Travel reviews by Mrs A from Derbyshire

"Kwara was our first camp. We loved our whole experience there. The staff were so friendly and happy and obviously enjoyed their work. They really couldn't do enough for us. As for the food, delicious!

We saw so much wildlife, elephants in camp, at night munching right next to our tent and then watching it amble off with the moonlight providing a backdrop of the grass plains stretching out behind him. Our first night drive we encountered a big male leopard, precious seconds viewing before he slinked mysteriously away. Another highlight was the den of wild dogs and we got some great sightings. Our guide and tracker, Bate and Master, were two of the best. They were brilliant and actively tracked the wildlife with a passion, providing us details and information that enhanced our appreciation for these experiences.

Yes the accommodation was slightly tired and probably ready for renovation but we liked the rustic aspect of it and in no way did that detract from our experience at Kwara. Thank you."

"Enjoyed our stay at Lebala, a very different area from Kwara, I don,t think that the game was in such high concentration here but we did have an amazing sighting of a lion, battle scarred, from defending his feeding on a female elephant that had probably died of natural causes.

The manager of the camp, I think his name was Duke, was extremely knowledgeable regarding the ecology of the area and we did think it might be interesting to be given a short talk about our surroundings as we found here that our guide was not particularly forthcoming. We still enjoyed our visit, the food was excellent and we enjoyed the local singing and dancing very much.

Our accommodation was lovely although we felt the chalet tents were a little close to our neighbors and didn't afford much privacy as you could hear practically everything from conversation to bathroom ablutions!"

"Footsteps was totally amazing. We found that the smaller the camps were, the better the experience, and we liked the more rustic aspect.

The bucket shower was something we had never experienced before and perfectly adequate. Again Oscar the elephant, who considered the campsite as his territory, was very entertaining, although our guide always was very cautious and watchful of Oscars antics. Oscar tried to get into our hammock but only succeeded in putting one foot thankfully and that nearly brought a tree down!

Here we heard majestic roaring of lions at night and we were taken by jeep to see one in all his glory at close quarters! He looked magnificent, in the moonlight, stretched out upon a mound surveying his domain and roaring to call his companions of three other males who worked together hunting. As with most of the animals in Botswana, he was a picture of health!

OP and his trainee guides made so many interesting observations and basically taught us so much Africa although we realize that we have not even scratched the surface of this wonderful country.

On the whole Footsteps and Kwara were definitely our favourite camps."

"We enjoyed Shinde. The accommodation was very comfortable with all our needs catered for. We particularly enjoyed being brought an early morning cup of tea. The staff were friendly and helpful. The food was also good.

We found the landscape very appealing with expanses of open grassland and the view from our tent was great.

The first day we arrived we were taken out on a motorized boat. We were accompanied by one guide. The guide took us into a very shallow area and the propeller became entangled with weeds and clogged up with thick mud, the motor very quickly overheated with the frantic efforts of the guide to try and disentangle us. This went on for a considerable amount of time, we even had our sundowner whilst waiting for the engine to cool! Eventually we suggested that the guide ought to radio in and let the camp know where we were situated, I felt very vulnerable and was thankful no hippos or crocs appeared as we would have been sitting ducks. We did actually manage to limp home but the engine was damaged and it wasn't an experience that I'd care to repeat.

In saying that we did have some amazing game experiences at Shinde. The best of which involved a leopardess, who posed quite regally for us in a tree for a considerable length of time enabling us to get some great shots.

I think in conclusion we overall enjoyed our time at Shinde, every camp we stayed at had something amazing to offer. The vehicles used by Kwando seemed superior to those used by Ker and Downy. Kwando Jeeps had 3 sets of seat and 2 people could sit together whereas K and D,s vehicles only had 2 sets which meant 3 people sharing. The Kwando vehicles also had a longer wheelbase and therefore were nothing like as bumpy as K and D's.

At Shinde, as noted by the above experience on water where only one guide accompanied us, it also applied in the jeep with one guide and no tracker. At Kwara we always had a guide and a tracker both in the vehicle and on the motorized boat. This felt a much more satisfactory and safer arrangement!"