I stayed at River Club in 2006 for two nights and loved it.

Hi Jim,

I have stayed at all of them except Tongabezi. I have been to River Club four times, Little Makalo twice, and Toka Leya once. Tongabezi is the immediate next door neighbor of the River Club. Each time I have been to River Club I walked next door to check out Tongabezi so I am familiar with the property.

Little Makalolo is one of my most favorite safari places in all of Africa. I took my wife and teenage daughters there in July this year and went by myself in May of last year. Go!

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

Hi.

Ive stayed at Tongabezi and loved it. Tranquil location, wonderful cottages and great service. They certainly try and make your stay unique and special, I always think those personal touches really add the whole experience. Its also fully inclusive, so there are few "extras" that tend to add up whilst you are at Vic Falls.

I also love the community focus (they do so much good work in the area) and overall atmosphere of the place, Its definitely a top option for the Vic Falls area

Hope this helps

Hazel

www.toescapeto.com

We really liked Sindabezi, the "rural" option for Tongabezi.
http://tongabezi.com/sindabezi.php

You might also check out Somalisa Camp in Hwange, near Little Makalolo. They have one of the best guides in Zimbabwe, Dudley. When I was there last year, all the WS cars (Makalolo and Little Makalolo) were encroaching on Somalisa's concession because we had better sightings.

I have stayed at Toka Leya twice and add it to my list of favorite safari camps. The smaller private boat cruises on the Zambezi enhance the wildlife viewing opportunities versus the large river boats like the African Queen, which I have also used twice. The tents are wonderful and I especially like this less crowded venue. Food is excellent and

Sorry some how I hit the submit button before I was finished. The food is excellent and who can forget their wonderful pizza out of their own pizza oven. Side trips to a Zambian village or out to see the white rhinos are a plus.

Another option, which we stayed at for two nights this past October, is Waterberry Lodge - a great location on the banks of the river, lovely accommodation, very friendly and helpful staff, excellent food and great activities, including bird walks with an excellent guide (Webby). CR
http://www.waterberrylodge.com/

I stayed at Little Makalolo over 10 years ago. Its nice to know its still a great place, thanks Craig. I loved it, however, the game viewing when I was there was definite sub par compared to other places I have been. That being said, it was still a great experience.

Mike

Hi Mike - I think the Hwange has improved greatly in the past ten years. I know you are a longtime and respected contributor on Trip Advisor. Check out the reviews there for Little Makalolo. They are excellent. Hwange has the highest animal diversity in all of Africa with 108 mammal species. I know you have been to Lion Sands many times. Animal sightings will never be like that at Little Makalolo because you can't track animals off road anywhere in the Hwange but you do get wide open spaces and one of the lowest human densities in Africa. We saw lions on 5 of 6 game drives and, of course, hundreds of elephant and buffalo on every game drive. We saw plenty of other animals as well including civets!

ShayTay - I was at Somalisa for lunch in July. Dudley is now the camp manager so I don't think he is driving anymore but I could be wrong. Dudley was the long time manager at Duba Plains in Botswana. I do have trouble believing guests of Wilderness Safaris would leave their (large) private concession to go into the public park and game drive near Somalisa. Do you mind sharing your source of information on this? Did you really see this or did someone tell you this? Including the OAT vehicles Wilderness has something like 20 land rovers. In addition, it takes almost 2 hours to get from Little Makalolo to Somalisa at game drive speed so this would be the entire morning or afternoon game drive just to get there (2+2 = 4 hours). Most game drives last 4-5 hours total. I have sent more than 100 clients to the Hwange this year. I was at Davisons/Little Makalolo with my wife and kids this August. I asked Wilderness safaris to take me to Somalisa and only Tendai Mdluli knew the way. He is their head ranger and also the concession manager so he took me. I think it is a bit odd for you to make such a bold statement. According to Travel & Leisure, I am the only A-List agent on their 2011 list for Zimbabwe. In addition to constantly going to Africa, I prowl all Africa forums and read any online reviews I can find, I feel like I would be "in the know" if Wilderness clients were going into the public portion of the park. Lastly, one of my many clients would have mentioned poor animal viewing and frustration with their experience at the Wilderness properties if this were the case.

Craig Beal – owner – Travel Beyond

Craig,is it possible to make a direct booking for the Little Makalolo Camp.If so is there an email or website I could visit.Planning Hwange in the first week of May'12.Thanks in advance.

inquest - Wilderness Safaris ownes Little Makalolo. They do not take direct bookings except on a last-minute, space available, walk-in basis to thier office in Victoria Falls. Ron Goatley runs the office. It is in a residentail neighborhood in the town.

I looked and Little Makalolo is sold out on May 17, but has 1 or more tents available the rest of the week.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

If you want to work with an agent in the USA two of the best Zimbabwe specialits are Diane Ebzery at African Portfolio in Connecticut http://www.onsafari.com/history.php or Mark Nolting/Alison Notling at Africa Adventure Company in FL.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

Craig when I got two quotes from Zimbabwe agents for my trip next August, they encouraged me to use other camps besides Wilderness even though I had requested Davison's and Ruckomechi. I realized that these small companies would not have the rights to book Wilderness camps and were therfore saying negative things about the camps. When I mentioned Ruckomechi on Safaritalk, one poster said there would be little game there. After reading your comments and checking back with Chris Worden at Zambezi Safari and Travel Company, whom I booked the trip with, I know I picked the right camp.

raelond,

You will not be disappointed at Ruckomechi at all. It has some of the highest animal densities I have ever seen in Africa on 29 visits. Any of the lodges in Mana Pools down by the historic flood plains will offer the same excellent game viewing so Ruckomechi certainly does not have the market cornered. It simply caters much more to the first time (perhaps more timid) safari enthusiast.

