Travel reviews by Prof & Mrs H from Bristol
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
2
Countries visited
2
Lodges stayed in
14
Excursions taken
1
My Sep 2012 trip
Namibia between 3 Sep 2012 and 21 Sep 2012
"Overall this was a great trip. It was tiring because of the amount of driving on roads which were not as good as we expected.
If we did this trip again, we would spend 3 nights rather than two in some locations to allow for a bit of relaxation time. We stayed in 10 locations and the longest stays were 2 nights. Allowing for travelling (usually between 5 and 7 hours between camps) this meant we only had one full day in any location. Inevitably, we did as much as we could on these full days. The overall effect was we saw a lot but were quite tired by the end of the holiday.
The scenery driving round some parts of the country was awesome. Game viewing in Etosha was not as good as Botswana last year and large areas of the park had been destroyed by fire.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Bo good to be able to fly more directly to Windhoek (e.g. via Frankfurt). Build more relaxation time into your suggested self-drive holidays."
If we did this trip again, we would spend 3 nights rather than two in some locations to allow for a bit of relaxation time. We stayed in 10 locations and the longest stays were 2 nights. Allowing for travelling (usually between 5 and 7 hours between camps) this meant we only had one full day in any location. Inevitably, we did as much as we could on these full days. The overall effect was we saw a lot but were quite tired by the end of the holiday.
The scenery driving round some parts of the country was awesome. Game viewing in Etosha was not as good as Botswana last year and large areas of the park had been destroyed by fire.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
Bo good to be able to fly more directly to Windhoek (e.g. via Frankfurt). Build more relaxation time into your suggested self-drive holidays."
Elegant Guesthouse
"Elegant Guesthouse review"
1 night
Arrived
4 Sep 2012
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Good
Service
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
BullsPort Lodge and Farm
"Bullsport Guest Farm review"
2 nights
Arrived
5 Sep 2012
"Beautiful location and friendly German owners. We were the only Brits there but the other German guests made an effort to converse with us.
Excellent if you like horse riding and/or walking in the mountains but beware - some of the 'walks' should come with a government health warning and are not suitable for unfit, inexperienced or older people.
Excellent food and comfortable, clean accommodation."
Excellent if you like horse riding and/or walking in the mountains but beware - some of the 'walks' should come with a government health warning and are not suitable for unfit, inexperienced or older people.
Excellent food and comfortable, clean accommodation."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Hoodia Desert Lodge
"Hoodia - a fantastic place to stay"
2 nights
Arrived
7 Sep 2012
"This was by far the best place we stayed at (out of 10 places) on our Namibia trip. Great welcome, great staff, excellent food and accommodation and Thomas, the owner, couldn't do enough for us and gave us a great day out in the Namib desert.
We would have liked an extra day here (at least)."
We would have liked an extra day here (at least)."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Swakopmund Guesthouse
"Swakopmund Guesthouse review"
2 nights
Arrived
9 Sep 2012
"Clean, comfortable rooms, nice breakfast and located within walking distance of the town centre and restaurants.
Whilst in Swakopmund, we organised a day trip to Sandwich Harbour for these travellers. They commented:
Great trip with Ernst
Wonderful and informative day trip to Sandwich Harbour with Ernst. He provided an excellent lunch on the beach where the Namib meets the Atlantic and we saw loads of bird life and a few seals. A good day out."
Whilst in Swakopmund, we organised a day trip to Sandwich Harbour for these travellers. They commented:
Great trip with Ernst
Wonderful and informative day trip to Sandwich Harbour with Ernst. He provided an excellent lunch on the beach where the Namib meets the Atlantic and we saw loads of bird life and a few seals. A good day out."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Coast and Sandwich Harbour
"Great trip with Ernst"
10 Sep 2012 • All-day excursion
Wonderful and informative day trip to Sandwich Harbour with Ernst. He provided an excellent lunch on the beach where the Namib meets the Atlantic and we saw loads of bird life and a few seals. A good day out.
Excellent
Doro Nawas
"Doro Nawas review"
2 nights
Arrived
11 Sep 2012
"Excellent location and clean comfortable accommodation. Food good to average.
This was the first camp where we had to sign a disclaimer (others followed later!) which basically means whatever happens to you is your fault! Went on a drive to find the desrt elephants which took a while.
Game viewing here not as intensive as in other parts of Namibia."
This was the first camp where we had to sign a disclaimer (others followed later!) which basically means whatever happens to you is your fault! Went on a drive to find the desrt elephants which took a while.
Game viewing here not as intensive as in other parts of Namibia."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Average
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Average
Facilities
Good
Dolomite Camp
"Dolomite Camp review"
2 nights
Arrived
13 Sep 2012
"Friendly welcoming staff. Food and accommodation good.
Camp very spread out on top of a hill so potentially a lot of walking to and from bar, restaurant etc but the camp provided a buggy service to ferry people about to offset this problem for the less fit visitor."
Camp very spread out on top of a hill so potentially a lot of walking to and from bar, restaurant etc but the camp provided a buggy service to ferry people about to offset this problem for the less fit visitor."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Average
Okaukuejo Camp
"Okaukuejo Camp review"
1 night
Arrived
15 Sep 2012
"Accommodation basic but adequate. Camp very large but staff friendly and welcoming.
Catering was basic (self-service) to accommodate the large number of guests.
Worth it for the floodlit waterhole at night which provided excellent game viewing. Swimming pool was an 'extra'."
Catering was basic (self-service) to accommodate the large number of guests.
Worth it for the floodlit waterhole at night which provided excellent game viewing. Swimming pool was an 'extra'."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Good
Service
Average
Rooms
Good
Food
Average
Halali Camp
"Halali Camp review"
1 night
Arrived
16 Sep 2012
"This was a disappointment to us.
