Reviews of safaris to Kalahari's Salt Pans

"We had a fabulous trip to Botswana. It mostly lived up to expectations, in that we felt that we got a "Real Africa" experience, while staying in some spectacular lodges. All our thanks to Maruska for the arrangements. There were absolutely no hick-ups, all travel arrangements fell into place like clockwork" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Great holiday.

Enjoyed every minute of it." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"My adult daughter and I agree that Somalisa was the best camp with Waterberry a very close second. Her favorite experience was the meerkat climbing on her. I found so much of it awesome it's hard to describe.

In trying to explain the experience to people the closest I can get to accurate is "something amazing happens and then something else amazing happens, etc." I can't compare the rush of seeing lion doing their thing against seeing the rush of Victoria Falls. I can't compare how it feels to be in the vast desolate Makgadikgadi Pans to seeing the vastness of the southern sky's blanket of universe. Being comedically entertained by the meerkat, mud wallowing warthogs, running ostrich, and hippo grunting are experiences like no other. It's completely absurd that neither my daughter nor I were afraid of the 7 white rhino we walked to and stood amongst. It was pretty clear to me when the 1st bush flight landed scaring away zebra and an ostrich from the airstrip that Africa suits me. I guess that's why I didn't blow the air horn when the elephant tried to join my shower.

To close this out - I've lived and worked on 3 continents and know a 4th extensively but there is nothing like Africa.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

The process was long for both me and everyone that had to interact with me. Now that I've done it I hope to not be so high maintenance in the future.

One of the reasons I chose EA was because when my plan went from Zambia only I was handed to another person with more expertise in the new regions. I appreciated that. No one at EA tried to "upsell" me either. That is why I dropped the other company I had begun inquiry with.

I'll be emailing the wildlife sightings. We wrote in a lot." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 3 on a Botswana safari

"This is likely our last safari and was a great way to end what has been a passion of ours for 30 years.

We enjoyed new places ( Namibia and Tanzania) , saw incredible sights ( especially the Crater and the migration) , ate wonderful food and met many wonderful people" Read full review: 51 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"Brilliant!" Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Thanks for all help, suggestions and fast follow up, even when we had some challenges the night before we left Amsterdam due to flight changes the next day from Johannesburg to Windhoek.

Great you were thinking along how to beat that challenge and giving alternatives for accommodation if we could not make it to our first stop. Thanks Tracy!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Inform your guests esp if they are used to safaris in other countries than Botswana, eg South Africa that the experience can be different. Im not talking about the game viewing which is obvious off course but the experience in the lodges. In South Africa you often for the same amount of money get more value (luxury, guest experience)" Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"Botswana was our first return to Africa after many years and we had high expectations. We have come back with great memories having seen some fantastic wildlife, met some lovely and interesting people and had a few adventures.

We feel we have had a good mix of camps and experienced the delta and other areas.

There is just the niggle that we were at Chitabe on the wrong days!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No, we were pleased with the service. Lucy asked lots of questions and listened to the answers!" Read full review: 18 nights in Africa; 12 on a Botswana safari

"Stunning! A huge variety of memorable experiences, diverse lodges and special people made this trip everything we hoped for.

Tracy Lederer take a bow as your help, suggestions, comments and patient answers to our many questions made this trip work as well as it did. Everywhere we stayed added something special to our overall experience and your suggestions of adding a private safari and a trip down to San Camp made a great trip a spectacular experience. Our private safari with Kazuma will always be very special and you may have spoiled us for the future!

We did not know what to expect from Botswana. The old mantra was Botswana was high cost because of low vehicle numbers/tourists. In our experience that is not totally true any more. Chobe around Kisane is so busy from the land and the river that it is unpleasant in places and it looks like development is continuing at pace. Some of the companies who run river trips are aggressive and do not consider the animals or other boats. Having said all of that, seeing the hundreds of elephants on the Chobe River near Kasane and being able to watch them swim makes this still a wonderful place to visit. Moving quietly in boats is a fascinating way to see wildlife from a different perspective. Savute and Khwai are both busy with Khwai being particularly so at times. In Khwai and Savute you can, however, leave the crowds around the lions or the dogs and go off and find your own wonderful wildlife which we could do with our private guide.

