 On safari: wildlife and nature photos |
 | RATING MY SAFARIS A personal view |
| I rate all eight of my safaris highly, because none disappointed me. But some were better than others for various reasons, and I will mark them here with points out of 10 and a short description. The list is in chronological order. |
| My emphasis is on the wildlife/nature experience, not on such things as the cost and comfort of the accommodation and the standard of the meals. People mainly interested in the kind of lodge luxury more likely to be encountered in high profile tourist areas should read no further. At no time, though, have I experienced significant discomfort, physical, gastronomic or other, that I could actually blame on any safari camp. |
| I've read plenty of warnings in online travel forums about bumpy, dusty roads, heat and cold, insects and so on, but such complaints are in the realm of the pampered traveller. Those who welcome hot-water bottles in their camp beds, air-conditioning in tents, even mobile phone and internet access, and devote much of their trip reports to opulent menus and camp furnishings don't belong in my safari world. |
| THE TEXT CONTAINS LINKS TO RESPECTIVE PAGES OF THE SITE |
| Here's the rundown: |
| 1996, BOTSWANA-ZIMBABWE. Okavango Delta (Mombo Trails and Xigera camps), Linyanti region (Savuti camp), Chobe River, Victoria Falls, Matobo Hills |
7.75 points. So good that it might have rated 10 at the time, but it's been overtaken by
later experiences. The highlights were at Mombo Trails, then a modest little brother to the main Mombo camp.
Both camps were relocated and upgraded a little later, and Mombo became what some regard as the over-the-top
flagship of Wilderness Safaris in Botswana in cost and appointments. Witnessing a cheetah run down and kill
its prey, lions stealing a kill from other cheetahs, and wild dogs at their den in the first two days of
one's first safari are experiences that many safari-goers don't have  Mombo Trails tent-- simple but spacious |
| in repeated visits to Africa. Xigera camp, in an area of permanent water and therefore with such activities as mokoro voyages and island walks, was a must for somebody going to the delta. This safari finished with an anti-climactic stay at a touristy lodge in the Matobo Hills in southern Zimbabwe-- scenically and historically interesting but wildlife-poor (though I glimpsed white rhino and a distant leopard). |
| 1997, KENYA. Mobile camps, Samburu and Masai Mara National Reserves; The Ark lodge in the Aberdare Range; and Delamere's Camp (lodge) at Lake Elmenteita in the Rift Valley |
| 7.25 points. The Samburu and Mara experiences were by far the best, although my stay was too early to see the spectacular wildebeest-zebra migration in the Mara. |
 Eating out on the Masai Mara | The highlights were elephant sightings in Samburu NR, and leopard and cheetah sightings in the Mara. Our camps were small and private, a huge blessing, but we couldn't entirely avoid the traffic jams of vehicles at wildlife sightings, the affliction of many safaris in high profile areas. The Ark experience was spoiled by tourists' noisy children. This was the only safari in which I suffered an 'upset tummy', a giardia infection which I probably picked up in Nairobi before going bush. |
| 1998, ZIMBABWE. Walking safari with mobile camps in Chizarira, Hwange and Zambezi National Parks |
7.75 points. Light on wildlife at times, but still the experience of a lifetime-- walking in remote wilderness up to 30km a day for a total of about 170km, trying to encounter and watch dangerous animals on foot. Chizarira is rugged country, with a high escarpment overlooking Lake Kariba. We did meet elephants,
got very close to a black rhino, saw wild dogs at their den, and tracked lions without success. The rhino was in
thick bush; we saw it, but it didn't see us. Also in thick bush, heard but not seen, were giraffes which kept
noisily moving ahead of us. Chizarira no longer appears safe for walking safaris, because of armed poachers in Zimbabwe's troubled times.  Walking in rugged Chizarira NP |
| 2000, BOTSWANA. The Selinda Reserve, in the Linyanti region north of the Okavango Delta. Permanent 'tented camps' and trails camps |
| 8 points. The start of a love affair with this remote part of Botswana. Yvonne and I stayed at Selinda and Zibalianja camps, and walked with armed guide and tracker to the Mokoba and Tshwene trails camps. We met the magnificent Selinda and Bridge |
 A palm island at sunset, Selinda | prides, were enchanted by the lion cubs which were soon to be struck down by an apparently natural tragedy. The story can be accessed at The Lions of Selinda. We also had our first encounters with the famed three cheetah 'brothers' of the Linyanti region. This landscape captivated us (just as I was captivated by the Mombo landscape four years before)...the yellow floodplain grassland dotted with palm islands and criss-crossed by the trails of elephant, giraffe, zebra and antelope which drank from Zibalianja lagoon and the Selinda spillway. |
