Celia

Thank you, Mike, for some great reading!

bat

wow, you had me scared just reading your story about the baboon encounter. I am glad that was not your last stop.

sundowner

What a great trip! I remember you planning it and it sounds like it was excellent.

The baboon episode is pretty scary. I've seen photos of people attacked by baboons and it's not pretty. When we were in Vic Falls, a baboon ran up to a lady and stole a hotdog out of her hands. The lady didn't notice the baboon coming but as soon as she did, she threw everything towards the baboon - the hotdog, her purse, drink etc. It grabbed it out of her hand before she could even turn loose of it. That scared me. I can't even imagine how frightened you must have been. I'm glad no one was injured. The camp staff certainly should have shown more concern than it sounds like they did.

What does Matt think of Africa? Did he express any desire to return?

Congrats on such a fabulous trip!

Mike14c

Sundowner:

Actually, our newphew Matt's reaction add immeasureably to our whole experience.

He's a very bright and curious young man, and the reason why we wanted to take him was to expose to the diversity of experiences, people and environments. He'd never travelled outside the US before,and like many recent college grads these days, his biggest priority seemed to be finding the right job on Wall Street.

Well, Africa did the trick! He was kind of speechless at first, but after a day or two at Phinda, he sat in the back of the vehicle, absorbing every word the guide said, turned out to be quite a spotter (even the zulu tracker was impressed with some of his spots) and kept an imaculate and detailed journal (something he had never done before in his life).

As the ranger kept identifying animals Matt kept asking for spellings. "How do you spell Nyala?" "Is lilac brested hyphenated?" Strange, I thought, until I looked back and saw that he was keeping detailed notes of every sighting as we drove away -- even bringing a little pen light on the night drives!

Will he return? He was pumping the guides at Mombo and KP for budget recommendations in the Delta before we even left!

Africa changes everybody who visit's life; thanks to this trip, I think our young man is realizing life offers many many more options than high paying jobs in finance, and many rewards that they don't tell you about in business school!

countingdown

Mike,
You had me on the edge of my seat, heart pounding! From traveling through Heathrow on "the day" ( I was stuck on NO meds and contacts!!!!)to being attacked by a troop of baboons!!! That must have been terrifying...just reading about it raised the hair on the back of my neck! I remember (while in my closed vehicle) thinking how cute the baboons were. But being on foot with them approaching would be entirely different. The only aminal we encountered on foot was a rock hyrax. Coming around a corner in the Serengeti museum, finding him just sitting on the steps, blocking our path, had us a bit unnerved. But a baboon...YIKES! As I was reading your report I found myself trying to read as fast as I could to see if all turned out well. I am so glad no one was hurt, but know it must have been very traumatic.
When you got to the part about the woman crouched down in a ball crying in the open vehicle I laughed outloud. Not so much at her, but in knowing it could have been me! I recenly saw a photo of an open vehicle with a lion not 10 feet away and wondered how I would react to something like that. If anyone reading this knows what photo I am talking about, and knows where to find it, please let me know...I want to show it to my husband.
What a great uncle you are for taking your nephew! What wonderful memories he will have!
Thanks for a great report, I loved it!

napamatt

Mike

Having reread your story, I think the big lesson here for all safari goers, is that this would be an appropriate time to blow the air horn. Your desire to not use it except in an emergency is admirable, but this would definitely fit in that category.

Mike14c

Matt:

I couldn't agree more! That was definately the time for the horn. I think the reason I didn't blow it was just strangely poor judgement brought on by the stress of the attack, and perhaps some wishful thinking that the worst was over.

While we're on the air horn, I think that sometimes the lodge staffs are a little too forceful in stressing the "only for medical emergecny" bit. Granted, there are jerks who set them off because they want a gin and tonic, and that's terrible.

