Liselle’s clients had a great a holiday in South Africa and safari in Botswana. They stay at The Peermont Metcourt, Camp Moremi, Xugana, Ilala Lodge, Arathusa & African Elite Properties.
Liselle,
Sorry for the late reply, it’s been a busy week settling back into “normal” life. Thanks for all of your help and the trip was simply amazing!!!
Everything went very smoothly and I’ll provide more thoughts on the accommodations below. We definitely enjoyed the Botswana experience more than Sabi Sands – we tried to figure out whether we were simply jaded b/c Botswana was the first experience and there is something about seeing an elephant/lion/etc. in the wild for the first time. But ultimately, the camps in Botswana, the staff at the camps, and the other guests just felt more genuine than Sabi Sands. In talking to others at the Botswana camps who had done safaris in South Africa, they expressed similar sentiments.
In short, I would definitely encourage anyone interested in a safari to consider Botswana !!! The camps were amazing; the animal viewings were great; but there is just something a bit more special about the staff and the experience. Victoria Falls was also great – although I don’t think you can truly understand how incredible the falls are without doing a helicopter ride over them. They simply are too large to grasp without being up in the air.
Accommodations:
1. Camp Moremi – beautiful camp and wonderful staff/food. We loved the remoteness of the area and had great animal viewings. This was the only one of the three camps where the bathroom was not directly attached to the bedroom area – they were two separate buildings connected by a walkway. I actually liked that – but I could see that being an issue for some folks as it was a little creepy to walk outside to the bathroom in the middle of the night with all the strange animal noises! Overall, of the three camps (from a pure lodging perspective vs. a holistic experience) we would rank this as #3.
2. Xugana Island – This is just a special place. Although the staff was not quite a friendly as they had been at Moremi, the setting of this camp more than made up for it. It is such a different experience from the normal jeep safaris and we absolutely loved it. Given that all of the safaris were on boats at this camp, I do think 2 nights is sufficient unless someone really is just looking for solitude. The lodging here is also spectacular and we would rank this as #1 of the three we visited.
3. Ilala Lodge – great find. Most people had never heard of this hotel that we asked along the way – but the ones who had heard of it considered it a secret gem. Not sure why it doesn’t get more publicity – but we loved it there. Great room, great location. Several other folks we met in Vic Falls stayed in lodges pretty far outside the actual city – for us, we were so glad we were staying rightr in the heart of it all.
4. Peermont Metcourt – Despite spending two nights in Johannesburg, we never really got to see anything – which is expected given our late arrivals and early next morning departures. For a lay-over, the Emperor’s Palace was a good place to be – plenty of restaurants and even a movie theatre and casino. Nothing too exciting about the hotel itself (although the breakfast was really good), but convenient and easy – plus having the Emperor’s Palace nearby provided enough entertainment for a couple of short evenings.
5. Arathusa Safari – great accommodations and the best animal viewing we saw. We stayed 3 nights here – probably could have done with just 2 nights like the other 2 lodges – but we thoroughly enjoyed this facility as well.
6. African Elite Properties – our apartment here was insanely beautiful and overwhelmingly exceeded our expectations. We had amazing views and were in a great location that allowed us very easily to walk to most places we wanted to go. The staff at African Elite Properties were so nice (a concern we had given that it wasn’t an actual hotel) and even though our flight didn’t leave until 11:20 pm on our last night there, they allowed us to stay in the apartment without any issues until we left for the airport late in the evening.
Overall, great itinerary and selection of lodges/hotels. Just a couple of thoughts we had regarding things that maybe could have been done differently:
That’s it. Everything went so smoothly the entire 2 plus weeks!! Thanks again for all of your help!!!!!
Lawrence
