Ha ha im not looking and wont ever be looking in Maun ;) Out of interest, any problems with crime? when i was there it seemed out of hand!! :eek:

One of the advantages of this location is that it is 20 kms out of town without a village nearby. It is also set in a compound surrounded by a fence. There are two other houses there and dogs. However we will not be complacent. Closest place is the Royal Tree Lodge - more to nick there ;)

[I]Okay I have a couple of questions on the living situation.


1). Would a larger tent be advised? And what about lugging it from home (the US in this case)?

2). If staying in a tent, would one need to be cautious about leaving the documents and valuables (i.e. laptop, wallet, logbook, etc.) in the tent? Are there services that offer safes and such?

Since staying in a tent seems to be the most economic route, for most of us, it will probably be the way to go.

3). There was also a quote from someone (a few pages back i think) about it roughly costing $1000 USD a month to live, if living in a tent. That number seems pretty high to me. Reading elsewhere, i saw that for food it would cost around $10 USD per day. With the low cost of housing, about $3 per day or $90/month, it doesn't make much sense, buying beers included as to why the price is so high. Maybe prices have gone up...? This would make more sense if you were @ Back Packers under the dorm option (Budget Accommodation, B&B and Camping in Maun, Okavango, Botswana).


Thanks guys for all the help!

Dorm Backpackers
 

I will let the guys more in the know to answer your main points. However we are in the travel business and survey camps and hotels then publish full consultancy reports (confidential). We highly recommend Backpackers indeed we hope to stay there for a couple of weeks next month whilst we get our house ready (if they would answer our e-mails!) However the one weakness is their dorms. We did not have a chance to look inside (occupied) but judging by the outside they are very basic. You would be much better off in a tent. Great bar set right on the river, fantastic atmosphere. One down side is that it is a long walk to the road to hitch a lift if you don't have transport.

I guess the morning walk would be a good way of making friends with the weather ;). But how far is far anyways?

Thanks for the quick reply!

None of your tents have ensuites either...

Are you really asking what size tent you should bring? Please tell me thats a joke. You don't live in the damn thing, just sleep in it.

As for the valuables, take it with you. If you don't want to do that, leave it in the office of the camp you are staying at. Simple as that.

If you figure being there for 6 months without much else, a good tent wouldn't be a bad investment. And as far as leaving my valuables up front, I had no idea they offered such services. Fantastic!

Thanks

Tent:
get a GOOD one... a WATERPROOF one... on that will LAST in the HOT SUN and POURING RAIN...
To get an idea of how much sun, imagine that it's the middle of the Sahara Desert, and it's 120F or 45C, and you're in the direct sunlight, for 6 solid months... any waterproofing you have on it WILL go, the fabric will FADE and be eaten by the heat...
THEN there's the rain, think about taking a hose from the local fire department and pointing it at the tent - that's the force I saw on occasion there...
I saw tents literally have their poles broken in the down pour (after the tent had been used for several months).
But, I'd do it in a tent again, no problem.

Someone questioned USD 1000 per month, well, having done it, I can tell you that that's not easy if you drink beer... ha ha Sure, everything seems cheap, and you might be able to get away with less, but honestly, plan on MORE, things always seem to happen, and you always want more than you have.

Thanks doom for the detailed reply.

I imagined something like this:

except replace the firemen with lions & hippos. . but keep the uniforms. and the ball with a tent. that'd make the trip pretty interesting haha.

I'll plan for around $1000 per month then.

Hi, this is my first post on pprune so please be gentle with me. I'm making plans to come out to Maun next month, but I was wondering about the quality of the maintenance out there? Are the aircraft maintained to the same standard that I could expect in Canada (I've also done some flying in England). Im particulalry concerned due to the harsh conditions that the aircraft operate in. Have there been many problems or accidents caused by poor maintenance?

On a slightly different subject, I noticed that a British company is making a TV programme about flying in Maun. I previously considered working in TV so I was intrigued by this. What are people's thoughts on it and what do the operators think about it? Are they already there and if so are the filming particular individuals or are they sticking to one of the operators? I would maybe like to be included in that if they are also filming non-British people (though my Mom's family is from England so I am part British at least).

on the first page

Im certainly no expert on Maun.... but the amount of business the companies in Maun
have during peak season will indicate that their aircraft are well maintained.

As lilflyboy262 mentioned earlier, its as good as any other ICAO country.
Heres the website:
NORTHERN AIR MAINTENANCE

Safe Travels

Just recently started my Pilot training in NZ, and i found a TV series on the internet (seems to be self filmed) about a Pilot flying for Sefofane/ Wilderness Air, great to watch! Just shorts 'episodes' about his experiences at sefofane in botswana and also another short series about him in zambia.

It was called 'Botswana Bound', and from memory i think the site it was on was called NBCToday.

I was pretty entertaining if you are interested in flying in Botswana.

Thanks so much lilflyboy, this is a fantastic thread.

:mad:

I think that we can hope for a far better more realistic and professional production from RDF Television West who are in theatre at the moment. Botswana Bound was the most dreadful misguided amateur documentary that has ever been screened on the subject. It portrayed the highly skilled pilots who work in this very difficult environment in completely the wrong light. Many clients in this market are very nervous about flying in small aircraft this idiot with his cavalier attitude was detrimental to the Safari business.

Another one of these coming up then?

Arizona to whitewash Painted Desert - Greg Correll - Open Salon

Thanks for a great thread Lilflyboy! Just about all of the info I need to go and live the African Dream.

I just have one question, what are the toilet and shower facitilties really like at Audi camp? Various internet reviews I've read rate them from 'the worst in southern Africa' to 'famously spottless'. Do I need to mentally prepare for the worst?

Before you worry too much about the toilets PilotInPink, I did read this on another forum recently...
Can anyone 'in country' confirm this? Maybe the guys at Audi Camp just didn't like him... :E

If you follow the logical route for hotel research and google Trip Adviser you can find the Sedia reviewed there in all its glory.

Cheers cavortingcheetah, I have seen some of the places the 'aspirants' will most likely be at, and they really shouldn't be worried about the quality/cleanliness side of things, much better than my current conditions - I'm crashing out in a dusty storeroom with no insulation or electricity for a few weeks, and it's COLD where I am!

But do you know if the pilot discount at Audi Camp no longer applies? If so I guess this would affect everyone's planning a fair bit!

Not a clue I'm afraid. Haven't been up there for quite a while.