ridefar

As long as you spend some time in the Linyanti, you wont be able to turn around without tripping over lions. They are not migratory in any event, they maintain their territory over a year. In the Okavango Delta it is more property by property, and in the Kalahari you will be very lucky to see them at any property.

As far as travel to J'berg, there are several flights a day from Maun to JNB on South African Air's subsidiary (forget the name of the airline at the moment, but it is bookable on SAA website). However, to leave in the morning and have time for a noon-ish transfer in JNB, you would pretty much have to overnight at Maun, rather than leaving from a camp. As I recall, the Wilderness Air flights start moving people around at about 9:30 or 10:00 am at the earliest--a 10:00 am departure from your camp means you would probably catch a 1:00 pm flight from MUB to JNB. You might be able to arrange a earlier charter flight at extra cost however.

Get a good travel agent (I think I recommended Jessica Ourisman upthread) and she should be able to make appropriate recommendations on lodges and flights.

uclabruin82

Thanks ridefar! Yes, I have worked with Jessica in the past and plan on working with her on this trip once we get to within 331 days of my trip and I can confirm my flights

sportsguymichael

Left yesterday from Kwetsani (a Wilderness property). Flight left at 11 am with a quick stop in Jao and then on to Maun. Arrived Maun around noon and made a 1:45 to Johannesburg on SAA Airlink. My son was on a 2:20 Air Botswana nonstop to Cape Town. Don't know how early Wilderness Air will get you to Maun in time to make a connection to where you want to go for beach time. Was at Chitabe camp prior to Kwetsani. You can PM me if you want details. Don't arrive back to the USA until Wednesday night. This is just a post regarding flights. I realize neither of these camps are high end Wilderness properties. I believe they fall under the "classic" camps.

east_of_the_sun

uclabruin82 ,
I don't know, either, how early Wilderness Air could get you from a Delta camp to Maun in order to make a same day connection to a beach location.
Perhaps a private charter would be a better way to go.

However, in our experience over the years, the Wilderness staff in Maun are very efficient in getting passengers from Wilderness flights to the connecting international commercial flights. They handle your luggage, help you check in for the connecting flight, make sure you have filled out the Botswana exit form, and then guide you to security.

Two weeks ago we arrived Maun at 12:45 ( from the Vumbura airstrip) and had plenty of time to connect to our 2:00 Air Botswana flight to Cape Town.

PS: We saw a pride of 8 lions on each of the 3 days we were at Little Vumbura. We selected Little Vumbura ( a Wilderness "classic" with 6 tents ) rather than Vumbura Plains ( a Wilderness "premier"), because we liked "Little V's" being on an island and accessible only by boat. Little V and V share the same traversing grounds off the island, though, and that's where we saw the lions.

uclabruin82

Thanks for the helpful answers!

Ericka

A word of warning on this. We decided to book our lodges over a year out because we had specific ones we wanted to stay with. If you are thinking the same, you might want to book your lodges before your plane tickets. We were flying on a star alliance award and were able to make it work as soon as the flights came into the system.

SanDiego1K

We are planning to go in early December. We know it is off season and have been warned about high heat. What properties do people recommend at that time of year?

floridagal23

Anything with a private pool for midday!

I know at ebony/boulders (so I assume this is the case at most camps) they do a 5am wake up in hot months instead of the usual 6am because of the heat. One of the guides told us about it at our last visit.

We are doing Tanzania in May but Botswana is next on our list.

SanDiego1K

Any more thoughts about properties for December? I'm thinking we want 3 properties with diverse types of viewing. Ideally our room would have AC.

Philatravelgirl

Depends on where you are going - in the Okavango I stayed in a tent w/bucket shower at Oddballs camp -it was a solar camp using mokoro boats and walking safari w/private guide for each couple - best decision I made to experience the delta - bush plane in/out and in Chobe the hotel had aircon. I used Rhino Africa to help me plan my trip they have budget to luxury options - I have posts about trip on blog (same as user name)

wideman

SD1k, none of the 10 or 12 higher-end places where I've stayed in Bots have had a/c. (Though where I'd have least expected it -- in Zambia at Kaingo (IIRC) -- they did have an amazing cooling system.)

If you're focusing primarily on good viewing and superb guiding, I'd look especially at some of the Kwando properties -- especially Lebala and Little Kwara.

However, if you don't yet have an agent, I can very strongly recommend Ellie Dunkels at Expert Africa (www.expertafrica.com). Excellent advice and pre-trip service. And very importantly, when I had a problem during one trip, they were fabulous in helping out.

Kagehitokiri

these mention AC on websites >
- andbeyond - 9 xaranna + 9 xudum on 250km2
- belmond / orient express
(most websites dont discuss AC)

escog

I just completed a Botswana safari during the last week of November and first week of December. I went with Kwando safaris to take advantage of their green season special rates, the Five Rivers special. It's a significant discount from their prime season rates. I stayed at Lebala, Lagoon, Kwara, and Nxai Pan. Lebala, Lagoon, and Nxai Pan are roughly the same standard in terms of accommodations. The rooms were fairly spacious and I found them comfortable. They didn't have individual plunge pools for the chalets, but there was a small swimming pool near the lounge area. Most importantly, while they didn't have A/C, they did have ceiling fans which I found sufficient for dealing with the heat.

I also stayed at Kwara (not Little Kwara), and I would not class this as luxury accommodations - the camp has seen better days and is scheduled for refurbishment. And, no ceiling fans or A/C. I welcomed the afternoon rains or windstorms to bring down the heat. Due to the lack of rains, the water had a deep tinge to it, as well. It didn't bother me much, but others might be a bit squeamish. Little Kwara is more upscale, so it's probably better there. Great sighting of wild dogs here, as well as, lion.

I found the Green Season a bit hit or miss. This year, there was no flood nor any rains, so everything was very dry. Game was a bit sparse, but I did have a number of fantastic sightings of wild dog, so I was happy. This is highly variable of course, so no telling what you'll get year to year.

For Nxai Pan, you get a very different environment in the desert, but again, it was very dry when I was there and too early for the migration. Not much action in the way of sightings, and since you can't go off road, we had to watch at a distance sometimes. I did like the lodge - very scenic view of a waterhole. One of the other guests told me that Tau Pan has a nicer view as it's on a hill.

I also booked my safari with Expert Africa, and like the others, recommend their services. I actually ran into one of their agents who was doing a tour of quite a number of camps in Botswana, so you know that they're doing their research and have first hand knowledge of the camps.

SanDiego1K

Little Mombo is CLOSED (01 Dec 2016 - 01 April 2017).

Also, my agent says the delta is suffering badly from a HUGE drought so no lodge is offering water activities in the delta.

Kagehitokiri

mombo has mombo trails at a discount during renovations