Waterhole – Africa’s Animal Oasis with Chris Packham
December 2nd 2020 |
Unique Experiences | by
Richard Smith
We were delighted to receive the news from Mwiba Lodge in Tanzania this week that guests are once again enjoying this superb place. Francis, who visited last year, refers to it as, ‘quite wonderful, in a beautiful setting, properly remote and wild, and a fascinating contrast to the Serengeti . The food was off the clock! It’s a great place to finish a safari.’
Luxury tented safari suite at Mwiba Lodge
If you want to find out a bit more about the local wildlife, tune in to BBC2 at 9pm on Friday night for Waterhole – Africa’s Animal Oasis, the first of three episodes filmed around a purpose built waterhole and hide at the lodge. Billed as an African Spring Watch, presenters Chris Packham and Ella Al-Shamahi watch the action captured on weatherproof cameras designed to catch all the animal goings on. It’s a fascinating glimpse into wildlife hierarchy and of who feels safe to drink when, with most of the prey species braving the midday sun when the big cats are snoozing in the shade.
Cheetah close to Mwiba Lodge
As Francis found, there’s plenty to enjoy on Mwiba’s 50,000 hectare reserve just off the southern tip of the Serengeti. The landscape of rugged rocky hills is punctuated by granite kopjes, giant candelabra euphorbia, numerous springs, watercourses and varied woodland. The wildlife viewing, as the BBC2 Waterhole team experienced, is excellent and can be enjoyed via a mix of walks and drives. It’s culturally interesting too, with the local Hadzabe and Datoga people (if they’re in the area) offering an insight into their traditional tribal life in this remote part of Tanzania on guided bush walks.
Guided walks with local tribes offer a fascinating insight into life in this rugged part of Tanzania
Mwiba Lodge itself is glorious. Just ten beautifully designed tented suites, each positioned to make the most of the spectacular views, are elegantly furnished and supremely comfortable. There’s a pool, main lodge with plenty of airy living space, a spa and extensive wine cellar.
Plenty of space to relax in the lounge
The even better news, if you’re inspired to visit the setting of BBC2’s Waterhole – Africa’s Animal Oasis, we can offer a 25% discount on a seven or ten night Tanzania safari including Mwiba Lodge. If you would like more information please give us a call, or drop us an email and we’ll respond as quickly as we can – usually on the same day. We very much look forward to talking to you.
For those who need more convincing than the offer above, there is more information on the area and the lodge in a blog we published soon after Francis travelled through the Serengeti and visited Mwiba Lodge: Secret Serengeti article
One of the founders of Aardvark Safaris, Richard comes from a background working in both Africa and travel. Shunning the exciting world of quantity surveying (with apologies to all exciting quantity surveyors out there)
One of the founders of Aardvark Safaris, Richard comes from a background working in both Africa and travel. Shunning the exciting world of quantity surveying (with apologies to all exciting quantity surveyors out there) Richard spent the first ten years after university flitting between summers on a river somewhere in the world as a raft guide, videographer or canoe instructor, and winters in the Alps as a ski guide, or the Operations Manager for a ski company.
His claim to fame (in his own mind) is that during his time working on the Zambezi River, based in Victoria Falls, he was one of the members of a group of kayakers who made the first moonlit descent of the rapids in the Zambezi Gorge. In addition he spent time in Botswana and Zimbabwe making promotional films for safari companies, and met the other Aardvark Safaris’ founder John Spence.
Richard is a keen sportsman but though he has tried many sports including football, volleyball, kayaking, canoeing, skiing, snowboarding, telemarking, bouldering, mountain biking and bmx-ing he’s not particularly accomplished in anything. With the ability to swim, ride a bike and run, he was gripped by a midlife crisis a few years ago and trained for enough hours to annoy both family and work colleagues and eventually became an Ironman triathlete, completing the 2.5 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26 mile run in something just over 14 hours. He also recently podium'ed as 3rd placed Grand Vet in a downhill mountain bike competition (and no there weren't only three in his category).
Having founded Aardvark Safaris with John in 1999, Richard travelled intensively throughout Africa for a number of years before his children grew old enough to start asking why they weren’t invited. Since then he’s travelled with his wife and kids to Mauritius, Kenya, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa. With a wide breadth of geographical knowledge (in Africa at least) and having arranged safari holidays over the years for many of our clients, Richard is a good person to talk to about almost all of the countries we offer, no matter who you are or with whom you’re travelling.
Favourite African experience
I particularly enjoyed the look on my wife’s face when she realised the beautiful breakfast set up under an acacia tree in the middle of the African plains was for us – we were the VIPs that the chef (in full whites) and camp team were waiting for!
Favourite animal
It changes. Right now it’s warthogs. I love the way they stick their tails in the air as if radio controlled. Annoyingly they seem to always run away from you though, meaning a good photo seems almost impossible to get.
Favourite three camps
I saw three different leopard on a single wildlife drive from Mombo Camp in the Okavango Delta and on our return to camp there was a porcupine displaying its quills under the boardwalk. The density and quality of wildlife, together with rooms where ‘you can almost see from one end to the other on a clear day’ makes Mombo one for the memory banks.
[caption id="attachment_22991" align="alignnone" width="600"] Family of leopards, Okavango Delta, Botswana, Mombo camp[/caption]
I love the quirkiness of the rooms at Kaya Mawa on Lake Malawi; they're all different to each other and blend in with the granite outcrops fabulously. More an inland sea than a lake, the waters are great for freshwater snorkelling and diving – not only do you get great fish viewing, but you’re not sticky with salt afterwards.
[caption id="attachment_26437" align="alignnone" width="600"] On the shores of Lake Malawi, Kaya Mawa[/caption]
Stopping at three camps doesn’t feel right; I could go on for pages. However if I have to finish I’d end with Greystoke Camp in the Mahale National Park on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. You have a sandy beach in front of you, with forested mountains rising 600m behind you. In the forest are groups of habituated chimps whose interactions are as thrilling as the scenery is stunning.
Oh no, what about the pastel colours at Wolwedans in Namibia, the quirky rooms at Shipwreck Lodge, watching whales from Princesse Bora on Ile Ste Marie, or a sunset across the Luangwa from Nsefu Camp? Can’t we make it your ten favourite camps?
There can’t be many jobs where people want to buy what you sell. I can’t imagine people go into the service department of their local garage happy to plan their service and then part with their money. That’s what we get though; people who are excited about arranging a safari holiday and who just need us to use our knowledge to match them with the myriad of options for them in Africa.
It’s lovely to get so many people saying ‘thank you’ when the planning is complete and the decision made. It’s even better when they come back from Africa with the holiday having exceeded their expectations, thrilled by what they’ve seen and done and bubbling over with excitement. We share all the feedback we get around the offices and I know each of us gets a big thrill when the trips we’ve helped arrange work well and a bit of vicarious pleasure reading each other’s nice feedback too.
It’s a top job and there are few things I’d swap it for, and those I would I’m not skilled enough at (see the previous comments regarding my sporting prowess!)
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