4-Day Boteti, Moremi Game Reserve & Khwai Safari

Traveler Reviews

• JD

  Jeff1.0•January 2025
  I have done many game drive/safari trips that were wonderful -- with other companies. This tour was operated with...
  I have done many game drive/safari trips that were wonderful -- with other companies. This tour was operated with EXTREME DISREGARD FOR SAFETY. I was repeatedly in poorly maintained safari vehicles, which due to the irresponsibility of the tour operator left my group stranded in the remote bush of Moreni Game Reserve for two days. No rescue ever came. There was no communications equipment in the vehicle to reach anyone. There was no emergency gear or safety equipment (we couldn't even light a signal fire to let rescuers know where we were). I would NEVER do anything with this company again.Show more
  Traveled in January 2025
  

  Reply from: The Mzansi Experience

  Hi Mr Dudycha, I note your review, and also the reviews stated on other platforms. I want to immediately address the fact that you were stuck overnight – not two days. This happened late afternoon on the day you were in Moremi Game Reserve on your way back to your accommodation. You were out the next morning and safely back at your accommodation. As a person so focused on facts, the mention of two days right in your opening sentence is placed with specific intent. I fully understand and acknowledge the distress caused to you by being stuck in thick mud overnight in a wildlife reserve. That has been acknowledged right from the start. I have assured you that we do not take it lightly. I really was sincere in my initial communication which was summarily dismissed by you as characterization. It was not. I have also assured you that a situation like this is the first in the history of our business (established 2017). This does not alleviate what you very unfortunately experienced, but it does point out that these types of events were not experienced by us before. We issued a refund for the upcoming activity (helicopter flight) in your itinerary even before we received a complaint from you - even though you said you do not want to do it, which normally means forfeiting at full charge. Or we could have asked to move it to another day, but we opted not to and just issued the refund. This immediate action to refund (which you approved on TourRadar only 10 days later) has not even been acknowledged in any way to us directly. Not a word. I have taken great care and effort to fully investigate with all parties involved with the information available, and gave a full, multi-page report on this. This has been met with complete disregard and anger from your side. I explained in detail what measures we will be putting into place so that this will not happen in future. From this situation, we have learned about additional measures that we will put into place going forward – but that is not a requirement by law for a tour operator. Hence, we are in full adherence to what was required by the tourism authorities of Botswana. The extraordinary circumstances (road conditions due to severe weather and rains) leading to this situation have not been taken into consideration at all – painting a picture to readers of this review that we operated unprepared and dangerously. Any person that does some reading into Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe / Savuti area of the past few weeks, will quickly see many roads got flooded, and some roads and crossings have been closed as too many vehicles got stuck and it became generally inaccessible for the time being. I can assure you that you would have a different opinion if you had insight of operations and daily dealing in safari business in a remote location like this. It is also very easy to comment on better preparedness in this situation or hinting at incompetent management as the cause of the situation. In Botswana, road conditions are a challenge sometimes even in the dry season. That is why we have a maintenance team looking at our vehicles very often. Communication is severely limited, with no mobile reception and the radio lines were off (or not responding). Regarding signal fires - there are dangerous animals so you cannot just get out of a vehicle and go build a fire at night. It is highly advised to stay on the vehicle in such circumstances. For a DAY TIME game drive, which we run daily, we had everything normally required on the vehicle. Most importantly, in these circumstances, you were always in the capable care of our experienced guide, delivering you safely and without any harm to your hotel the next morning. We were so glad to know you were all okay! We are certainly not deflecting responsibility, and stating that all problems could have been avoided is far overreaching the circumstances to the event. Based on our extensive communication, and your ongoing efforts to put my company in a bad light overall - for an isolated, and highly unfortunate incident - I do not know what to further respond since nothing is going to be acceptable for you. This is highly regretful as I really tried my utmost best. I wish you all the best for the future.