The reception staff were surly, verging on rude and needed to go on PR training. The dining room staff weren't much better. The accommodation itself was fine but in need of some maintenance. Food was average.
We booked a game drive (these are not cheap at the camps - about £80-100 per couple) but the message did not get from reception to the guide and so by the time we had chased this up, we wasted over 30 minutes hanging around."
The reception staff were surly, verging on rude and needed to go on PR training. The dining room staff weren't much better. The accommodation itself was fine but in need of some maintenance. Food was average.
We booked a game drive (these are not cheap at the camps - about £80-100 per couple) but the message did not get from reception to the guide and so by the time we had chased this up, we wasted over 30 minutes hanging around."
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average
Location
Good
Service
Poor
Rooms
Average
Food
Average
Mushara Bush Camp
"Mushara Bush Camp review"
2 nights
Arrived
17 Sep 2012
"Much more friendly and welcoming than the NWR camps inside Etosha. Nice public areas. Comfortable, clean accommodation. Food excellent. This was our second best place to stay after Hoodia.
Although outside the game park, the park was easily reached by a short drive on a tarmac road."
Although outside the game park, the park was easily reached by a short drive on a tarmac road."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Ondudu Safari Lodge
"Erongo Wilderness Lodge review"
2 nights
Arrived
19 Sep 2012
"Beautiful location and a lovely camp. Staff very friendly and welcoming. Food excellent.
We did not take advantage of the free guided walks here but went on a nature/scenic drive (game is fairly sparse here but they don't pretend otherwise and the scenery makes up for it).
This and Mushara were both close seconds to Hoodia and we'd certainly stay here again."
We did not take advantage of the free guided walks here but went on a nature/scenic drive (game is fairly sparse here but they don't pretend otherwise and the scenery makes up for it).
This and Mushara were both close seconds to Hoodia and we'd certainly stay here again."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Botswana trip
Botswana between 7 Jun 2011 and 23 Jun 2011
"Trip was great. I'm still trying to reduce my 2,500 images to something more manageable!
Game viewing was great and the cold mornings and evenings meant that mossies were less of a problem than we expected. The two Wilderness camps (Duma Tau and Litlle Vumburu) were far better than Chobe Safari Lodge for atmosphere and the 'safari experience' as well as the food and the atention to detail."
Game viewing was great and the cold mornings and evenings meant that mossies were less of a problem than we expected. The two Wilderness camps (Duma Tau and Litlle Vumburu) were far better than Chobe Safari Lodge for atmosphere and the 'safari experience' as well as the food and the atention to detail."
Arranged By Lucy Copson
Chobe Safari Lodge
"Chobe Safari Lodge"
3 nights
Arrived
10 Jun 2011
"Good points: Great location on the river. Luxurious rooms (more than we needed to be honest). Great bird life and game on the river. Great 'private' river trip for game viewing.
Not so good: We found this more of a hotel than a game lodge. Land rovers for game viewing are large (11 people) and it became a bit of a scrum if a lion was spotted with lots of vehicles there (this was not allowed in the other two camps we stayed in). We were led to believe that laundry and drinks were included but they were not, not even water. In the other camps, they were.
A very large buffet was on offer for meals but the quality of the food was not as good as the two smaller camps we stayed in and the meat was invariably tough. Staff varied from friendly and helpful to sometimes a bit surly. River trip OK but lots of passengers appeared to be there for a boat rtrip with booze rather than game viewing."
Not so good: We found this more of a hotel than a game lodge. Land rovers for game viewing are large (11 people) and it became a bit of a scrum if a lion was spotted with lots of vehicles there (this was not allowed in the other two camps we stayed in). We were led to believe that laundry and drinks were included but they were not, not even water. In the other camps, they were.
A very large buffet was on offer for meals but the quality of the food was not as good as the two smaller camps we stayed in and the meat was invariably tough. Staff varied from friendly and helpful to sometimes a bit surly. River trip OK but lots of passengers appeared to be there for a boat rtrip with booze rather than game viewing."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Average
Activities
Average
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Poor
Facilities
Good
DumaTau Camp
"Dum,a Tau is great"
3 nights
Arrived
13 Jun 2011
"Fabulous. Excellent friendly staff who were very attentive and helpful.
The small nature of the camp and the limitations of numbers in the land rovers and the rule of no more than three land rovers around game at any one time made this a great game viewing experience. Our guide, Ron, was an outstanding tracker and found us leopard on three days!"
The small nature of the camp and the limitations of numbers in the land rovers and the rule of no more than three land rovers around game at any one time made this a great game viewing experience. Our guide, Ron, was an outstanding tracker and found us leopard on three days!"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Little Vumbura
"Little Vumbura"
3 nights
Arrived
16 Jun 2011
"Oustanding. Great friendly staff who were very attentive with excellent attention to small details.
As with Duma Tau, the game viewing rules made for good game viewing and we saw leopard on three consecutive days again as well as most other game. Would go back!
The 'visitors' to camp (elephant, hippo and kudu) made things 'interesting'!"
As with Duma Tau, the game viewing rules made for good game viewing and we saw leopard on three consecutive days again as well as most other game. Would go back!
The 'visitors' to camp (elephant, hippo and kudu) made things 'interesting'!"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Gaborone (Not currently featured by Expert Africa)
"Gabarone"
4 nights
Arrived
19 Jun 2011
"Our friends took us to a game ranch they own on the Limpopo river. game viewing not as good as the game camps we had stayed at apart from a trip on the river itself which was great for bird life."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Good
Rooms
Average
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Easy to get to from the airport. Our first contact with a receptionist was not as warm as we would have liked since we appeared to have been booked in twice and thus they were expecting four guests, not two!"