Travel reviews by Dr & Mrs P from York

"Perfect hotel for a overnight after the flight from England. Only 10 minutes drive from the airport which was welcome after a late evening arrival.

Pleasant, helpful staff and a very comfortable room. We were pleased to be be able to have breakfast at 6am before our pickup to go to Wilson airport.

Also had a day room here on the way home. Good to be able to shower and have a snooze and then a have a meal before using the very efficient and free transport back to the airport."

"A lovely camp in a lovely location overlooking the river. Very comfortable tent with a good bathroom, plenty of hot water and attractive furnishings. It was very relaxing to sit on the raised terrace and be entertained by vervet monkey, lizards and racoons!

We had a charming waiter, Raphael, who always got us the 'best' table - by the river for lunch and breakfast and on the raised terrace for dinner. The food was usually good, though we did start to find two three course meals a day a bit much - and it wasn't easy to say no without worrying Raphael! One morning we had to make a rapid retreat, toast in hand, to allow an elephant to reach his favourite tree!

We'd chosen this camp to be able to see some of the more unusual animals and Mick, our guide, found them all for us on our game drives - along with lots of other animals and birds. The Genenuk was a particular favourite and we enjoyed watching the many herds of elephants.

The morning drive lasted from 6.15am to 9ish and the afternoon from 4pm to around 6.30pm, which did leave quite a long gap in the middle of the day with not a lot to do but relax - and eat! One evening we met up with all the other guests for a sundowner round the fire which we enjoyed."

"We were driven from our last camp, Elephant Bedroom, to this camp, about a three and a half hour drive which was fascinating. We saw village and small town life, watched children on their way to school and saw where the roses and green beans that end up in UK supermarkets are grown. We really enjoyed our conversation with John, our driver, and felt we'd learned so much more about Kenya than we would have from a short air flight. We're so glad Lyndsey arranged this road transport for us. It was a highspot of the holiday.

Kicheche Laikipia is a lovely camp managed very efficiently but with a light touch by Anita. All the staff we came into contact with from the waiters to the nightwatchman were delightful. The tent was very comfortable and spacious and we appreciated the hot waters bottles in bed at night. The food was very good - we particulay liked the imaginative cold soups and salads at lunchtime and the dainty cakes at afternoon tea!

We were were lucky to get William as our guide and to share our drives with a couple from Chicago who were good company. Drives were from 6am to around 11am with a breakfast stop and again from around 4pm to 7pm with a stop for a sundowner. William found us some excellent sightings - the most memorable being a whole host of animals, including lions, vultures and striped hyenas, feasting on an elephant carcass!

We booked the tours to see the two remaining Northern White rhino and the anti poaching dogs, which were both enjoyable and interesting and took place during the morning drives which worked well."

"Another lovely Kicheche camp. We particularly liked the tent, which was very spacious with a sofa in addition to the enormous bed and a lovely view from the window in the shower!

We enjoyed all the meals, especially the picnic breakfasts and curry night. Pre dinner drinks around the fire with Charles entertaining us with Maasai stories and proverbs were good fun.

We couldn't have had a better guide than Jimmy, especially as we were lucky enough to have the vehicle to ourselves. He and my husband quickly discovered a mutual love of photography and birds in particular, and we had some amazing sightings, and chances to takes photos of often overlooked but beautiful little birds.

Jimmy persuaded us to set off at 5.45am on a couple of mornings to catch the sun coming up an and even managed to 'arrange' for a group of eland to parade along the horizon at exactly the right moment!"

"Fine for a very short overnight stay after a late arrival at the airport, though the drive from the airport to the hotel weas a bit of a nightmare as there were extensive roadworks and the road was flooded!"

"A lovely camp with delightful staff.

Our tent was very comfortable and equipped with everything we needed and the bucket showers were effective and fun! They were filled up very quickly whenever we asked.

The food was very good, with the lunches in particular having lots of imaginative salads and vegetables, and the picnic breakfasts very enjoyable.
The waiters were charming and very patient with my attempts to learn to count in Swahili!

Our guide Goodluck, who was also the Manager, was a very kind, gentle and knowledgeable man. He quickly worked out that we like birds and made sure we saw lots of them!

Our stand out moment was when he noticed a lone female giraffe and realised she had given birth about 2 minutes before.
We spent an amazing hour watching as the baby eventually managed to stand up, and then walk enough to follow its Mum to a safer place.
Magical!"

"Sand Rivers is a beautifully situated camp overlooking the river.

The accommodation is wonderful - though the completely open front might be a step too far for some people! We loved being able to lie in the enormous bed, encased in the mosquito net and watch the stars! However the open front and the rain did mean there were huge numbers of insects in the room - though our army of friendly geckos helped keep them under control!

The communal areas are very attractive and comfortable and we enjoyed excellent meals - some at our own table and some with other guests and staff, including a very enjoyable Swahili BBQ. The swimming pool looked very inviting.

The staff were all wonderful, including the man who did our laundry perfectly, the chef, waiter and driver who 'appeared ' to cook our breakfast in the bush, and Hamsa, Bernadette and Sarah who kept everything running very smoothly and were good company.

Ernest, our guide, was excellent and took us on memorable drives and boat trips to lots of different areas of the reserve.
He was a bird enthusiast too so was the perfect companion for us."

"We couldn't have had a more relaxing or interesting start to our trip. After a long journey it was wonderful to be picked up at the delightful little airport in Kasane and be taken by van and boat through various immigration posts (hint - if you need reading glasses take them with you to the Namibia office. The form you have to complete is in very small print!) and chase after the moving houseboat to finally get on board. All very seamless and good fun.

