ctheworld

I'm still as confused as I was two weeks ago! I need to decide by Monday my final itenerary for an August Botswana safari. Can you guys provide some "professional" help?

Currently I have the following camps in this order:
2 nights King's Pool
2 nights Chitabe
2 nights Mombo
2 nights Vumbura

Based on the above itenerary, what camp would you substitute for Chitabe? Or should I stick with Chitabe? Duma Tao and Duba Plains both sound very interesting....

Thanks for all your help! This board is the best!!!

bigcountry

ctheworld,
i would leave that itinerary as is. duma tau is very close to kings pool so going to both isnt necessary. and between vumbura and mombo u will see ample lions (what duba is known for)and vumbura is the concession bordering duba so chitabe would be a nice mix. its in a different area and slightly different habitat.

girlpolo33

Sounds like a great itinerary. For whatever it's worth, I would consider keeping Chitabe. After visiting last May, I fell in love with the reserve. The accomodations, staff and wildlife were exceptional. We saw wild dog, lion, cheetah and most everything else. I would return in a heartbeat!

atravelynn

ctheworld

If you are looking for a good cross section of what some of the best game viewing camps in Botswana have to offer, you have done it.

You have the Linyanti area with King's Pool. You have an option of water activities in Vumbura, but what is nice is that Vumbura will not be exclusively water activities. You have the game rich areas of Moremi, including the biggie--Mombo.

I would not substitute Chitabe, unless you wanted to experience the desert environnment of Jack's or San Camp. I might eliminate Chitabe (though reluctantly) to spend more time in your other locations. But that's me. I like to hang around longer in places. That may not be you.

Finally, there are some substitutes that I have made in my own personal itineraries to save costs that I would suggest. Little Vumbura is less expensive than Vumbura because it has not been renovated, so I'd swap. And Duma Tau is less expensive and just up the road from King's Pool. But if you prefer the more luxurious accommodations, you have chosen correctly with the exisiting itinerary.

It's going to be a great trip.

Roccco

Not to be completely negative, but doesn't anybody else think that only 2 nights per camp is rushing things a bit.

I realize that African safaris, especially in Botswana, do not come cheap, yet isn't that more reason to savor the moment?

Anyway, by booking in mid-February, unless there are already provisional bookings in place, it may be a very big challenge to get all the dates to line up at four different camps for a high season safari.

ctheworld, e-mail me and I think I can help guide you to possibly extending your stay if you are open to other luxury camps in the area (while also keeping at least a couple of the camps already on your list).

Kavey

On our first trip we spent 2 nights at most camps with the exception of Mombo where we had 4.
Our itinerary was 2 nights Wolwedans, 2 nights Sossusvlei, 2 nights Damaraland, 4 nights Mombo, 2 nights Little Vumbura and 2 nights Chitabe Trails.
Whilst we would gladly have spent a night longer at most places we still found the holiday worked supremely well and we had a great time. We didn't find the travelling overwhelmed the seeing (as the transfers are so incredible scenic anyway).
That said on our second trip we spent longer at most camps, usually 3 nights or more. It helped though that we had a much stronger idea of what we wanted to do, what the experience would be and which camps we felt would best suit us.
I don't think 2 nights will lead to a bad trip though I certainly think longer stays can be very pleasant.

ctheworld

Thank you everyone for your advice and suggestions!

I'm really centering everything around Mombo--and there were only 2 nights available. This also goes for Vumbura and these were 2 camps that were a must for me. The other camps I added to mix it up; King's Pool for the Linyanti area and Chitabe was included to drop the cost a bit. I do like the luxury camps--but I'm having a hard time w/ the price.

I just wanted to make sure that the itenerary made sense from a game viewing perspective as well as environment of the camp.

atravelynn

For those of us who are hooked on Africa, I think 2 days per camp is a bit short.

But on the other hand, some people might want hours to meander through anitque stores and 10 minutes satisfies me.

Kavey

If price is an issue I'd certainly consider Savuti (or one of the other nearby camps) instead of King's Pool.

They are not far apart and environment and game are same. We actually drove to KP from Savuti in 40 minutes to see a pack of wild dogs that happened to be nearer KP during our visit but is sometimes nearer to Savuti.

Wilderness Safaris 5 paw camps are perfectly comfortable, ensuite tented camps. The 6 paw ones are much larger and have living areas and designer furniture but safari experience is same.

Tubu Tree might suit - it's a 5 paw but tents are bigger than the other 5 paws but not 6 paw either. Beautiful small camp, excellent staff and great game.

Kavey

One can be hooked on Africa and still prefer 2 nights per camp. Some people like to settle in one or two camps for longer, others prefer to see more camps in their time. Both enjoy a wonderful safari experience.

We recently spent almost 40 days on the trot on safari and that included a few two night stays and even a couple of 1 nighters, though most were 3+ days.

bigcountry

for first timers on safari, i think 2 nights per camp is good bc then you get a great cross section of what's out there and then on subsequent trips (hopefully a return trip is possible for everyone), 3-4 nights per camp is better bc you know exactly where you want to go and you get more intune with your guide. if i was taking a first trip to botswana, i would mimic ctheworld itenirary excatly as it gives an ideal sampling of northeren bostwana. all i would change is switching the order of vumbura and mombo to finish with the most wildife rich area. although vumbura is pretty darn close.

mzcuriouz

having never beeeeen to Africa, I can only add that....sometimes when we're trying out a restaurant on vacation there's nothing more fun than ordering an assortmentment of starters and desserts ;-D