Ultimate Camping Safari in Botswana & Namibia

We are "active" seniors (retired language and science teachers) and asked this travel company to help us evaluate then arrange visits to 5 culturally and ecologically-distinct sites in southern Africa during February, 2019. We chose this time of the year because the safari camps are less crowded. In some cases there were only a handful of guests present, and often the two of us were alone on safari with the guide. This allowed us to set our own pace, to enjoy nature's sounds without chatter, and to engage readily with the very knowledgable guides who work at these camps. Using Windhoek as our hub (due to direct flights from Frankfurt), we first visited Swakopmund/Walvis Bay, then spent 3-nights each at Serra Cafema Lodge and Ongava Tented Camp in Namibia, and then Mapula Lodge and Jack's Camp in Botswana.

The staff - especially the travel planner - at this travel company were immensely helpful, and the on-site subcontractors they selected were 100% reliable, on-schedule, and friendly. In country arrangements booked by the travel company included transfers to/from airports by private van and seven flights on small aircraft to reach the four lodges, plus detailed advice about protocols and border crossings.  

Except for Serra Cafema, there are many lodges close to the locations we visited, and our initial choices were based on on-line reviews. We had only positive experiences at each of the four lodges/camps. The staff were consistently friendly and supportive, the meals well planned and prepared (which is remarkable given the isolated locations of these places) and presented artistically, and all of the guides were amazing in their knowledge of animals and plants and ease of conversing (in English) on any topic. Given the sparse crowds, we were able to have extended conversations with them and often with managers and other lodge employees during meals and unscheduled times. It sounds naive, but having conversations about indigenous people, changing cultures, wildlife, and challenges due to changing climate and "modernization" while being on site brought richer, more meaningful understandings than our prior reading guide and history books.

Serra Cafema is remarkable, and puts a capital R in Remote. There are lots of birds (and crocodiles) along the river, and oryx and small antelopes abound, but one does not go there hoping to see the "big five" of African wildlife. Rather, it is the peacefulness, expansiveness, and serenity of this environment that are most impressive. The lush green and wildlife of the Kunene River basin contrasts dramatically with the adjacent barren desert containing amazing metamorphic rocks and multicolored sands, and visits to two Himba villages that provided insights to a unique traditional culture. 

Ongava is on a private reserve adjacent to Etosha National Park. The water hole beside the camp draws a wide variety of antelopes, zebras, and elephants. While out on safari we were close-up with lions, cheetahs and white rhinos plus lots of bird species. It was worth visiting Etosha with its larger herds, but it is crowded and the commotion distracting.

We over-nighted in Kasane en route to Mapula Lodge in the Okanaga Delta region. Here we were serenaded by families of hippos behind our cabin, watched herds of cape buffalo and extended elephant families, and learned how short periods of rainfall quickly change the area from open scrub to "islands" of trees and wildlife surrounded by water. At our request a visit was arranged to the nearby village Eretsha, where we spent the morning at their primary school and visited the health clinic, learning much about the daily lives of these people.

Jack's Camp is unique, not just for being in the edge of the Kalahari Pan, but its spread-out tents, campy lodge, proximity to herds of wildebeast, zebras, and buffalos in addition to meercats, lions, cheetahs and many wetland avian species, and engagement with extended families of San (Bushmen) that camp nearby and introduce westerners to their amazing skills at surviving in such harsh environments. The manager and our guide were exceptionally gracious and accommodating.

All travel between camps was well coordinated and all of the accommodations were excellent, the job your travel company did was outstanding in every way.

Overall our trip was spectacular at each camp with one exception - Hwange, but this was a staffing issue.

Our comments on each are here:

01. Camp Moremi - 3 nights - The personnel at this camp were outstanding and very friendly and helpful. Our guide was very knowledgeable and highly qualified, good at finding great fauna and fun to be with. It did help that we could go off trail a bit. The accommodations were excellent, the lodge, food and refreshments were great, the location was optimal for land or river excursions and the overall experience was fabulous. Wanted to spend more time here!

02. Ghoha Hills Savuti Lodge - 2 nights - The same as above, very nice & knowledgeable proprietor who spent time with us looking at the stars and learning the history of Botswana. Our guide was also knowledgeable and friendly, nice accommodations, food and refreshments were great, intimate experience, good game viewing after a long drive but well worth it and quite interesting location especially with the pan below the lodge itself attracting different wildlife each day and night. 2 nights was appropriate for this camp.

03. Chobe Game Lodge - 3 nights - The  lodge here is more like a nice hotel, but with an excellent location & also within the park. Again, Our guide was very knowledgeable, good at finding wildlife and fun to be with. The lodge area, and refreshments were great, the food not so good, just OK, but the staff were very friendly and helpful. The location was optimal for land or river excursions and the overall experience was fabulous. Wanted to spend more time here!

