Adventures in Luxury Travel

Mimi Lichtenstein 0:01
If you're a traveler that believes luxury and adventure are not mutually exclusive, then you're in the right place. Every week I take you to a new destination with one of my partners, sharing the hidden gems over the top experiences and active adventures to inspire your next family vacation. I'm Mimi Lichtenstein, an experienced Travel Advisor who has also traveled with my three teenagers and my husband around the world. Let's get started. Welcome to Episode 31 of adventures and luxury travel. Just a reminder, you can see the photos we talk about on the show and a full video on truth a travel.com. Today Sandra and I talk about the exclusive Safari destination of Botswana. Botswana includes the famous Okavango Delta, which is full of wildlife as the seasons change and the plains flood. It's also home to the second largest zebra migration in the world. We share our favorite luxury lodges and talk about the many ways to be active and how you can relax and be pampered. Visit true Bay travel.com/ 31 for a video of today's show, and additional resources. Today, I'm here with Sandra devotee and we are going to talk all about Botswana. Sandra, thank you for coming and joining me today.

Sandra 1:21
Thanks for having me, Mimi, I'm really looking forward to sharing my passion for Botswana. It's a completely different Safari destination. So I think we're going to enjoy this and I look forward to sharing.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:35
Me too. I'm excited to hear all about it. And I do want to preface this conversation with it almost looks like I'm in prison. Today I happen to be in Costa Rica in a conference room at my hotel. If you look a little over here, you can actually, you know the outdoors where it's a little pricey, but there's not great lighting. And so it is what it is I'm traveling and we'll just go with it. Alright, well, there are so many different countries you can go to on Safari. We talked last week about South Africa. Today we're going to talk about Botswana. Can you tell us a little bit about why would somebody want to go to Botswana over a different African country

Sandra 2:12
country in its own right. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site that is a large country, it's about the size of France, to a population of 2 million versus 67 million in France. So it gives you an indication of how remote it is the space the pure vastness of the country. The Safari itself takes place up northwest, the rest of the country is Kalahari. And that Safari destination is extremely pristine wilderness, there is no way on earth that you can go that is going to give you the same experience that really is a gem. Yes, it's the experiences it offers are unbelievable. They're very different. So we will always ask your clients what they would like to see from the next SAS slide, we'll see how it combines. But within one track in Botswana, you don't even need to go elsewhere. We can give you a myriad of experiences.

Mimi Lichtenstein 3:14
And you know what, Sandra, one thing I want to point out because Botswana, as you'd mentioned, it doesn't have a lot of people, I think it's like 11 people per square mile in the country. It's one of the least densely populated countries in Africa. But also, I think well deserved the largest in Botswana have the reputation for being super luXy. And super expensive. But as you and I were talking, yeah, as we were talking the other day, there are also four star options. So today, we're going to focus a lot on the five star ones. But at the end, we'll talk about price points. And you know what, you have a five star difference from a four star and that you can actually do either type of experience in Botswana.

Sandra 3:53
Absolutely.

Mimi Lichtenstein 3:55
What do you want to give us a little bit of an overview for those of you listening, we're looking at a map of Botswana and Sandra, would you give us an overview of kind of the main areas of Botswana where people would go on safari.

Sandra 4:07
So if you're looking at the map, you would move all the way up to the north, you will see a number of reserves highlighted in different colors. You will see a little aeroplane, just below the white patch. And that is mount so mount is the entry point for your safari in Botswana, it's mount Sami, but we will focus on Mt, which is the direct access to the delta. So if you look at the map, you will see the Okavango Delta which is directly left of the plane, being in the marina Game Reserve just north and the northeast to get the turbine National Park which incorporates cylinder and linyanti. So those are the three areas we're going to focus on today. Any supplier to Botswana would incorporate at least one or two of those areas. Again, we would recommend the length of stay and the areas depending on your interests. But those are the areas we're looking at.

Mimi Lichtenstein 5:15
Perfect. Okay. And now we're going to sort of zoom in on the area around the Okavango Delta to, maybe you could give us a little bit of insight into the different types of Safaris, I know they're often divided between wet and dry, and then combination.

Sandra 5:30
Correct. So working from the left appoints, you have the water, which is your pure Aqua fondo Delta experience, which has permanent water. So you will always have permanent water plus land experiences, land in the center is predominantly land, but the largest do offer occasionally voting on acquiring experiences, that is strictly subject to the water levels, which are seasonal, and then moving further and further north, you get the combination, and there, there's a much more even a combination than you would have on the land. So good combination of mountain water experiences.

