Wilderness safari website
 

Do they have a new website or is their's under construction of some sort? Can't seem to pull it up anymore. It was www.wilderness-safaris.com. Thanks.

I just visited and it's been rebranded - a new orangey look - can't say I like it at all - so it was probably down briefly whilst they uploaded the new look site.

not sure what the problem is but I can not access the site on my home computer either. I have checked all the setting, called my ISP and still get an error message.
It's a real drag but may be a good thing as I'll spend less time on their site and more time actually working!

I still can't bring it up. If I can't be in Africa, I like to dream of being there and read their camp reports!

I'm still able to visit and I know it's not cached pages I'm seeing (pages my PC has saved from a previous visit) because of the new look...

I don't notice anything differently about the WS site, but I have been following it religously for the last couple weeks while planning my Botswana safari.

I think it is a great site and I love the fact that I am able to pull up monthly reports from each of their camps for the last couple years.

In case anybody has not yet seen it, here is their newest camp, Vumbura Plains, which replaces Vumbura:

http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/ca...mp;method=menu

It is my understanding that the new camp is a 45 minute drive west from the old camp, which, I belive, would put it much closer to Duba Plains. Perhaps halfway between Duba Plains and Little Vumbura. LV retains its original location, so for those of you who love LV, you will now have that much more exclusivity! :)

I am very much in favor of the new Vumbura moving closer to Duba Plains because I was really struggling picking between the two of those camps. Now, however, with Vumbura Plains being a 6-paw camp, the choice is easy, Vumbura Plains by a landslide. My agent, Mark from Taga Safaris, told me that Colin Bell, the founder and CEO of WS, said that Vumbura Plains is the next Mombo.

Hopefully by booking now, I will be able to get less than Mombo rates for Vumbura Plains, as Mombo is definitely out of my budget since I am choosing 15 nights on safari, in addition to four nights in Cape Town and a couple nights in London.

(and now for the threadjacking)

I was able to book my air using my frequent flier miles for my Botswanan safari and here is my likely itinerary, but the dates should stay the same:

4/12 - Depart LAX to LHR

4/13 - Depart LHR to Cape Town (Full Moon)

4/14 - 9:30AM arrival in Cape Town. 4 nights at Twelve Apostles or Cape Grace. If I am able to get a Luxury Link package I will again choose the Twelve Apostles, but if not, I will be brave and try the Cape Grace...I have heard it is not a bad place. ;)

4/15 - Two Oceans Ultra Marathon (35 miles) if there is some miracle and I get in great shape. Otherwise, even being the most out of shape person possible, I can still shuffle through 13.1 miles of the Two Oceans Half Marathon.

4/16 - Pretend to be a Capetonian and find some nice Easter Sunday church service.

4/17 - Half day spa treatment at Twelve Apostles, trying to recover enough to enjoy my pending Botswanan safari.

4/18 - There is a 9AM flight to Joburg. This is the earliest that SAA could get me to JNB on this particular day, arriving around 11AM. Hopefully I will still be able to get to Botswana okay. Transfer to Maun or Kasane. Transfer to Jacks Camp. 3 nights at Jacks Camp.

4/19 Jacks Camp.

4/20 Jacks Camp.

4/21 Transfer to Duma Tau. 3 nights at Duma Tau.

4/22 Duma Tau

4/23 Duma Tau

4/24 Chiefs Camp. From what I understand from Brenda's recent report, before the flood arrives, wildlife should still be moving freely between the Chiefs Camp area and the Mombo area. I will be sure to take Brenda's advice and request Tent #1 or Tent #12. I just cannot justify Mombo rates in April...I will save it for when I am able to visit between August - October.

4/25 - Chiefs Camp

4/26 - Chiefs Camp

4/27 - Transfer to Tubu Tree. I don't know if this is any nicer than Kwetsani, but I like the name better! :) Tubu Tree, Tubu Tree, Tubu Tree.

4/28 - Tubu Tree, Tubu Tree, Tubu Tree
(New Moon, with the skies at their darkest, lit only by the stars)

4/29 - Tubu Tree

4/30 - Transfer to the newly opened 6-paw Vumbura Plains for the 3 night grand finale.

5/01 - Vumbura Plains

5/02 - Vumbura Plains

5/03 - Unfortunately, I don't think I will even have time to spend the night in Joburg. I will have a few hours hopefully to go enjoy a meal in Sandton, but I will try to make the overnight flight back to London, departing about 9PM. JNB to LHR.

