Travel reviews by G family from Nottingham
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
1
Lodges stayed in
3
Excursions taken
0
Botswana
Botswana between 12 Jul 2008 and 26 Jul 2008
"Overall it was marvellous.
The mobile safari with Grant was definitely the best bit of the holiday and well worth repeating,
Linyanti came a close second.
Shinde was very disappointing, the excellent facitlies were badly let down by the poor management and guiding
A couple of bits of information that others may find useful:
It's sandy underfoot at the campsites
Occasional clouds of dust unavoidable at this time of year, with this, photographers need to be cautious about changing lenses if using SLRs and contact lens wearers may find spectacles more practical
Getting a square to round plug adapter can be useful, gives increased flexibility at fixed sites and necessary for Grant's inverter on the mobile safari."
The mobile safari with Grant was definitely the best bit of the holiday and well worth repeating,
Linyanti came a close second.
Shinde was very disappointing, the excellent facitlies were badly let down by the poor management and guiding
A couple of bits of information that others may find useful:
It's sandy underfoot at the campsites
Occasional clouds of dust unavoidable at this time of year, with this, photographers need to be cautious about changing lenses if using SLRs and contact lens wearers may find spectacles more practical
Getting a square to round plug adapter can be useful, gives increased flexibility at fixed sites and necessary for Grant's inverter on the mobile safari."
Linyanti Bush Camp
"Linyanti Bush Camp review"
3 nights
Arrived
13 Jul 2008
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Private Mobile Camp, Botswana (this camp has since closed)
"Moremi/Santantantibe mobile camp review"
7 nights
Arrived
16 Jul 2008
"This was absolutely brilliant.
Grant has great guiding skills - to give one example, he impressed us by enticed a pride of lion out of the bush by imitating the sound of a baby buffalo . He knows when to watch and wait, rather than the take two photographs and move on approach, which appeared to be standard with other guides in Moremi and which we suffered in Shinde. We saw and enjoyed much more as a result.
Grant is also an excellent photographer, which means he has a eye for a good shot and positions the vehicle accordingly. He takes his own photos of the game you see and yourselves, shows you the pictures on his laptop in the evening and presents you with a CD of what he has taken at the end of the trip. The only disadvantage is that his pictures are usually better than yours!
Not sharing a vehicle/guide ensured that there was no clash of interests/attitudes. In Santantantibe Grant's guests are the only people in the concession, so you avoid the clusters of safari vehicles around animals of interest that you get in Public Reserves
Moremi and Santantadibe are significantly different in habitat and wildlife so continued interest and brilliant to have game wandering through the camp.
The daily programme was completely flexible according to what we were seeing
Tents and camp facilities very adequate; our 16 year old son was pleasantly surprised by the long drop toilet and the hot water bottles at night were much appreciated. The quality of Joyce's food was fantastic, amazing what she can manage to produce over an open fire, even Beef Wellington!
Had great fun attempting to pole our own mokoros and fishing. Fried bream picnic fresh from the delta was very tasty.
Had a fun night sleeping out on top of the landcruisers
Being aware that both camp sites are sandy underfoot and that drives can be pretty dusty at this time of year may be useful. It also can be quite cold on the game drives early morning and after sunset, so fleeces, windproof, scarves and gloves were needed."
Grant has great guiding skills - to give one example, he impressed us by enticed a pride of lion out of the bush by imitating the sound of a baby buffalo . He knows when to watch and wait, rather than the take two photographs and move on approach, which appeared to be standard with other guides in Moremi and which we suffered in Shinde. We saw and enjoyed much more as a result.
Grant is also an excellent photographer, which means he has a eye for a good shot and positions the vehicle accordingly. He takes his own photos of the game you see and yourselves, shows you the pictures on his laptop in the evening and presents you with a CD of what he has taken at the end of the trip. The only disadvantage is that his pictures are usually better than yours!
Not sharing a vehicle/guide ensured that there was no clash of interests/attitudes. In Santantantibe Grant's guests are the only people in the concession, so you avoid the clusters of safari vehicles around animals of interest that you get in Public Reserves
Moremi and Santantadibe are significantly different in habitat and wildlife so continued interest and brilliant to have game wandering through the camp.
