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Botswana Wildife Safari with Explore


kittykat23uk

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Please find below a link to my trip report in two forms, one on flickr or if you prefer there is a day by day account with photos on Bird forum. You don't need to be a member to access it.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8773601@N03/s...57609198993732/

 

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=127804

 

All the best

 

Jo

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Thanks for the candid account with iexplore. There seemed to be some room for improvement in the itinerary for people really interested in the wildlife that's out there. I see lots of iexplore offerings, but yours may be the first report I've read.

 

Leopards certainly came through for you. Nice job spotting one yourself.

 

Frosted dung, that's a good one.

 

I'll think twice about a houseboat in the delta. There seems to be potential with that setup, but it was not realized in this itinerary. Unlike the consensus of your group, I actually prefer the down time or less active part of the trip to be up front. But I'd want to utilize it to its fullest.

 

I'm sure you picked up many new bird species. I recall the photos too.

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Guest sniktawk

As you appear to be a keen birder may I recommend Impalila Island in Namibia.

 

When we were there 5 years ago we went out regularly on a small motorboat into the backwaters of the Chobe and Zambezi, incredible birdlife, and you can also go down the Chobe Riverfront for plenty of Elephants etc.

 

Here is the website, you will see it has a link to 5 rivers who can do some really good deals.

 

http://www.islandsinafrica.com/impalila.htm

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Thanks Lynn, I think I was probably spoilt by visiting Lake Naivasha in Kenya 2 years previous. The birdlife was so prolific there, I guess I was expecting something similar on the panhandle and for more to be made of the boat trips. From chatting with the two Explore veterans (6 or so trips each), even they felt there was room for improvement on this tour. With that said, there was a good diversity of species, and yes I did get many new lifers on this trip. There are certainly similarites to the birds in Kenya but lots of different species too. We saw around 210 species of birds which for a non-birding trip is a good tally (compared to 155 species of birds in Kenya- although that was partly because we obnly had a week on safari and a week in Mombasa where we spent time scuba diving). I guess I was just expecting larger numbers of the birds that we did see, particularly on the panhandle and for there to be some narrower chnnels to explore.. But the Chobe Riverfront was much better from that point of view.

 

Sniktawk, thanks for the sugestions I will certainly look into that. I like all sorts of wildlife, but I suppose if I were to put it in order of preference my interests would lie with big cats and other large predators, smaller and unusual mammals, birds, then big game (elephant, giraffes, antelope etc), and reptiles.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi all,

 

Just a quick update. I should also point out that, for those who are thinking of booking this trip in the future, I had some further correspondence with Explore re the issue of the last day. It seems to be a case of partly over stating what the "Game drive" would entail (they consider the drive from camp out of the park to be a game drive because we are driving through the park) and partly the fault of our guide in being just a bit too hasty to get us back to Maun. I.e. there perhaps should have been a slower exit of the park with more time to view game. But basically if you take this trip, just don't expect much of this last day's game drive.

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