Botswana Tour

cb2labs

I am thinking of returning to Africa. Once this past year was not enough. However, this time I will be traveling solo. I did the Tanzania Serengeti to Zanzibar, and it was fabulous. Our tour director, who also conducts the Botswana tour, recommended that tour for anyone wanting to return.

Anyone have an opinion on this tour, it would be very different from the one I experienced in Tanzania. Would I enjoy this one as a solo traveler?

Alan and British, I know you have done several tours. Would value your opinion on this. If I remember reading from your previous posts, Alan, you are going on this one in May 2018? British, how about you? done this one?

British

Yes, taken this tour, this is the one you should go on! We hope to take it again in the future and chose a different time of year when the scenery is different.

AlanS

cb2labs wrote:

I am thinking of returning to Africa. Once this past year was not enough. However, this time I will be traveling solo. I did the Tanzania Serengeti to Zanzibar, and it was fabulous. Our tour director, who also conducts the Botswana tour, recommended that tour for anyone wanting to return.

Anyone have an opinion on this tour, it would be very different from the one I experienced in Tanzania. Would I enjoy this one as a solo traveler?

Alan and British, I know you have done several tours. Would value your opinion on this. If I remember reading from your previous posts, Alan, you are going on this one in May 2018? British, how about you? done this one?

I've only done K&T but we booked Botswana, SA, Zambia for May 2019. How is that for a recommendation? Botswana is a (very) small group tour- 20 people max and can be even less. British will need to weigh in on how that affects group dynamics and solo travelers. As British will tell you, the Botswana trip is a bit different- fewer large groups of animals than the Tanzania: Serengeti-Zanzibar and K&T tours and the temps can be warmer or even hot in the fall. I believe British went in Sept and found it very warm! Animal sightings and gatherings can be a bit different (smaller, scarcer) than K&T depending on time of year and water conditions in the Okavango delta. Also, you will be headed to Cape Town in their Fall/Winter/Spring since it quite a bit south of the Equator it will be much cooler there.

cb2labs

thank you British and Alan. will let you know if I find any openings (cancellations) this year, otherwise, Alan, you might find me on your May, 2019 trip....

Sealord

cb2labs wrote:

I am thinking of returning to Africa. Once this past year was not enough. However, this time I will be traveling solo. I did the Tanzania Serengeti to Zanzibar, and it was fabulous. Our tour director, who also conducts the Botswana tour, recommended that tour for anyone wanting to return.

Anyone have an opinion on this tour, it would be very different from the one I experienced in Tanzania. Would I enjoy this one as a solo traveler?

Alan and British, I know you have done several tours. Would value your opinion on this. If I remember reading from your previous posts, Alan, you are going on this one in May 2018? British, how about you? done this one?

We did Botswana, Zambia, and South Africa last year. We also did K&T in 2014, and we are doing it again next year.
Botswana is a great trip, and that is where most of the safari takes place. We did it starting on May 13, 2016. Temps were cools, the Zambizi was at max flood so the falls were amazing, and the Okavango was flooded so it was a boating experience. Our tour director said she does not do the trip during the ‘warm’ months. We were torn about which trip we were going to repeat, but we had done Botswana most recently, and the K&T is all safari and no touring to speak of. We loved the Botswana trip, but there are parts of it that we don’t need to do twice. We focus on the animals mostly.

British

I have just looked back for my posts of my Botswana trip that begin September 17th 2017, I posted lots of different pieces on there that might help you cb2labs. If we go again it will probably be around a June departure.

cb2labs

I will keep researching which trip to take. I did look at K&T trip, I also like the animals....thank you all for your responses....

British

Ah. I know you say you like the animals, but if you do the K and T, you will basically be repeating the Tanzania part of the tour plus Kenya which is very very similar. I think you will get a much better idea of how different areas of Africa can be if you do the Botswana tour. There are sufficient animals to satisfy you there plus you will get to see Wild dogs that you will not see in K And T and you might even see a Honey Badger like we did! One of our most favorite things we have ever done is sleeping outside in the Kalahari on that tour. And If this is going to be your only other trip to Africa.
If I did all my tours over again, I would do them in this order... K and T, Botswana, Elegant South Africa, Tanzania and Zanzibar. Tanzania does remain my favorite because that is where I fell in love with Africa and I will always be faithful to my first love. I recently returned from Namibia where we went for the scenery, we saw Desert Elephants and Oryx and many black and white rhinos, but there were few animals in the main until the last three days in Etosha, which is what we expected. We loved Namibia, I wish Tauck would go back.

AlanS

Here are the links to British's B,SA,Z tour review(s). I copied a couple of takeaways from each and posted them below. There is a lot more info so I suggest reading all of them in full, and in fact, reading all posts in the Zambia,SA,Botswana forum archives.