The daily programme was completely flexible according to what we were seeing
Tents and camp facilities very adequate; our 16 year old son was pleasantly surprised by the long drop toilet and the hot water bottles at night were much appreciated. The quality of Joyce's food was fantastic, amazing what she can manage to produce over an open fire, even Beef Wellington!
Had great fun attempting to pole our own mokoros and fishing. Fried bream picnic fresh from the delta was very tasty.
Had a fun night sleeping out on top of the landcruisers
Being aware that both camp sites are sandy underfoot and that drives can be pretty dusty at this time of year may be useful. It also can be quite cold on the game drives early morning and after sunset, so fleeces, windproof, scarves and gloves were needed."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Shinde Camp
"Shinde Camp review"
3 nights
Arrived
23 Jul 2008
"Disappointing
The most luxurious of the sites for us, with large tented 'chalets', fixed cubicle showers, twin washbasins, decanter of sherry on bed side table, impressive dining area etc, but poor guiding and with a rigid attitude to game viewing being confined by meal times.
Our fellow guests liked it a lot apart from the 'low' density of game compared with Chobe. So it depends what your priorities are.
We found our guide Alberto very disappointing, monosyllabic, would grunt 'zebra, hornbill, giraffe' etc without any attempt to inform about the animals/birds/habitat or what he was doing in looking for game.
Our guide had very much a take two photographs and move on approach, rather than knowing when to sit and watch.
To give two examples of how camp routine overrides game viewing:
A pride of lions was feeding on a dead elephant and rather than wait and observe, we had to leave to have our 'sundowner' at it's appointed site and be back in time for dinner. Another vehicle from Ker and Downey's adjacent sister lodge stayed with the elephant in to the evening (able to because the kill was closer to their lodge) and saw the arrival of many hyaena.
On our last morning we saw fresh leopard tracks on our way back to the lodge but couldn't look for the leopard as it would have made us late for lunch
A minor irritation was Ker and Downey's failure to provide the quides with binoculars, our guide borrowed ours as his personal pair had been damaged. Niggling when you go to pick up your binoculars to view something, to find the guide has got there first!
Managers felt superficial and inflexible, and amazingly ignorant about bird life. Food perfectly adequate but not as good as previous camps
If you want a four star hotel that happens to be in the bush with added 'activities' then this is for you. If you want to see and learn as much as you can during your trip to Botswana, then I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole"
The most luxurious of the sites for us, with large tented 'chalets', fixed cubicle showers, twin washbasins, decanter of sherry on bed side table, impressive dining area etc, but poor guiding and with a rigid attitude to game viewing being confined by meal times.
Our fellow guests liked it a lot apart from the 'low' density of game compared with Chobe. So it depends what your priorities are.
We found our guide Alberto very disappointing, monosyllabic, would grunt 'zebra, hornbill, giraffe' etc without any attempt to inform about the animals/birds/habitat or what he was doing in looking for game.
Our guide had very much a take two photographs and move on approach, rather than knowing when to sit and watch.
To give two examples of how camp routine overrides game viewing:
A pride of lions was feeding on a dead elephant and rather than wait and observe, we had to leave to have our 'sundowner' at it's appointed site and be back in time for dinner. Another vehicle from Ker and Downey's adjacent sister lodge stayed with the elephant in to the evening (able to because the kill was closer to their lodge) and saw the arrival of many hyaena.
On our last morning we saw fresh leopard tracks on our way back to the lodge but couldn't look for the leopard as it would have made us late for lunch
A minor irritation was Ker and Downey's failure to provide the quides with binoculars, our guide borrowed ours as his personal pair had been damaged. Niggling when you go to pick up your binoculars to view something, to find the guide has got there first!
Managers felt superficial and inflexible, and amazingly ignorant about bird life. Food perfectly adequate but not as good as previous camps
If you want a four star hotel that happens to be in the bush with added 'activities' then this is for you. If you want to see and learn as much as you can during your trip to Botswana, then I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole"
Poor
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Poor
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Poor
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Excellent
Feedback response
We are sorry that these travellers did not enjoy Shinde. We forwarded them to the team at Shinde, who commented as follows:
We were surprised and disappointed to hear the comments regarding the guide, Alberto. He is normally rated very highly and even has a mention on Expert Africa’s website. Other guests staying at the same time as these travellers gave excellent feedback on Alberto. We have, however, discussed these travellers’ comments in full with him as we are always striving to improve our service and our guiding.
