Travel reviews by Miss S from Cambridgeshire

In response to this feedback Tok Tokkie have advised:

"We are sorry, that the guests Sutcliffe had to wait long for the departure of their trail and would like to apologize for any inconvenience.

Usually, we depart around 3 pm, this is why the arrival time is set to 2 pm. However, it depends on the weather conditions. If it is very hot, the guide decides to depart later - therefore in summer there is a tendency for later departures. It is however very difficult for us to foresee this. As it is essential that all guests arrive in time in order to avoid that guests have to wait for late arriving guests (which we had a lot in the past) and in order to avoid confusion, we need a reliable arrival time, which is 2 pm.

For guests who arrive by 1 pm we serve complimentary lunch (please book in advance). For all guests, we serve refreshments. Also, to make possible waiting times agreeable, we provide reading material and our guide will take care of the guests. There is a veranda with an amazing view fitted with sofas and comfortable chairs. There is a water point, to which, especially in summer, usually many animals come during the heat of the day and which can be observed there. Though, we unfortunately cannot completely avoid waiting times, we hope to keep them to a minimum and as agreeable to our guests as possible."

In response to this feedback on balloon flight arrangements the ballooning company, Namib Sky Adventures, have advised:

"Unfortunately, it is true, we have never seen this kind of weather in November, when we woke up and prepared the days flight we had perfect weather conditions, the time the transfer arrived at the launch site, the weather changed completely, strong winds bringing very dark clouds so we could not take off. You can imagine the disappointment of our passengers, pilots and staff crew. All our guests who were able to rebook for the next morning decided to have their balloon safari rescheduled, unfortunately the balloon flight was cancelled 8 days in a row.

What we do is the day before the balloon flight we call all the lodges and give them the pick-up time. When we have a strong wind during the night or if the weather forecast is not 100 % sure, the pilot goes to the take-off site and check the weather around 04h00AM, if it is too windy then we call the lodge to advise them that the balloon is cancelled in order to avoid the wake up call to their guests.

Unfortunately on this specific week the weather conditions at our take off sites were 100% until sunrise. I understand your clients disappointment but if we had cancelled the balloon flight and the conditions would have remained good by sunrise then they would have been even more upset. As you can imagine the costs for us during this week were very high so I can assure you that we try to limit this situation to a maximum by cancelling the balloon before the clients leave their accommodations.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to your clients but please rest assured that this is not an usual situation."