Maun serves as the gateway to the world famous Okavango Delta, which offers an opportunity for the safari holiday of a lifetime.

The Delta is home to a massive concentration of animals and birdlife. Thousands of elephant and buffalo roam the area, often in large herds, while several thousands hippos navigate their way through the existing channels, or create new ones.

There is an abundance of antelope, including the shy sitatunga, creeping through the thickets. Such a mass of herbivores encourages large numbers of predators – from big lion prides and noisy family packs of hyena, to the ever cunning crocodile. Cheetah and wild dog are a common sight on the larger grasslands while leopard are often seen stalking through the dense bush or lazing on a riverine tree.

The launch of this new service is perfectly timed to coincide with the peak of the tourism season, and will offer safari goers a smooth and hassle-free connection between the two iconic destinations.

Flights will operate between: Windhoek and Harare four times a week, Windhoek and Ondjiva three times a week and Windhoek and Gaborone three times a week.

Unfortunately it seems that there are no plans to re-establish the direct flights between Windhoek and London that Air Namibia cut a few years ago, meaning that at present the best route for holiday makers from the UK remains via Frankfurt.

The most interesting oof the new routes for most tourists will be the Gabarone flights, and the planned flight time are:

DEPART                       ARRIVE
Gaborone    11:30     Windhoek     12:15
Harare         12:05     Windhoek     13:20
Ondjiva       10:00     Windhoek     11:15
Windhoek    08:15     Ondjiva        09:30
Windhoek    08:10     Gaborone     10:55
Windhoek    08:10     Harare          11:25

The nine new chef students have started their 18-month training on site at the Singita Staff Village. On completion, the training course will allow them to graduate with the knowledge, skills and confidence that this life-changing opportunity provides – well qualified to apply for a Commis Chef position in a professional kitchen at a Singita lodge, or any other safari lodge or hotel.

Located within the Singita Staff Village that serves both Singita Lebombo and Singita Sweni lodges on the far eastern reaches of the Kruger National Park, the SSC was founded by one of Singita’s own chefs, who dreamed of training and developing local youth to work as chefs in the Singita kitchens. With the backing of the Singita Management team, the school first opened in 2007, and, fiveshort years later, is one of Singita’s most rewarding community success stories, having trained 30 young chefs to date, 14 of whom are gainfully employed. Among these, six now work as Commis Chefs at Singita’s lodges in Southern Africa, and two former students have already been promoted to the position of Demi Chef de Partie.  Many other graduates have been placed at lodges in and around the Kruger National Park, while some have chosen to continue with their careers elsewhere.

Caroline Burke, General Manager Singita Kruger National Park says: ‘In remote, rural areas equipping even one person with a good job and sound prospects, has a burgeoning effect on members of their immediate family, as well as the broader community. Besides providing a much-needed income, these young people also provide inspiration, energy and leadership to their peers in under-developed areas. At Singita we are very proud to be able to make this contribution to the development of people in the regions where we operate.’

US Ambassador to Kenya, Scott Gration,said that direct services between Kenya and the US can commence as soon as JKIA is certified as a ‘Category 1a’ air field by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and Federal Aviation Administration.  The US requires all airports handling flights operating in and out of America to be Category 1a.

If achieved, the service will make Kenya’s key attractions, including  the Masai Mara and Amboselei National Park, much more accessable for visitors from the USA.

Usually giraffe’s live in family groups where several animals will be constantly on the lookout for preditors, and animals that are on their own for any reason are particularly vulnerable to attack from lions.

It is believed that this new subspecies will be far better able to survive outside of the family group, and most of the examples that have been seen to date have been on their own.

As always, get in touch if you’d like to see these peculiar animals in the wild, and we can tell you all about them!

This team of nomadic Masai tribesman from the Laikipia region of Kenya have taken up the game of cricket to encourage healthier lifestyles, especially amongst the younger people of their tribe.

