How was your Explore Tour Leader?

He was excellent, a local man steeped in knowledge of wildlife, and a great ambassador for his country. We often appeared to "come upon" animals by chance, but I think he had been following their tracks quietly. It was marvellous to be the only vehicle present when we saw a pride of lions, or a herd of buffalo, or a flock of carmine bee-eaters! Our leader managed that.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

"Ring South African Airways as soon as you book the holiday to sort out seats for the flights. We left it till 24hrs before departure and found all the decent seats had gone. We were annoyed Explore hadn't mentioned this."

Do you have anything else to add?

"Be prepared for intense dry heat. We went in October, temps were 35C and more.
Make sure you have lots of US dollars in cash, credit card machines don't always work."

What a great trip, the excitment and privilege of seeing such magnificent animals up close from the dwarf mongoose to the impressive elephants, from the bee-eaters to the marribou storks it was all equally fantastic to watch. I think my most memorable night was when an elephant spent some time within a few small feet of our tent, the hippo's were also active right by then a lion roared also nearby all making me wonder how fragile canvas is. Our last safari was another very memorable moment and almost like a climax as we saw so very many elephant in one small area. I think the thing that touched me most was when a mother elephant led her very young baby right by our truck.  I think that some of the group had higher expectations as although the holiday is "in style" it was of mixed comfort, to me it was great and I liked the basic houseboat which helped to make me feel a part of Africa, as long as I can charge my camera I'm happy in most places.    Please remember if you go on holiday with a group there does need to be give and take and a certain amount of sensitivity, if someone tends  to grumble a lot (even though there are no problems) it can upset the whole group's holiday. Also you should respect the animals especially as you are invading their territory, to have people talking loudly and incessently is inconciderate and disturbing for the wildlife.  But it was a great holiday. (OZ - 5th November 2011)