04. Victoria Falls Hotel - 2 nights - This was a culture shock after Botswana, but it's a nice hotel with a good view and location - just a lot of civilization after the first 3 camps. Hotel drinks A+, food C-. We did the hike around the falls, lunch at the overlook and a chopper ride above the falls which was excellent and the sunset cruise on the Zambezi was really the highlight of this experience where we could return to the wilderness on the river and observe the wildlife, the boat staff was excellent and the snacks & refreshments were great - as was the wildlife viewing. 2 nights was appropriate for this place.

05. Camp Hwange - 3 nights - This experience had some great highs and some low points as well. Upon arriving at the camp from Vic Falls we were picked up by an excellent, knowledgeable and friendly guide who wore a Camp Hwange uniform. We had a long ride into the camp from the entrance in which we viewed a lot of wildlife and made several stops. The lodge had a very nice staff and excellent location for viewing the pan directly in front of the camp for wildlife, the accommodations, food and refreshments were also great. Our same guide took us out that afternoon for a nice sundowner and animal viewing that included some spectacular nighlife immediately after dinner.  At dinner the first night at dinner we met our next guide and learned that he was one of two contract guides, and not part of the regular staff.

The next day with this new contract guide we spent the morning hiking without much success in wildlife viewing and searching for a buffalo herd. He did not have his radio turned on to communicate back with the lodge or other guides during the morning but finally turned the radio on at noon to notify the lodge that we were returning for lunch at which time we immediately learned of some lions to go see from another guide.  The afternoon was similar in that we were still in search of the elusive buffalo herd and didn't really see much wildlife. We learned at dinner that the other contract guide and his group seen a multitude of wildlife over the course of the entire day, but without our radio communication we never had a heads up.

The third day we went on a day trip heading out the road towards the entrance we came in on the first day, again our guide did not have his radio on and was searching for the buffalo herd without success. We did a morning hike and saw practically nothing, then found a spot for a late lunch during which our guide went and took a nap under a tree. After lunch we we finally drove to a large pan filled with elephants which we viewed for 2 hours, then drove back to our camp, stopping at a pan with a herd of hippos briefly for photos. It was nightfall when we arrived for an very nice picnic style dinner away from the camp. We also viewed some nighlife that evening which was spectacular.

The next morning we left, and we had our original official Camp Hwange guide from the day we arrived doing the driving - and again saw an abundance of wildlife along the way which included several stops along the way.

Bottom line - we saw more wildlife with the official camp guide going in and out of the camp than we did in two days with our contract guide. This guide was knowledgable but also a bit crabby, a little too in your face and interested in discussing peoples politics and complained that he expected bad reviews - understandably after our experience - so we left feeling that we wasted a day and a half with this guide when we could have been viewing a lot more of what Camp Hwange is known for. I am optimistic that 3-4 nights in this park is appropriate, but you need a decent guide - that makes all the difference

We had a very enjoyable trip to Victoria Falls, back to the Republic of South Africa (via Botswana) for a typical safari experience in the Northwest Province at Madikwe Game Reserve, and then a week in the Cape.  Our travel agency suggested the Victoria Falls stop and Elephant Camp in particular.  Elephant Camp was very nice (and we were in the intimate four "tent" family camp that opened just in March) with excellent service and good food.  However, our agent oversold the opportunity to interact with the somewhat tamed elephants on the Wild Horizons/Elephant Camp Reserve.  We had literally no more than five minutes with the elephants, feeding them, so far less than we expected.  We enjoyed the visit to Victoria Falls National Park, as well as a canoe safari on the Zambezi above the falls.  We also very much enjoyed our time at Madikwe Safari Lodge, a very nice facility with an excellent guide, good food, but not always top-rate service.  However, I wish the agent had suggested the opportunity to fly in and out of Madikwe because it has an air strip, and this would have saved us a great deal of travel time doing mostly road transfers to and from Madikwe.  Our travel company was responsive to our requests for particular accommodations in Franschhoek and Cape Town, though they were different than the accommodations suggested by Born Free.  In both cases, we enjoyed our choices very much, as much because of location as because of the facilities themselves.   In Zimbabwe and Madikwe, service was not always up to par at all facilities, and meals were not always as excellent as we expected, but our travel company is not responsible for this.  

When our son left his Kindle on one of the transfers, Born Free helped track it down and get it sent by courier to catch up with us at Cape Town.  This was very helpful, but instead of charging us the cost of the courier and telling us what that cost was, they passed onto us the round figure of ZAR 500. I would have preferred transparency on that.  One of the other transfer operators officiously collected form the safari lodge things of ours (plaster imprints of animal tracks) we had asked them for--she did this while we were having breakfast our last morning.  But then the transfer operator forgot to give the things to us when she dropped us off at Oliver Tambo Airport--even though they were on the front seat of the van next to her!  Again, we were able to get these items sent by courier to catch up with us on Cape Town, but I didn't think we should bear the cost of that.