Reviews of Selinda Camp
(96%) From 66 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Hippo Heaven at Selinda
This camp is fabulously run by Lizzie and her Team. We stayed here 3 nights and the service from everyone was exemplary. It is not service by rote, the service experienced is both personal and flexible. We had a member of our party ill and they took care of her; we wanted a private dinner and they took care of that. Nothing it appeared was too much trouble!
Game viewing here was excellent especially of Leopard and Cheetah. However our favourite moment was that of the Honey Badger scuttling down the track in front of us, snarling as he went. Donald our guide was excellent and worked out the dynamics of our group, likes etc very quickly.
Food here was excellent and it is a lovely touch to be able to go to the cellar and choose your own wine for the evening.
Tents are comfortable and the hippos come up very close and personal at night, so close it feels like they are just about to come into your tent!
Selinda Camp review
Lizzy at Selinda made everyone feel welcome and went out of her way while I was sick to help out!!
Great camp for photography.
Great stay at Selinda
Excellent management team who worked hard to keep all the guests happy.
Food was OK although not always hot. We had Donald as our guide - top class. Transfer from Maun took longer than expected as we stopped on the way at Duba Plains. We did a drive on the way from the airstrip which meant it was dark when we got to our tent; we woiuld have liked the option of brighter lighting in the tent. Heard but never saw the hippos.
No "big" game (no leopards, cheetahs, buffalo, rhino) but interesting "small" encounters - a troupe of baboons sharing the waterhole with a warthog; two male warthogs fighting (REALLY fighting); roan antelope; brief encounter with 4 wild dogs (disappointing not to see more given reports from Selinda earlier in the year); close encounter with a herd of about 50 eles.
Selinda Camp review
On the edge of the Okavango Delta, so a different kind of experience, but still very interesting. Fewer animals.
Read more about the whole safariBeautiful Selinda
This was our second stay at Selinda and we were not disappointed.
The camp itself is lovely and the staff are fantastic. They seemed the most genuine and friendly staff of all the camps we stayed at on our trip . Easy to talk to (and that wasn't just the managers), attentive but in a very unobtrusive way. Plus the food was excellent as on our previous trip.
We liked the fact that our activities were varied. Our guide was Joseph and he was knowledgeable and keen to answer questions. He wanted us to have a varied time in camp so as well as our game drives, we went out on a boat trip and did a walking safari. Both different but very interesting.
It was a very hot time of year to visit (which we were prepared for) which meant very early starts but a longer break in camp during the heat of the day. Getting up that early was a great time to see the game and we had some fantastic sightings. Masses of elephants, leopard, lions, hippos, lechwe, buffalo, kudu, giraffe, water hogs, impala of course. We also saw 2 new animals for us one evening - a serval and an aardwolf. Plus wild dog with 6 tiny pups who were a lot of fun to observe.
I think our favourite sighting was out on the boat very early one morning. We came across 4 lionesses who wanted to swim across the channel. A hippo came charging out of the water to scare them off but they were very determined. They moved further down the bank and then started swimming. It was a deep channel and a long swim - they were amazing swimmers and it was something our guide had only seen once himself before. It was a wonderful few minutes and we took a lot of photos.
Selinda Camp review
This was our favourite camp. The right side of luxurious without being over the top. The view from our tent was utterly breathtaking. The management team, especially Lizzie and Dave, were very friendly and welcoming. The food was of a phenomenally high standard, as was the guiding. Koop, our guide, worked very hard and helped us to experience some terrific wildlife viewing.
For example, on our final morning we watched dogs with pups, hyenas fighting over a carcass, three buffalo crossing the spillway, a leopard eating a buffalo calf and also found a leopard up a tree.
A delightful experience.
Selinda Camp Experience touched our souls
We love Botswana, and on every level this was a fantastic beginning to tented camp experience & 1st trip to Africa. Couldn't believe how much wildlife we & our 2 friends saw--beginning within 2 minutes on the drive from airstrip to camp & in our 1st afternoon drive. By the end of our next morning drive, we had close up viewings of every animal I had hoped for & more -- Among other things, we were very fortunate to follow a pack of 5 wild dogs. Our guide, KB was terrific-- experienced, informative, & loads of fun.
Only stayed 2 days & were still experiencing jet lag--another day would have been perfect. (Megan advised us that stays should be no less than 3 days but our schedule didn't allow for that.) If we're ever so lucky as to return to Botswana, Selinda would be a must.
Selinda Camp review
Our game drive guide Mots was also very good and found use a leopard and lots of good views of lion, antelope, birds and elephant.
Selinda Camp was very luxurious and the staff were excellent. The managers John and Liz anticipated our every want and were very thorough and kind.
We really enjoyed our stay
Selinda Camp review
The camp is in a beautiful setting and we had the honeymoon suite which was extremely comfortable. It was nice to see a herd of elephants walking around and through the camp. Personally for us, we felt that the camp was slightly too big, and that eating as a large group of 17 guests plus staff around a huge circular table did not work. Unlike at Stanley's camp where you were very discretely asked what your dinner choice was, here you were asked in front of everyone.
Dinner could be served slightly earlier as soon as dessert had been served, there was a rush of people wanting to be escorted back to their rooms.
However it is difficult to judge a camp when you are there for only a day as they all have their own character. Our highlight was seeing the Selinda pride of lions feasting on a buffalo.
Expert Africa comments
After writing this, these travellers contacted us to put their comments about Selinda Camp into context.
They observed that they came here from a very small, intimate camp (on the Selinda Canoe Trail) where they'd spent three days with just four other guests. So they commented that after such an intimate experience, they found it a bit difficult to re-adjust to a bigger camp with more guests - especially with such a short stay here.
Selinda - the roar of the lions.
Fantastic low flight over swamps, rivers and spillway meant we could see herds of elephant and buffalo and birds below us. Beautiful contrasting scenery: dry grasslands, dead trees, brilliant green pastures and the blue water slipways: great for photography.
On our first afternoon drive we came on a family of lions with 3 cubs: when a lone and magnificent intruder lion arrived the family set up a roar to let him know that he was on their territory. To name a few other animals we saw: incredible herds of zebra, buffalo, wildebeest and red lechwe all together in the same grazing area! A pack of wild dogs drinking, hyaena bathing, red lechwe, tsessebe and herds of elephant. Red crested Korhaan (the suicide bird) and the Umbrella bird were just two that we saw.
Beautiful camp site set on waters edge and tents of wood and thatch. The all-local managers, staff and guides were fantastic and we had some great talks round the table and the campfire about life in Botswana. Food was magnificent -everything homemade including bread and cakes - don't know how they manage to do it with only one delivery a week! They also dance and sing very well!
