This probably qualifies as our best value redemption ever, costing us only a mere 75,000 Citi points, (they transferred to Preferred Hotels at a 1 to 4 ratio <Citi has since reduced this to a 1 to 2 ratio>). So 75,000 Citi points yielded 300,000 Preferred points which was enough to book three nights at the Last Word Madikwe safari camp in Madikwe Reserve, South Africa.
The camp itself is great. There are five rooms plus a villa. Our room looked right out upon a watering hole. And there was an underground hide that went right up to the watering hole. We saw elephants and warthogs from a few feet away in this hide.
The staff and meals were excellent. It’s all inclusive including alcohol and game drives. We had two game drives a day. With almost every animal that we saw we were able to get within 20 feet of it. This includes rhinos and lions!
Although we saw higher densities of some herd species in the Serengeti and Okavango Delta, we saw more species here. Species we saw were: elephant, Red Billed hornbill, Helmeted Guinea fowl, Zebra, Southern Giraffes, Impalas, Lilac breasted roller, Purple roller, Black backed jackal, Warthogs, White rhino, Gabar goshawk, Banded mongoose, Lion, Brown hyena, Spotted hyena, Leopard, Cape glossy starling, Cape buffalo, Greater spotted cuckoo, Kudu, Secretary bird, Black crowned tchagra, Red crested bustard, Klipspringer, Steenbo
Other pluses were a mild climate. Downsides: I still got attacked by mosquitos and the Wifi is poor. There is a walking trail for quests that goes around the camp (about one mile long). Do not take this trail! It is filled with very small, very fine thorns that will get in your socks and shoes. You’ll spend about a half hour trying to get them out of your socks before you give up and toss your socks in the trash. You’ll spend another half hour getting as many as you can out of your shoes.
If we had paid cash, the cost would have been about $1,300/night. Ultimately, I liked Finch Hattons in Tsavo West National Park, Kenya slightly better. It was a little more luxurious and that park had more rare species and more reptiles. Note that Finch Hattons cost us 100,000 Amex points per night, or four times as much as Last Word Madikwe (granted, Amex points while being worth the same amount as Citi points are about four times easier to acquire than Citi points are). Also, the cash cost for Finch Hattons is about $1950 per night.
One final note: At Madikwe Reserve, in addition to lodge costs, there is a $10 per person gate entrance fee and a $25 per person per night park conservation fee.
At Tsavo West, there is an $80 per person per day park fee + the cost of the bush plane ($392 per person round trip).