Horse Riding Safari in Okavango: Galloping Through Africa’s Oasis

3 Destination Safari Trip to South Africa and Botswana...  all logistics, transfers, airlines, reservations, excursions went off without a hitch, every thing flowed seamlessly. Our safari travel company and particularly agent did an excellent job pre-planning and sculpting trip to meet our needs and desires.  We wanted 9 day safari to various locations that had different terrains and bio-diversity, but wanted to be efficient with "travel times" and "travel days" to make use of limited 9 days.

Firstly, Kruger area in SA, our agent guided us away from some lodges and tented sites "inside the park" as one becomes limited to "on road" safari versus if at contiguous private concession [whereby animals freely roam from Kruger park into and out of concession] the safari guides will (and always do) take their Land Cruisers off road and into the bush, for example to find a leopard laying in the bush protecting his kill (water buck)... which this siting would never happen "on road" in the park.  Our agent and this company pushed us to Sabi Sabi Little Bush Camp which was 5 stars and beyond all expectations; modern, clean, impeccable and beyond the call of duty service, and great guides (our guide was great and very knowledgeable). We saw the "magnificent 7" in the first 24 hours [the big 5 plus cheetah and wild dogs].

Secondly, we flew from Nelspruit to Livingston airport in Botswana, had driver take us from airport to river border, hand us off to a boat driver that took us across the river, then he handed us off to another driver that took us through the Botswana customs and then drove us to Kasane airport to meet a 3rd driver from Muchenje Lodge to drive us 50 minutes to the lodge.  All logistics worked perfectly (coordinated by our safari travel company). Muchenje Lodge was 4-star (not 5 star) because it is a bit aged [old bathroom, old toilet, old fixtures] but they make up for it in "safari lodge family atmosphere" and great management effort, buffet style family meals with other guests. Their safaris differed as we were limited to "on the road inside Chobe National Park) type safaris versus off-road. But abundance of hippos, elephants, giraffes here make it worth it.  Just on one afternoon track we saw 36 elephants (different sitings) and over 30 giraffes in just over 3 hours.

Thirdly, we wanted to try a different bio-diversity at Okavango Delta, so our travel company and our agent after much batting back and forth during the planning process, and planning for "bush flights" we selected Khwai Tented Bush Camp by African Bush Camps (they own many lodges and tented camps).  Five Stars, full amenities for a "tented site" very modern, and excellent first class cuisine, high teas, breakfasts and service. Our safari guide was great, friendly, and very knowledgeable. Lots of lions and leopards.

We departed by bush plane (coordinated by our travel company and agent) to Maun and then back to Cape Town.  The whole trip was planned impeccably, and went off without a hitch, the logistics of which I could have never have personally planned or procured by myself. I'm sure we paid a premium using first class travel agent, but it was worth it to just lay back and leave all the coordination to others.

Would we use this safari travel company again? Yes, I had this agent book us a subsequent trip from Cape Town to Victoria Falls for the weekend after this trip, and once again was first class and logistically efficient.

Absolutely awesome experience – better than we imagined! We spent time in Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park, the Okavango Delta and Cape Town. The service, guides, lodgings and experiences we had in each location were exceptional. This safari travel company and our travel planner made everything easy – we were greeted each step of the way, enabling us to enjoy our African adventure without the normal stress of traveling in another country. In Zimbabwe, we experienced majestic Victoria Falls both from the air and a guided tour through the park. We enjoyed a sunset dinner cruise on the Zambezi River. Our room at the Ilala Lodge was picture perfect and comfortable, plus we could see the mist rising from the falls. In Chobe National Park, we went on numerous game drives and boat tour with a dedicated guide. The Ngoma Safari Lodge was the most visually extravagant place we ever stayed.  The view walking into the lodge literally takes your breath away as you look down at the Chobe River with herds of zebras, giraffes and antelopes moving between a small watering hole close to Ngoma Lodge and the river. Combine that with great location to Chobe National Park, exceptional guides, thoughtful and well-trained staff, delicious dinners and wonderful rooms with incredible views and you have the perfect safari location. In the Okavango Delta we saw so much wildlife (inlcuding a numerous lions and African Wild dogs and their pups) and were again blessed with wonderful guides, great staff, and lovely rooms in an amazing location at Sable Alley in the Khwai Reserve. Cape Town gave us an opportunity to relax at the boutique hotel and enjoy winery tours and a peninsula tour, as well as amazing restaurants.

Originally, I tried to work out an itinerary myself using online review and travel books, but became concerned about arranging transportation and guides. Then I contacted several different travel agencies. This travel planner quickly responded. She made everything easy for us. She worked with us on locations, desired experiences, dates and cost. We really wanted to see Botswana’s Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta. Two other companies were trying to steer us away those areas due to cost and availability, but our travel planner was able to make it happen for us. She took care of absolutely everything from lodging, car and in-Africa air travel, tours, guides, and even restaurant reservations for us in Cape Town. Amazing personalized service.

