Upgraded - Botswana Wildlife Safari

Excellent accommodation and meals throughout. KK our guide/driver/navigator/spotter was excellent!! He worked very hard to give us the best views of wildlife & experiences throughout the trip. On previous Explore trips there has always been a driver plus guide, why was this not the case on this trip?We suggest that a laminated set of instructions is kept in the vehicle on what to do if the driver is taken ill in a remote location. Our vehicle was a sturdy workhorse but needed some effort to get in and out of. We noted that other groups had custom built vehicles which looked more comfortable & better adapted to the terrain with more passenger space. We saw a great variety of wildlife & particularly enjoyed the different bird species. Our included trip to the Tsodilo Hills to see the ancient rock paintings was really fascinating. Overall a brilliant trip!!

This was a fascinating trip with a carefully planned itinerary and a very knowledgeable guide. The Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park provided marvellous wildlife viewing and we saw, amongst others, leopard, lions, elephants, painted dogs, zebra, crocs, hippos, many types of antelope and a big range of birds. The accommodation was excellent in variety, character and quality. We were always skillfully looked after by our guide Phenyo. His skill in finding and tracking wildlife was really impressive.

Penio was the most fantastic guide and a very safe expert driver on sometimes awful roads. Nearly all the accommodation was as nice as expected with exception of the houseboat. It was not the one advertised to us nor was it even similar.We felt that something must have gone very wrong with the booking here and that this boat was a last minute substitution. The staff on the boat worked tirelessly and cheerfully to accommodate us but the venue itself was utterly inadequate. Only two people could shower at a time. The rooms and "bathroom" facilities were old and stained.( Clean though). Our itinerary for the day of arrival at the boat was changed. It then involved 12 hours of very rushed travelling resulting in arriving at the boat at 7.00pm after dark. However the next day completely on the delta was therefore much better than advertised. The travel that day was wholly unacceptable. We were frozen in the jeep for the first few ours also. The day we left for Chobi also involved 12 hours of gruelling travel. We left the boat at 6.20am, had only moderate delay at the Namibian border but still had to drive non- stop to the next border 6 hours with lunch whilst driving in order to beat the next border closure at 6pm. Our driver must have been exhausted and indeed this would not be legal in the UK. This day should have been split into 2 days with a

This was an amazing experience. Most of the accommodation was excellent, however, the house boat on the delta was not the one mentioned in our final itinerary, and the rooms were very small, however the staff on board were excellent and looked after us well producing excellent food in a tiny kitchen. The staff at Batonka lodge in Victoria Falls deserve a special mention too. Travel was via an open sided vehicle which was excellent for viewing animals but got very cold and blustery on the two days of long journeys, make sure you bring warm clothing, gloves and a scarf or mask to prevent breathing in dust. There were two long travel days, particularly the day traveling through Namibia, the border crossing took longer than expected due to the introduction of a required visa a few months earlier. An extra night slotted in Namiba would have taken the pressure off. I cannot fault our guide/driver Phenyo, his ability to spot wildlife was extraordinary, he was so knowledgeable about every bird and animal we saw and had an excellent understanding of animal behavior which he passed on. He looked after us from start to finish and was always so positive. I chose this trip for the wildlife abs it did not disappoint, from a pack of hyenas eating a dead elephant to a leopard resting, multiple lions and what seemed like hundreds of giraffes and elephants to mongooses and even honey badgers. The optional boat trip at Chobe was another highlight. If you like wildlife then this is the trip for you. I loved every minute.