Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs W from Exeter
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
1
Lodges stayed in
4
Excursions taken
0
Overall Rating
Botswana between 22 May 2009 and 7 Jun 2009
"The whole trip was a great success and this is based on the knowledge of Expert Africa in guiding our selection of camps and final destination.
We were recommended to limit our stay in the camps to 9 days and this proved to be right as the safaris are tiring. Marushka was particularly helpful when we had to cancel our previous booking due to ill health and Lucy was an excellent stand-in when Marushka was not available.
We would recommend Expert Africa to anyone and we will be back again looking at Namibia!
Suggestions for improvements:
As some of our fellow guests lost their luggage en route it would be helpful if your advice to customers suggested that they took a small emergency pack in their hand luggage (toothbrush, toothpaste etc), and you might suggest to the camps that they had a small stock of emergency supplies to help minimise the stress of lost luggage.
Other than this the trip was excellent from first contacting you to completing this form. Thank you."
We were recommended to limit our stay in the camps to 9 days and this proved to be right as the safaris are tiring. Marushka was particularly helpful when we had to cancel our previous booking due to ill health and Lucy was an excellent stand-in when Marushka was not available.
We would recommend Expert Africa to anyone and we will be back again looking at Namibia!
Suggestions for improvements:
As some of our fellow guests lost their luggage en route it would be helpful if your advice to customers suggested that they took a small emergency pack in their hand luggage (toothbrush, toothpaste etc), and you might suggest to the camps that they had a small stock of emergency supplies to help minimise the stress of lost luggage.
Other than this the trip was excellent from first contacting you to completing this form. Thank you."
Arranged By Lucy Copson
Lagoon Camp
"Lagoon Camp review"
3 nights
Arrived
23 May 2009
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Little Kwara (Not currently featured by Expert Africa)
"Little Kwara review"
3 nights
Arrived
26 May 2009
"Due to its small size, Little Kwara is an extremely friendly camp and is, for us, the most memorable location and the one that we are most likely to return to.
The communal eating, as with the other Kwando camp, was again a great success from our point of view. Staff discovered that one of us had a birthday during our stay and made a special cake and event of the evening meal, which was most memorable.
Our guide Steve and his tracker Kenny were particularly outstanding, for us, due to Steve's skills as a photographer and Kenny's tracking ability.
Overall this was our best camp and we would recommend it to anyone."
The communal eating, as with the other Kwando camp, was again a great success from our point of view. Staff discovered that one of us had a birthday during our stay and made a special cake and event of the evening meal, which was most memorable.
Our guide Steve and his tracker Kenny were particularly outstanding, for us, due to Steve's skills as a photographer and Kenny's tracking ability.
Overall this was our best camp and we would recommend it to anyone."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Sandibe Safari Lodge
"Sandibe Safari Lodge review"
3 nights
Arrived
29 May 2009
"Whilst the location is good, due to the preponderance of papyrus in the river there was almost no sight of water and this detracted slightly from the views from the camp. The remaining area around the camp was as spectacular as any we visited. The facilities were the most luxurious that we met and the staff again excellent.
Dining arrangements were different to the other camps we visited in that tables were allocated to each group (as in a restaurant) which made it more difficult to meet and mix with other guests. We feel that this is a missed opportunity to enhance the holiday."
Dining arrangements were different to the other camps we visited in that tables were allocated to each group (as in a restaurant) which made it more difficult to meet and mix with other guests. We feel that this is a missed opportunity to enhance the holiday."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Feedback response
We passed this to the camp's owners, &Beyond. One of their management team replied:
"Thank you so much for sending us your comments on your stay at Sandibe. We're delighted you had such a good stay and particularly that the staff took such great care of you - I'll be sure to pass your comments onto the team.
Dining arrangements can sometimes be tricky to get right as some guests are looking for romantic getaways or privacy, while others (like yourselves) want to meet other guests. We try to judge it at the lodge, and am sorry that we didn't make the right call on this occasion.
I hope you are still savouring the stories you have to tell of your trip through Botswana."
"Thank you so much for sending us your comments on your stay at Sandibe. We're delighted you had such a good stay and particularly that the staff took such great care of you - I'll be sure to pass your comments onto the team.
Dining arrangements can sometimes be tricky to get right as some guests are looking for romantic getaways or privacy, while others (like yourselves) want to meet other guests. We try to judge it at the lodge, and am sorry that we didn't make the right call on this occasion.
I hope you are still savouring the stories you have to tell of your trip through Botswana."
Senior Africa Specialist | Southern Africa & Seychelles
The St James (Not currently featured by Expert Africa)
"The St James, Cape Town"
5 nights
Arrived
1 Jun 2009
"Whilst the hotel is outside of the centre of Cape Town it is ideally situated to enable driving into the City, to the Cape of Good Hope, and to the wine-growing region.
A car is a must if you are to make the most of this hotel. Kalk Bay itself is very attractive with a number of excellent restaurants (recommend The Harbour House). We recommend anyone staying at The St James to ask them to prepare a Cape Malay dinner, as we did, and it was excellent.
The staff were first class and we would recommend staying at this, or one of its sister hotels."
A car is a must if you are to make the most of this hotel. Kalk Bay itself is very attractive with a number of excellent restaurants (recommend The Harbour House). We recommend anyone staying at The St James to ask them to prepare a Cape Malay dinner, as we did, and it was excellent.
The staff were first class and we would recommend staying at this, or one of its sister hotels."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Everybody was helpful and friendly and the communal dining and the use of the fire as a focal point at breakfast and for after dinner drinks made the experience all the more rewarding, as you were able to get to know other guests and staff.
Our guide, Thabo, and his tracker, AT, were excellent, both knowledgeable and tireless in searching out game."