This company makes you feel very pampered and special. Our travel planner made time to meet us in Victoria Falls (her home base). In honor of our 30th wedding anniversary, the travel company surprised us with a complimentary dinner and bottle of wine at our Victoria Falls hotel, which had one of the best restaurants in Victoria Falls.

We did a four-night fly-in safari trip to the Okavango Delta in Botswana, which included two nights in a water-based camp (guided bush walks and water-based game viewing) and another two nights in a land-based camp (which also offers game drives, a major plus if you want to see more wildlife). Our trip to the Okavango was everything we hoped for and were anticipating. The Okavango is a magical place, and a once in a lifetime must-see for anyone who has the slightest interest in Africa, nature, wildlife and especially birds. The trip arrangements went like clockwork, with no issues or surprises. This tour company delivered as promised. We were very pleased with the service and advice we received from the travel agency. I would rate this company as an excellent travel agency for this kind of safari trip, 5/5 stars.

We found all the camp staff to be very friendly, solicitous of our needs, and very well-informed about their unique environment, especially the awesome safari guides assigned to us. 

The one slight disappointment was the middling quality and limited variety of meals and wine served at the two camps we stayed at in the Delta: this could be improved.

All in all, a great trip and we have marvellous lifelong memories.

So before you start to read this you should make a coffee as I have no way of condensing this to only a few words. 

I will start though by telling you that our trip was so incredibly amazing that Richard and I had to keep pinching ourselves and asking if this was real and were we really here doing this.  We cannot thank you enough for all the work and effort you put into this trip.  It was so well planned and organized and everyone was where they were supposed to be every single time.  We never had to wait and wonder, everyone was punctual and very friendly. The accommodations were spectacular.  We truly felt like we were being spoiled every step of the trip.

So, we will start at the beginning.  We loved Cape Town.  Our driver was fantastic.  We really connected with him and since he was with us a lot it was very good.  We were fortunate enough to be able to go up Table Mountain, not as scheduled but we fit it in on another day.  I believe I also told you that the lady on the plane sitting next to me invited us to her place for dinner.  We took her up on that and went to her home, met her husband and children and then they treated us to a dinner at Groot Constantia which was quite lovely.  We met on the plane strangers and left as new friends. The South African hospitality is second to none and everyone is so friendly.  Table Bay Hotel...very lovely and excellent location.  Enjoyed all the tours, felt like we got in all the highlights.

From there we went to Franschhoek and quite enjoyed our time there as well.  The tram is fantastic, the wines are awesome (we certainly drank our share) and the scenery was beautiful.  Loved the accommodation...very quaint.

From here we went to Ulusaba.....probably what we would call the highlight of our trip.  We hate to rank anything because it was all great but there was something special about our 4 days there.  Our safari family as I like to call them consisted of a family with two young boys and Richard and I with our ranger and tracker....two amazing guys.  We all connected so well and had 4 spectacular days together.  Our ranger said we were in the less than 5 % of the guests that get to see the Magnificent 7 which are the Big 5 plus the cheetah and the wild dogs. I had tears in my eyes when we had to say goodbye with hugs and kisses all the way around.  And not sure if any of you have stayed there but the rooms are so cool and the food was excellent every meal. Highly recommend.  We did take the opportunity while here in between game drives to go into a local town and spend some time at a primary school with the children.  The children sang songs and recited some poems and just couldn't get enough hugs from us.  They were quite enamoured with my blonde hair and our sunglasses which was very fun.  A good time was had by all.

Our Panorama drive was quite lovely and I am glad you were able to fit that in.  Oliver's was  also a very quaint hotel and the rooms were quite beautiful.  Could definitely spend more time there.  Beautiful location and we had a fabulous meal there as well.

From there it was off too Victoria Falls.  What a beautiful hotel and talk about location.  We enjoyed both the tour of the falls and the sunset cruise.  The only negative was that the food and drink was extremely over priced in comparison to everywhere else we had been.  They did put out a pretty amazing breakfast and having zebras prancing on the lawn in front of your table as you dine was quite entertaining.

On to the last part of our journey....Camp Okavango.  Pretty amazing tents.  Lying in your bed at night and listening to the symphony of insects, baboons and hippos was quite something.  This was quite a different safari as we were either boating on the river or doing a walking safari on one of the islands.  The guides again were excellent and again we felt like we had a good connection and lots of fun and laughter.  It took Richard a few hours to adjust to the fact that it was 37C and this is a tent with no AC, but the nights do cool down and it was no problem sleeping.  The camp was quite beautiful and well taken care of.  The staff there were also very friendly.

And so now we are back home again, back to work and eager to share our pictures and stories with our family and friends.

I have not attached any photos as we have to find some time to sort through all 1500 of them yet. 

Well, I guess in summary if some one asked me to rate the trip out of ten I would give it a 15 and you get 5 gold stars for the amazing job you did putting this perfectly wonderful vacation together for us.  

Many many thanks to our travel planner...you are awesome.

Warm Regards,

Jacqueline and Richard.