Reviews of Meno A Kwena

"The location of this camp is phenomenal. It sits high on the banks of the Boteti River, which regularly flows since 2008. Unfortunately, for any wildlife activities we were here too early. Everybody expected the zebras and other animals to come here a month later.

We saw plenty of elephants (males only) strolling along the Boteti River, but apart from that, wildlife encounters were a little thin. No predators whatsowever, although our guide did his utmost best to track down lions (the tracks were there).

I also need to emphasize that during this time of year, we had to drive about one hour before we got into the actual National Park and see any wildlife.

The camp, on the other hand, was really to our liking. It is built in classic safari style that breathes “Out of Africa”. I should also mention that we ended up in the same tent that Harry and Meghan spent some time in. Not that it matters too much ..." See all these reviews: 19n in Namibia; 15n in Botswana

"You really can not beat the view of the Boteti river.

The staff was very accommodating." See all these reviews: 12n in Botswana; 1n in South Africa

"great" See all these reviews: 12n in Botswana; 8n in South Africa; 5n in Zambia; 4n in Malawi

"We stopped here for one night, and arrived late (no fault of anyone at this camp) which was a shame as we did not really have a chance to enjoy the camp or surroundings.

I can feedback that this camp is in a great location - we had fabulous views from both tents and from the communal areas. The food was fantastic, as was the open air kitchen.

The camp's attempt to minimise the environmental impact gives one plenty to think about. Seeing someone carry water for your shower helps us appreciate what we take for granted elsewhere.

We spent the evening in the company of a family who did not get clear directions to the camp. We had been sent some very specific details which we followed closely (we also surveyed the route on Google Earth). We had no problem at all. This was helped by having a 4WD." See all these reviews: 8n in Botswana; 3n in Namibia; 2n in Zimbabwe

"The camp is beautiful, everything feels like it has been lovingly and minutely designed - which I suppose it has.

The location struck us as both great and less than ideal. Great, because the camp sits 30m above a river used by lots of animals, allowing for superb game viewing while sitting in the shade with a cold beer. Less than ideal because it takes half an hour by car to get to the start of the actual game drives - not a particularly exciting half hour on the highway, that is.

David Dugmore, the owner and manager of the camp, struck us as rather more interested in his friends than in his guests. While we didn't really expect him to hold our hand all the time we stayed at his camp, it did bother us that we weren't asked what we would like to do, but simply presented with the program - which amounted to one game drive per day. This meant we were back at the camp at around 2.30 one day and around 3.30 the other - and that was it for that day.

We had a little discussion with David about walks. While we agreed that a guide with a gun, but without the proper training, is worse than a guide without a gun, we weren't happy with the idea of going on a walking safari with an unarmed guide. David then told us that, no matter what, the following day the program would be a drive anyway, no walk. And that was that.

Our guide, Max, was superb and equipped with a quirky sense of humor - and apparently the only guide the camp has at the moment. The first day, we drove off at 6am, with the idea of having breakfast in the bush. Which was fine, except for some reason we only had breakfast at 10.45 (our own fault to some degree: we should have piped up, I suppose, instead of just waiting for Max to finally stop for the food).

The second day, we had breakfast in the camp and started the drive at 7.30 - presumably, because it was supposed to be an all-day drive. In retrospect, we don't think this is a good way to organized the day - it's too late to start, and visibly exhausting both for the guide and for us." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana

"Oh my, what a wonderful place this is and the staff are just as lovely. Ursula is there to develop customer service and is certainly succeding. The promotional material available does not refelct the perfection of this little jewel in Botswana. Without doubt this was the most comfortable bed I slept in on the whole trip. Every artefact is placed to create an atmosphere an ambience that is natural and such a treat for the senses.

I was blessed with being looked after on my safari trips with Max and Steve, what a team. Faultless! Thank you boys for such a fantastic time, I love you both. We saw some fantastic game and a herd of 23 giraffes at one time and a line of 13 bull elephants walking down to the water and then watched them play and frolic. It was absolute heaven.

The communal dinning may not be to everyone's style but I thought it was great because travel is also about meeting new people. The food was amazing and it is served on BIG plates!

I visited the local community project and school with Janaina which was a real treat. Meno A Kwena's whole ethos is to work with the local community through the Water for Life Project so it was important to me to see this first hand. Meeting the four members in the arts and crafts project was great. I have a lovely necklace made for me by Ishmael as a lasting momento.

I wish I had stayed for longer at this camp and definately want to go back again, it felt like home!" See all these reviews: 7n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia

"The location is 45 minutes from the main entrance to the park. This meant a long drive just to start game viewing. However, it did give us a good opportunity to the villages and the farms. We would not have seen these otherwise. The accommodation was acceptable but not good. It is very unnerving to walk to the loo in the night. This is totally unacceptable and should be corrected.

The lounge area was very pleasant with an excellent atmosphere. The fact that David was there to talk to was a huge plus!. He should keep his brother, Roger, there as much as possible. There are a great combination of truly authentic safari guides.

Allow us to say that the food was outstanding. It was varied, fresh and expertly cooked. We came to realize just how good the food was when we visited subsequent camps where the food was boring and sometimes poorly cooked. Pity we went to Meno first and not last.

Max, our guide, was fun to be with. He handled both the spotting and the guiding by himself and was excellent at both. We came to wonder later on why the other camps needed 2 people to do these functions." See all these reviews: 15n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia

"A very satisfying wilderness experience. We were priveleged to be in accommodation directly above a waterhole giving unusual views of the wildlife from above. There is a roomy hide on the cliff face down a difficult path, (not for the faint hearted) allowing an even better and closer game viewing experience.

Tasty food seved as a buffet but disappointingly for me, chicken curry.

We had a very good,informative guide, Max, and a good game drive to the Makgadagadi.

Although it is personal preference, we are not happy when forced to eat at one table with the other guests, but here the English-speaking were put together." See all these reviews: 10n in Namibia; 6n in Botswana

"The Tent was excellent, staff were helpful but not particularly friendly (english may have a problem for some - I often recieved only a nod in response to my comment or question).

Often staff did not know when things (dinner, guided walk) were going to begin or end - just approximations. Don't worry be happy seemed to be the camp philosophy.

The location of the camp is scenic - on an elevated river bank of a dried-up river with a combustion pump filled water hole below - probably should be replaced by a noiseless solar arrangement.

The sleep out on the salt pan is run by another lodge - Gweta, that were friendly and professional.

I had asked for it on 2nd last day so I would have a day to recover before flying home but Meno A Kwena ran it on my last night which resulted in a a marathon journey home starting from an isolated salt pan requiring an hour of rough trail to just to reach paved roads, then 2 hours to the airport.

I would of liked a day trip to the kalahari. The Boteti "river" was mostly a series of artificailly sustained water holes attracting wildlife." See all these reviews: 11n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia

"Very interesting camp. Good staff - our guide Dabe was excellent. A very interesting man full of knowledge and very proud of being San. We had fascinating conversations about his community near Ghanzi and he edited for me the section on the San in Chris McIntyre's excellent Botswana (a really very good guide book). If Chris wishes to discuss this please ask him to call Adrian - the relevant part of the book is where Chris discusses the difficulty of naming the San appropriately (a good and very sympathetic section which I enjoyed).

When booking I had formed the impression that the camp was on the edge of the Pans so was slightly disappointed not to repeat the experience I had 10 years ago of being on the Pans themselves. But Dabe more than made up for this disappointment.
We wish we had longer at Meno." See all these reviews: 12n in Botswana; 8n in Namibia; 2n in Zambia