Africa Wild

10 days seems like a good length of time

As for the season... difficult to advise really. Everyone's got his own preference... In winter you can have great sightings throughout the day.
It's cold and the critters are on the move. But that also means you are even more reliant on "the right time, right place" thing, because the
animals often don't hang out. They do their thing in the riverbed and vanish into the dunes again to get cozy and warmer

Summer can be extremely hot with temperatures reaching almost 50°C. Even worse on a rainy day when humidity makes the heat almost
unbearable. You have to be early to catch the animals and stay out as long as possible to have them moving again for the the night.
(Mind you, gate opening in December is from 5.30 to 19.30 - makes for looong days and short nights,)

January can still be hot and is the least popular when the availability of the sought after camps is anything to go by.

March and April are quite good, in my opinion. May probably too, but it can get nippy already. September is popular but can also be coolish.
October and the first half of November are pretty good too, with temperature usually not being as bad as after mid-November onwards.

As for the camps: If you want to afford the stiff rates (ZAR 1745.00 for a cabin in a wilderness camp at the moment), my perfect 10 day itinery
as a newbie would be: 3 nights Kieliekrankie, 3 nights Nossob, 4 nights Urikaruus.

I'd definitely avoid Twee (entrance camp, very busy and too loud for my taste) and Mata (there is the Kalarahi Tented Camp close by instead which only has 14 tents).

what a good itinerary Mel gave to you

start to book very early... it's very difficult to have a cabin at Urikaruus

I was in September and October, it was cold... the nights were very cold
and in November-December-January-February it's hot but nice, animals need water holes, but could be have big rains
and there is less people in January and February

Thank you ladies, I am ok with the heat, I don't function well in cold. Going to look at Feb / March next year then.

Where are you going to get a Fortuner?

Got one already. Using it for my Angola trip in may.

they not shy on their pricing for units. Does it come with a butler?

You can't moan about money if you have a Fortuner, Robbie...

Personally I would leave out the Kalahari Tented camp, it is falling to pieces. They have started the repairs, but with Africa time and all......

At Nossob do not take the new riverfront bungalows, because if you cannot get one of the two first ones, that overlook the water hole. It's not worth it and they are far away from from the "center". I do not like Nossob, but you will need to see the Nossob side too , even if I far prefer the Aoub River Valley and if you need to charge something and do some shopping. (I am sure though, that you have a charger ).

Richprins wrote:You can't moan about money if you have a Fortuner, Robbie...

One thing is to pay a lot of money for something that you need and which will last far into the future and another thing is to pay those ridiculous prices for the wilderness camps and which does not really offer much apart from atmosphere, peace and lovely views

RobertT wrote: they not shy on their pricing for units. Does it come with a butler?

That's not all RT -- you will be very very lucky indeed to even get into preferred camps even booking 12 months ahead