Hello FT'ers

I am thinking of planning a trip to Namibia and Botswana in Late Dec/Early Jan for two weeks. I have spend a fair amount of time traveling East/Central and South Africa and am looking for some advice about a trip. I will be taking my 66 year old mother on the trip and looking for something low key (Read no car camping) and priced in the mid/high range.
My experience with East Africa was hiring a guide and we self drove SA. We would like to have a safari and hit the major parks. Etosha, Chobe and the Delta.
Can this be done in two weeks? Anyone know a good outfitter? Any other things not to miss in these areas. I know that two weeks is short, but the key here is to see animals and give my mom a trip of a lifetime.
Thank you!

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Drunkmuppet,

If you can stand the heat this will be a great trip. I do hope your plans are to travel during the first two weeks of December and not during the holidays when the crowds are big and all special pricing is suspended from Dec 20-Jan 6. It would be very easy to combine Namibia and Botswana. There is even an Air Namibia flight from Maun to Windhoek. BUT, this flight gets cancelled so often with no warning I do suggest simply flying through Jo’burg to connect the two. You will have a forced overnight but I think this will be more reliable.

The Chobe is a national park and there are also several private parcels of land directly west of the Chobe that offer the same environment but on private land where you can go off road and out at night. These are the Linyanti (owned by Wilderness Safaris), Kwando (Kwando) and Selinda (Great Plains). You could combine one of these camps with a camp in the Okavango Delta. I have been to Botswana many times and in ever season including December. Camp selection is critical but you can have a great safari! Perhaps consider two camps owned by the same lodge chain and plan a 5-6 night stay. Savuti Camp and Tubu Tree owned by Wilderness Safaris would be a great combo and on special during Dec 1-20. Or you could consider a Kanana/Shinde option owned by Ker & Downey.

For Etosha, there are some nice properties inside the park owned by the government and there are also private options adjacent to the park. Namibia Wildlife Resources (their National Park people) is actually pretty well organized. In addition to the fenced-off rest camps (not recommended) there are actually camps in the park that are designed to be hard to find by self-drive tourists. These are Dolomite Camp and Ankoshi Camp inside the camp. Ankoshi may be best in November and December. Again, these are government run camps so they could have some service issues but the head manager is ex-Wilderness Safaris and he used to manage the Ongava Lodges for ten years. I suggest you not have NWR employed guides and get you a private vehicle (not owned by the government). Or you can consider private land like Ongava. It is hands-down the best spot for Rhino & Lions. You could stay on Ongava and be at the gate at sunrise to enter the park. There is a big waterhole called Ombika inside the gate by Ongava or you can do all your game drives on private land.

I would not go to Namibia without seeing the sand dunes? Perhaps add 3 more days for this.

Good operators: where do you live? Maybe I can suggest someone you can meet face-to-face. If you are in the DC area perhaps contact Linda Friedman at Custom Safaris. I went to the Naval Academy so I know the DC area relatively well from visiting and “keep tabs on the marker”. I don’t know any other good safari operator around that area. She is a competitor of mine but I have a high regard for her. She is unbiased and should have the best rates relative to any other booking option including “direct”.

I hope this helps.

Craig Beal – owner – Travel Beyond
2011-2013 Travel & Leisure A-List agent for Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia

I was in Botswana in Nov. on a 10-day safari w/ Geographic Expeditions (based in San Francisco). We stayed in 3 camps and flew between camps (in Kalahari and Delta). Favorite camp, for wildlife and comfort, was Chitabe in Delta.

Our experienced guide said his preferred camps in Delta, for wildlife viewing, is Tubu Tree and Little Vumbura. But, each of these camps has just 5 tents. And you will be traveling during a popular time. So, do book soon.

All camps mentioned above are high end and owned by Wilderness Safaris, a wholesaler.

Good luck. You will like Botswana!

You can avoid the Air Namibia or Johannesburg overnight by simply booking a transfer via one of the bush air charter companies. If you opt to have the whole or part of the trip be fly-in, you can arrange through the same company to fly you to the Delta or to Namibia.

A combination of Chitabe and Tubu Tree is great or Chitabe and Little Vumbura. These are two great Delta combinations but none of these camps are in the Chobe/Linyanti ecosystem so you may want to consider Chitabe/Duma Tau or Tubu/Savuti if you want two ecosystems. The charter companies in Botswana will fly to Namibia but this is not a scheduled flight like the camp-to-camp flights in the Delta so you will have to pay for private use of the aircraft. This could be cost-prohibitive depending on your financial situation.

hapywandr - GeoEx is a great company. Their Africa Director is a friend of mine. Her name is Starla Estrada so maybe you worked with her? She is good friends with our Africa director that also lives out in San Fran. Cool!

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

Yes, GeoEx is one fine company. I did have the pleasure of working w/ Starla. I believe that she put together GeoEx's West Africa trip that just won National Geographic's "50 Tours of a Lifetime" award.