5/04 - 6:45AM arrival to London. I will probably relax for a couple hours in the SAA Business Class arrivals lounge, before I leave the airport, as it will likely be too early to check into my hotel. Claridge's? The Savoy? The Ritz? The Berkley? The Connaught?

Claridge's is the only one in the group at under $400 per night, so it is definitely the most attractive of the bunch to me.

5/05 - Noon departure from LHR - LAX. Same day arrival around 3PM. END.

SUMMARY

Twelve Apostles, Cape Town (4)
Jacks Camp (3)
Duma Tau (3)
Chiefs Camp (3)
Tubu Tree (3)
Vumbura Plains (3)
Claridge's, London (2)

I do have my frequent flier seats already reserved from LHR - CPT, CPT-JNB and JNB-LHR, so this is getting much closer to becoming a reality! :)

I am seeing Vumbura Plains camp images/tent interiors for the first time and they are absolutely breathtaking. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Another option is to try to access Wilderness Safaris with this address:

www.wilderness-safaris.co.za

roccco,
one question for u about the new vumbura. where did you hear it was 45 min west of the old one. on the wilderness site they say to the east which would be moving it further away from duba plains. either way wouldnt bother me as teh vumbura area is very game rich but i was more curious bc old vumbura and duba plains werent that far apart and so a 45 min drive would put the 2 relatively close to one another.
also, let me just put in one more plug for mombo for your 06 trip. check out the wilderness site for the latest update. one of the largest prides at mombo (the mathata pride) now have 18-19 cubs ranging from very young to 7 months old. that would make for some ridiculous lion viewing a yr from now. the lion viewing their is tops anyway, but would be even more crazy next yr.

bigcountry,

You are correct...I also noticed that last night when I first saw the new information up on WS website. By going east 45 minutes, it will nearly be on top of Kaparota Camp.

My detective work shows me that Kaparota Camp is no longer shown on the Wilderness Safaris website, so I am wondering if Vumbura Plains is not just the old Kaparota area.

Whatever the case may be, it looks like a very beautiful area. However, if Vumbura Plains turns out to be the same price as Mombo, I may elect to visit Duba Plains instead. Hopefully that is not the case as I would love to experience Vumbura Plains. It almost looks on the same level as Singita, yet has the benefit of being in a very exclusive part of Botswana, rather than sharing a 65,000 hectare area with 20 other game lodges as Singita does.

bigcountry,

Thanks for sharing the news about Mombo. Like a dummy, I was, until now, unaware that by going to the "News" link that I could see the latest reports. For the last few days I was getting very annoyed that the latest update was a May 19th update, when all along the updates were right where they should have been!

http://www.wilderness-safaris.co.za/news/news.jsp

Trust me, if there is any way that I can stay at Mombo, I will. At least on this next trip I will not have to worry about buying a camera or taking along extra people. But, since it is only 7 months after my September safari, it will give me less time to prepare. $2,500 per month x 7 = $17,500. Maybe I can swing it, but it will be very tight. Perhaps I will just book Chiefs Camp and then if I think I can afford to, a couple months before my visit, I will switch to Mombo if there is availability for my nights.

Oh what a dream...to be able to hit not one, but two 6-paw camps, on the same safari, along with Tubu Tree, Duma Tau and Jacks Camp, not to mention the Twelve Apostles and a 5* London hotel. The only reason I am not considering Kings Pool, is because I have not seen anybody come away overly impressed with their Kings Pool experience. Savuti and Duma Tau, on the other hand, each seem to have their own respective followings.

I have just read the Mombo report and I am just amazed at the number of lion cubs...NINETEEN at last count! :)

Even if only a dozen of them make it, you are right, 10 months from now should be an amazing time to see so many juvenile lions, along with how many more are born next season.

There are always the most incredible reports from Mombo. I think it was from an old Mombo report that I saw the juvenile male lion whom had been killed by a croc and then was seemingly pulled away from the croc by his sister, who was seemingly trying to rescue him, in vain. However, the sister, after pulling him to a safer area away from the croc, proceeded to EAT her own brother!

In this latest report, I invite others to have a read on what occured between a couple of leopards. FASCINATING READING! :)

http://www.wilderness-safaris.co.za/...sitem_id=30909

Aaaw, now I'm longing to go back again RIGHT NOW!

I'm thrilled with Vumbura's pictures! It looks wonderful!

We just put our deposit down for Sept. 2006. 2 nights Mombo, 2 at Vumbura Plains, 2 at Chobe Chilwero, 3 at Royal Livingstone, and 3 at Singita Boulders. After all this planning, I can't believe I have over a year to wait for this trip!