With regards to returning early to camp, we have looked into this thoroughly. The incident with the lions feeding on the elephant was regrettable, but in order to return to Shinde, the vehicle needed to cross a fairly high river. Alberto left the sighting to cross this river before dark, as crossing it in the dark would not have been safe. Perhaps had he explained this fully to the guests, they would have understood his reason for leaving earlier – and we apologise that this was not communicated to them.
The leopard tracks which were found just before lunch were right on the edge of the game-viewing area, and were heading in the direction of the concession (game-viewing area) next door – through which Shinde does not have permission to drive. In addition, the tracks disappeared into an area of very long grass by the river so the guide took the decision not to follow them so as not to get stuck or damage the vehicle with any hidden hazards in the grass.
With regards to Alberto borrowing these guests’ binoculars, we can understand that this must have been frustrating for them. It is not usually our policy to provide guides with binoculars and Alberto does have his own pair which he usually uses. We asked him about this and unfortunately the day before he had dropped these into the water and they were currently in Maun waiting to be fixed! We usually have a spare set in each camp and we are not sure why Alberto did not use these.
Expert Africa has also noted that these travellers had previously stayed at a private mobile camp, Santantadibe, run by a superb guide with individual attention. Their comments on this camp speak for themselves! We realise that after such an exclusive experience, moving to a slightly larger camp where there were other guests may be a slight anti-climax. We have learnt from this and will, in future, strongly encourage our travellers to visit private mobile camps at the end of their trips, rather than at the beginning or in the middle.
We were surprised and disappointed to hear the comments regarding the guide, Alberto. He is normally rated very highly and even has a mention on Expert Africa’s website. Other guests staying at the same time as these travellers gave excellent feedback on Alberto. We have, however, discussed these travellers’ comments in full with him as we are always striving to improve our service and our guiding.
With regards to returning early to camp, we have looked into this thoroughly. The incident with the lions feeding on the elephant was regrettable, but in order to return to Shinde, the vehicle needed to cross a fairly high river. Alberto left the sighting to cross this river before dark, as crossing it in the dark would not have been safe. Perhaps had he explained this fully to the guests, they would have understood his reason for leaving earlier – and we apologise that this was not communicated to them.
The leopard tracks which were found just before lunch were right on the edge of the game-viewing area, and were heading in the direction of the concession (game-viewing area) next door – through which Shinde does not have permission to drive. In addition, the tracks disappeared into an area of very long grass by the river so the guide took the decision not to follow them so as not to get stuck or damage the vehicle with any hidden hazards in the grass.
With regards to Alberto borrowing these guests’ binoculars, we can understand that this must have been frustrating for them. It is not usually our policy to provide guides with binoculars and Alberto does have his own pair which he usually uses. We asked him about this and unfortunately the day before he had dropped these into the water and they were currently in Maun waiting to be fixed! We usually have a spare set in each camp and we are not sure why Alberto did not use these.
Expert Africa has also noted that these travellers had previously stayed at a private mobile camp, Santantadibe, run by a superb guide with individual attention. Their comments on this camp speak for themselves! We realise that after such an exclusive experience, moving to a slightly larger camp where there were other guests may be a slight anti-climax. We have learnt from this and will, in future, strongly encourage our travellers to visit private mobile camps at the end of their trips, rather than at the beginning or in the middle.
Great variety of bird life, big game more difficult to view due to Mopane woodland and not being as concentrated as normal because of higher than normal water level, but often felt more rewarding when seen in bush rather than savannah grassland
Very comfortable tents, excellent food
Welcoming and helpful attitude from manager and staff, flexible re meals if guests occupied in guiding.
Just six tents made it feel more personal and allowed us to have the benefit of our own guide and landcruiser for our family of four, which was brilliant
Generally felt less corporate and more welcoming than Ker and Downey at Shinde"