Lodges.
Lodges come in all shapes, sizes and budgets, but it seems to me that over the last 5 or 10 years there are fewer cheaper ones and more and more high end ones. This could be because more operators / countries are adhering to the policy Botswana seemed to adopt a long time ago: fewer people spending more money each results in the same income with less impact on the environment. This is a philosophy which is fine for those wealthy enough to go on safari, but not so good for the masses.
Most of the lodges reviewed here are high-end ones which we were lucky enough to get a large discount at. The first time we did a full week's safari (ignoring when I was a kid in Zambia, when self-driving and staying in corrugated iron shacks seemed to be the norm) was in Luangwa, when we though we were paying top-dollar - $2000 each for 7 nights. It was only a couple of years later, looking for another safari holiday, that we realised what good value that had been. And I still cannot imagine a better week on safari than we had then. By the way, that safari was in 2005; earlier this year I checked and the same one, but only 6 nights, would cost about $4,500!
Different people look for different things on safari. It can often be done much cheaper if you are willing to stay outside of the actual park and drive yourself. And you can have a fantastic time doing that. However, Lou and I love to learn about the animals as well as see and photograph them. The more a guide tells us the better, even if we have heard it before.
To us a good guide really makes a safari. Not only are they allowed to go off-road (in many, but not all, parks), they know where the animals are likely to be, know how to get to the best place to view them and can tell you reams of information about that animal and the way it survives. Even if the animals are hiding (which can happen, especially with strange, stormy weather) a good guide can keep you entertained. For example, on one drive we had in Madikwe, from Madikwe Safari Lodge, we were seeing very little in the way of wildlife; but Justin, our guide, kept us thoroughly entertained teaching us about the flora and trying to persuade us to get high by smoking elephant dung - purely as a way of demonstrating the way the bushmen keep the dung smouldering away all day as they wander, so that they can easily light a fire from it at night. My point is that the drive was an excellent one, despite the paucity of animals, because of the entertaining and educational way he conducted it.
The reason I have waffled on about how good a guide can be is to explain why most of the lodges here are full-service full-board ones. Generally everything you might want, apart from gifts etc, is included in the price. Some charge extra for drinks, but even then often the safari drink is included (and it winds me up if it isn't!). It is also to explain why a slightly lower score for guiding will disproportionately skew the overall score we have given a lodge. Lou and I, if we can possibly afford it, would rather pay the extra to have a good guide than self-drive, because we know we will see more, so we are all the more disappointed if the guide is not good.
I hope these reviews are useful to you. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to email me from the contacts page.