But if you are really frightened, terribly uncomfortable or THINK you are in danger, blow it! Better to alert everyone to prevent a medical emergency than to deal with one.

chelsea2

Mike,

Thanks for the great trip report. I was at Jao in May and upon arrival they spent about 20 minutes speaking to us about how to deal with the baboons around our tents and on the walkways. I was left feeling pretty scared, but luckily for us we never saw any during our two nights there. I can't imagine how terrifying your experience must have been. I am shocked that the management and staff did not have a more adequate response. I would definitely write a letter to wilderness and your travel agent, explaining your experience to them.

The rest of your experience though sounds wonderful. Your description of KP, makes me anxious to include this camp on a future itinerary. What an amazing uncle you are and how nice it must have been to watch your nephew growing from the experience!

Happy Travels

Mike14c

Chelsea:

Now that's interesting! One of the questions we asked at the time was "has this happened before?" and never really got an answer. Your experience may indicate that these baboons are a problem, but we certainly received no warning -- change over in staff, perhaps?

Anyhow, we've written to WS, and set our travel agent on them (and believe me she can be a lot scarrier than any boboon!). Will let you know if anything interesting happens in follow up.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip, and in perspective, the unfortunate baboon incident didn't really mar it at all!

Best,

Mike

atravelynn

Mike,

Those reading your account may feel better about blowing the air horn in an emergency. We all feel like we don't want to make a big deal out of something and draw attention to ourselves. Sometimes you have to.

Back to Phinda--Four nights would be my minimum. Would I be nuts for a 3 night walking safari, on which I do not expect to see much game. Then 2 nights Forest Camp and 2 night Vlei, where I expect to do my real game viewing? I do tend to prefer longer stays at any camp, but don't usually linger a whole week. Thanks for your help.

You may have gotten your nephew hooked on Africa at a young age!

ahren

Wewere in jao a few weeks prior to your trip. Spent a lot of time with Victor as well as Freddie and Mariana who are the managers along with the owners David and Kathy,I am quite shocked to read about your experiences, I suggest you take it up with the owners who actually run the place as they live in Maun and come up twice a week to supervise.
I have been visiting Africa for the past 18 yrs and yet have to come across an experience such as yours, I am a painter of wildlife so I come in contact with these animals on walking safaris, something must have disturbed the baboons, but it does not excuse the behaviour of the staff especially Victor who went to enormous lengths to help me out whenever required. In fact I found them so good and helpful that I booked my next trip as soon as I returned. The managers had helped me in very difficult situations when I had met them in savuti as well as Kwai, so something must be amiss. I live in Asia but i will definitely phone Freddie to find out what went amiss as I generally take along some member of my family who will certainly not be as fearles as I.

Mike14c

Lynn:

I think that sounds very nice. The walking safaris are tented, as I'm sure you know; we saw the camp and its quite nice. Forest and Vlei are defineately the right two lodges. Vlei is a little nicer, just because its smaller, but both are comfortable with lovely staffs. That length of time will give you the opportunity to take advantage of the some of the optional excursions as well, and they are all enjoyable and add dimesions to your visit you don't normally get. Just do bear in mind that game viewing at Phinda is not at the Sabi Sands/Mombo level, although you'll see plenty and have wonderful rangers.

Ahren:

Thanks for your reply,and we have contacted the owners by mail.

I think one problem may be the practise of Wilderness Safaris to rotate managers around the Delta Camps. When we were there, the people you mention were not the on site managers, it was a couple named Shane and Kim. Same thing at Mombo -- two of the managers during our stay rotated over to King's Pool and met up with us there by coincidence.

Therefore, the nature of the experience can vary based on who's running the camp which week, and that may account for both differences in ambiance...and one wonders passing along of information about resident animal behaviour? Does this weeks manager know what happened last week? Probably, but I'm sure things fall through the cracks.

Victor was terriffic, by the way, we loved him; he was the highlight of our stay

atravelynn

Thanks, Mike. Not expecting Mombo or Mala Mala!