Part I
https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&m=34823#post34823

It is A hot time of year (Sept) to go until you get to Cape Town and then if you experience the same as us, it was cool and rainy one minute.The Zam, Bots and SA tour is fantastic.

Compared to the East Africa safaris, you will see far less quantity of animals, except elephants, you will see hundreds here.

Food was good, I do not think anyone had issues with upset stomachs.

MY REVEW PART 2
https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&m=34857#post34857

Our tour director made recommendations about what to wear- closed toe shoes, long sleeve t shirts or shirts and pants. . . usually for a valid reason like --- we will be walking through landscape with bushes that are close together and have thorns--- the sun is very strong---- there might be lots of insects

We were provided with stainless steel water bottles at Khwai River Lodge and at Camp Kalahari we were provided with bright orange drinking bottles of a different shape. You could use these for refilling with water, but there was always regular bottled water too.

Malaria meds---- everyone took the meds apart from one couple who did not realize they should be taking them, their Travel agent did not tell them and they did not research about it before the trip. There were lots of mosquitoes on our tour.

I really think it is worth doing a lot of research on weather in the parts of Africa we visit, first before you book the tour date and second because it helps to understand about the dry season and wet season . . . you can decide the best time for the weather you know you can cope with or how different the landscape will be, will you enjoy the long grass and not as easily to find animals, will you prefer seeing Victoria Falls with lots of water or very little and seeing the rocks underneath.

Cape Town sites......our previous tour, we went to Kirstenbosch Gardens and The Christian Barnard Transplant museum, in our own time. Still highly recommend these. This time, we had a few Hours on the last day and went to the Aquarium right by the One and Only, it is a very good aquarium . . . . it takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours ro walk around. Great to do before you have to make your way to the airport on the last day.

FLIGHTS TO AFRICA---- we flew from Philadelphia to Heathrow, London on British Airways, an 11 hour layover could not be avoided, then on to Johannesburg and on to Livingstone Zambia. Return, was Cape Town to Heathrow and back to Philadelphia, layover time here was just a few hours.

SECOND DAY IN ZAMBIA
https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&m=34640#post34640

We sat outside (a massage room at the Royal Livingstone) and had a foot cleaning ritual performed while we watched a family of zebra right in front of us, the Zambezi in the background, yes heaven.

The falls were at their lowest in volume . . . because of the time of year. . . So no worries about being drowned by any spray . . . . I actually enjoyed seeing all the exposed rocks instead.

ROYAL LIVINGSTONE HOTEL ELECTRIC OUTLETS ETC.
https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&m=34639#post34639

This is a lovely hotel with pretty much perfect room facilities.

There is very effective air conditioning and ceiling fan.

. . . mosquitoes in your room every day . . . room is sprayed every night while you are at dinner . . . a man was trying to kill about thirty mosquitoes in his room, fell and broke the back off a chair . . . I recommend taking those malaria pills!

SAFARI VEHICLES ON THE BOTSWANA TOUR
https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&m=34756#post34756

The safari vehicles on this tour are definitely far less user friendly than on the Kenya and Tanzania tour.

They are very high, have narrow steps or bars to get into the vehicle.

You have to remain seated . . . . open sides . . . canvas cover . . . . gives some shade, but I still recommend a wide brimmed hat with a chin strap, or it can easily blow off. The same with anything else . . . camera, sunglasses, coat, they all have to be firmly stowed.

CAMP KALAHARI
https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&m=34754#post34754

. . . way less rustic than some folks have had us believe on. . . .plenty of scalding hot water for showers , an electric fan, lighting.

You MUST be escorted to your room at night . . . . tall grass and bushes all around the pathways to the rooms. A neighbor encountered a huge elephant by her tent during the day.

First night in Zambia
https://www.tauck.com/yaf/default.aspx?g=posts&m=34623#post34623

. . .We were collected by a man and a van, note our first encounter with mosquitoes inside the van! Then, to our surprise, we were taken to a boat dock on the Zambezi River and whisked away down the river and over some gentle rapids to arrive at the Livingstone hotel.

We strolled the grounds and sat watching hippos and bird life in the River. In the background we could see the mist from the falls. As I write this, lying on my bed, there is a zebra not six to eight feet feet away from me outside the window, a few others in the background with a small baby nursing on it's mother. Does this wet your appetite!

Last night, we opened our room door to go to dinner and right there was a large male giraffe. . . . we called the golf cart transport guys to come and collect us. There were three giraffe. Dinner at the restaurant was delicious . . . . This morning we opened our curtains and saw a small family of zebra outside our window, with a little baby who was sticking very closely to it's mother and she was having to nudge it along out of her way so she could eat the grass.