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  Costa5.0•May 2024
  Amazing place and service, everything was excellent! Our tour guide was super knowledgable and friendly and we were...
  Amazing place and service, everything was excellent! Our tour guide was super knowledgable and friendly and we were able to see so many different animals in our safari. And at nights the lodge was superb to wind down and with delicious food!Show more
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  Traveled in May 2024
• MP

  Matteo3.0•March 2024
  Overall this tour was a nice experience, with people friendliness and the marvel of the environment as the stars of...
  Overall this tour was a nice experience, with people friendliness and the marvel of the environment as the stars of the show. The camp experience is not on par with other camps I've been at that cost less money, if not for the food. I've felt a bit in danger at night, with animals roaming around. PROS - people have been super nice - James, my guide, was very knowledgeable and helpful with everything - the food was really good - there are many birds around the camp, which is great if you like to birdwatch - the helicopter ride was great, if a bit too short CONS - the tent was really small, with a bed that wouldn't fit me even though I'm average height - the bathrooms are not very clean. Being open, means there are many bugs there - the camp is quite dirty with cattle dung, and there are many farm animals roaming around (it was fine by me once I understood that they are roaming everywhere and they are people's main livelihood) - the transfers to get to the mokoro station and to Moremi are really long, 2 and 3.5 hours respectively - the bush walk was very short, would have loved to have had more time for it, maybe it should start one hour earlierShow more
  Traveled in March 2024
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  Chris5.0•March 2024
  Very nice and friendly staff at the tented camp. Beautiful place to stay and food arrangements were very good
  Traveled in February 2024
• C

  Chris4.0•February 2024
  The weather was very hot! 37-40c. Fans in the lodge were needed. The staff was great. Food options would be nice...
  The weather was very hot! 37-40c. Fans in the lodge were needed. The staff was great. Food options would be nice like a buffet and lunch food variety The tents need more ventilation such as a ceiling fan. James was a very good driver and guideShow more
  Traveled in February 2024
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  Chris5.0•February 2024
  The okavango safari was fantastic! The mokoro boot on the delta was breathtaking as was the fulltime day at Moremi...
  The okavango safari was fantastic! The mokoro boot on the delta was breathtaking as was the fulltime day at Moremi game reserve. Especially the guide James did great as did allso the rest of the staff of Boteti tented camp. We had a fantastic time in BotswanaShow more
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  Traveled in February 2024
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  Ram1.0•December 2023
  This is Horrible no Human Values and no Humanity Tour Company. I booked 3 Nights and 4 days Boteti Tented Safari...
  This is Horrible no Human Values and no Humanity Tour Company. I booked 3 Nights and 4 days Boteti Tented Safari Lodge. Tents were very Hot due to Tarpaulin and Unexpected heat wave. Unable to stay in lodge. Cancelled tour and booked Airconditioned hotel in Maun and stayed. asked for refund due to heat wave. they said no. Their main Moto is to make money not service. daytime rip-off.Show more
  Traveled in November 2023
  

