.)
What a terrific report. Your viewing experiences, especially at Mombo, were terrific.
We will be at Londolozi for two nights in September so I was interested in your impressions of Singita and the Sabi Sand.
Thanks for taking the time to write, and for the good summary of your thoughts (and next trip!).
CW
(And thanks to you and to Lynn about the snake info. I'm not really worried about them, but fears aren't always rational, and I wondered about your comment.)
May 30th, 2006, 08:45 PM
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"I realize that I am a newbie, but i am wondering if all of you experienced safari goers still feel this buzz of excitement after a particularly great drive."
Yes Chelsea...every drive is exciting, the buzz NEVER goes away!!
Thanks for your nice report, excellent writing and experiences, going to look at your pictures now....Thanks again!
Aloha, Dennis
Yes Chelsea...every drive is exciting, the buzz NEVER goes away!!
Thanks for your nice report, excellent writing and experiences, going to look at your pictures now....Thanks again!
Aloha, Dennis
May 30th, 2006, 08:50 PM
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Hi Chelsea2,
Had a quick look at your photos, very nice. I especially loved the gecko! Great to see something that you haven't seen before! I think your time at Singita was unusual with little general game around. I have been there the last 3 Decembers and general game has always been good - not talking 100's of zebras or impalas, but certainly more than a couple. Would love to know the lion pride's name of 24? Cannot remember one so large in the Sabi Sands in recent years!
CW,
I will be at Londolozi for 10 nights in July - 5 at Founders and 5 at Pioneer. Shall let you know all about it when I return which is 28 July.
In general, I love the Sabi Sands. It is my preferred destination, although I am off to Botswana and Zimbabwe in July. Though certainly not at Mombo, as it is too expensive for me!
Kind regards,
Kaye
Had a quick look at your photos, very nice. I especially loved the gecko! Great to see something that you haven't seen before! I think your time at Singita was unusual with little general game around. I have been there the last 3 Decembers and general game has always been good - not talking 100's of zebras or impalas, but certainly more than a couple. Would love to know the lion pride's name of 24? Cannot remember one so large in the Sabi Sands in recent years!
CW,
I will be at Londolozi for 10 nights in July - 5 at Founders and 5 at Pioneer. Shall let you know all about it when I return which is 28 July.
In general, I love the Sabi Sands. It is my preferred destination, although I am off to Botswana and Zimbabwe in July. Though certainly not at Mombo, as it is too expensive for me!
Kind regards,
Kaye
May 30th, 2006, 09:52 PM
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Chelsea,
If you want to know more of the cheetah with the 3 sub-adult cubs......chk the archives of www.malamala.com they are the same family that keeps moving thru the sabi sands. They've had some narrow misses in recent times from lions and hyenas. I also believe i hv read a few sightings of this family on CCafrica's wildwatch site.
www.wildwatch.com
Cheetah is the most graceful of all the cats!!!
Hari
If you want to know more of the cheetah with the 3 sub-adult cubs......chk the archives of www.malamala.com they are the same family that keeps moving thru the sabi sands. They've had some narrow misses in recent times from lions and hyenas. I also believe i hv read a few sightings of this family on CCafrica's wildwatch site.
www.wildwatch.com
Cheetah is the most graceful of all the cats!!!
Hari
May 31st, 2006, 03:58 AM
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Thanks for the feedback!
Hari - thanks for the link to the MalaMala and CC websites - those cheetahs sure do get around and had some very near misses
Kaye - Regarding the lion pride at Singita they did not tell us the name, but it was made up of some adults and many sub adult cubs of all ages. They were hanging around close to camp for our whole three days there. With regards to the amount of game the rangers said that the giraffe and zebra tend to move around between the properties. It may just have been that at that time of year they had moved on to another concession
Also forgot to mention some other species we saw on our last day, but I didn't get pictures because it had started to rain - 2 Klipspringers climbing on the rocks, Waterbuck and Dwarf Mongoose.
Hari - thanks for the link to the MalaMala and CC websites - those cheetahs sure do get around and had some very near misses
Kaye - Regarding the lion pride at Singita they did not tell us the name, but it was made up of some adults and many sub adult cubs of all ages. They were hanging around close to camp for our whole three days there. With regards to the amount of game the rangers said that the giraffe and zebra tend to move around between the properties. It may just have been that at that time of year they had moved on to another concession
Also forgot to mention some other species we saw on our last day, but I didn't get pictures because it had started to rain - 2 Klipspringers climbing on the rocks, Waterbuck and Dwarf Mongoose.
May 31st, 2006, 04:31 AM
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Chelsea2, great report!
I agree with you that the Botswana camps offer a more authentic African experience than Singita. Perhaps it has to do with the setting or the greater emphasis on tented/thatched roof accomodations. I do have to stick up for Singita though and tell you that our game viewing in September was extremely varied. Our experience, however was that there was not the great numbers/clusters of animals as in Botswana. For example, in Botswana we saw a heard of 700 cape buffalo but in the Sabi Sand we never saw a heard of anything larger than 20.
I agree with you that the Botswana camps offer a more authentic African experience than Singita. Perhaps it has to do with the setting or the greater emphasis on tented/thatched roof accomodations. I do have to stick up for Singita though and tell you that our game viewing in September was extremely varied. Our experience, however was that there was not the great numbers/clusters of animals as in Botswana. For example, in Botswana we saw a heard of 700 cape buffalo but in the Sabi Sand we never saw a heard of anything larger than 20.
May 31st, 2006, 04:41 AM
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Kaye,
We will be staying at Founder's. I'll be interested in your impression. They only had two nights available in early September otherwise we would have stayed three. We added another night to Phinda (4), and will follow Londolozi with three nights at Ngala Tented.