Mimi Lichtenstein 6:16
Yeah, so that's a great way to look at it. If you're planning a safari, and you're gonna go to this area, it's nice to have both. So either combine a couple of different camps that will give you both experiences, or stay in a camp that actually you can get both experiences, say. Okay, so let's dive into some of the different areas and then the amazing lodges within them. We'll start with Moremi Game Reserve. Tell us a little bit about why you like this.

Sandra 6:44
Okay, some random game reserve is the most famous reserve in the UK of Banco Delta. Obviously, in addition to the Delta itself, the concentration of game in the morainic Game Reserve is very high. So high density of game the various activities at the lodgers, this is going to give you the safari experience of a lifetime. So if you don't go anywhere else in the Delta area, I will definitely do poorly.

Mimi Lichtenstein 7:14
And you can see here that you're, they're probably watching a maybe not a migration, because they look like they're just

Sandra 7:20
most of the beauty about Morini to get this one wide open spaces, and you get the animals moving through. So these are the buffaloes, there's a combination, a very interesting part just to point out will be the palms in the background, which look a bit odd if you're looking at a safari destination, so the Moremi Game Reserve and up north towards the severity, those palm trees are quite quaint and unusual for the area.

Mimi Lichtenstein 7:53
That's beautiful. And then so within the Marina games are is are two of the most famous two of the most luxurious and two of the most expensive camps that you can go to on Safari. Let's start with Mambo.

Sandra 8:07
Absolutely. So my dream destinations. So Mamba camp is the flagship lodge for wilderness safaris, extremely high end, and it's offering a combination of land and water activities. The President just to backtrack, sorry, within the morainic game, a zoo, you get an island which is called cheeps Island. And that has got the highest concentration of predators. Mambo can face on cheap silence. So that gives you an idea of the density of the game and the experiences you're going to get. So predator sightings, kills which isn't everyone's cup of tea but you get the kills are quiet. It's a common occurrence on cheats Island and then in combination with that to get the water. So those two experiences combined with exquisite sweets which you can see will make an unbelievable experience for anybody. But then effortless destination.

Mimi Lichtenstein 9:10
Okay, and then Pitera which is stunning and on the left side has something that I absolutely love asleep out

Sandra 9:18
so deeply. Well. I was fortunate enough to go there in April. And to put it mildly it's mind blowing. It's completely Wow off the charts. It's a relatively new lunch I think that only opened it towards the middle or late of last year. Privately owned that. The attention to detail in this lodge is incredible. So all furniture, all the decor everything is handcrafted that the service I think there are three staff members per guest, so the service is immaculate The suites huge. With lounge and bedroom and shower your own outdoor silo seating area, it's absolutely exquisite. The area which you will see there overlooking the river, those are the public areas. So when you fly into the lodge, you can either transfer by road, the lodge or a motorized boat. So as you come into the larger you see this magnificent large spread out in front of you. With a large water lily, on the left hand side of the swimming pool, the suites themselves overlook a floodplain, and you've got this massive boardwalk that goes along. And when I was there, the one evening, I finally managed to get some Wi Fi. So I needed to get up very early in the morning to catch up on emails. And I was sitting outside on my deck must have been about farther in in the morning. And I heard growling sound and I thought, well, that's odd. And I looked at and there was a slide walking along the front of my rooms, all excited looking at this next minute to turn around and walk back past and it lay on the ground next to another line who I hadn't even seen. And I saw this line nice was pregnant went to call everyone everyone came down to have a look great excitement. And then that evening, we were coming back from our game drive. And we were literally a few minutes from the large and arranges say just be quiet. We were all chatting up asleep was almost too large. And there was this lioness walking in front of the vehicle with something hanging out of its mouth. So automatically, we thought, well, unless of course something Sterna that as we moved along, we realized that this Linus was carrying a newly born pup in a month. That was incredible. And she went to the side of the road. But to get the point of the story. This was a lie on the side seen in front of my room. So great excitement.

Mimi Lichtenstein 12:06
And first of all, what an incredible experience, right? You can't plan for something like that. So when it happens, it feels extra special. It also reminds me that the minimum age for this lodge is 12 years old. Lots of places in Costa Rica even right, there's hotels that are adults only. And sometimes they're not adults only just to keep out kids, they might be adults only because they're dangerous for kids here at my feet, they fall off the edge of the pool, whereas near you at key Chera it's because there's lions walking around. So but they do have what I also love is I have a family suite. So for those people who do have kids, teenagers, they have a great family suite to stay in it together. Yeah, absolutely. And very spacious, very spacious. And they also have lots like you mentioned being able to go out on the water and the Choros which is a great way to do a safari because it's so quiet, right? There's no engine noise. It's just peaceful. And they're sort of paddling along slowly to see what you see

Sandra 13:08
for the soul. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, the water channels are wide and you're surrounded by water, the leaves and Papyrus reads, it's really tranquil and all you hear is the splashing of the water from the pole. And polar actually picked water lilies for me and made me a necklace from the water lilies so beautiful. And then they pull up onto an island that often set up breakfast on an island before returning back to the lodge. So it really is a magical experience. And if I can just point out mainly and I'm probably jumping the gun here. But to the left, you can see the bed bed sleep out. And there are many lodges throughout Africa which have sleep out decks or star beds. But this is one other kind you will see that the iron around it has been fashioned into the form of a large bed that that the sleep art is on three levels. So you have a bathroom, in your bedroom in case it should rain or you feel uncomfortable. And right at the top is open areas. So any honey new now any special occasion you have to book this, but you can only on site,

Mimi Lichtenstein 14:21
right? And so that was the point I was going to make it it's something where you probably if you're planning as far as a year and a half in advance, you're like Oh, I definitely want to do this experience but you can't actually book it until you get there so I think that they also keep your suite in your your regular suite if for whatever reason you want to go back and then another unique aspect of this lodge well there's so many but one is I believe it's 100% solar powered

Sandra 14:45
is so they have got a huge focus on sustainable launch or how can I put it but it's very sustainable. So yes, 100% is completely solar powered by grow their own food, they use absolutely no plastic at the lunch whatsoever. So it really is commendable. They support a community almost entirely. So that really is, besides the beauty and the luxury of the large what they are doing in terms of community and for the environment is really commendable.

Mimi Lichtenstein 15:21
And I also understand they have, I believe, the largest collection of sub Saharan artists on display. So when you're there, you're actually seeing art from people all over Africa, in your room in the main room. So, you know, what a way to be able to experience all of that part of the culture as well.

Sandra 15:42
Absolutely. They even give you an option to if you'd like to go so they walk around and explain the various articles.

Mimi Lichtenstein 15:49
Nice. Okay, well, I know you and I could talk about this for another hour, but we have to know it's easily done. Okavango Delta, you know, this is again, another picture with the palm trees and a huge elephant walking by so serene picture. Yeah, beautiful picture. And so within the Okavango Delta, tell us about the first unique cap Chow camp. And for those of you listening, you might want to go check out the picture on the video, because it's very

Sandra 16:19
excellent. Yeah, it's beautiful. So just very quickly, in order to get into this, we just have to explain that I could then go Delta how it works. That's generally I mean, as I say, Hello are in three quarters of the country's desert. But what happens with the aka Banco Delta is that the waters accumulate at about 640 miles away from the Delta flows into the Delta, and then it spreads out like fingers into the delta. So within the Okavango Delta itself, you get a lot of permanent water channels, which in turn attract a lot of animals. So you've got a very high concentration of gain, where you get a high concentration of planes game, you naturally get the predators following. So any game experiences also going to be excellent? Joe itself, beautiful luxury can as you can see, the rooms are huge. And love the whole drapes tend to affect what they have a 20 minute drive, if I remember correctly from the main lodge, they have got a raised hide the pride of the time. So you can go there and actually view the animals from the top. So that's a really beautiful perspective to see them. There. Also, you can do a drive out to a case called the hunter Island, which is ideal for game viewing. So you can go in and spend the entire day they do in game viewing drives, and they will give you a picnic lunch. So it's a private, unique experience. I don't think you can get many without many other places. And they have a star bed as well. So they also drive out into the middle of nowhere. And you've got this incredible experience under the stars.

Mimi Lichtenstein 18:08
Yeah, you got to do a stark, it's beautiful. You know, they're all beautiful. It's so it's so hard as for people to choose, but that's what you and I are here for to help them. So okay, so Juba planes. Again, another small camp, I think all of these camps that we're talking about today, or maybe six, six rooms, tell us a little bit about different plates.

