Trip Review - Part 1
Flights and Zimbabwe – Elephant Camp
My husband and I returned yesterday from the Wildlife Odyssey safari, and I thought I would post a review for those who are interested in this trip. For some reason there are not as many posts about this as there are about other Tauck safaris. Whatever posts were written about it, we read and greatly appreciated. We have never been on a safari before, so I cannot compare this to a classic Kenya/ Tanzania experience.
We traveled Ethiopian Airlines, business class. Great flight and service. A LOT of food. Of course, it is Ethiopian food, and it is spicy! We had a one hour layover in Addis Ababa, and had to go through security to get to the gate for our next flight. Business class has expedited security so we got through with no problem, but it is a bit of a walk and you have to watch the signs for International Travel carefully. The area for business class expedited security is on the right side of the large hallway that everyone is walking through and is highlighted with a large red banner. I don’t know if economy seats would have had enough time for a short layover . Personally, I would not do economy on this airline. You DO NOT have to get your bags. It is a really busy airport. Our next flight was to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. By the gates they had all of the departures listed, and from the looks of the departure board, this airline is a “one stop shop” to all over Africa. If we were to come to Africa again, we would fly it because it seems to be a very direct route. For example, just as we were able to fly to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe with a short layover in Addis, we also could have flown to any of the other departure cites for any Tauck tour that we looked up with only a short stop in Addis ( Even Windhouek, Namibia). We thought it was a good experience. The planes were new and very comfortable (Boeing 787-900s in Africa, and transcontinental Airbus A350s). . We know everyone loves Qatar and Emirates, but this is less expensive and possibly more direct at least on the way over. On the way home, however, they managed to lose my husband’s reservation. They still had mine, so this was a pretty good trick considering the reservations were made together. After over an hour at the check in counter, in CapeTown we were sorted with our original seats. Thus, our original level of enthusiasm for the airline was severely muted, although the flights home were fine and on time. ( Side note – make sure you have Rolaids for the spicy food.)
The Elephant Camp is within Victoria Falls National Park. It is a tented camp, so the rooms are actually structural tents. They are spacious and beautiful, but not well insulated from the outside, so crawling things get in. We had a scorpion in our room one night (which we killed) and a large spider the next night (which we could not reach so we had one of the hotel workers come in and kill it). The hotel grounds are surrounded by an electric fence to keep out the large predators, but you can expect many of the smaller animals to be around, including some pretty big warthogs. The rooms are individual with walkways connecting to the main lodge. Our particular room was a bit of a walk. The walkways had lights but you definitely need a flashlight. Because of the electric fence, you do not have escorts for walking around after dark.In each room there is a flashlight, bug repellant, insecticide and an airhorn for emergencies if there is a failure of the phone system. The rooms each have beautiful decks, expansive views and plunge pools. Happily, there is air conditioning , mosquito netting ( which we kept tripping over) and a ceiling fan in the rooms. There is a coffee and tea station, and a mini bar which is well stocked with beer , soda and bottled water. We were here during the dry season and there is a drought, so the view now is pretty much of parched earth and dead trees.
The main lodge has a bar, a lovely terrace, and an indoor and outdoor dining room. The setting is beautiful. When the falls are full, you can see the Zambian side. Now, in the dry season, the falls are only flowing on the Zimbabwe side so you can only see the mist. It was ridiculously hot (over 100F). The main lodge is all open to the outside and has large ceiling fans.
The staff at the lodge is absolutely wonderful. They run the drives and the tours. We did a visit to a local village and a local school before the actual Tauck tour began. These were included lodge activities and there was no extra charge.That evening we had a sundowner game drive / safari with a cocktail party overlooking the gorge. It was a beautiful introduction to a safari and the natural wonders of Zimbabwe . The next day we did the Elephant Encounter which was up close and personal time with rescued elephants. Between the sundowner mini- drive and the Elephant Encounter, our local guide from the hotel, “Wonder”, taught us so much about elephants and how they fit into the ecosystem. He was very informative. Lunch was at the Lookout Cafe , and the day was capped off with a walk around the Falls. “Wonder” took us on the paved path that has lookout spots and gave us an encapsulated history of African exploration, colonialism, and independence with a focus on the southern portion of Africa. Between our Tauck TD, Kathy, also a native Zimbabwean , and Wonder, we learned a lot about how independence affected different groups at the time , and the current government as well as it’s challenges. Dinner was back at the lodge. Animals seen- elephants, Cape buffalo, impala, wildebeest, baboons, mongoose, warthogs.
Our Tauck tour director, Kathy Almy, contacted us all by email prior to the trip, informing us about the Victoria Falls airport, the appropriate visa we needed to buy (double entry), and salient features of the tour. She is a great TD. She is soft spoken, efficient, organized, informative, caring, and loves Africa and her job. She ate every meal with us and participated in all of the activities and drives. Her enthusiasm for the trip and knowledge of the history and flora and fauna of the region were real assets that all of the guests benefited from. We were very lucky to have her. Where there was flexibility to be had, she tailored the trip to our interests and needs. Everyone absolutely loved her. She did something that no other TD has done – she had table set up for the whole group together for every meal. This was wonderful. Everyone really got to know one another and bonded. I think the people on this trip made it that much more enjoyable.
Food- this has to be prefaced by the fact that we are not foodies. The venues at this portion of the trip were beautiful, and the food was adequate, but not special. It is an interesting thing- some people were drinking only bottled water, not eating fresh veggies, salad or fruit. Some people were eating and drinking everything. By the second day at Chobe , everyone was eating and drinking everything (except tap water – all of the resorts provide bottled water). When I wrote this review, it was at the end of the trip and no one had reported in sick. There ARE mosquitoes, and in our group of 15, everyone was taking malarone with no ill effects. People were generally taking it in the morning with breakfast.
Comments
We had our choice of US/Euro or Ethiopian food, or a mix. They used a rolling cart filled with hot Ethiopian dishes and Injera which is a strange purple colored sour fermented bread. You could ask for a sample of each item. Do the ET 787s and A350s have 2 - 3 - 2 or 1 - 3 - 1 in business?
The ET reservations process can be a bit confusing, especially if you need to contact them after you have booked.
Hi Alan - the 787-9s that we were on had 2-2-2 seat configuration for business and the A350s were 1-2-1. We did eat the Ethiopian food - have Rolaids will travel! The food was actually pretty good. The flight crew was gobbling up all of the leftovers feverishly in the front of the plane while people were sleeping. The 787-9 had an interesting feature - they are able to tint the windows to block out the light rather than people individually pulling their window shades down.