Chelsea, the pictures are remarkable. Your energy and enthusiasm come through.
CW
We will be staying at Founder's. I'll be interested in your impression. They only had two nights available in early September otherwise we would have stayed three. We added another night to Phinda (4), and will follow Londolozi with three nights at Ngala Tented.
Chelsea, the pictures are remarkable. Your energy and enthusiasm come through.
CW
May 31st, 2006, 06:59 AM
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Hari,
It is too bad we'll miss one another. I will be interested to hear about the walking safari. Have you done one before? We're staying at Forest Lodge.
Phinda sounds like a good place to start our adventure.
CW
It is too bad we'll miss one another. I will be interested to hear about the walking safari. Have you done one before? We're staying at Forest Lodge.
Phinda sounds like a good place to start our adventure.
CW
May 31st, 2006, 07:02 AM
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chelsea:
Thanks for your report. Re Mombo (not that I am likely to be able to afford it in this lifetime) but part of what is off-putting is the notion of that kind of money and then 6 people in a vehicle. Obviously, that did not detract from your overall opinion of Mombo. Would you mind elaborating a bit? What was it like in the vehicle with 6?
Thanks for your report. Re Mombo (not that I am likely to be able to afford it in this lifetime) but part of what is off-putting is the notion of that kind of money and then 6 people in a vehicle. Obviously, that did not detract from your overall opinion of Mombo. Would you mind elaborating a bit? What was it like in the vehicle with 6?
May 31st, 2006, 07:10 AM
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Chelsea:
What a great report and your photos are just super! I was excited to read every word, since I'm heading off on a similar trip this August.
Couldn't agree with you more about Singita. We chose not to return this trip for largely the same reasons you say you would not choose to go back.
After being such a dominant lodge for so long, I wonder if Singita is losing its luster to the increasing number of comprably luxurious camps, many of which don't have the level of theatricality and self-conscious "luxury" that Singita popularized so much in the first place...
Anyhow, loved your report and glad you has such a smashing experience!
Mike
What a great report and your photos are just super! I was excited to read every word, since I'm heading off on a similar trip this August.
Couldn't agree with you more about Singita. We chose not to return this trip for largely the same reasons you say you would not choose to go back.
After being such a dominant lodge for so long, I wonder if Singita is losing its luster to the increasing number of comprably luxurious camps, many of which don't have the level of theatricality and self-conscious "luxury" that Singita popularized so much in the first place...
Anyhow, loved your report and glad you has such a smashing experience!
Mike
May 31st, 2006, 09:07 AM
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I just couldn't look away from your slideshow! My favourite is the lion giving you the 'evil eye' at the kill.
Thanks for being so detailed in your trip report. I can hardly wait for my turn in Namibia, although it's still a couple years away...
Thanks for being so detailed in your trip report. I can hardly wait for my turn in Namibia, although it's still a couple years away...
May 31st, 2006, 04:02 PM
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Bat - 6 people in the vehicle was really not that bad. We all arrived and departed from the camp on the same day, so we were pretty much on the same schedule in terms of game drives. We did not have any differences of opinion in terms of how we wanted to spend our time. The other thing that helped was that among each of the three couples, there was a primary photographer. So before each drive we would ask the guide which direction we were driving in that day and what would be best side of vehicle for the angle of the sun. If you were in the back row and the wrong side, it could sometimes be hard to get a photograph unless you were using the telephoto lens at full zoom. The other thing we did to keep it fair was rotate positions on every drive - so we all got two times in the front, middle and back. At Singita and Jao we only had four in the vehicle, but the game viewing was so good at Mombo we didn't really even notice.
Mike14c - interesting that you had a similar take on Singita. We really thought it was lovely and luxurious with amazing service - however the accomodations were so nice it almost made you feel guilty for spending so much time away from your room. That being said I do think this is an ideal location for honeymooners for all the same reasons and the ability to have more private meals. I often wondered if the honeymooners get sick of the community dinners in Botswana. Now after 14 years of marriage, my husband and I love the community dinners.
Femi - thanks for the feedback, this is my first go at using the Canon Digital Rebel with the 100-300 telephoto lens. I didn't spend much time learning to use the camera before the trip - so I had to get some lessons from the camp manager at Jao. I was really surprised at how good some of the photos actually came out. I took about 1500 pictures and a lot of them were awful (kept focusing on the grass rather than the animal), but it seems like some of them worked. Would love to hear about your plans for Namibia, I think you will love it. Everyone we met at the Skeleton Coast had been touring Namibia for at least 2 weeks. A lot of them did self driving which they said was a lot of fun. They all loved Soussevlei and thought Damaraland was spectacularly beautiful. We can't wait to go back and see more of the country.
Mike14c - interesting that you had a similar take on Singita. We really thought it was lovely and luxurious with amazing service - however the accomodations were so nice it almost made you feel guilty for spending so much time away from your room. That being said I do think this is an ideal location for honeymooners for all the same reasons and the ability to have more private meals. I often wondered if the honeymooners get sick of the community dinners in Botswana. Now after 14 years of marriage, my husband and I love the community dinners.
Femi - thanks for the feedback, this is my first go at using the Canon Digital Rebel with the 100-300 telephoto lens. I didn't spend much time learning to use the camera before the trip - so I had to get some lessons from the camp manager at Jao. I was really surprised at how good some of the photos actually came out. I took about 1500 pictures and a lot of them were awful (kept focusing on the grass rather than the animal), but it seems like some of them worked. Would love to hear about your plans for Namibia, I think you will love it. Everyone we met at the Skeleton Coast had been touring Namibia for at least 2 weeks. A lot of them did self driving which they said was a lot of fun. They all loved Soussevlei and thought Damaraland was spectacularly beautiful. We can't wait to go back and see more of the country.
