Testimonial from Sydney Bland

Skeleton Coast/Hoanib- Loved this camp!!!!! This was such great camp and experience- it was highlight of trip (2nd would be the sand dunes).   I can’t say enough about the staff, accommodations, and activities. Clement, the manager was the best we experienced. He was so involved and also there to talk with (or pour wine) and make us feel welcome. He was always there and we felt like special friends staying at his home. He set the tone but everyone we met at the camp gave us the same positive feeling. We were in the farthest tent and the views were amazing and we had feeling of being on another planet. The setting is so amazing. All the meals were excellent and we had a great guide Elias. He was so enjoyable to be with and we spent a lot of time out looking. Think we had longer drives than the other 2 camps. He was very knowledgeable and showed us even the very small animals (spiders) but also saw giraffes, elephants, oryx, seals, springbok, and a brown haired hyena walking across from water hole while we were having breakfast.  

We were very fortunate to have time with MC and to hear of her work with the brown haired hyenas plus Dr. Phillip Stander was there. One evening he spotted a leopard stalking a giraffe with a baby and all of us went out and were able to see the leopard. Then Dr. Stander came back and sat around the fire pit having a glass of wine and talking about his work.  What a wonderful opportunity we had. The next evening Elias let us stay out during our sundowner to watch the mother giraffe over the deceased baby and observe all the animals that were trying to scavenge.

We also enjoyed the trip to the coast and was surprised how much we saw on the drive over to coast. They had a wonderful lunch set up on the beach that was great and the pilots who flew us back managed to find group of elephants that we flew over. It is amazing how the camp operates on solar power only and with food, water, supplies all trucked in.  It was a 5* experience. They showed the movie that Nat. Geographic made about Dr Standers 17 year work with the mother lion and the 5 lions. I have been finding on line other videos of his as was so impressive for conservation and protection of the desert lions.

In summary, we had a wonderful trip and I would recommend your organization and also Wilderness Safaris. In fact, I want to go to Botswana and stay at Wilderness camps. While expectations were that we would not see many animals, knowing it is a desert environment we were very fortunate and I feel saw a lot. They had rain the month before so that helped as many animals in the riverbed. And our guides were very good.  Having been in Kenya on safari, this was such a neat change as felt like we were only ones in the parks or reserves. We would drive for hours and not see other cars. So different from Kenya. Plus as most people were also staying at the different camps you ran into them multiple times-either at a camp or airport. All the information and documentation you provided were valuable and everything we needed. (The camps did such a good job with laundry we realized we had over-packed.) 

Thanks for your planning and support and this was a trip my daughter and I will remember for a very long time.