robin pope safaris 20 - 22 may and 24 - 31 may 2006 nkwali, tena tena and nsefu....now before i launch into this i do want to point out that most of the people we met were thoroughly enjoying their trip with RPS. they are a no doubt a very professional and slick operation. safety standards are very high. their game viewing vehicles are the best equipped (rests and bean bags for photographers etc) and most comfortable we have ever been in. all the accommodation is very nice indeed. if they didn´t have the reputation as being one of, if not indeed THE best, operator in africa we would possibly have been less disappointed. as it stands we weren´t too thrilled. we have had some fantastic guides in the past and are generally, because of a deep interest in all things "wild", perhaps more discerning than many guests. that being said we don´t demand constant predator sightings and are perfectly happy spending hours viewing impala or ele behaviour (love it!!), birding, looking at plants or insects. we are fascinated by termites for instance....and an enthusiastic guide will find us very easy to please. we were particularly disappointed at RPS with the guiding. with the exception of obi at nkwali (usually looks after guests staying at robin´s house) who was wonderful and a couple of very pleasant drives with rocky from tena tena we had some mediocre and very lacklustre guiding......we had a lot of different guides here - also unfortunate. activities in general seemed to be planned around transfers (not necessarily your own), meals and other "pressing" logistics considerations rather than the opposite way round. this can be understandable should not be the norm. to be fair we were there early season and this was most noticably a transitionary period. tena tena and nsefu were just opening. first fly camping trips of the season starting and preparations for early season mobiles underway too. rates are lower at this time too - so maybe we should have expected this....who knows.
oddly and very annoyingly smoking is tolerated in game viewing vehicles. for two days (!!)we had a gentleman in our vehicle who smoked a pipe constantly. we had objected strongly...we go to africa to enjoy the scents of the bush not to inhale somebody elses poison! the same gentleman was asked to sit at the very rear of the vehicle but this didn´t improve matters hugely since he then couldn´t hear the guide and bellowed questions (very nice chap but LOUD believe me!!) at the worst possible moments. imagine having two honey badgers right next to your vehicle (!!!) just a split second.....a roar from the rear...and they´re gone. yupp - i know i can´t blame RPS for that, but the man was really a plague...
anybody who receives the RPS monday newsletter would expect that the atmosphere to be warm, almost chummy......not really i´m afraid. i often got the feeling that we were tolerated rather than truly welcomed. all very professional and courteous of course. there were a few issues which i´ve also addressed here that we´d spoken our minds about - admittedly i can be blunt - and i do realise this probably didn´t help, but all the same.......
they have an odd camp host system here (maybe it´s the same at other upmarket camps in the valley?) of employing attractive, young and very charming ladies known as "caterers". this year´s influx arrived on the same plane as we did from heathrow and some had had no previous personal experience of africa at all. they do work and try very hard but on a day to day basis i would personally prefer to address any comments regarding our stay to a weather beaten old africa hand.....to, at the very least, someone who knows the difference between a leopard and cheetah.....but then this isn´t their fault is it?
would have loved to have met resident dog researcher kelly mentioned so often in the monday dispatches, or at least heard how the studies progress. we do have more than a passing interest (to say the least!) but no doubt she´s glad of her privacy. and there wasn´t anybody else around with time to tell us more. sorry to anybody who might have hoped we had more to report.
nkwali (two stays here 20-22 may and 24-26 may)
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setting here is stunning. there are some truly gorgeous old ebony trees and the chalets are strung out along the river bank. they´re completely open-fronted airy structures and should be great for enjoying the view . they´re comfortable and very well fitted with much thought having gone into providing little extras like bathrobes and sarongs (which is a good thing since altho privacy shouldn´t be a problem if guests kept to paths BEHIND the rooms as was no doubt originally planned, we unfortunately had a constant stream of people walking back and to across the front of both of our our chalets on both of our stays here during siestas. there are curtains but who wants to shut out the view? we did point this out to staff. but gave up after we spotted a VERY senior member of the team escorting clients this way. disappointing, unnecessary and most annoying) bathrooms are lovely and fortunately very private. unless that is you object to a bird, gecko or an odd frog or two observing your ablutions! we thought they were great - especially the little "loo hut"......
lovely deck, open lounge and bar with enchanting river views
there´s a large and very nice pool. no view unfortunately (it had originally been the pope´s private facility and is consequently well hidden) but good changing facilities etc. you need to find a member of staff to escort you the 3 minute stroll here.......let them know how long you want to stay and and you´ll be picked up on the dot and trotted back safely to your hut. i really meant it when i said they take safety seriously here!
professional and informative welcome
"camp" and facilties immaculate
catering fair (did hear one amusing comment from a guest who found them very reminiscent of school)
hospitality team efficient and polite and rarely seen
safari factory nkwali....only six chalets you may think - is the hub of the RPS empire. you feel just how much is going on behind the scenes. the prevailing atmosphere is "busy busy" and doesn´t make for an intimate experience. robin´s house, luangwa house, visiting promotors and journalists, travel agents.....you never really know who or indeed how many "guests" might show up in the camp. an example.........we were rushed back to camp one evening shortening our evening drive to find the riverside deck beautifully set out for dinner.... oh how lovely!!! wrong......this wasn´t for the guests but for visiting journalists and promotors. we were allowed to have drinks with these illustruous visitors and then politely herded to the rear of the camp where we were served our dinner. tactless and a bit tacky i would say! this was also the only time during our 9 day stay with RPS when we caught a glimpse of either of the pope family.
activities and guiding see general comments re RPS above..........from nkwali park can be accessed from camp by boat, pontoon or drive via main gate which should be an advantage. theoretically you can choose between walks, drives and full day trips into the park which sounds marvellous. this often works well but is of course dependent on the number of guides and vehicles to numbers of guests (see note above on visitors) we sadly didn´t get the opportunity to do anything but game drives.....but then we had been encouraged to believe that we´d have lots of chances during our 5 days in the nsefu area.....so we didn´t worry unduly
our drives from nkwali using the area accessed from pontoon or by boat were often rather short and generally quite disappointing. there was really very little game around find. other guests on the same days taken to the busier (and at this time of the year more game rich) central mfuwe area via main gate were more fortunate with their sightings. yes - we did request a change in area, no this didn´t happen until i had a burst of temper back at camp. sorry kim! things did improve a little then, tho there were still strange incidents including a guide "missing" a 200 strong buffalo herd. i´d assumed that he was just trying find a better spot stop. we had afterall been looking for (? give me the wheel!!) these animals for over an hour....we continued and were then told it was too late to go back before lunch. you guessed....at camp we waited over an hour for another vehicle bringing visitors in just for lunch...
obi, a great guide, saved RPS honour here by taking us on a few longer and very interesting drives indeed. these were unfortunately marred by puffing billy and his pipe who i mentioned previously. one truly interesting sighting does spring to mind......we saw (with obi) a baboon chase down, kill and feed on a vervet monkey! shame the honey badgers were frightened off.....
