Member Postcards

Safari Under the Stars

An Indagare member recently traveled to South Africa and Botswana. Here are his impressions from the trip.

The trip was spectacular! We couldn't wait for each destination because each spot was so unique, and the service was unfailingly excellent. Thank you to you and your team for a special and very memorable trip.

Ellerman House in Cape Town was the perfect fit for us, but I imagine some people would have preferred being down by the harbor and near the good shopping. With that said, we would return to Ellerman House as the service is truly outstanding. Ellerman had the best wine cellar and food out of anywhere on our trip.

La Residence delivered with a beautiful setting and superb restaurant. Unfortunately, we only had time to spend one night there—we easily could’ve stayed another.

The Royal Malewane was just as expected: spectacular. It was the best lodge of the trip! We loved everything about it, but the game experience does not compare to that in Botswana.

The River Club in Livingstone, Zimbabwe was our only disappointment. The room had a moldy smell we couldn't get rid of no matter how many windows we opened. The food was average, and while we liked the family-style group dinners, some people might not. However, the location and views were beautiful. Our favorite activities were a river tour and a local village excursion. And, of course, going to see Victoria Falls in Zambia was amazing!

Kings Pool was our favorite lodge in Botswana. While the game wasn’t as abundant as at other camps, we still saw some great stuff. The river tour was fun—they even set up a beach party with sparklers for the 4th of July!

The highlight of Abu Camp was the baby elephant—I never dreamed I would get to play with a baby elephant (even if she does weigh 500 pounds!) We loved the Star Bed experience, where you sleep under the stars on an open, elevated platform, and would highly recommend it as long as you don't mind missing a night of sleep. Elephants snore loudly!

The game at Abu is modest, but we got to see a brother and sister leopard out at night. The staff set up a great bush dinner; there were lion tracks all over our dinner spot when we went back there on our game drive the next morning!

We loved the intimate feel of Little Mombo (where there are only three tents), but it could be a disaster if you don't like the other people staying there. It’s the only camp where the sole activity is game drives. The game is abundant, and we got to see a black rhino and a lion pride with four adult males. There were filmmakers shooting a documentary about the pride while we were there. One day, there was a leopard outside of our room, and upon returning from a game drive the next day, we were delighted to share our porch with a young elephant as she ate fruit off our deck. We even had a 4am wake up to a group of Hippos sloshing through the shallow water outside our room—you can't top that wildlife!

I think three days at each camp is ideal, but we loved covering all the camps and having a varied experience. If you want to cram everything in as we did, two nights works, but it is a lot of moving!

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