Sandra 18:28
So do the pains completely different, it's got a bit of a you can see from these hotels, in fact, it's got a 1920s colonial feel to it, which I love. It's got quite a romantic feel to it does water to the test here. But it is subject to water levels. So just to bear that in mind. But other than that your safari experience is going to be excellent. You're in the Delta, you've got this huge concentration of games, so please know you can't go wrong.

Mimi Lichtenstein 18:59
Yeah, I don't think you can go wrong in any of the ones that we're talking about. Right. Another feature that I like that a lot of lodges have are outdoor showers. I know these guys have them but to be you know, in an outdoor shower, probably just open to the wilderness, maybe an elephant Romans five and other than that you don't have to worry about anybody watching you. It's so fun. And I know that these guys also do a lot with conservation as they all do and hiring people from the local community. I think they have 80% more than 80% of their staff are from like that very close surrounding community. So just even staying at these camps, you know, you are contributing to the livelihood of the people who live there which is a really nice feeling to have. And also obviously helping conserve the animals because so much money of what you're paying to stay in there goes to help conservation of the animals in the area and I believe that their minimum age I think is eight years old. So if you have younger ones, this is this is a

Sandra 19:57
perfect match. Another lovely experience that Abby's hot air balloon. So it really is unique. I haven't unfortunately done it myself, but the balloon flies over the delta. So it's really going to give you a bird's eye perspective.

Mimi Lichtenstein 20:12
Yeah. And this is I believe Duba plains is the one that is actually owned by the National Geographic photographers, is that right? Correct.

Sandra 20:19
Correct. So they have Dukkha planes, and they have Seraphina as well, and they've got a shear interest in cylinder that will get

Mimi Lichtenstein 20:28
beautiful. Okay, little vumbura. Tell us a little bit about this.

Sandra 20:33
So get the lumber and again, in the Delta permanent water. So you're going to do your water activities like them or coral boating, fishing. So it's got a wide range of activities, smaller can and you'll see from the purchase, it's a little bit less, both of the top than the others. So it's a small traditionally, Safari Lodge. And again, this brings us back to the point of it's very important if you've got plans wanting to go to the delta that would get as much information as possible, because dependent on that we will select lodges and the duration and the combination accordingly.

Mimi Lichtenstein 21:16
Yeah, and again, you can't go wrong. Okay, I love these pictures. So we're moving on to the cylinder reserve. And you can see a huge elephant bathing among lion with our baby cub. And is that an impala or something with a little bird perched on his head?

Sandra 21:32
It's an impala with its choke.

Mimi Lichtenstein 21:37
Well, and so so how is the cylinder reserve different than some of the other ones?

Sandra 21:42
Okay, so the cylinder reserve. So we've now moved away from the Okavango Delta Moremi area, and we've moved northeast towards the turbine National Park, which boards and bobbins. And yet to give you an idea of where we are, and the cylinder and the linyanti are both in the greater CIOB National Park area, which is renowned for its huge herds of elephants. The cylinder reserve is also renowned for its predators. So there's the famous cylinder pack. They are wild ducks, which is really a unique viewing in Africa and general even South Africa, it's quite difficult to see them. So the cylinder is renowned for it. Birding especially during the wet season, if you have clients interested in birding, it's a beautiful resume. Yes, it speaks for itself, the center picture and the elephant. Yeah, sort of.

Mimi Lichtenstein 22:41
Yeah. Okay. So within this Belinda reserve, we have Zarafa Camp, which we touched on earlier owned by the same National Geographic photographers. And my understanding is actually this one, if you are a photographer is a great one to go to. They have lots of different very expensive, very high quality camera lenses and you know bodies that you can use.

Sandra 23:01
Absolutely. So, as you said, photographer's paradise. In addition to the equipment that you can use, they also have photographic guides who can assist you in getting the angles and the lighting correct. So you can come away from there with brilliant photos, as you will see from the pictures Serafina is while very high and very focused on conservation, in general, just to touch on an important point, which I didn't mention the UK of Banco Delta or even a cylinder linyanti. So Botswana has adopted an attitude towards tourism or Safari of the low impact ecotourism. So you mentioned some lodges are extremely important, and that's been done on purpose. They don't want to get masters and they don't want to ruin the environment, they want to sustain the conserve the animals. So they are focusing on smaller numbers on a smaller number of lodges. So So Rafa is one perfect example of how it encapsulates luxury, eco tourism.