| 2002, BOTSWANA. Selinda Reserve |
| 8.5 points. Selinda camp. We would have returned anyway, I suspect, but we went back especially to see the recovered Selinda pride, which had suffered so badly just a short time after our first visit. Not only did we have marvellous sightings |
 A morning break in the bush | of the pride, but we also saw much of the Selinda wild dog pack, the three cheetah brothers on a kill, a cheetah with her cub, and leopards. This visit was also notable because, less than a year after 9/11, safari operators were short of clients, and we had the whole camp (capacity 12 guests) to ourselves for a day or two. With our guide, we spent much time seeking out birdlife rather than concentrating on the big mammals which so many other safari-goers prefer. |
| 2004, BOTSWANA. Selinda Reserve |
7.75 points. Selinda camp. The Selinda pride had come upon bad times and was much diminished, and wildlife in general
was more scattered and harder to see because of an exceptional rainy season early in the year. Still, Selinda didn't
let us down, and highlights included the three brothers having a hunt sabotaged by a baboon, a leopard on a kill, and
a lioness suffering fatal wounds inflicted by a buffalo. Water moving into long-dry sections of the Selinda spillway
afforded us the special sight of the three cheetahs having to sprint across the shallow waterway to continue their
wanderings.
 Selinda- canvas under thatch ŠYvonne Milbank |
| 2005, BOTSWANA. Selinda Reserve, Kwando Reserve |
| 9 points. We stayed at Selinda and Zibalianja camps, and Lagoon camp in Kwando Reserve. In a nutshell, our best safari photographically, with fine lion, cheetah, elephant,leopard and wild dog sightings. Features were lions and cheetahs hunting and killing, many buffalo on the move, and elephants converging on the flooded spillway in large numbers nearly every day. Kwando is Selinda's northern neighbour, so we took the opportunity to transfer between the two reserves by vehicle...tiring drives on sometimes deep sandy tracks, but better than air transfers to appreciate the landscape. This was the end of an era, for ownership of the Selinda concession |
 Herds gather, Selinda spillway | was changing hands. The new owners were to close the small, intimate (and to us, very lovable) Zibalianja camp and replace it with a luxurious, expensive camp in a new location. Selinda camp also was upgraded and made more expensive to stay, as the new owners appeared to target an upmarket class of clientele. We haven't returned. Coincidentally, reports suggest wildlife viewing has not been as good-- possibly a cyclical thing, maybe the result of greater inundation of the floodplain which is the heart of this area. |
| 2008, ZAMBIA. Mwamba and Kaingo camps, South Luangwa National Park |
| 8 points. Mwamba is an idyllic small camp (only six guests) with its natural-material chalets and other buildings having to be pulled down every year because of rainy season flooding. Kaingo is twice as big, with more permanent structures overlooking the Luangwa River, but still closed every wet season. The country is beautiful, with no shortage of wildlife-- most of the usual suspects, though cheetah are absent. We spent most of our time here by design at Mwamba camp, for as three couples we had it to ourselves. Like the old Zibalianja camp, it has the simple intimacy that we find so enjoyable. This safari would have rated higher if we'd had better luck with the local lion prides and leopards. We saw them, but not enough. But that's the way of my kind of safari. I always say there's something unnatural about finding the big spectacular critters behind every bush. Features of these camps are the well-placed photographic hides with wonderful views of elephants, hippos, carmine bee-eater nesting holes, and wildlife drinking spots. |
 Luangwa River from Kaingo camp |  Mwamba chalet ŠYvonne Milbank |
| TO SUM UP: It's evident that I regard Botswana as the best safari destination, and my experience puts the Linyanti region at the top of the pile. Of course other people feel differently, and I could be persuaded by other destinations. North Luangwa National Park in Zambia, and the Selous Game Reserve and Ruaha National Park in Tanzania come to mind; Selous has long tempted me, and emerging Gabon is intriguing. I probably won't be enticed by Tanzania's northern circuit or by Kenya again, nor by South Africa's Kruger National Park and its attached private areas, as they of necessity are heavily managed or have too high a tourist profile, or both. It seems to me that if an area has to be strongly managed, its time as a true wild place is up. |
Back to top
 |