Sanctuary Lodges & Camps is proud to announce that Chobe Chilwero has been nominated for the 11 th World Travel Awards. The nomination is for ‘Africa's Leading Safari' and also for ‘ Botswana 's Leading Hotel'. Every year World Travel Awards fever hits the travel industry community around the world, when tens of thousands of travel professionals cast their votes. The Awards acknowledge, reward and celebrate the enormous achievements to be found in all sectors of the global travel industry. Travel agents in over 200 countries around the world cast their votes. This year's Awards are to be held on the magical Caribbean island of Barbados and the main event is taking place on 11 th December 2004.

CONDE NAST TRAVELLER MAGAZINE 10 th GOLD LIST AWARDS 2004

Chief's Camp has also received a nomination for the Botswana Category. The Gold List brings you the best in travel and this year more than 32,000 Conde Nast Traveller subscribers voted in the Readers' Choice Poll. The Camp scored an impressive 89.9 overall.

This is what some of our satisfied clients had to say when they nominated us to Conde Nast: “Tents feel like individual suites”; “Baboons were jumping up and down on our roof all night” and “ Gourmet meals such as marinated ostrich with quinze glaze are served by faultless, attentive staff”.

OKAVANGO FLOODS UPDATE

The Okavango Delta is Africa 's largest oasis. The Delta receives floodwaters annually from rainwater, which falls in neighbouring Angola , then slowly makes its way down to the Delta over a period of at least six months. This year sees the floodwaters at their best levels in some 20 years. We are happy to say that the floods have arrived at Chief's Camp at the beginning of April and the Camp has started doing mokoro trips from in front of the Camp.

Mokoro activities will continue on until about mid October.

Aerial view

CHIEF'S CAMP

We are now in the process of doing some soft refurbishments at Chief's Camp with doors being replaced, decks being replaced, decks being sanded, and some king size beds being added and some general maintenance work being done. All work is being undertaken whilst guests are out on their game drives and rooms that are being worked on are not being used by our guests. So if you have guests booked in at Chief's Camp over this period, rest assured that they would not be inconvenienced. The revamped Chief's Camp will be completed by June, just in time for what is shaping up to be a fantastic and spectacular season in Botswana.

There is a new team at Chief's Camp, Craig and Sharlene Mercer. They were both involved in the Linyanti concession in Northern Botswana for a few years. Prior to this they were running team-building camps in South Africa , which involved a tremendous amount of leadership and activities. We wish them both all the best and can assure you that the service will remain 5 star!

The game viewing that Chief's Camp has come to be known for has continued to be fantastic, with guests seeing 6 different leopard sightings in the space of four drives and this included the viewing of a female leopard and sub-adult cub swimming across a channel during a morning drive – a most unusual sighting. Regular sightings of lions, watching form the bushes, protecting their cubs as the vehicles come wading by, have been reported. We have been honoured enough to have a fish eagle pair taking residency in Camp and the Red Lechwe that are usually resident a little further north have made their home in the Piagio Channel outside the main area. This will make for very exciting game viewing later on as predators often frequent this area. Cheetah sightings are also on the increase as they are being forced out of the channels that are now filled with water into the drier areas. At Stanley's Camp , the water has just passed Ebony crossing and the Boro Channel levels have increased 34mm in the space of just 10 days! The mokoro activities should start here at the end of April. Guests doing the hot air ballooning have been treated to some spectacular scenery, enjoying a beautiful African sunrise and then floodwaters seeping through the delta from the air. With the arrival of the water, a sense of spring has entered the delta. At night a constant chorus of frogs and toads serenade one, and by day the hundreds of butterflies visiting the flowering Vernonia are a delight to the eyes.

Game drive

Thank you to Tracey Lindsay for the photographs. Tracey is one of our Lodge Manager's in Botswana.

The building of Baines' Camp is continuing with lots of community participation and we are on track to open on the 1 st August 2004. The building structure includes beverage cans which are all being collected locally and a total number of 150 000 cans will be required. Sanctuary has launched an initiative in the nearby town in Botswana where the locals are collecting cans on our behalf, thus helping with the litter problem. Grass for the thatching of the camp, approximately 15,000 bundles, is being collected in and around the concession by members of the six community villages. The Camp is situated on permanent water on the Boro River in the Okavango Delta (on a private concession). It is perfect for FIT's and also for exclusive use and will offer an assortment of water activities year round, night drives, walking, elephant interaction and ballooning excursions to complement motorized boats and mokoro safaris. The Camp promises luxury, exclusivity and panoramic waterscapes in the Okavango Delta. This newest addition to the Sanctuary Lodges & Camps Portfolio will match the luxury of Chobe Chilwero, equal the intimacy of Stanley 's Camp and parallel the superb service of Chief's Camp.

We end our April edition with a stunning picture of the sunset of Chobe Chilwero taken recently.

Thank you to Jono Hudson from the Camp for taking this lovely photograph.

Please contact us on the following e-mail address:
rpowell@sanctuarylodges.com