Reviews of safaris to Kwando-Linyanti area

"This was our first trip to Africa and we had only a vague idea of what to expect. The whole trip was fabulous. All the arrangements worked. All the staff were friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. All the accomodation was lovely. Even the basic camp on Mboma island was a hoot.

Although we are not birdwatchers, the array of birds pointed out by the guides and spotted by us has made us keen twitchers. Binocculrs are a must. Enjoyed all the food, even the more exotic. The night skies were a treat.

We were a bit surprised to find how cool it was in the early mornings and after sunset and found the ponchos and hot water bottles very useful. Loved the daily sundowner routine. Our highlight was coming upon a cheetah in the early morning and following it for 45mts. There was nobdy else around.

The ballon flight was great fun. skillfully managed by pilot and support staff.

Suggestions for improvements:

I think the way we did ie(Livingstone-Chobe-Linyanti-Khwai) was good. Took too many evening clothes and not enough warm clothes. Picking up the luggage at Jo'burg everytime was a bore and it would be nice to be able trust the security enough to not have to do it. The singing and dancing from the staff at the lodges was hugely enjoyable.

We did spend a lot of time travelling after we left Maun and the drive to and from Kulala was tedious and stressful in parts. Would have preferred a day each in Maun and Windhoek and possibly flown to Kulala as other guests did. The river was ok but could have given it a miss. Overall, it was a fantastic experience which we will recommend to friends" Read full review: 19 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"It was our 3rd safari experience and it was everything we hoped it would be

Suggestions for improvement:

Although your pre trip information was excellent I wish someone had reinforced how little we needed in the way of clothes. Because there was no need or time to change for dinner we could have left a lot of our clothes at home. We really didn't need our 20 kg" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"Overall my trip was a great experience and I have many fond memories of my time there and all the truly wonderful people I met and became friends with.

Suggestions for improvements:

Not really any I can think of!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 10 on a Botswana safari

"FANTASTIC EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!

After just 24h in th bush it felt as if we had been away from the humdrum of UK life for an age. We have rarely experienced service as good as that provided by Wilderness staff anywhere in the world and would recommend the company very highly to other travellers. We will definiteley book another holiday in Africa in the future.

Suggestions for improvements:

Keep it up! Excellent in all respects." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 9 on a Botswana safari

"It was a dream come true.

Everyone seemed out to make it the holiday of a life-time for us. Despite the fact that they are meeting 'first-timers' every day they shared our enjoyment afresh. That's camp staff, guides, transfer drivers, everyone we met. Thanks a million to them all." Read full review: 39 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"The most incredible journey even for the seasoned traveller who wants a little comfort and luxury. In hindsight, with the small-spotted genet safari, 3 nights were needed at Kwara (could I be greedy and say 4)? I intend to put that right in the future.

The perfect short trip and one that I could highly recommend." Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"Our expectations wre totally met and more.

Suggestions for improvement:

we would certainly like to thank Sabina for her help. Having done three trips previously we knew what we wanted and some of Sabina's suggestions turned out to be great." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"This was our forth trip to southern Africa. It was undoubtedly the best for animal sightings. It was more restricting than driving ourselves around Etosha or the Kalagadi or being driven around Etosha from Ongava in that there is nothing to do between 1100 and 1600. The six people to a vehicle at Kwando is very bad, fortunatel we only had that happen three times in 18 drives so it wasn't too bad. However if we had been there when the camps were full it would have definitely spoilt the holiday.

Salinda, I'm told. have three seats down either side of the vehicle and all other camps we have stayed at have three rows of seats. Apart from being cramped the person in the centre of the three can't see very much as their side view is restricted and those in the second row have forward vision restricted as well.

The Kwando vehicle seating is the only real complaint of the whole trip. The Kwando experience was really fantastic we saw just about every animal we wanted to see, the only exceptions were cheetah and leopard cubs! We would certainly recommend the Kwando circuit to any one, especially Kwara. I think that three nights at each camp is the minimum one should have and we would have been happy with five nights at Kwara. If we were to go back to northern Botswana we would certainly go to Kwara but probably not Lagoon and Lebala.

Baines, whilst not e real dissappointment, was not in the same league a the others. It may be that had we done Baines first we would have felt differently but the guides we had weren't upto Kwado standards and there didn't seem to be enough land to visit different areas on different drives." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"I read once that a trip to the African bush puts a mirror up to the soul, its teaches you about yourself, in away thats not possible in the city.

I hope that I can discover more of both very soon.
In the mean time I have some great photographs to remember this trip, until my next venture.

Thank you." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 7 on a Botswana safari

"Because we were traveling on our own to Livingstone, Zambia prior to the start of our Botswana adventure we needed to make arrangements to travel from Livingstone to Kasane, Botswana and back again by ground transport. These arrangements were initially a concern for us as they required car transfers, boat transfers and meeting up with our scheduled flights to the camps. But these details were planned and arranged without complication helping to begin and end our trip on a positive note especially considering the many things that can potentially go wrong when crossing borders in Africa and using multiple forms of transport!

November is considered a shoulder season in Botswana and thus the costs are usually a bit lower. But this is because it is also the start of the rainy season. Weather is obviously beyond the control of any planning and if you travel during this time you must plan for possible rain (Of course it could just as easily start earlier or later). In our case the first rains happened to occur on November 4th, the night before we arrived in Botswana. Nearly every day there was at least overcast and the threat of rain for some portion of the day with occasional light showers on several occasions. We were prepared for this and it did not dampen our enthusiasm for our trip. If you travel during this time you should be prepared for this possibility too.

Kwando provides nice ponchos on every game drive but it is recommended you carry at least a light or medium weight jacket and personal rain gear as desired as it is surprising how quickly one can get cold in a moving vehicle once you get a little wet, and especially in the evening, even when it had been 90+ degrees earlier in the day. That all said we had only one game drive that was significantly impacted by rain enough to return to camp and most game drives had little or no rain. Game remained plentiful during our visit.

Laundry service is available in each camp but drying is at the mercy of the weather so keep that in mind. At our last stop in Kwara things never really got dry (towels, socks, shoes) even though it didn't rain all that much. Can't imagine what it might be like at the height of the rainy season!

Kwando uses custom safari vehicles that are completely open (no roof, canvas or otherwise). This is absolutely fantastic for photography but be advised it provides no protection from rain or the sun. So bring sunscreen, hats and long pants and long sleeve shirts if sun exposure is a concern for you as it was for me. The vehicles have 2 rows of seats with room for 3 people in each row. If you happen to get lucky and have only four passengers in the vehicle this is very comfortable and great for amateur photographers like myself who bring way too much gear! If you have 5 or 6 it is not quite so great especially for the person in the middle particularly if they are an avid photographer. Each vehicle has both a guide and a tracker which is an excellent luxury to have for game spotting.

Suggestions for improvement:

The superb Expert Africa website was what first drew me to the company and contributed to my booking with Expert Africa despite being from the US. This feedback form is a nice feature although it tends to time out quickly if you tend to be overly long winded with comments as I am! I suggest you write and save your comments elsewhere and then cut and paste to this from when you are ready." Read full review: 8 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari