Reviews of Splash Camp
Wildlife sightings and reviews
93 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Splash Camp and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
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"Splash Camp review"
The staff were above average in all respects, everyone leaning over backwards to ensure we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.
The guides were extremely knowledgeable.
Good WiFi." See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe
"Splash Camp review"
The chalet was amazing with an indoor and outdoor shower. The rest of the camp was also super. KB and Ob were so much fun as well as well as great at spotting and tracking the animals. I hope we can return and have them again to guide us. We had a short mkoro ride and went on a walk and boat ride with sundowners in the boat" See all these reviews: 7n in Botswana
"Splash Camp review"
My guide was ST and Kerne was my spotter, both were excellent. I shared a vehicle with a couple. The first game drive in the afternoon was exceptional. It started with sighting of a leopard, sable and cheetah. Then we came across sitting in an open area a pack of over thirty wild dog. We watched them and they then got up and all started to walk in the same general direction. Several minutes later the pack started running and entered a clump of trees. We watched as dogs and impala came springing out of the trees in all directions. You could see impala out running the dogs and getting away. Then we saw some dogs catch an impala about a couple of hundred metres away. We got the kill in a few seconds to see several dogs on the kill and others arriving. Within about ten minutes the impala had been devoured. What was particularly interesting was that a few hyenas started to arrive and when the dogs saw them they chased them away. There was a lake close by and crocodiles on smelling blood came out of the water towards the kill. Here again the dogs faced up to the crocodiles and they stopped coming close to the kill.
Through the rest of the stay I had several leopard sightings and many other animals and birds but nothing as dramatic as the first afternoon.
Splash camp offered other activities and I took a trip in a mokoro, a boat trip and a guided nature walk. All additional activities were very enjoyable and were the things which made the visit stand out even more.
The accommodation at Splash camp is at a quite different level to the accommodation I had ever had on a safari. It is more like a permanent bungalow. All the facilities were there at a higher level. It had a beautiful view and one particular extra was wifi in your room.
The food and service by the camp staff was excellent.
The weather is Splash camp was more variable. There was heavy rain one night and it was quite cloudy at times but a bit cooler than earlier in the trip.
There was one minor hiccup when I was taken to the airstrip for my flight back to Maun. The waiting area at one end of the airstrip was occupied by two resting male lions. Hence it was necessary to board the plane at the other end of the airstrip.
In all camps I stayed in on this trip there was a short night drive after sundowners which let you see animals you would normally only see at night." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana
"Splash Camp review"
We had some wonderful sightings at Splash - Lions hunting Buffalo - a full day event, Leopard with prey in a tree, Angolan painted frogs on a mokoro trip, Cheetah on the move and a Kudu, killed by wild dogs and stolen by lions in the camp close to the dining room - our guide and the camp staff handled this extremely well. Bird lifewas wonderful (as it was in Lagoon and Rra Dinare) - a Secretary bird and Malachite Kingfishers to name but 2.
Innocent, Kenson, Kim and Getti looked after us very well in the lodge.
We had some small issues with fellow guests who were sharing our jeep. Some were safari veterans and insisted on the guide accommodating their personal requirements - insisting the guide move on when the majority wanted to observe and see how things developed with a leopard and its prey in a tree (glad the majority view held). Some were probably squeamish - preferring to return to camp for dinner (again pressurising the guide to comply) rather than witnessing the end of a day-long buffalo hunt by lions - a once in a lifetime opportunity. Some were insistent on hogging the best seats in the jeep - everyone else was very happy to rotate but not this particular couple.
This did not detract from the wonderful time we had at Splash. Our guides, (most) of our fellow guests and the camp staff were great, and the wild life excellent." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana; 1n in South Africa
"Splash Camp review"
"Splash Camp review"
Atmosphere not as jolly here. A couple of staff genuinely pleasant, Gift and Innocent.
Mokoro trip very short, but in the safe shallows, apart from seeing some small frogs angolan ridge back etc, not worthwhile. At least the guide had a rifle in case of meeting a hippo.
The weather was particularly hot for two days so siestas were a chance to trying and cool down a bit.
Great spotter, KB, saw the cheetah brothers on my last morning, without seeing any tracks to forewarn us of their return from Khwai concession. A great finish to the safari. Did well tracking/finding leopards as well, one male and one female and had quality time with the female on two visits long to be remembered, along with the sound of her crunching her way through a steenbok's ears!?
