Botswana Classic Camping Safari ( 8nights/9 days)

I'd call my 72y.o. husband and I expert travellers having been to most parts of the world from Australia and NZ over the past 50 years. Some experiences have been 5* but none have surpassed the courtesy and brilliance of Sam and his EARLY KINGFISHER team who hosted just ourselves 9 - 18 March 2025. We started looking after Xmas 2024 and wanted to see the Okavango Delta birdlife in particular. We found Sam on the Botswana Tourism site and reviews on Tripadvisor and his responses were speedy and comprehensive, so we had no difficulty booking; quoted in USD. Sam offers several durations of safaris and is very flexible. He is a 2nd generation tracker and tourism operator who works from Maun into which we flew and stayed for one night in more than adequate accommodation there. We stayed in allocated campsites in Moremi and Savuti, and no, they were not fenced but Sam takes no risks with his guests. His Jeep is comfortable, blankets supplied for the dawn safaris daily, and he is a very safe driver, navigating the enormous puddles that were still evident from months of rain. Tents are set up by his 3 crew (all trained in hospitality) who travel ahead so we were always greeted with cool towels and a drink on arrival at camp, and enjoyed "luxury" camping in a large double bed, warm water supplied when needed for showers and washing; chef made gluten-free bread rolls for me every time bread was served, so we couldn't ask for better service. While we were on our dawn safaris, the beds were made up, and our outer garments taken for washing; each afternoon they were returned ironed (iron with heated coals - perfect pleats!). March seemed a great time to travel; comfortable by day and night and with Sam's excellent tracking abilities we saw, at the closest of quarters, every animal we'd ever dreamt we'd encounter. Lovely people. Great trip. Would enthusiastically endorse for anyone who can climb into a Jeep! We ended with an overnight stay in a B&B in Kasane before our independent trip to Victoria Falls.

Cannot recomment, lots of chaos in planning phase an realization. unorganized crew. Refunds where requested an promised but never given, contact rejected after tour was over, no contact possibilites left. Unfortately pretty bad experience for what was paid..

We had nice 9 day trip with African Drifters team. Everything was smooth and wonderful. We saw many animals and spent nice and peaceful nights in tents and lodges. Team was very professional and nice.

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