Calling themselves the Masai Warriors cricket team, they have swopped the cricket whites for traditional colourful dress and use decorated bats.  They use their matches to help raise awareness of health issues including HIV and alcohol and substance abuse.

Despite having little formal cricket training, they have been invited to play in the Last Man Stands Twenty20 Championship in Cape Town, South Africa, from March 31, and have set up an appeal for £2,000 to help them attend a professional cricket academy.

Our number monkey has again checked to make sure that we have not included any places that only have a handful of votes as this would skew the results, and the 5* safari lodges that our guests have rated most highly are:

• Pumba Water Lodge – 5.0/5.0
• Long Lee Manor – 5.0/5.0
• Eagles Crag – 5.0/5.0
• Kwandwe Great Fish River Lodge – 5.0/5.0
• Kariega River Lodge – 5.0/5.0
• Amakhala Safari Lodge – 4.9/5.0
• Impodimo Game Lodge – 4.8/5.0
• Chitwa Chitwa Game Lodge – 4.8/5.0
• Bayethe Lodge – 4.7/5.0
• Amakhala Bush Lodge – 4.6/5.0
• Ngala Safari Lodge – 4.6/5.0
• Gorah Elephant Camp – 4.5/5.0

Again, we are sorry to say there are no statues or physical awards (although this does mean no speeches…), however our heartfelt thanks and congratulations go to the places named above as they have all given outstanding service and safari experiences to our guests over the recent months and years.

To all the other excellent 5* lodges that have also looked after our clients so wonderfully, do not lose heart:  out of  hundreds of ratings for 5* lodges, we only had a couple of scores under 4/5, and the overall average for 5* lodges was a whopping 4.7/5!

There are no statues or prizes on offer (although maybe next time…), however we are delighted to be able to recognise the excellent experiences and outstanding service that these properties have given to our clients.

Our number monkey has checked  to make sure that we have not included any places that only have a handful of votes as this would skew the results, and we start by looking at  the top-rated 3* and 4* safari lodge lodges:

• Woodbury Lodge – 4.9/5.0
• Inyati Private Game Reserve – 4.8/5.0
• Elephant Plains Game Lodge – 4.8/5.0
• Mohlabetsi Safari Lodge – 4.8/5.0
• Tree Tops Lodge – 4.8/5.0
• Nkorho Game Lodge – 4.8/5.0
• Wildside Safari Camp – 4.7/5.0
• Kariega Main Lodge – 4.6/5.0
• Carnarvon Dale – 4.6/5.0
• Ezulwini River Lodge – 4.5/5.0
• Arathusa Safari Lodge – 4.5/5.0
• Gomo Gomo Game Lodge – 4.4/5.0

Congratulations to all the listed properties, and to every safari lodge that is not listed, please do not feel completely overlooked:  the lowest average rating we have seen for a 3* or 4* safari lodge over this period is 4/5, so really everyone’s a winner even if we can’t list each property seperately here!

Anyone who saw the fascinating BBC documentary on Sunday where Ben Fogle went swimming with crocodiles in Botswana would have probably had one of two reactions… either “he must be mad!” or “Great! where can I do that??”

Just for the record, I am very much in the “he must be mad!” camp….if you live in the UK, you can see for yourself  on the fantastic BBC iplayer.

Of course, we would definately not recommend swmimming with crocs in the same way the Ben did without the same expert support and advice that he had, however there is somewhere that it is possible to cage -dive with these ancient (and frankly terrifying!) animals.

The Cango Wildlife Ranch in Oudshoorn is one of a number of family-friendly wildlife attractions on the Garden Route, and a few years ago they started offering what is believed to be the world’s first Nile crocodile cage-diving experience.   Visitors aged 12 years and older can get into a cage which is then lowered into a heated pool containing giant Nile crocodiles, and the animals often get so close that you can count their teeth!

There is lots more to do in the area, and if this appeals to you and you are spending a couple of weeks in South Africa you might also like to combine this with whale watching and shark cage diving down at Hermanus on South Africa’s South Coast.