Mimi Lichtenstein 24:15
And I think that's important. We touched on it last week. But you know, a lot of places in Africa do have root safaris with bigger groups of people, but they because they have more people have to stay at different lodges. So when you're staying in a six, you know, accommodation Lodge, you're not going to be having a big group coming through which is nice, because it feels more exclusive. Okay, so cylinder obviously has a very unique architecture to it. Tell us a little bit about cylinder.

Sandra 24:41
So then duck pen is basically it's on the same price level as the office that was recently done. You can see the field is completely different and as you say the architecture is completely different, but the experience you're getting there is equally as good as sarafa That's really beautiful, very famous for its predators. So you mentioned Derek and Beverly Jubeir earlier filmmakers and photographers. So they're actually there's a pack of lions called the cylinder pride or the seven pack. And they were actually filmed for one of the documentaries they created for National Geographic, I think it's called, that is some of pride. That's over a long time, you know, tracking specific product lines. And if anyone hasn't seen it, it's definitely worth a watch. But it emphasizes, again, my private experience in the Sonoran Desert.

Mimi Lichtenstein 25:42
And I think it's very small, three tenths in one two bedroom, is that right? Correct. Correct.

Sandra 25:49
So very small, very exclusive.

Mimi Lichtenstein 25:51
Okay. And I believe I don't, I think there might be multiple ways to get there, but one of them you can take a boat and you're gonna maybe vote through waters with hippopotamuses.

Sandra 26:02
The comforting point is that your guides know the waters very well. So they will steer very clear the hippopotamus.

Mimi Lichtenstein 26:09
Okay. Yeah, we don't want to hit any of them on the head. Okay. And then linea tapers are tell us about how this is a little different than some of the others.

Sandra 26:17
Okay, selenia ante is in a corner of the CIOB National Park. The CIOB National Park is renowned for its huge elephant, it's within the park itself, that estimated approximately 100,000 elephants. So it's incredible to see the third's as you go along the picture of the leopard gives you an indication again, the predators in the area, there's a high density of animals coming and congregating along the lagoons and the rivers. Obviously, we got the animals congregating, especially during the dry season, you have the predators following so again, brilliant game viewing experiences.

Mimi Lichtenstein 27:01
Beautiful. Okay, and so one of the places we're going to talk about is Joomla Tao. And I know there's also a little do a tower. So you want to tell us a little bit each of those.

Sandra 27:11
Again, repeating myself, again, excellent. As you can see, it sits along a riverbank again, during the dry season, animals will obviously come down to drink from the river. So you can literally sit on your deck and do your game viewing afternoon sipping gin, instead of going out on the game vehicle. It's

Mimi Lichtenstein 27:34
like, luxury and laziness combined with

Sandra 27:38
my kind of holiday. Yeah.

Mimi Lichtenstein 27:41
And I think they asked do all of their combinations of private punch pools? I think they might do. Yeah, okay, which is a feature many lodges have, but not every Lodge and it somehow just some rooms have it and some don't. So if it's important, just something to think about, but be kind of nice to sit in your own private Punchbowl just watching an elephant Liam durbuy.

Sandra 27:59
Absolutely. And another point to mention at this time is also in terms of air conditioning or fans. You mentioned earlier a lot of lodges are so the pilot won't have necessarily the air conditioning. Many lodges avoided purely due to conservation sustainability, in which case you will have fans overhead to keep the coal and the water coming off the water the air coming off, the water also cools down.

Mimi Lichtenstein 28:30
Which when we talk at the end about logistics and other good things to know is something to consider when you're going during the heat of the season, which can get extremely hot over 100 degrees and bucks. And then little Juba. Tao is kind of a little separate sister that's great for families who want to stay together or perhaps someone a celebrity or somebody who wants to have a little bit more privacy

Sandra 28:56
absolute cats ideal or to us to go as you say going with a group of friends or family

Mimi Lichtenstein 29:04
and then we have Kingsport so kings pool tell us a little bit about this and then definitely bring up my favorite feature about the firepit place.

Sandra 29:14
So kings pool as you can see very, very high end very exclusive. The rooms huge again viewing accidental private plunge pools minis highlight is what I call a floating fire deck flyer. So it's a deck going out almost onto the water and you're surrounded by the water lilies and they'd make a bonfire so before dinner you can have your pre drinks after dinner you can have your nightcap sitting in this amazing environment and it literally feels like you're just floating on the water is so beautiful. What kings pool also does have is an underground tide so below the ground tide. Perfect. It's such fun if you go down the actually watch the animals at the feed level. So you'll see the elephant's trunk going down into the water. So, it's really a fun opportunity.

Mimi Lichtenstein 30:11
So okay, now this one you know, I have trouble pronouncing not getting getting

Sandra 30:17
my caddy caddy saltpans, which is part of the greater Kalahari.

Mimi Lichtenstein 30:21
Well, beautiful. So clearly, this has, like you said, saltpans completely different, you know, terrain than some of the others. So why would somebody want to go to Makkah diggity

Sandra 30:33
caddy for me is managed to get there as well. And it's a dream. It's actually crazy that a one hour flight from archipenko Delta, you can pick from which is all lush, they call it the jewel of Botswana and then you find yourself in this completely arid area. As you can see, it is all salt pans, you get this vast, vast wilderness. So the one even when we stopped for a nightcap or sundowners, we went and we walked out onto the pan, it was a full moon, we had Gen Z in our hand, and arranger just said, Be quiet and just enjoy it. And it's the solitude and I don't think I've ever experienced anything that the sundown of the sunsets or Sunrises very harsh. So during the dramas, which is generally from about April through to November, you don't need much game you get the beautiful desert lions and you get the art Wolf, you know, some unique species of animals. But you wouldn't go to Jackson. Well, mechanically, we'll go on to the Kent would go here for totally different experiences so Jack's can, which you brought up today is, for me, it was like an out of Africa setting as you can see, it's all these magnificent Bedouin tents draped in, in rich red colors. You have a beautiful teak tent with huge cushions scattered around, you leave your floors at the entrance, natural history, a tree you can really go on and on. But for Jack's can in addition to all the splendor and the luxury and the unique accommodation or the activities. So as I mentioned, if you go in the dry season, so from about April through to December, the activities you can do here are incredible. So on the saltpans in the quad banking, you can go striding there are helicopters are there, they do asleep out on the saltpans, which is amazing. So they literally put beds on the soul pants for you with a beautiful blanket and you sleep under the stars. It's magical and to watch the sunrise is something else. So carry on.

Mimi Lichtenstein 33:00
I was just gonna say so magical the way you're describing it, and they're huge four poster beds like it definitely has a very, like you said there Bedouin tents, it has that feel to it.

Sandra 33:11
Absolutely. It's beautiful. And I think the highlight for anyone going to Jack's camp is to see the meerkats situated near cat. So you literally go out, we have got a slide.

Mimi Lichtenstein 33:27
I have a slide. It's later

Sandra 33:28
though, but we'll get our points down, we should point that out. They're so cute. So you sit there and they come into your head and beautiful, they're really beautiful. And also when we get on to the activities further on, you get to walk with the sand people of Bushman, very few of these people and left in the country, which is really sad. But it's amazing. They talk to you, their teacher about how they've lived in the desert for so many years. So Jack's camp is amazing. And to combine it with adult experience, in my opinion, it's the most

Mimi Lichtenstein 34:04
beautiful. So let's then touch on. I mean, throughout our conversation, we've been talking about a few of the different experiences you can have including going out for the wet safaris and a macmorrow boat or on one of the boats that sort of floats above the water. Some of them are even two stories so you can have a different perspective. Do you want to share a little bit about those Oh, and the quad biking which I think you can do at Jack's camp too but not everywhere. Tell us a little about about some of these different experiences we haven't touched on

Sandra 34:32
yet. All right, so Makara we've already touched on it and that you would go around it's generally shadow waters the channels are shallow so you wouldn't be able to go into merchandise boots on those channels. Beautiful. I mean, I forgot to mention key Duran has got plus buttoned records so it's quite something to go up the channels, motorists boats or so for fishing. Quite a few of the lodges have a fishing so you would go on to one of the He's boats. And also just to do a standard cruise down the river. If you can't do for us, it's beautiful. You'll see them across it's very closing channel. So the merchandise bird wouldn't be able to go there. Then Then, as you say, the quad biking, you can only really do that on the saltpans. The Delta linyanti chirping area is too there's too much gay MPs, so they don't allow that it's the animals per se. Correct.

