Natasha’s repeat guest always knows exactly what she wants from her safari experience, and certainly has her list of favourite lodges. It’s a simple case of getting Natasha to book her required camps and lodges; and the occasional recommendation from Natasha. Linda chose to stay at the luxurious Kanana Camp in the Okavango Delta, the family friendly Camp Okuti in Moremi Game Reserve , and the contrasting Dinaka Camp in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Linda spent 3 nights at each camp and even enjoyed a private bush dinner for the two people, courtesy of Camp Okuti.
Here is their feedback :
Hi Natasha,
Sorry for my late reply. We had a wonderful and always amazing trip Botswana Safari! Ker and Downey’s three camps are all good. We love Dinaka and would say many goods things about it.
Dinaka is less visited by tourists at the time when we were there, we even have the camp all to ourselves for just one day…..There are a family of four honey badgers that live under the main raised deck. During that night when only two of us were around they came out to the dining hall to play, they chewed the carpet, hop on to the sofa…..interact with Joanne and myself. When we turned our heads to the right to say hi one looked at us and turned his head to the same direction! When we turned to the left he did the same, It was trully amazing!
I am sure you will agree with me that it is not that easy to see a wild honeybadger in the wild, but that we saw all four and played with them!
However, during the 2nd night a family with 2 kids moved in, due to the increased noises they did not come out anymore….
We must return to this camp, just for these honeybadger residents in the camp!
We need to mention the sleep out experience, I would recommend this to anyone visiting this camp. Kanana also offered the sleep out but then the sky is clearer in the desert, and the star gazing is impeccable! It was a little cold and we asked for more bush babies (hot water bottles), I wore 2 pair of socks, 2 long sleeve t shirts, one fleece pullover, 2 pair of pants and 2 hats, and I put on a badana on my face to avoid having frozen nose. It was 2 degrees but there were no wind, so…no problem sleeping. I woke up at around 3am and watched the shooting stars, the galaxy, I saw Saturn, Mars, and the Southern Cross. I would no doubt do this again in the future.
All three camps have observed our diets well, and they are very willing to arrange anything we asked. Joanne and I wished to stay in the room that is farthest from the main area., so that we could have the maximum privacy and perhaps a chance to observe wild animals passing through, they have gladly changed our rooms to the farthest one.
Because we are returning guests to Kanana, Okuti arranged a private bush dinner for the two of us on a raised deck. Champagne in our room.
The food was great, the guides are all good and very friendly. The Mokorro man who took us on a mokorro ride in 2014 is now a proper guide, and he is our guide too. He is the only person that is left in Kanana since 2014. We tipped all of them generously….They deserved it!
I may not go back to Okuti, it is not because it is not good there, Moremi Reserve is not a private concession and there are rules on hours of visit, and we cannot drive off road. There are too many camps near Okuti, Camp Moremi and Camp Okavango are right next to Okuti, there are too many vehicles. Often when the guides heard something on the radio they would all go to the same place to see the lions for example. There are also camping area and many self drive tourist from south africa.
We saw the wild dogs clan in Okuti, the area is well protected, there are even cameras there to make sure we do not disturb them by getting too near! The pups are just a few months old and they would come out to play for a while and parents would rush them back to the den. This may not be the best place to see the dogs due to the bushes around, ( we think Chitabe is the best area to see wild dogs), but it is still lovely, long drive from the camp though…
We sited 103 spcies of birds this time, even more than the 84 species in September 2019.
There is something else I need to mention, when we are up in the air on our Cessna, we are shocked to find that there are no water in Kanana region, this is because of not enough rain last year, the whole area that used to be surrounded by water is very dry. so we cannot see any reef or frogs. We can still do Mokorro ride but there are no motor activites in Kanana.we can only do Motorboat in Okuti, in the permanent changgel which is always flooded.
We saw something extraordinary, the sitatunga were very close to our mokorro boats eating the grass. The antelope is a very shy animal and I have never seen them at such a close distance! Everyday is a new experience for us, Africa is always our number one destination!
Sitatunga and the honeybadgers are 6 stars attractions! We are no longer lion and cheetah chasers after been to so many safari trips, we love to see little things… Thank you for our Botswana Safari.
Please let me work on my photos, and I will send some worthy ones to you….
I am already thinking about our next trip to Liuwa Plain, Zambia. Can you suggest on the time of visit and flights in and out, I think there is only one camp there run by Norman Karr, I do wanted to combine Korfu and Liuwa and was old that all flights have to be from Livingstone even though the two parks are quite close to each other.
Talk to you soon, have to rush today.
Linda