  Reply from: The Mzansi Experience

  Hi Rami It is truly saddening that you are posting such severely damaging reviews on yet another platform about us. We have received, and replied, to the review on Google as well. You aptly mentioned the "unexpected heatwave" - which is not within our human control, nor is this something we can take responsibility for. This is force majeure ("act of God") and thoroughly explained in our Terms and Conditions. If you make the effort to read about this ("heatwave in Southern Africa November 2023"), it was an unprecedented heatwave over the entire South Africa. Posted two days before it was expected. It is also common knowledge that one can never accurately know what to expect from the weather. For a well-seasoned traveller, you should know that the weather can deliver a few surprises. And no ordinary man can control it (conspiracy theories aside). However.... From years and years of data one can gather the average temperatures for Nov / Dec in Botswana and I am confident that you severely underestimated the temperature. Did you perhaps check the weather app for forecasts before your arrival? In our itineraries, we do not claim to have air-conditioned rooms. Something like that is normally expressly stated if included. Most mid-level safari tented rooms have fans as a default. You are welcome to do research. As a predominantly solar-powered camp, air-conditioning is also not feasible. You left the camp on own accord, and without us reaching a resolve. Hence - taking own action. Better yet, the initial complaint was that your luggage got lost and you do not have reception to reach the airport. While there is good speed WiFi available to use on your phone - with email access. If reaching the airport was paramount, we could have offered a complimentary drive there and back as well. I see you did not mention your illness due to heatstroke here now either. Heatstroke is something needing medical attention. I think we should just call it was it was. You were inconvenienced due to your luggage being lost, stuck in long pants in a heatwave and frustrated that you did not have the luxury of air-conditioning to compensate (which was never claimed as being included). But a slew of complaints followed with claims to put us in a bad light. The safari-tented rooms are not made of tarpaulin, but high quality canvas with zip-down windows to match the best meru-style tents in the safari industry. It has a double-roof structure for extra heat deflection, offered only by superior quality manufacturers. This is not cheap tarpaulin (implying not breathable and hot building material). Should you have had travel insurance in place to cover your extensive travels, there would have been cover for your lost luggage, and also cover for medical situations (heatstroke?) to ensure you are looked after. Possibly even cover for emergency accommodation if you took out a comprehensive option. Making claims that we do not have human values and just want to make money is defamatory, and not based on fact. We have made refunds previously where it was valid and plausible. You did not cancel your tour - cancelling implies you never arrived. You did arrive on tour and decided to leave early (meaning, abort) on own accord. Expecting us to refund because you left, while we were not at fault for absolutely anything, is not something any business would do in this circumstance. Please, phone another safari company / tour operator and ask if they would refund due to hot weather and you deciding to leave by yourself... We have been trying to handle this in an amicable and professional manner, but you are clearly focused on damaging our name as some kind of retaliation for not being offered a refund. I repeat: none of this was any error from our side. This is damaging to our business. It affects the livelihoods of many people. We remain of the opinion that no refund will be given as the weather conditions are not within our control. Other guests (including myself, there for a site visit and meeting you in person) also stayed in the same heat during that period but somehow still enjoyed it. The swimming pool was a great way to cool down too! I honestly do not know what to say about this going forward. Your accusations are getting bigger and more elaborate and insulting now as well. Calling us "Horrible, No Human Values" and having "no humanity" is a very serious statement and defamatory on a personal level. This is not going to change the outcome. We have many, many excellent reviews on various platforms to prove we are a company delivering excellent service for many years, and absolutely value our guests. We are sad things did not turn out the way you wanted, for things beyond human control. Unfortunately, we cannot control the weather. Africa is hot, you willfully visited (meaning you frelly made the decison to book, confirm and pay for this tour) in the heart of summer where temperatures are known to sometimes get to uncomfortable levels. Weather patterns are unpredictable and - as Mother Nature / God allowed on the specific dates you visited - a heatwave developed on top of it. I am concluding this reply by wishing you the utmost best as you continue to grow your list of countries visited (more than 100 according to the app you showed us).

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• SH

  Sally5.0•October 2023
  I loved the trip. We had so many memorable experiences. The staff, lead by Beneh, Dominic and Annah, were delightful....
  I loved the trip. We had so many memorable experiences. The staff, lead by Beneh, Dominic and Annah, were delightful. As a 69 year old I found the heat and the long drives over rough roads challenging but worthwhile. We saw so many eautifulShow more
  Traveled in October 2023
• DR

  Douglas4.0•March 2023
  The safari to Moremi shoiuld start earlier as by the time we got there, most of the predators were under the...
  The safari to Moremi shoiuld start earlier as by the time we got there, most of the predators were under the tree/bushes sleeping and are impossible to find. Our driver did try very hard to find them. Also for us old people, it is necessary to get back By 4.00pm.Show more
  Traveled in March 2023
  

  Reply from: The Mzansi Experience

  Hi Douglas. Thank you for the positive review. We try to keep a balance in the timing of our activities and appreciate your feedback. However, we are very happy that your experience was great overall. Thank you for travelling with us!

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