The boat is lovely - spacious, beautifully decorated, with lots of different places to relax and admire the ever changing views. The rooms are smallish but very comfortable and well equipped and it was lovely to lie in bed and watch river life through the full length windows. The staff of five were great - attentive without being 'ever- present' and very knowledgeable about the area and wildlife. Food, cooked and presented by chef Vincent was excellent and beautifully presented. We were lucky to be one of only two couples on board and even more lucky to have a very pleasant young South African couple as our companions.

We'd chosen to start our journey on the houseboats to have a relaxing start and the 8am morning call was great after an overnight flight the night before. The staff were very happy to let us choose what we wanted to do and when, and we had a couple of very good boat trips which were a perfect way to get up close to the wildlife and see the animals and birds from a different perspective. We saw a python sunning itself along the bank, lots of malachite kingfishers and big herds of elephant coming to the river to drink. The sundowner with elephants silhouetted against the sun was very special. We also had a trip to Vincent, the chef's, village with his brother as our guide, which was interesting and good fun, although there was singing and dancing, didn't feel at all like a show for the tourists.

We had two nights on the boat which was just enough, though a third wouldn't have been a hardship! Highly recommended as a good way to start of end a safari."

"There was a great deal to like at Lagoon. The tents ( though you can't really call them that) were huge. beautifully decorated and even included a very elegant bath. That it took nearly half an hour to fill and the water was the colour of weak tea didn't matter a bit! The outdoor deck overlooking the lagoon should have been an ideal place to spend the afternoon but there was no shade and it was in direct sun so we never got to sit out which was a shame. We were in Tent 9 - a good ten minutes walk down a dusty path from the dining room - so far it was know as 'staying in Namibia' by the staff, but it did mean it was very quiet and private, apart from the odd visiting elephant.

The staff were lovely - great fun and very good at anticipating what you might need before you realised you needed it. We enjoyed the food, from the morning porridge round the fire to dinner, preceded each night by a riddle. Whoever guessed it got served first! We liked the lunchtime and evening buffets with lots of very imaginative salads and vegetables, and one night, particularly delicious steak. We enjoyed eating at one big table with the guides. This camp had the widest mix of nationalities which made for interesting conversations.

Our guide Sugar, and his spotter Aaron, were excellent and made all the drives an adventure. We tracked lions, watched a leopard stalk a reedbuck, found a group of wild dogs but also spent time looking at the birds and smaller animals. After dark drives with the spotlight were exciting - though perhaps as a consequence of Aaron's killer G&Ts I personally didn't see much! The boat ride gave us a different view of the scenery though there was surprisingly few birds of animals around during our trip. But attempting to fish was fun , if unsuccessful.

Altogether a well run camp with a good informal atmosphere which we enjoyed very much."

"Megan suggested we'd need to book a year ahead to find space at this camp - and having been we now understand why it's so popular. It's got the most beautiful location on a little island in the delta and its layout and decoration shows a skilled designer at work The tents are lovely, and the little outside deck with a very comfortable built in sofa is perfect for afternoon naps. The shower has a full length meshed screen open to the outside so I had the rather surreal experience of showering under the gentle and interested gaze of a kudu!

Managers Steve and Mandy seem to run a very happy camp with a laid back and relaxed atmosphere but very efficient service. The food was very good and one evening we really appreciated a barbeque around the campfire with singing and dancing from all the staff which they seemed to enjoy as much as we did.

Our guide, Kay, is named as one of Conde Nast's top guides in Botswana, so we felt privileged to have him. He seems to have the ability to think like a lion or a leopard and tracking with him was a real education. I might have preferred a little less time with sleeping lions and more time with entertaining baboons or elephants but my husband thought Kay's guiding was exemplary. Our mokoro ride among the reeds and bamboo was magical. Not a huge number of birds or animals but the scenery and silence were wonderful. On our last day, Steve arranged for us to go the long way round to the airstrip by boat. We saw a pair of goliath herons take off in front of us which made a perfect finale to a perfect four days."

"Had this been our first camp we'd probabaly have like it better but coming after Little Vumbura it seemed to us a little formal and over regimented. We'd wanted to try an &Beyond camp having been to a spectacular one in India but this one is probably ready for an upgrade - or perhaps we were just over picky after our first two camps.

The tent was fine, though the bathroom was just behind a canvas flap so you had to know your companion very well. We liked the outdoor deck with a big parasol. We had one extremely noisy night when elephants decided to investigate the fruits on the tree right outside our tent. Elephants, hippos and baboons were regular visitors round camp but we never felt at all worried by them. On our first night we were taken straight from our game drive to a spot near the camp which had been beautifully decorated with lanterns, for dinner preceded by singing and dancing by the staff. For this and other meals we all sat at separate tables which felt a little odd after the communal dining everywhere else. But as nearly all the other guests were families with children perhaps it was easier. The food was fine but again a little formally presented.

Megan had warned us that this wasn't really the camp for great game viewing but I think we were surprised at how little there was - and actually started to feel sorry for the guide and spotter who kept assuring us that there was usually more to see! The guide has to be the slowest driver we've ever had , though he did manage to get us there in time to see a group of wild dog puppies devouring an impala under the watchful eye of their parents. Even the mokoro and boat rides, whilst again very relaxing, were lacking in wildlife sightings. Perhaps not the best time of year for this camp."