Zarafa has very impressive, massive rooms, essentially three tents stitched together, resting on a raised reclaimed railway sleeper deck. The camp has an old-fashioned 1920’s safari feel complete with safari equipment such as a professional quality Canon camera and premium binoculars in a foot locker. It epitomizes the romantic Botswana safari touch, much sought after by so many visitors to the area.

On their more recent visit this summer, Fish Eagle Safaris’ Lyndon and Christine arrived in more typical fashion: on a light air transfer from Great Plains’ Duba Plains camp, with a quick stop to pick up some guests at Khwai. All in all the trip took a little less than an hour. On arrival they were met by their guide Joseph who drove them the short distance to the camp.

Here are Lyndon’s impressions of the property: “Zarafa has an elegant presence overlooking the Selinda Spillway. The rooms are luxuriously appointed. I really liked their open and bright layout with the sunlight filling the room.

As we experienced at the other Botswana and Great Plains camps the hospitality is excellent. The entire camp staff is so genuinely friendly and quick to assist in any way. By the end of our stay we were sad to have to say our goodbyes to everyone.

The concession where game drives are conducted is quite different than at Duba. This area is not directly within the Delta although it is traversed by Delta water in the form of the Selinda spillway. The concession has both large dry areas and large wet areas where the river forms sizable lagoons before continuing into various smaller channels. Much of the general game is similar (to the Delta) with the area dominated by red lechwe and a healthy population of elephants.

We were fortunate on our first game drive to arrive in front of a large body of water just as a family of elephants came in from the mopane forest for their evening drink. They had some very young ones with them and while our presence was tolerated it was evident that the older females did not appreciate it. No worries as long as the animals are not startled by sudden movement or loud noise. Elephants, especially in large numbers, are endlessly entertaining and 15 minutes can turn into an hour in the blink of an elephant’s eye, to get you lost in quiet observation.

Zarafa’s meals were patterned along the same lines as Duba which meant we were served a delicious combination of four salads and one protein for brunch. Dinners were excellent. On our first night I had a ‘melt in your mouth’ beef filet and the next night some very tender pork. I can say with certainty that all the Great Plains properties served some of the finest if not the finest meals I have had while on safari.

After a show like that we assumed we had used up our fair share of luck for the day, or perhaps week, so when Joseph spotted some leopard tracks we were pleasantly surprised. He went on to track it for what seemed to be an eternity. Then he took out his binoculars to scan the area and spotted the quarry sitting still in a bush on a raised mound. A singular guiding accomplishment! We again crossed some deep water and again watched as the cat spotted a potential meal. This time the antelope – a reedbuck – spotted the lurking danger and escaped. We followed as the leopard skulked off and eventually found a tree to its liking that it hopped onto, posing for some pictures on each branch.

We were also able to do an evening boat activity from which we observed three adult male elephants feeding on floating grass and water lilies in some deep water. One in particular made for a great photo opportunity as many of the lilies got tangled up on his tusks, as he continued to feed. On the same ride my wife and I did a little bit of fishing. Each of us caught a couple of tiger fish even though they become more active in the hotter months such as September and October.

It was another fantastic stay with Great Plains and I am coming home very impressed with the experience. They really checked all the boxes and if you are able to work in some of their camps in future itineraries, I am sure you will feel similarly.”

The following day was one of my best days on safari yet in Botswana. We headed out fairly early that morning to see if the cheetah brothers were still around. Taking our cue from some staring giraffes, we soon located them sleeping in a small depression not too far from where we had left them the previous day. We then proceeded to stay with the cheetah from about 0800 until past 1100. It was clear that the cheetah were – at least initially – not in a good position to hunt. There was a lot of open flat terrain between them and their prey species which included impala, young zebra and juvenile wildebeest. So if the cheetah commenced a hunt, the zebra would no doubt bolt and scatter all the other game as well.