Travel reviews by Mr T from Salt Lake City
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
2
Countries visited
2
Lodges stayed in
11
Excursions taken
0
Botswana/Zambia 2019
Botswana and 1 other country between 19 Jun 2019 and 4 Jul 2019

Sable Alley
"Two Nights in June at Sable Alley"

Elephant
10+ sightings

Hippo
10+ sightings

Leopard
2 sightings

Lion
1 sighting

Sable antelope
2 sightings

Wild dog
1 sighting

Wildebeest
1 sighting

Zebra
10+ sightings

Gomoti Plains Camp
"Two Nights at Gomoti Plains in June"
The camp put on an enjoyable outdoor music and dance program, and a wonderful dinner one evening about 3 km from the camp."

Buffalo
3 sightings

Cheetah
3 sightings

Elephant
10+ sightings

Giraffe
9 sightings

Hippo
4 sightings

Lion
2 sightings

Wildebeest
6 sightings

Zebra
10+ sightings

Duba Explorers Camp
"3 Nights at Duba Explorers Camp in Late June"
It felt that the furnishing of the tents was a bit "overboard" attempting to recreate the setting of a camp in Africa many years ago.
Wonderful staff and guide (Matt).
Able to get good photos of malachite kingfishers near camp via mokoro.
Encountered the tail of a leopard, a sleeping cheetah at 40 meters, and large groups of impala and zebra on a walking safari.
Absolutely classic sighting of a leopard on a dead tree branch en route to depart at the air strip."

Buffalo
6 sightings

Cheetah
1 sighting

Elephant
10+ sightings

Giraffe
7 sightings

Hippo
3 sightings

Leopard
1 sighting

Lion
1 sighting

Pangolin
1 sighting

Wild dog
4 sightings

Wildebeest
1 sighting

Zebra
10+ sightings

Avani Victoria Falls
"One Night at Avani Victoria Falls"
Late arrival and early morning departure so we weren't able to do some of the available activities at the hotel."

Mwaleshi Camp
"Three Nights a Mwaleshi in Late June"
We were a group of six. We didn't learn until we arrived at the Mfuwe Airport that we would need to split up into groups of three to fly to the camp in the camp's one airplane. We arrived at Mfuwe just before noon and the second group of three didn't get to the camp until about 4:30 p.m. To access the camp, we waded across the shallow Mwaleshi River which was not difficult.
Saw huge groups of hippos at the confluence of the Mwaleshi and Luangwa Rivers. On a driving safari, we found a pride of lions on the edge of the Mwaleshi River. Most were on the far bank but two females were on our side of the river, and they casually rejoined the rest of the pride by walking across the fairly shallow river. A memorable sighting.
Tafika was very helpful in facilitating our transfer from Mwaleshi to Mwamba via Tafika."

Buffalo
4 sightings

Elephant
6 sightings

Hippo
10+ sightings

Lion
1 sighting

Spotted Hyena
1 sighting

Wildebeest
3 sightings

Zebra
5 sightings

Mwamba Bushcamp
"Three Nights at Mwamba in Early July"
A stunning sighting of herds of eland, wildebeest, and zebra together and a large breeding herd of roan antelope.
A bush camp that is taken down at the beginning of the rainy season and rebuilt in May of the following year!"

Buffalo
5 sightings

Eland
2 sightings

Elephant
10+ sightings

Giraffe
5 sightings

Hippo
10+ sightings

Leopard
2 sightings

Lion
2 sightings

Roan antelope
6 sightings

Spotted Hyena
6 sightings

Wild dog
1 sighting

Wildebeest
5 sightings

Zebra
10+ sightings
June 2016 trip to Zambia and Botswana
Zambia and 1 other country between 7 Jun 2016 and 21 Jun 2016
Almost every game drive resulted in at least one truly memorable event. Most guides were excellent - even remarkable.
We and the three couples that traveled with us loved the entire experience.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Maruska is very capable and pleasant to work with.
The water in the Selinda Spillway was late in arriving this year, so we were slightly disappointed in that fact, but that is not in the control of EA or Selinda Explorers Camp. We loved our stay at Selinda!"
Arranged By Maruska Adye-Rowe

Tafika
"Three nights in June at Tafika"
Highlights of game viewing include a female leopard with a cub and a dead impala in a tree, a rookery of about five large trees filled with yellow-billed storks and their chicks with hungry marabou storks at the base of the tree waiting for scraps dropped by the chicks and a martial eagle attempting to have a chick for lunch, and a huge herd of cape buffalo. We biked with John Coppinger to the nearby Mkasanga School which is partially supported by the Tafika Fund. The children danced and sang for us and a youth choir from the Covenant Church sang and danced for us. Saw many puku antelope.
Seldom encountered vehicles from other camps on game drives.
There were often small frogs, some spiders, a small lizard or two, and some armored crickets (all harmless) in the guest units. They were not a problem for us but some might flinch a bit at such creatures.
We liked the fact that Tafika is a relatively small camp and we very much enjoyed going to Tafika's bush camps across the river - a short boat ride and a walk of about five hours but that could have been shortened if necessary."

Chikoko Tree Camp
"Crocodile Bush Camp [I didn't stay @ Chikoko]"
We had two wonderful nights at CCB. We walked about five hours to get to the camp with an armed and congenial Zambian park ranger in the lead. En route, we walked thru a huge herd of cape buffalo, some zebras, elephants, wart hogs, hippos, birds, giraffes, etc. Many of the rainy season lagoons were dry and absolutely covered with dried mud footprints of elephants and hippos. That made walking a bit challenging but survivable. A pair of walking poles (or two suitable tree branches) would have helped.
The food and accommodations were excellent. Pukus, wart hogs, and elephants right in front of the camp. On one afternoon game walk, we encountered at very close range a pack of wild dogs in hot pursuit of an impala. That was a memorable experience as was the bark of the two of the dogs whose chase we had ruined. On a morning game walk, we saw one eland and a kudu family. That was the only eland of our trip."

Amanzi
"Three nights at Amanzi in June"
On game drives (eight guests per vehicle) we saw many kudu and water bucks, and a sleeping male lion. Two afternoon/evening game "drives" were by boat. We saw goliath herons and the beautiful, diminutive, hard-to-photograph malachite kingfisher. Game sightings were not as frequent as at the other camps we visited.
Food was excellent."

Selinda Explorers Camp
"Three nights in June at Selinda Explorers"
Highlights were: (1) a pack of wild dogs playing together, hunting (without success), and then laying down to rest, (2) a herd of roan antelope, (3) ostriches, (4) a gigantic pride (200+) elephants moving north at sunset, (5) two lion prides, (6) red lechwe, (7) wildebeests, and (8) a "charge" by four elephants led by a notorious, cantankerous elephant with an injured ear. The charge was avoided by Piet's adept driving skills.
The staff was happy, hard working and professional.
The food and guest units were excellent (except the inside of the guest units are not well lit at night as was surely the case in true explorer camps)."

Little Vumbura
"Three nights at Little Vumbura in June"
The most memorable sighting was of a herd of large, beautiful sable antelope.
We had two exciting and informative trips by boat going at fairly high speed through narrow channels between reeds and papyrus along the banks.
The staff was excellent, happy and professional. The food was excellent."
Saw a leopard mother and daughter working on a "stashed" impala for two days. Saw a lone sable whilst having lunch in the camp and a sable family of three arrived concurrent with us at the airstrip as we were leaving Sable Alley."