This week we tell you of the incredible accolades that Mombo Camp in Botswana, and North Island in the Seychelles have won.
We also offer you a fantastic and very competitively priced South African safari package.

Mombo and Little Mombo were winners, coming second in the annual 2007 Condé Nast Traveller Awards in the category Top 30 Resorts & Camps in Africa / Middle East, which saw Dubai's Burj Al Arab Resort being declared the winner. With a rating of 96.3, Mombo Camp achieved the highest score for all camps in Africa, making it the top safari lodge in Africa.

Mombo Camp is a Premier Camp situated on Mombo Island, adjoining the northern tip of Chief's Island, within the Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana. This is, arguably, the top safari camp in Botswana. The island is surrounded by open floodplains and the camp itself is largely built in and around the shade of some large Mangosteen, Ebony and Fig trees - overlooking a wonderful floodplain teeming with game.

The camp has nine luxuriously furnished tents, raised off the ground. The guests' rooms and connecting walkways are up to two metres off the ground, allowing game to wander freely through the camp while at the same time allowing for guest safety. One often finds that animals take refuge under the rooms. The canvas rooms are spacious and very well appointed and have en-suite facilities with an additional outdoor shower for those who enjoy a shower under the stars. The dining room, bar and living area overlook the open plain in front of the camp and there is a plunge pool for relaxing in the heat of the day.

The camp offers abundant big game safari viewing, arguably the best in Botswana. The highlight is the concentration of plains game and all the predators - including the big cats. Lion sightings are particularly good. Guests can also see leopard, large herds of buffalo, cheetah, wild dog, elephant, hyena, giraffe, wildebeest and zebra. Black and white rhino have been reintroduced to this are of the Okavango with outstanding success thanks to the Botswana Rhino Reintroduction Programme.

Mombo Camp, Botswana

Little Mombo Camp, Botswana

Conde Nast Traveller UK held their glamorous Readers' Travel Awards at Claridge's in London in September and North Island came 4th in the category 'Overseas Leisure Hotels – Middle East, Africa and Indian Ocean Islands', and 12th overall in 'Best of the Best' category. In these Awards, readers vote for the best the travel world has to offer, and from the near limitless number of possibilities, choose what are then considered the best of the best in the world.
Another highlight for North Island was being chosen as the winning honeymoon destination on NBC's "TODAY Show Throws a Martha Stewart Wedding". In this marital extravaganza the newly married couple had a destination chosen for them by the viewers and North Island received the majority of votes.

North Island is a unique, deeply private destination which is streets ahead of the game in capturing the essence of "barefoot luxury" – it takes your breath away and is "a truly sublime vision of castaway heaven"! As well as the afore mentioned awards North Island was voted Number One in the World, in the 'Best of the Best' category in the 2006 Conde Nast Traveller Readers' Awards; it has also won a host of other accolades.

North Island, Seychelles, is undoubtedly a new breed of resort where attention to detail, respect for space and a truly personalised experience are paramount to creating a unique holiday atmosphere. North Island is also completely dedicated to sustaining its delicate ecology. Its ethos is to turn the environmental clock back 200 years through the rehabilitation and gradual reintroduction of many of the endangered Seychelles species. Natural habitats have been rehabilitated, and critically endangered Seychelles fauna and flora have been reintroduced and given a place to regenerate.

North Island has only 11 handcrafted guest villas on the entire island. Each villa is 450 square metres and is vast and opens out onto a powdery beach which is 2.5 kilometres long – larger than Monte Carlo! The whole resort is exquisitely designed by architects Silvio Rech and Lesley Carstens.

There is a "no menu" concept of dining, simply a conversation with the chef about your preferences. There is a dining area set against a backdrop of natural granite, as well as other magnificent locations – secluded beaches, the pool deck over looking the bay, West Beach Bar, and the privacy of your own villa.

The new state of the art spa and gym are perched high above the beach and have uniquely stunning views of the ocean. A speciality of the spa is the latest personalised holistic treatments to rejuvenate the body, mind and soul. In villa treatments are also possible. Other activities include mountain biking, guided walks, snorkelling, deep sea and fly fishing, boating, to other islands, sea kayaking, scuba diving and birding with North Island's resident ecologist and naturalist.

At North Island everything is inclusive in the price tag – this not only means it offers real value for money, it also allows you to truly relax. Included are premium drinks and cocktails, and diving including the PADI qualification course.

On a recent visit to North Island it reaffirmed to us how incredible and unique the whole North Island experience really is; and that the only real way to understand what it has to offer is to go there!
A text we have just received from a client who is no stranger to five star luxuries read:
"Oh my gosh, just arrived in North Island, it is totally amazing. I have never seen anything like it in my life, thank you!"

North Island, Seychelles

Our popular package – fondly known as the 'Mafuri' itinerary – combining beautiful Pafuri Camp in the extreme northern Kruger National Park, South Africa, with Mashatu Game Reserve in the Tuli Block in south-east Botswana is still in operation in 2008!

Each of these camps offers its own unique elements, but combined they create an exceptional and varied itinerary for both first-time visitors and returning safari connoisseurs. Mashatu has the largest elephant herds on privately owned land, open plains, arid rocky outcrops and great plains game while Pafuri Camp offers exceptional scenery, remote wilderness and good all-round game and bird viewing.

The basic building block for the packages remains as per 2007 with a three night stay at Mashatu Tented Camp followed by a road transfer, including lunch, to Pafuri Camp for a further three night stay.

Package includes: Accommodation for three nights at each camp, all meals, applicable park fees, a road transfer between the camps, standard lodge activities at both camps plus two extra adventure activities at Mashatu. (This adventure activity may include either a morning ivory drive or an evening predator drive with one of the resident scientists on Mashatu or a morning interactive walking safari or a morning or evening mountain bike ride along ancient elephant pathways.

Cost from £950 per person

Pafuri Camp, South Africa

Mashatu, Botswana

"That's it for now, see you next Monday!"

Ultimate Safaris & Islands