Mimi Lichtenstein 35:38
Another example, yes.

Sandra 35:42
That's amazing. You know, the first time I did one, I thought, Oh, I'm going to be quite nervous sleeping in the middle of nowhere. But the way it's built, the animals can't get active, the Ranger will stay in a tent cuantos bursts. If you feel uncomfortable, you call him and go back to the lodge. But it is out of this world. They give you a private dinner and you have your sparkling wine and you have this romantic evening under the stars.

Mimi Lichtenstein 36:09
Lovely. And do you happen to remember which one is this one?

Sandra 36:13
I'd be lying if I say this, sorry.

Mimi Lichtenstein 36:19
It's one of the beautiful ones submarine. And then the migration, I told everyone we would tell them where the big zebra migration is talk to me about the different kinds of migrations that they have.

Sandra 36:29
Absolutely. So everyone's familiar, obviously, with the buildup, yes, migration in East Africa. Always think versus the most highly kept secret in Africa. So the zipper migration is incredible to witness. So they moved from the northern area where you get the cylinder and yanti area which I was referring to, and then move down to the mechanic caddy saltpans in the weight Max simply because the pans when they get there rains, get this layer of beautiful green grass and you get pets filled with water. So the zippers, you get about 25,000 zippers migrating from the north down to the south, you know, while they come to enjoy the green grass and the water. And then once the rains dry up, they start moving up northwards again looking for vegetation. So basically, in general, the game follows water. So this is migration, and you get a similar migration with the buffalo. But on a smaller scale. But the zipper migration, you get an entire horizon filled with Cypress, it's beautiful

Mimi Lichtenstein 37:43
standing. And then some of you touched on it earlier. But the cultural interactions are learning about the history of the people at and around some of these camps telephone rings.

Sandra 37:52
So I touched on the sand people. So they are the indigenous people in Botswana. They are hunter gatherers. So they literally have learned to live in the bush, eating off what nature provides them. So when you go walking with them, they'll show you for example, how they start to fail or gains that they used to play, you know, their ancestors played in the bush or how they're done that sculpins I was horrified how they pick up scorpions and use them to play with you know, before. So in addition to them also at the lodges, as you mentioned earlier, we need the largest employ people from the communities. And they in turn love to share stories of how they grew up in their communities. So that interaction learning about people's cultures beautiful, it's

Mimi Lichtenstein 38:47
Yeah, and I think again, for children like you just can't be it right to be able to learn about the culture and the history and hands on experiences and learning how to play with scorpions safely. I've seen

Sandra 39:00
so many classic tantrums.

Mimi Lichtenstein 39:03
For sure. Okay, and here's our darling little here.

Sandra 39:07
They are the quirkiest, cutest creatures. They do. They dress in a very unobtrusive ways. So they have a person who goes out he's actually one of the meerkats all day and you know case in case they are predators coming in. So he just keeps an Armin and sunrise we go out very early in the morning. And they sit out on a blanket and all of a sudden they pop their heads up. They work very much as a colony. It's so cute to see and they'll slowly come out and they'll get you know curious inquisitive. And if you sit very still they'll either cuddle up, you know legs or they come in they jump onto your page because obviously the highest vantage point so yes, it's a must. It's something I'll never ever

Mimi Lichtenstein 39:58
forget. They Do like you just look at them? And they just look so curious. Right? And so absolutely. So cute. Can't beat them. All right, well, then let's before we head out talk about kind of the yeah, good to know information, which includes Botswana, malaria, getting the right you know, go into your Travel Clinic before you go there. Malaria zone in the whole country.

Sandra 40:24
Correct. So malaria, you need to take malaria prophylaxis, especially during the hot, rainy months, because it gets quite humid, obviously, water and lands, you know, still in a lagoon, you can get mosquitoes. I haven't known many cases of malaria, to be perfectly honest. But when I went, I took them and I do recommend it to our guests to take them, you don't need any vaccination. So you don't need yellow fever or any other such vaccination. We just need malaria prophylaxis, and you actually get quite nice ones to take in olden days that would make you sick that they really good, best time of the year to go, the peak time for Botswana is generally in the middle of the dry months. So it's from about June to the end of October. Prior to that you get what are referred to as the green season. So the rains have started, but it's starting to get drier, the rates, the rains are only literally starting, but your rates are excellent. And so if you refer to this graph, it will see June, July, August, September, October is excellent game viewing, that's what you get that higher concentration of gain. And the reason for that is because it's dry, the animals will congregate around rivers or the coons or the water channels to come and drink. Excellent. But as I say, you know, March April, you got your green season, you're still getting excellent game viewing and the rates are half the price. Jan, Feb March, even December the moment we're getting there, it's gets really really hot and humid. However, for birders, it's beautiful to go out there. And as I mentioned Jax can, for example, the mechanic Patty pans or the Central Kalahari, you get a whole different perspective, because the animals are coming down to a to a desert. So there's always a good time just depends when your guests are able to travel and then we will build around that.

