We’ve worked with African Bush Camps (ABC) for a few years now and I’ve had the pleasure of staying in a number of the company’s camps in Zimbabwe and Botswana.
One of the key reasons I like ABC is that, for me at least, their camps manage to strike the right balance between comfort and authenticity and their guides are always good, often superb.
They also think about the guest experience.
On my most recent visit to Linyanti Ebony Camp in Botswana, we discovered that because sufficient flood waters had not yet reached Linyanti we would not be able to go out in mokoros. Added to that, due to good rains, the bush was still very dense making walking safaris a bit risky.
Some companies would have just told clients “Sorry folks, it is out of our hands.”
Not ABC. They laid on a helicopter ride for us.
The helicopter wasn’t a spontaneous gesture just for us; guests at both Linyanti Ebony and Linyanti Bush Camp were offered the flight. Not just while we were there either, it was offered to all guests visiting both before andd after us, until mokoro trips could be re-started.
When I saw the wee thing on the ground I wondered how on earth we’d fit 4 adults into it; and if we did, would it be able to take off. But we did, and it did.
I’ll confess that it took me a few minutes to get used to the idea of sitting in such a small craft, with nothing more than a seatbelt to hold me in.
Did I mention there were no doors?
Once I was able to relax enough to let go of the seat in front and start using my camera it was a real treat to be able to look down on the places where we had been game driving and see many of the same animals from an entirely different perspective.
We also saw lots of new stuff too.
Some clarification.
I just got an email response to this post suggesting that the helicopter flight was something laid on specially for us.
No way.
Guests staying at both Linyanti Ebony and Linyanti Bush Camp before we arrived got offered the flight. All the guests staying at Linyanti Bush Camp while we were at Ebony were offered it and guests who arrived after us were offered it.
My understanding is that it was something for all guests until the water was high enough to resume mokoro trips.