After just a few hours of sleep we headed to the airport for a full day of travel. Everything went well to Denver and then Houston. In Houston, we boarded the biggest and oldest plane I have ever been on and started to taxi. We had to stop for about 20 minutes for a small problem, and then started to taxi again. We stopped again and they announced that there was another mechanical error that needed to be fixed. It ended up taking almost 3 hours!!! We had the option of de-planing and after an hour or so, we decided to head back inside to stretch our legs a bit. As we headed inside, they collected our boarding passes and told us we now had to stay inside until they were ready to take off again...that would have been nice to know before we got off!
Finally, we all waited in line, got our boarding passes back, re-boarded the plane and took our seats. 6 hours later, we were in Peru!! Immigrations were a breeze and we got the green light (literally) at customs. Our hotel was just outside the airport and super convenient. We checked in, put our bags in our room and then went down to the bar to enjoy our complimentary welcome Pisco sour- the official drink of Peru. Because of our delays, it was after 2 AM so we crawled into bed and passed out with our alarms set for only 4 hours later. Little did we know, this was the start of a long week of early mornings!
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
1 day ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.