Mimi Lichtenstein 42:38
So it's fair to say as the ratings go up, the rates go down. Correct. Okay, that's a good way to put it. Well, you said it, I was just capturing it. And then logistics so a lot of these lodges you can't drive to so it follows planes or helicopters or boats. So you know, there's some logistical magic going on in the background to find try to figure out how to pair the camps that you're going to in the right order and to be able to get from one to another without having to go back to like a major city or airport. So

Sandra 43:10
So generally speaking, as I mentioned earlier, the main entry point for the delta is MT, which is the capital of the Delta. From there, you're generally made bio pilots of the small aircraft. And these are the type of plane you go on. They will all be small, some a bit larger than others, but it depends on the number of passengers so this year is the Grand Caravan it's quite normal size that have to be small to land on the air strips at the various lodges. Very important to remember as I think you know, in other areas or other countries if it's a small plane, you've got luggage restrictions, given the size of the plane that only permits I think it's 44 of luggage or in our language 20 kilograms of luggage and soft sided bags. That way they can actually push it into the hold of the plane so it's very important to remember and the planes do so you can just circus you would you not from between the largest and they have different tastes and land on and from the your logical connection. And

Mimi Lichtenstein 44:21
I was gonna say late last week and reminded me it's good for people to know before they land that sometimes they do a couple of passes, they might go down to get off any sort of little wild animals that are crawling around on the airstrip and then come back and land again, which is nothing knock anything from the pain. Yeah. And then we touched on a few of the we dove a little bit into Cape Town last week, which of course is stunning and beautiful. Botswana makes it very easy to add on Cape Town pre or post Safari Victoria. Yeah, unique experience.

Sandra 44:54
monotypic falls you can do get up in the trophy. It's a land transfer to get came Tom, direct flights from mounts as you send me the easy to come back.

Mimi Lichtenstein 45:05
One thing I have on my personal bucket list for the next time I go to big files with my kiddos is to take one of those micro light plates

Sandra 45:16
over the over the falls. That's beautiful. You feel one with the holes.

Mimi Lichtenstein 45:22
Yeah, so both of those are great. And then maybe before we go, let's just let's touch on pricing. We talked about it a little bit in the beginning, but swan is known as being a very expensive Safari destination, which you're looking at places like Mambo or Kuchera, you are looking at, you know, 3500 $4,500 per person per day. So, perhaps save that one that should be the last camp you visit. But for other people who are coming maybe with bigger families or more of a four star budget, what what kind of pricing is there for four star safaris and Botswana

Sandra 46:00
for good four star Lodge, you can generally pay between 550 to $600 per person per night, you're getting a very good Lodge, you're getting exactly the exact same supplier experience. A lot of them are a lot more child friendly. They have children's areas or they have, you know, someone doing children's activities with them. So you can definitely don't let the price tag or the key Jura frighten you off. We can definitely do a beautiful Botswana circuit using for stock gain matches. And it's a lot more cost effective than the five star ones.

Mimi Lichtenstein 46:37
Yeah. So there is a Safari for everything.

Sandra 46:41
Absolutely.

Mimi Lichtenstein 46:43
Well, thank you so much. I'm excited to go to Botswana. I hope everybody who's watching is now excited to go to Botswana. You know, wherever you go on a safari, you're gonna have an amazing time. Obviously, Botswana has some unique aspects to it that make it extra special. Put a star bed on your list for sure. And you know, get there. I think for everybody who's never been on one in particular. Get yourself on Safari.

Sandra 47:10
Absolutely.

Mimi Lichtenstein 47:13
There you go. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. It's been lovely. I appreciate all of your insights and expertise. And I look forward to working with you on a safari sometime soon.

Sandra 47:24
Find community. Thanks for your time.

Mimi Lichtenstein 47:26
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