Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs C from Essex

"What a wonderful place Sandibe is.

The rooms were fine with all you would need including a safe and a hairdryer. There was a lovely outside deck with two loungers and a table and two chairs which overlooked the river - great for an afternoon of relaxing.

The food was excellent with perhaps too much to eat and drink but nevertheless varied and good quality. We even ate Kudu one evening.

The staff were always happy and smiling and pleased to serve you. Whilst we were there it was our anniversary and the lodge made us a surprise chocolate cake in the shape of a heart plus a bottle of bubbly in our room.

We found the game drives very interesting and saw lion and cheetah within our first hour. Had a good sighting of wild dogs and also leopard. The trackers were excellent as were the guides who drove carefully and thoughtfully with respect for the landscape and terrain.

On our last evening the lodge arranged a few surprises for all the guests, so hope you are lucky to be staying there when this happens."

"Little Kwara was a lovely lodge. The rooms were spacious with a king size bed and plenty of amenities. There was a large balcony with two comfy chairs and a table overlooking the grassland and bush where we spotted elephants and impala.

The food and staff were both very good with plenty to eat and drink. We eat at a long communal table where there was plenty of banter and chat with the other guests and staff.

Our guide was Hobbs who, although was very pleasant and a good guide, was relentless in trying to find 'big cats' whose tracks he found. This lead to a marathon 10 hour game drive on one day with a coffee break at 1.00pm and lunch which was brought out to us at around 2.30pm. Hobbs driving left a bit to be desired with no respect to the landscape - he seemed to be on a 'deforestation project' and at times hacked down the thicket with machetes and axes and often seemed to be lost. The fuel tank was punctured which could have been a major fire hazard. We eventually arrived back at the camp at 5pm after a nightmare of a drive. He really should slow down and have more consideration for his guests.

The problem was we were not told we to be out all day and were expecting an afternoon rest after 6 days of game drives.

We did, however, see plenty of game including lion, 3 cheetah brothers, leopard, kudu, baboons, ostriches hippos etc.

On our last day we took a mokoro ride in the lake with the hippos - a bit scary."

"Lagoon is a lovely camp and far exceeded our expectations. Our room was very spacious with a small lounge area, a huge bedroom with a 7ft bed, a dressing room leading to the bathroom which consisted of double wash basin, a claw foot bath, and a shower. There was a door to the toilet and another to an outside shower - wonderful.

Outside there was a decking area with very comfortable chairs, footstools and a table overlooking the river where you could spot elephant, hippo and large variety of birds.

The food was of very good quality and plentiful - the brunch at 11ish was vast and varied - just what you needed after a long game drive.

Although we did not see any big cats at Lagoon, we did spot honey badgers, mongoose and a porcupine. The usual elephants, giraffe and gazelles were in abundance as were wild dogs. One evening, although we did not see the kill, we arrived a very short time after, to wild dogs devouring a male impala - there was nothing left after a few minutes only the antlers.

Our guides were excellent and really tried to find us the big cats. They drove very carefully - quite the opposite of Hobbs at Little Kwara.

Lagoon was our favourite camp with Sandibe coming a close second."

"Sindabezi was like our own little island in the middle of the Zambezi river. Where else do you travel to and from your lodge in a speed boat, game and bird watching on the way.

Our room was large with wonderful views over looking the river and stunning sunsets. There were no walls, only curtains around our room which had a large bed, and fairly basic furniture but what did it matter when you had plenty of to see. There was an outside shower and even had a 'loo with a view' . In the morning our butler brought our tea but we were already up and watching the large variety of beautiful birds. Although there was no electricity at the lodge, the ambiance and peace more than made up for it.

The food was great and more than plentiful with lovely fresh vegetables and salads all grown at Tongabezi. One evening we ate pork which tasted magnificent - nothing like our pork in the U.K.

The staff could not do enough for you and even arranged for my wife to leave early the morning of our departure, to use the hairdryer at Tongabezi!!"