Shackletons vs Sekoma Island

[Munnik]

Hi All

I am planning a tiger fishing trip around May next year.

At the moment I am either looking at Shackletons or Sekoma Island lodges? Can anybody recommend which would be best?

[gkieser]

I have been to Shackletons and i have not been to Sekoma, however i hear it is well geared for Fly fishing (requires a different type of guide to be honest). My experience at Shackletons was that it was a stunning place with lovely accomodation, but the guides there were pretty much only good at trawling spinners with baby tigerfish fillet trailing off the back, up and down the middle of the river. In fact one of the guys i was with had done a lot of research and had printed out google maps of all the good tiger fish spots and this came in really handy for us to tell the guides where we should be fishing. This was about 2 or 3 years ago, so things may have changed, but i would imagine if you are after a good fly fishing experience maybe Sekoma would suit better. For food and accomodation you will definitely not be disappointed at Shackletons. It is lovely there.

T

[maarsbotha]

Hi Munnik

I have been to both. Both are really good fishing lodges and each one has its advantages and disadvantages.

Shackletons I've been to twice. Positives: Much bigger fish in general, Very good setting, Excellent food. Draw backs: Further away from Livingstone so transit time is longer, Mwandi village is close to the lodge and at night you can sometimes hear the dogs going crazy and when you fish near the village ( where the big fish are ) it looses a bit of that isolated africa experience. On my recent trip in July I caught really big fish but not that many. ( did however catch a 17 pounder which made the trip...)

Sekoma I've been to once: Positives: Awesome setting on an island, Short transit time, Excellent food in the open air boma, I do agree with gkieser that it is a bit better for flyfishing, You have a good chance to spot some elephants, Can fish the Zambezi as well as the Kasai channel, They take you down very shallow rapids in Ark inflatables while fishing for tigers which is an awesome experience, their motor boats are really nice to fish from.
Negatives: In my experience the fish are not that big at Sekoma. That being said, it is fishing and I know guys have caught big ones there as well.

In general they are both awesome and I can recommend both.

Hope this helps.

[yella]

On our last trip to Sekoma just more than a month ago the guides were not allowed into the Kasai or Namibia at all. Just make sure that has been sorted out before you go. Its a bit of a deal killer for many of the guys that regularly went there that you are not allowed to fish the Kasai and Chobe anymore.