Given the price point of travel, I think a safari combining Mana Pools and Hwange offers the best high season value anywhere in Southern Africa (most safari per dollar spent). You don’t need to go to Wilderness either. Somalisa combines well with Kanga or Ruckomechi. The Hide combines with them as well. Vundu is great for canoe focused safaris and Goliath for walking safaris. Hwange and Mana Pools can also be combined with Lake Kariba/Matusodona.

Enjoy!

Craig Beal – owner – Travel Beyond

Thanks Craig. I am also going to Musango in Lake Kariba and ending off the trip with 3 nights at Kanga Camp.

Didn't mean to take over the thread Jim.

raelond - At Musango, just make sure the owner is your guide. His name is Steve Edwards and I feel it makes a big difference.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

Craig I noticed you said no off road safari in Hwange. Are you aware of any camp in Zimbabwe that offers off road?

Probably Singita Pamushana. It is a private conservancy.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

Craig, my comments on Somalisa and the WS vehicles were a first-hand account. Dudley (actually "Dardley") was the camp manager at Somalisa when I was there last year, but was also guiding. Somalisa has a private concession within Hwange, as do the WS camps, but it's not as large. We were in the Somalisa concession in an area called Ngweshla Loop. There was a female rhino and calf there, so here came three WS vehicles, even though they had no right to be there. Dudley spoke to one of their drivers, but they didn't leave. He thought it was rather rude of them, considering that WS has no qualms about causing a ruckus if a Somalisa vehicle crosses into their concession. We walked the rhino and calf with a WS group behind us. They finally turned around and left when their guide couldn't get one of his guests to be quiet.

Dudley said that the park officials are talking about changing up things in the future and having all of the private concessions inside the park be the same size, so I don't know that WS will get to keep their large concessions.

Thanks ShayTay. I don't doubt that happened so thanks for coming back on here. The guides all know each other and I can see them sharing details on sightings to satisfy their guests despite the rules imposed by their bosses - especially with a rare Hwange rhino sighting. But, I would say this is a substantially different story than "all the WS vehicles" and the rest of this story is hearsay unless Dudley himself decides to post on this forum with his concerns about the vehicles. He could do that as the manager as long as he identifies himself as such. It is my impression that Wilderness and African Bush Camps/ABC (owners of Somalisa) have a not so good a relationship and that probably contributed to this. At the lower levels of the organization, this negative relationship leads to slander in my experience so my friendly advice is not to believe everything you hear from WS or ABC employees. I doubt the game viewing is any better or worse on any of the concessions in the SE portion of the Hwange. It is simply a fantastic place and the animals move around. We cool? Hope so.

Craig Beal – owner – Travel Beyond

Thanks Craig for your inputs.Will follow up.Due apologies Jim.No intention to hijack the thread.As suggested Will try to combine mana Pools with Hwange.

Are the concessions fenced? If not wouldn't the animals just keep moving around and not stay just within one concession.

Have often wondered about this when people say a certain property has more of this or that animal.

As I read the story above, ShayTay was actually present and witnessed the events, so I don't see how any of it is "hearsay".

KathBC - there are no fences in the SE of the Hwange. There is not even a boundary fence so, unfortunately, the animals can wander across the railroad track into communities (at least on the SE boundary). In my observation there is no difference in the terrain, soil, or water supply so the animal viewing should be equally good on the WS concession, the ABC concession (Somalisa), at the Hide, or in the Park at public camp sites.

StokeyGirl - this is the part that I would consider hearsay or inaccurate: "all the WS cars (Makalolo and Little Makalolo) were encroaching on Somalisa's concession because we had better sightings." ShayTay did not in fact witness all 20+ WS vehicles on multiple occasions. She saw three vehicles one time and heard the rest of the story from ABC employees. I am in no way disputing that she saw three WS vehicles. She also did not game drive on the Wilderness concession so the “better sightings” comment is not accurate. I have heard the guys from WS and the guys from ABC. They are proud of their products and both offer something very nice in the Hwange. It is not beyond some employees to slander their competitors in my experience.

Craig Beal – owner – Travel Beyond

OK, that's clear. Your hearsay comment made it sound like you were referring to her immediately preceding story not her original comment.

Sorry, Craig, if my original statement wasn't clear. "All" didn't mean every vehicle from both WS camps. What I was trying to say was that "all" the encroaching vehicles were WS vehicles. I heard the WS guide talking to Dudley say that the sightings in Ngweshla Loop were better that day. On another day, I'm sure there would be better sightings on one of the WS concessions. I've stayed at Makalolo Plains and enjoyed it.

Your comment about "slander" seems directed at Dudley and that's totally inappropriate. You weren't there, you don't know what was said and how it was said. I heard nothing that could be considered "slander." You don't have to go into your usual "WS protection mode" because I'm not bashing them. I simply offered an alternative to the WS camps in that area of Hwange.