climbhighsleeplow

This a response to a question asked in another thread (about Botswana).

Having previously stayed at Greystoke in Mahale and Chada Katavi and Mwagusi Ruaha, I was a bit apprehensive last October when I visited Flycatcher.

In the end I had a great time and the Flycatcher people were great.

Their camps are not for everyone. Understand that the tents are smaller and more basic than the more expensive camps.

In Mahale, the camp is a bit further away from the normal viewing spots so your hikes are longer. Every day we hiked about 30 min to an hour further than Greystoke to reach the sightings according to my GPS.

http://www.go-safari.com/Mahale/mahale.htm

The tents are dark green and without shade so it gets hot! And being a very seasonal camp they have more tsetse's than the permanent Greystoke.

http://www.go-safari.com/Mahale/Flycatcher.htm

Our chimp viewing experience was every bit as good (actually better) than my previous Greystoke visits. This has a lot to do with camp mgmt style and the "formal" approach by Greystoke mgrs of recent years (it is changing I hear).

At Flycatcher there are no frills. Drinks are not cold, they have an honor bar system and their boat is older than the others. We hiked with the camp manager and a local ranger (he was very good).

I felt had everything I need including a generator to charge batteries. Thinking back I actually enjoyed my stay more than I first realized. Perhaps because the camp was so calm, friendly, informal and relaxing.

At Katavi they have the very best location! I watched lions hunt daily from the lounge tent! There is hardly a need for game drives. Just look at this picture: http://www.go-safari.com/Katavi/Flycatcher_katavi11.jpg

Map: http://www.go-safari.com/Katavi/katavi.htm

But the tents are the same as Mahale - dark green and very hot, just like Mahale. Their cars were very old Landrovers with sharp edges inside that cut me in places. Please ask them about their cars and try to get a newer model (they have great cars in Ruaha). The guiding was not nearly as good as Chada Katavi but fine with me as I like to tell the guide where I like to go instead of being "guided"!

I truly enjoyed the camp's location and will stay there again in a heartbeat in the dry season.
http://www.go-safari.com/Katavi/FlycatcherCamp.htm

I flew to Ruaha (direct from Katavi with 2 other clients), but had to return to Arusha on the same flight due to other commitments. The clients told me afterwards via email they had a great stay in Ruaha. The tents are the same as Katavi but the car was a new model extended Landruiser and the guiding was very good.

Overall, I was very happy with my Flycatcher trip. But the camps are more basic.

HariS

Thanks, Eben - what more can one ask for? Great location and great gameviewing ...... as long as the guides are good and the people friendly - I won't complain!!!!

PredatorBiologist

Thanks Eben, that's great information. At Flycatcher's do you have a guide as well for the chimps or just the Park Ranger? If just the ranger does he do interpretation? One thing that really impressed me at Greystoke was the deep knowledge of the guides who knew each chimp by face and could give you their history, politics, etc. as well as explain behaviors.

It's good to know that Flycatchers is delivering a great experience. The Katavi site sure looks great.

sangeeta

Thank you so very very much for taking the time to post such a detailed response to my question on the Botswana thread. I knew that someone here would know all about it if only they were asked, and hey presto...
Thank you very much, climbhighsleeplow - it was very kind of you to share your expertise.

Do you know if the tse-tses are less pesky in August? Hopefully, the tents will be somewhat cooler in August than in October.

As you say, this may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I believe it fits our requirements perfectly (when you have a family of 3 Africa addicts who now want to go back once a year, the numbers add up!) Also, I've come back from Botswana with a strong desire to eschew the frills, so this sounds very good to me indeed.

So I think I'm taking the plunge... thanks also about the Katavi car info - will ask them if it's possible to get a newer car there.

Will keep everyone posted. Thanks again,
Sangeeta

climbhighsleeplow

Hi Bill

We have to be careful here as I do not want to compare camp managers - they change often and the past is no indication of the present and future.

Flycatcher uses the rangers as guides and while the camp manager had some knowledge the chimps were not his specialty. My chimp experience would've been the same even if he stayed in camp. But he was a fun guy and great to have around.

I enjoyed the direct access to the ranger instead of a guide. His English was good, he knew every chimp's history and and he had a great 6th sense about their movements. He sees the chimps daily and his "inside" knowledge about the park was very insightful. I learned more from him about the chimp family and yearly movements than during my Greystoke visits.

One most days it felt like the chimps were following us and not the other way around! I am sure not all rangers are this good so I was lucky.

The camp knew my focus was on finding the chimps and they were very serious about this. Other activities, and lectures about chimps were far less important.

Anyway I can read about chimp behaviour on the internet; what they eat, how they hunt, where they sleep, etc.

When at Mahale, I want to be the first one out in the morning to find them, I want to learn about the families and structures and watch them in silence. I did this in October.

IMO during my previous visits the lectures overshadowed the experience a bit. When I can hear the chimps nearby it is not the time to stop and get a 15-minute lecture on their bowel movements! And seeing other groups walking by to see the chimps while I'm in a lecture was frustrating!

So, for me, my October experience was perfect.

PredatorBiologist

Thanks Eben, the park ranger we had was a outstanding too, could be the same guy.

We were fortunate that we received interpretation that enhanced the experience and none that caused us to miss anything and most time was in quiet observation. Of course only one group can be with the chimps so if you are not the first group it is good to have a learning experience rather than just stand around doing nothing until your turn. I just posted to ask more about this on another thread but when we were there it was only the two groups from Greystoke. It sounds like at other times there is a race or competition between the 3 camps. Do you know how that works, is there any kind of organized priority system or can it just become contentious as it does when too many vehicles jockey at a sighting, but worse since you have to wait an hour per group? I'm interested how this works in high season.

climbhighsleeplow

I do not want to get into possible future arrangements but during my visit the camps were full and there was an informal structure in place.

Every group did get an hour with them (if one group were less than 6 people the rangers would informally combine people from different camps).

But nothing was clear cut because the chimps move fast. One group viewed for 20 minutes then the chimps moved away and into the path of the next viewing group who perhaps had a good 10 minutes of viewing before the first viewing group arrived who still had 40 left! The 10-minute group would step aside so the others can finish their hour and then the guides would take the 10-minute group to an anticipation viewing area where if you are lucky the chimps show up and you can finish 50 more minutes.

In my case we saw different groups of chimps in different areas so there was also parallel viewing going on.

On two days we were very lucky to be the only ones with a group of the chimps because I assumed the other camps found different chimps elsewhere, or gave up or saw the group either earlier or later.

We never sat around waiting for our viewing time! We were always moving in anticipation of possible chimp movements! But if the chimps are settled in one area the waiting is unavoidable.

atravelynn

Chuckling at the bowel movement lecture. Thank you, Eben, for the detailed response.

I assume there are substantial savings with Flycatcher Safaris.

So how many groups of people potentially can be in pursuit of the various chimp troops?

Patty

Thanks for the info, Eben!