Drumbeat Spring 19

T: +44 (0)1980 849160 E: mail@aardvarksafaris.com www.aardvarksafaris.com l P15 We love getting clients’ trip feedback. We share it in the office, to learn from people’s thoughts, and we also send it to the safari camps and lodges, since it’s their teams’ hard work that makes a good safari holiday an exceptional safari holiday. We expect safari camps and wildlife to astonish our guests, but what are the more surprising things our clients report on returning from their travels? Food: features highly, with many commentating on the extraordinary variety created in the most testing circumstances. ‘Every meal, every bite was out of this world. I have never had better in my life,’ is fairly typical. Logistics: Unless you’re simply off to Cape Town and back you’ll likely take several light aircraft transfers during your safari. Being delivered to a remote airstrip, where the wildlife seems more prevalent than aircraft, can prompt the odd bout of anxiety but, ‘every single transfer – and there were a lot – ran like clockwork ,’ is regularly reported. Going somewhere you hadn’t anticipated: Clients often have a pretty firm idea of what they want. But that’s not always what they get. If we can think of something better to meet your wishes we’re not shy of suggesting it. ‘Zambia was not on our radar at all, but our stays in two bush camps in the South Luangwa were magical. The suggestion of a couple of nights on Sindabezi Island near Victoria Falls was also dead on .’ It’s fun: The guides, hosts and camp staff go a huge way to making a safari unforgettable. This snippet from a Namibian safari made us chuckle. ‘ "Hot bottle water" down the beds each night – Daniel never did get his head round the terminology. He thought it might be easier to call them a bush baby instead. Unfortunately that came out as baby bush. When we asked why he was putting small trees down the beds we all, he included, just roared with laughter.’ Here when you need us: We’re on hand 24/7 to help with any hiccups. We’ve replaced lost passports in Uganda, rushed emergency contraception to Zambia, held a flight for delayed passengers in Victoria Falls and reunited a child with a teddy left in Nairobi. ‘We were so impressed by the attention to detail. The system was tested to the full when our flight tickets were mislaid in Botswana. Despite there being no internet or phone, somehow a duplicate was handed to us within 12 hours.’ Beware! Of all the comments, in all the feedback, it’s the desire to return that is the overwhelming constant. Africa will get under your skin and it’s very difficult to resist the urge to return. We could have picked 100 quotes, but this just about sums it up, ‘the downside of such a fantastic holiday is that my wife has persuaded me to do another once-in-a-lifetime safari.’ SAFARI surprises