Karen Kilyk, a luxury vacation advisor with Covington Travel, recently went on safari in Botswana to glean first-person experience to share with travelers interested in safari options. In first of the two-part series about her trip, Karen shared general tips on How to Safari in Botswana. In this second post, Karen gives her impressions of five Wilderness Safari Camps in Africa that she visited and inspected.

Each of the luxury tented camps operated by Wilderness Safari Camps includes spacious individual accommodations with ensuite bathrooms and communal main areas with a pool and dining area. Classic camps include buffet dining while premier camps include table service dining. All camps include laundry service and twice daily shared game drives, as well as activities unique to the camp, such as a nature walk or sundowners in the bush.

Kalahari Plains Camp

The Kalahari Plains Camp is classified as a classic camp with only nine individual canvas-tented units. The camp is 100% solar-powered and innovative insulated canvas walls and roof keep the temperatures inside the units comfortable. The stylish tents have wood floors and doors, ensuite bathrooms with his and hers basins, flush toilets and a shower. A special feature unique to this camp is the Star Bed – a porch above the main room where you can lay and watch the stars. I saw shooting stars in an endless sky and heard jackals and other unidentified sounds for hours. One couple had a lion spend time just below their star bed! Most folks don’t last the night – neither did I. There is no TV or Wi-Fi, but toiletries and bug spray are provided, as is an air horn to summon help if needed. In the evening after a buffet dinner in the main area, we were escorted to our rooms where we were advised not to leave.

The Kalahari is a very dry, desert atmosphere, although at the end of winter it has a lot of greenery. My porch had an unobstructed view of the open plain and waterhole. This camp is one of only two in 11 million acres of conservancy. It took a 30-minute flight from Maun in a little 12-seater bush plane and another 30-minute jeep ride across the plain to reach the camp. They do not do night game drives or go off road, as it is in a national park, but we saw plenty of game and even got to do a bushwalk with the Bushmen of the Kalahari. Karen’s tip: If you want to be extremely remote, cut off from everything, experience amazing skies and lots of game, Kalahari Plains Camp is a great option.

Xigera

Xigera is also a classic camp, located on Paradise Island in the Okavango Delta. The tented rooms with ensuite facilities feature an outdoor shower and amazing views of the Okavango Delta floodplains. The public bathrooms are a “room with a view” as they are fully open in the front and you can watch an elephant at the river while you answer the call of nature. This camp is built up on walkways, which the wildlife don’t hesitate to use to pass through the camp. In July and August, the camp is surrounded by water, so it’s technically a water-based camp. During the wet season, you cannot do jeep safaris by land and all game drives are done via speed boat or mokoro, a small, flat-bottomed boat guided by a poler. We got to do both jeep and mokoro game drives during March before the water came down into the Delta.

We saw so much amazing game at Xigera. We had a great leopard encounter here and saw lots of elephants, giraffe, kudus, eagles, tons of gorgeous birds, impala, hippo, crocodiles, Lechwe, monkeys, baboons, wild dog, reedbok, owls, warthog and more. It was really the best game viewing of the trip. The terrain was very rugged and the ride was exceptionally bumpy – tons of fun, but not for anyone with back problems. Karen’s tip: My least favorite moment of safari happened when we witnessed an unpleasant part of nature here – the kill. It’s brutal but quick and efficient.

Kings Pool

Kings Pool is one of Wilderness Safari’s premier camps, which we felt as soon as we arrived. We flew another bush plane into Chobe airstrip where the camp employs full-time staff to greet guests. Restrooms were available so everyone is comfortable on the 45-minute jeep ride to luxurious Kings Pool, a land camp in the Linyanti region. Here, the tented rooms line the shore of a lagoon filled with hippo, each with their own plunge pool, daybed and chaise lounges. The décor is beautiful and the bathroom is huge with outside shower.

There is not as much game here as in the other two camps, but it gets more plentiful as the waterholes in the bush dry up and the animals are forced to the river to drink. The Linyanti region is full of Mopani trees, a favorite of elephants, so at times, there are literally hundreds of elephants in the region. We saw two leopards here on the same night. Karen’s tip: During the green season here, it’s difficult to find and see the wildlife as vegetation is so thick. As it dries up the leaves will fall leaving it dry and brown, but much easier to see the game.

Dumatau

Dumatau Camp is another classic camp about two hours’ drive from Kings Pool that we visited during the day. It has a nice rustic feel without sacrificing any comfort. This camp is very spread out with the farthest room being a third of a mile walk from the main camp area. Dumatau sits along a large water area with marsh in front and bush behind, so there is a great diversity of wildlife and birds. You can safari by land or water here. Karen’s tip: Dumatau Camp is one of the most budget-friendly of the camps I inspected.

Toka Leya

Toka Leya Camp is in Zambia’s Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, along the mighty Zambezi River above the world renowned Victoria Falls. The tented camp is categorized as classic, although it’s the only Wilderness Safari camp that has Wi-Fi, plus a spa and a gym overlooking the river, so I felt like I had come back to civilization. It is a lovely camp, although you don’t need much time here to see the main attractions of the Falls and the rhino.

Seeing the falls from the air, I was awed at how large it really is – forget Niagara Falls! Karen’s tip: To see it up close, go with a guide and wear quick-dry clothing because when the full water is in, it goes both up and down and you’ll get drenched even with a full poncho on. Be sure to wear strap-on, non-slip sandals because footing can be slippery.

To find out more about safari accommodations and options, contact a Covington Vacation Specialist.

Karen Kilyk is a world-class and world-traveled luxury vacation advisor with a passion for designing exceptional experiences for other travelers. “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the little extra and this is what I strive to deliver with every trip. Personal contacts around the world make all the difference when personalizing a trip.”

About Wilderness Safaris: Founded in Botswana in 1983, Wilderness Safaris is widely acclaimed as the continent’s foremost ecotourism operator, operating camps and lodges in eight countries across Africa. They provide life-changing journeys in some of the most remote and pristine areas in Africa and in so doing help conserve Africa’s spectacular biodiversity and share ecotourism’s benefits with rural people.