Luxury Botswana Classic: Waterways and Landscapes

In one word - AWESOME!  We are a party of 8 from NY -  we started at the PUMBA Private Game Reserve, saw every animal under the sun and more, ate wonderful food, loved the accomodations, felt like we were taken care of in every way.  Next stop was Capetown and the Mount Nelson Hotel - old world luxury and charm - beautifully appointed rooms, wonderful buffet breakfast.  We toured the Peninsula, saw the sunset from Table Mountain, hiked Lions Head - ate at the waterfront and had tons of fun at Star Dust and Moyo.  Final stop was Victoria Falls - we toured the falls from both the Zimbabwe and Zambia sides, took a dip in the devils pool and had a fantastic lunch on Livingstone Island.   We spent a morning walking with the lions - got to touch and pet them and walk thru the wilderness with them - what an experience!  We spent the day at CHOBE in Botswana and saw so many hippos and giraffes and cape buffalo.  A trip of a lifetime and all arranged by the caring staff at our tour company.  They asked what we wanted to do, listened to all our requests and made it happen for us.  Such a smooth trip from start to finish.  

Our trip was fantastic start to finish.  All of the activities our safari tour designer booked for us were outstanding and our accommodations were first rate.  We really liked our tour guide in Cape Town/Franschoek – she was very helpful and we were comfortable with her from the beginning.  We really enjoyed our tour of Cape Town, Table Mountain and our day trip to the Cape of Good Hope, including the stop for the boat trip out to Seal Island and to see the penguins at Boulders. 

We spent 5 days in Cape Town then flew to Hoespruit to the Mikanyi private game reserve.  The lodge and our room at Mikanyi were exceptional and the game drives were unbelievable – we saw so many wild animals up close and personal (including the Big 5)!  The staff at Mikanyi were outstanding!  When we left Mikanyi, we drove to another nearby game reserve where our tour designer had arranged for a charter flight to Nelspruit where we flew to Livingstone – then by car over to Victoria Falls.  The Falls were breathtaking – we took both a walking tour and a helicopter tour of the Falls.  We had to cancel one of our scheduled activities at Victoria Falls (the river cruise) because I was too sick to go.  After Victoria Falls, our tour designer made arrangements for us to be transported over to Chobe National Park where we spent 2 days on a cruise.  The staff of the boat were quite good and our safari guide did his best to make sure we got to see a variety of the wild animals in the park.  Again, got to see all of the Big 5 here, with the exception of the rhino.

This was our first trip to Africa so our main concern was the transfers on arrival and from one location to the other.  Our tour designer handled all of the transfers exceptionally well for us.  All of the individuals involved in our transfers were right where she said they would be and all of them were right on time.  Every aspect of our trip went exactly according to the itinerary our tour designer put together for us. 

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.

I was planning a South African Safari for my family of 4, and the information and options I researched were overwhelming and complex for someone that has no prior knowledge or experience with Safari's.  I came across the Zicasso website and they matched me up with this safari travelcompany.  My agent provided insight into the planning and options that I would have never identified myself.  I had many questions both before and after booking this trip and communicated with this agent by email (from the US) due to the time difference.    She responded immediately and thoroughly ever time. We just returned and the trip was Amazing and could not have gone better. 

  Upon hearing our goals, my agent suggested two private game reserves (3 nights each) in two different locations so we could get two different experiences. We stayed at Kapama Southern Camp in the Kapama Game reserve near Hoedspruit, and Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge in Sabi Sands.  It was a two hour drive between the two lodges.  We originally had reservations at Lion Sands which is next to Sabi Sands, but about three months ago, the Lion Sands burned down.  Fortunately, our agent notified us just hours after the fire letting us know what happened and informing us that she was able to book the Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge - which turned out to be amazing.  I've read that some folks had to receive refunds because they could not get reservations on such short notice in the area.  We were really glad our agent was looking out for us and greatly appreciated all of her efforts and recommendations!  We definitely got two different experiences that you can read below - each amazing in its own way and the recommendation to split the trip with two camps was perfect!

At Kapama, the brush was very dense with trees and bush so off roading was not possible.  We frequently saw animals everywhere as we drove and there were differences in the quantity and frequency of some species at each location.  There were interesting and fun excursions (Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center and Elephant Encounter) here that we could not get elsewhere.  We could only do a hot air balloon flight at Hoedspruit but were disappointed that the winds were too strong while we were there so never did this.   Kapama Southern Camp has a fence around it and ony the entrance is always open. Each morning we would come out and see wart hogs, Nyala, Kudo, Impala,  and other animals near our room.

At Sabi Sands, the bush was not as dense with trees so we could go off road to track down big five which was amazing.  It is a large area so we could drive for 20 minute or more withouot seeing any animals.   Sabi Sands Camp is completely open (no surrounding fence) and there was a leopard sighting at camp for three consecutive days. This added an element of danger and excitement. Once at 0400, we were awoken by the monkeys in the trees indicating that the leopard was probably close by.