vacation to Zimbabwe & Botswana

South Africa

Botswana

“Okavango delta was beautiful. Struck by the warmth of the people working at the camps - incredibly kind and engaged. Loved the remoteness and the uninhabited landscapes and water. Really enjoyed being able to drive off road on the game drives.”

Zimbabwe

“Amazing. Victoria Falls was less "touristy" than I'd anticipated. Fascinating time to be there post Mugabe and loved being able to discuss "politics". Large variations in the landscape between all the camps. Loved the remoteness. Wished we'd had time to spend a day in Harare - looked intriguing flying in.”

InterContinental Johannesburg O.R. Tambo Airport

“Very convenient - meet and greet service was excellent. Very nice hotel”

Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp

“Wonderful. Incredibly gorgeous and well maintained (perfect - flawless) camp from a physical infrastructure perspective - the rooms were an excellent intersection of tent and luxury. Staff and guides were all extremely engaged with all of us - truly an extraordinary people experience at Nxabega. Never a service misstep - if we mentioned that something wasn't perfect, it was fixed within hours. If someone didn't feel well, medicine and lotions arrived instantly. Loved the back of the house tour and the eco-focus of camp (solar panels, Tesla batteries, reusable glass bottles). Excellent food and drinks - the best of all the camps we visited. Animals were amazing, but probably the fewest animal percentage of the camps.”

Xaranna Okavango Delta Camp

“Excellent animals - loved seeing the rhinos and the wild dogs. Food was very good. Common area was a little dated. Really enjoyed the delta boat ride in Xaranna and very impressed that when they were down a boat (for maintenance), they seamlessly procured another boat from their sister camp so we could all ride. Henry, the camp manager, did an excellent job of taking care of my mother who had a slight fall and scraped her face. He was kind & competent with excellent care and follow-up. Service was a 1/2 step below Nxabega, but again Nxabega service was an 11 on a 10 point scale.”

Matetsi River Lodge

“Beautiful rooms. Staff & guides were competent, but lacking in warmth and engagement. Disappointing that tea at the Victoria Falls hotel was cancelled/not available since the hotel "couldn't accommodate a group our size" (they'd known we were coming for several months). Boma dinner and dancing was very fun. The river ride on the Zambezi from Matetsi was a little hairy and I wouldn't do it again - the boats seemed a bit old and lacking in power for a river that size. Victoria Falls was beautiful and really enjoyed being able to stay in a more camp-like experience out of the hustle of Vic Falls itself. Game drives were fine, but not a lot of animals (which was what we expected).”

Linkwasha Camp

“Awesome. Probably the best guides of all the camps - we will/are staying in touch with the guides. Excellent staff (only slight less excellent than Nxabega staff).

Rooms were great and the most intimate/close up animal experience of the camps since the animals really came right up at night. Really liked having the family room. Rooms were in almost perfect condition and extremely well maintained.

Very nice outside communal area. Missed being able to eat outside for breakfast and dinner (too cold). The indoor dining tent/experience could be improved since 2 meals a day are served inside during the winter (not sure how).

The bunker next to the watering hole was super cool.

Brunch was very good. Dinner was good, not great. Fun lunch during game drive.

Beautiful views from the camp.

Great walking safari - really enjoyed it.”

Ruckomechi Camp

“Beautiful camp and fun/exciting to have the elephants around camp so much. Most tent-like rooms (in a perfect world, you'd start with the Ruckomechi tent rooms and end with the Nxabega tent rooms since Nxabega tents are hard to compete with). A better separation of the toilet from the rest of the tent/sleeping area would be nice. Screens on the tents are showing their age and could do with a replacement.


Really enjoyed sleeping on the deck in the tree away from camp - amazing experience.

One of our 3 guides got very sick and had to leave the first night we were there, to go to the hospital. Most importantly, we hope he is OK, but his absence meant we couldn't do a walking safari and that we were down a vehicle and a guide for 2.5 days, most of the time we were there. They flew in one of the guides we knew from Linkwasha the night we were leaving and we loved seeing him. Recognizing that we are in the bush and they have a finite number of guides, it would have been more impressive if they'd solved the "down a master guide" problem sooner so that we were less inconvenienced (fly the guide from Linkwasha in earlier).”