Owned by the same company as Okuti, Shinde is another camp with exquisite communal areas and stunning views across the waterways/reed beds.
"Help yourself to a drink, anytime" we were told as we were first being shown around - except the one time we tried, about 3 staff pounced on us immediately and insisted on serving us.
I didn't even bother to toe dip, I knew it would be freezing.
Rebuilt in 2020, its main area is in a
“treehouse style” comprising of lounges, dining areas (indoor and outdoor) and
a fire deck all with beautiful views over a permanent lagoon and under the
shade of ebony and mangosteen trees.
There's a good map of the Delta on the wall which shows just how close we are to the last camp - only a 5 minute hop but the scenery is so different.
The toilet serving the main area is discreetly positioned along an elevated boardwalk and is most certainly "a loo with a view" beautifully decorated and completely open to the elements.
There are 7 double and 1 family tents all
decorated to provide a luxury experience with a touch of historical charm –
think ‘Out of Africa’
Bathroom with indoor shower
Outdoor shower which is just lovely in the middle of the day.
View from our little deck.
Walkway to the tents, ours was the second to last on the right hand side and apparently earlier in the year there was a massive fight between 4 male lions right outside ours. It was 3 incomers trying to muscle in on a territorial male who successfully saw them all off.
There is also Shinde Enclave which is described as
a camp within a camp and can house upto 6 guests in 3 tents and gives a completely
exclusive experience – no need to interact/dine etc with the hoi polloi. There was an oriental family with 2 smallish
children staying there although we only saw them briefly as they were whisked past us.
The Manager, who was part of the singing arrival greeting party, was quite proud of the fact that he'd only been there 4 days. Having been at Mashatu previously where the majority of the staff, have been there longer than the furniture, we found this quite surprising but maybe the staff get moved around between the company's 5 camps just to shake things up a bit.
There was a fairly large cabinet of souvenirs for sale in the main lounge, but sadly the manager informed us that Mastercard was not accepted. Really, we've now been to 50+ countries worldwide and our card has never been refused - I wondered at the time if he'd got it wrong and meant American Express and on checking their website as I write this, he was absolutely wrong. Their loss as there was a few bits and pieces I would have bought, but Ian was more than happy.
Without a doubt, a beautifully conceived, constructed and decorated camp but .............. as I commented to Ian several times it was "style over substance" and given the hectic schedule we never had a moment to enjoy the common areas. In fact last night we deliberately went to dinner half hour early just so we could sit and enjoy the beautiful surroundings - that was after we beat off 3 members of staff who wanted to talk at us.