Very enjoyable lunch had out in the concession.
Food was variable again. Lamb chops particularly bad. Yet to have Kudu which is delicious, only ever had it in Namibia.
First experience of following three lions tracking and harassing a buffalo. Kept attacking it when the herd allowed. Last seen after 8pm on top of buffalo on the ground trying to further disable it. Achieved the kill overnight, and bare carcass seen the next morning with vultures/yellow billed kites having the last bits. Presumably hyenas had helped the lions strip the carcass so quickly. Three lions would have struggled to eat it all overnight." See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana
"Splash Camp review Good game"
The food was very average, and it seems they hadn't been warned that I preferred not to eat meat. On one particular lunchtime a vegetable lasagne was offered (unfortunately, I don't eat cooked lunch), but apart from that there were no vegetarian dishes and the cooking of side vegetables, with which I would have been happy, left a lot to be desired.
The game, though, was more abundant than at 4 Rivers and I had some good sightings, incluidng a leopard, though it seems that I missed a lot of the excitement of previous days. I was also a little disappointed that the guide didn't seem interested in spotting more birds.
I would say that one highlight was the boat outing." See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana
"Splash Camp review"
Would be good to request a room nearer the main reception as ours was a good hike in sand and our shoes/ feet etc got extremely dirty every time we walked back. We also needed an escort to walk to the far away rooms every night at every camp. Animals were great!
Pride of lions had brought down a giraffe very recently - it was still bloody - and we watched the pride scoffing it - with hyenas, jackals and vultures behind them who were too scared to try and come closer. We also found a pack of wild dogs with puppies and went on the hunt with 3 of them - following at speed in our jeep. Saw them bring down, kill and eat an impala - and then regurgitate the food for the puppies! Also saw 2 cheetah bring down a reedbok - and eat it - but they were too quick in the hunt to video.
Saw lots of animals in general - including an aardwolf, warthogs, striped mongoose, and lots of birds.
Nice place, great room, but long walk to & from reception" See all these reviews: 13n in Botswana
"Splash Camp review"
The landscape was the most varied of the camps we visited, being set on the edge of the flood plains. There was mopane woodland, dry grasslands, flooded plains that the game trucks had to pass though and the Okavango river system with papyrus beds where we viewed the abundant birdlife from a boat with an elevated platform.
And the game experiences - wow! The first highlight was a lion pride (4 adult females and 4 huge sub-adult males) that took a large adult male giraffe on our first day. For the next 2 days we watched as the pride gradually consumed their kill while protecting it from two other huge male lions; it was amazing to follow that level of lion behaviour. We had several leopard sightings, mostly in trees, and we followed a pair of cheetahs at various times over our stay. We saw several lions on every game drive. An aardwolf peeking out from its den was something we had hoped but not expected to see, along with honey badger and African wild cat.
A boat trip, a makoro ride and night safaris added greatly to the safari experience. Being able to drive after dark is essential so you don't have to stop watching something late afternoon when you are a distance from the camp.
But the highlight of the trip, and the most exciting experience of all our safaris was hunting with a pack of wild dogs. The pack had been sighted on the other side of the reserve, so 3 cars set of from Splash mid-afternoon to find them. We gradually tracked them to an open area where they were resting. After watching them for a short time they suddenly got up and began socialising loudly, the 11 pups asking the 16 adults for food. They set off on the hunt and we followed them in the cars. When they found herds of tsessebi, reedbuck and impala the pace suddenly quickened. The pack split between the herds and accelerated, the cars split and followed them at breakneck speed through the flooded plains.
An incredible experience followed as we rushed to chase the successful hunt and watched as the adults gorged on the impala and ran back to regurgitate the food for the pups. An altogether unbelievable experienced that we haven’t seen before even on film. I am sure it could not have been witnessed at any other safari destination, because of the size of pack, ability to drive after dark, the coordination of brilliant guides and the landscape that made it possible to follow.
Splash was altogether a special camp in a wonderful environment staffed by special people. We loved it." See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana
"Splash Camp review"
After long games drives it was difficult to get back to our room for showers as we had to be escorted by our guide who was also tired and had other clients to deal with.
We never sat round the camp fire in the evening as were encouraged to get to bed - again because the guides were tired and wanted to get to bed" See all these reviews: 13n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe
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