We are delighted to have been in the African bush without a mask and to have enjoyed the wonderful experience that is being "on safari". All the arrangements went smoothly from the time we arrived in SA, through to our return - thank you, Michelle. We were allocated very experienced guides in every camp who all told us, that this was essential given our experience and Raj’s knowledge!
We did okay at Kanga, but the game was limited to the waterhole and two nights would have been enough The facilities and services were adequate but simple - Joyce was a nice camp manager, Cliffy an obliging guide and Bread a good waiter. We could see they were hopeful that tourists would soon return in their numbers. The thicket makes it very difficult to track or see game outside the waterhole, there are Tsetse flies and the accommodation is rustic. Their resident dogs had long gone.
Mana Pools is beautiful and the Vundu concession is one of the more beautiful parts of it. We had a wonderful time up close with Boswell, Tusker and a flock of Carmine bee eaters which were nesting. Sunset cruising on the Zambesi was magical with so few tourists around. We were impressed wth the high standard of guides at Vundu: from Freedom, (who really knew his biology), and Mitch (who Nick passed us onto for the fourth and fifth days). Nick himself was great, if a little distracted by the BBC film crew who were getting increasingly stressed with the dogs not there. Nick was always professional.
I’m sure we would have been fine with Vundu if we had seen the dogs, but unfortunately they had disappeared for 9 days including the 5 we were there. According to Nick, there would have been less risk of absent dogs if we had come at the end of July, or the beginning of August, when the dogs were denning. The pups had been out and away for 3-4 weeks. That said, the dogs were usually there at this time but had been scared off by hyena - such is the wild.
The beautiful Somalisa was a relief: large modern rooms, large with private decks and thoughtfully appointed for guest comfort and convenience - not grand or colonial like Great Plains’ Zarafa, and I liked them better... and of course they are much better value! Even though it was busier, I could have done 5 days there. We needed the bath every afternoon to cool off. There was much wider selection at meal times and more service staff. We saw 1000 elephant everyday come to the waterhole in front of the main deck confirming that Zimbabwe had provided our best elephant sightings. (We’d had excellent sightings of elephant at Kanga and Vundu too). Mike was our experienced guide.
We are pleased we went to the spectacular Vic Falls and liked Fred, the guy from ABC who did our transfers. He agreed to take us to the Falls at 6.00am and with only one other couple there, it was an intimate experience. He also organised a sunset boat cruise for us last night. The PCR test was super efficient with results back in 2 hours.
We are off to the airport and to plan our next trip to see cats…. and dogs. Enough of elephants for awhile!