The wildlife is not the wide variety of plains animals that you see in Kenya or South Africa. Botswana is not the place for a quick tick-list safari. What you do have is much more intense and lengthy experiences with the animals you see. We found most of the animals to be very relaxed and not bothered by vehicles or boats. The variety of landscapes is breathtaking. The guiding is very, very good in general.

We are used to travelling in a variety of little planes which are used like taxis so they were not a shock. The routes are not finalised until the day before you fly so be prepared for short hops to drop off and pick up other passengers from a variety of dirt air strips. You may not get to leave at a time that suits you. The small planes we took were a mixed bag but the young pilots all seemed professional. The planes could get a little bumpy but nowhere near as bumpy as the road trip would have been!

We did not expect to come away with an understanding of how the different management styles between Botswana and Namibia affected the wildlife and the land. Although explained to us several times we are still struggling with the geography of the Delta! We did not expect to learn so much about the Salt Pans and how everything managed to survive such a harsh environment. We learned so much about animal behaviour by being able to take the time to sit and watch what was going on and have everything explained by well-trained and enthusiastic guides. We listened to the calm debate about the possibility of reintroducing hunting in Botswana. We met some wonderful like-minded travellers and some that were not so pleasant but that is what happens on safaris: you learn when to speak and when to leave subjects alone! We met some really special Batswana people whose enthusiasm for their country is wonderful.

This was a special holiday for us that we had wanted to do for a long time. We have been lucky enough to travel to many African countries, some repeatedly but had never made it to Botswana before. We would llike to return!

A few hints.
- A number of tourists did not realise how cold it can get at night so take clothes you can layer, a puffer jacket or fleece and even gloves and a hat.
- Take a torch and spare batteries.
- Take a kanga or a kikoy with you so that when the temperature gets unbearable you can soak it and wrap it around your neck to keep you cool. It also helps when it is very dusty to cover your mouth and nose.
-Laundry is done almost everywhere so you do not need as many clothes as you think and it is certainly not a fashion show.
-Almost everywhere we stayed provided shampoo, conditioner, soap and mosquito spray so you can save weight on not bringing too much of these.
- Stick to the baggage size /weight recommendations if you are in small planes. They really can not take suitcases! Have something different like a bright ribbon on your handle. We saw one group of around 20 all travelling with the same bags that were just like ours!
- Cross pack with someone you are travelling with in case one bag goes missing somewhere!
- Money: Botswana Pula is not available out of the country. There is no cash machine in the new airport at Kasane. There is a cash machine at a shopping strip in Kasane town so your driver may stop for you if you ask. I do not know about Maun. We carried US dollars cash with us for tipping (with a number of small bills for porters) and we carried more than we thought we would need.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
You are streets ahead of the opposition and I recommend you to anyone and everyone. The knowledge of your staff is first-hand and they always take our likes, dislikes and experiences into account when suggesting holidays. Seems simple but not often done!

Your web site is amazing however too many of your description pages that I was browsing now say that the lodge has not been visited since ... (quite a few years ago) I know it is impossible to keep totally up to date but a lot of pages are well past their use by date so maybe time for some more visits to keep your pages up-to-date and the comments relevant. Chris and I will volunteer to help whenever you like! :D

You do not have Aardwolf or Elephants on your San animal list." Read full review: 23 nights in Africa; 14 on a Botswana safari

"A great 70th birthday trip.

Perhaps erred a bit on the luxurious side, but we didn't really complain." Read full review: 33 nights in Africa; 26 on a Namibia trip

"We had a wonderful safari and our love for Botswana is as strong as ever.

Re the camps themselves, the luxury and style we experienced at several (mainly Duba Suites and Mombo) rather eclipsed the feel of being ‘in the bush’. We prefer something more simple - less luxury and less grand accommodation. Therefore we may head off next time to Zambia or Tanzania.

We presume the companies owning the camps are marketing the USA market and that the luxury is designed to attract many first timers who would otherwise not visit. Quite a few guests we met were Americans who had not been to Africa before and just wanted to ‘tick off’ the big five. And not interested in birds or trees/plants. There is a danger of a Disneyland type situation." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 13 on a Botswana safari