Travel reviews by Mr S & Ms Y from London

"We really enjoyed our stay. The hotel has lots of character, the grounds are well-maintained and peaceful, and the staff could not be more accommodating. The rooms are comfortable and in keeping with the character of the hotel. We ate at the Jungle Junction the first night, which is a buffet with a good variety of options and we enjoyed the cultural dancing that takes place every night. We had the 7 course menu at the Livingstone Room the second night - we thought it was excellent value and liked the live music. The location is so convenient, just minutes from the Falls and affording views of the bridge from the terrace. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend this hotel."

"A lovely little camp, with comfortable tents and excellent guides (Rain was our guide for all the drives, but we spoke to the others during drinks and dinner and found them all to be very knowledgable). In our 3 days here, we saw lots of wildlife including leopards on a number of occasions, a lioness with cubs every day, a large group of sable antelope, wild dog, a good number of elephant, a huge herd of buffalo, hyena, and lots of bird species (including the rare Pel's Fishing owl). We thought the setting of the camp was very picturesque, and the mokoro trip we did one afternoon a surprising highlight - even though we didn't see many animals other than elephants making their way through the reeds and playing in the water, it was so peaceful and a great way to experience a different side to the Delta."

"We had a truly wonderful stay at Chitabe Lediba. On landing at the airstrip, our driver told us that a leopard had been seen in the area that morning and asked if we wanted a quick detour to see if the young male was still there. As a result, literally minutes after landing, we were photographing a leopard posing obligingly in a sausage tree! It was a great welcome to Chitabe, and very much set the tone for some really fantastic wildlife sightings over the following 3 days. We saw a group of three cheetah (mother and 2 cubs) on 3 separate occasions - on one of these, we watched them stalk and then chase impala. One evening, we watched a pride of lions hunting - they made two attempts in short succession, the females working together to confuse the impala, but they were unsuccessful. The following morning, we hadn't even left the camp when we came across the same group of lions and they had just killed a kudu - they were so close to the camp that we found them later that afternoon lying in the shade of the tents at Chitabe main camp. Lots of interesting bird species too - raptors, vultures and some beautiful wattled cranes. We had read on the Expert Africa site that Chitabe was a good place to see wild dog, but apparently the pack has declined since the death of the alpha female and, at the time of our visit, the guides said they had not had any sightings for a number of weeks.

Luke, our guide, was very good though we thought our guide at Little Vumbura was so passionate about the wildlife that he would often go the extra mile. Although not a major focus of the camp, we asked if we could do a walking safari one morning, and highly recommend it as a way of learning about the smaller species and the plant life. We didn't even have to miss out on the game drive, as we went out in the 4WD in the morning, then started our walk around 10am.

We're glad we decided to stay at Chitabe Lediba rather than the main camp. Perhaps because there are fewer tents and therefore fewer guests, we had the guide and vehicle to ourselves for several of the drives and a maximum of 4 at any one time, whilst nearly all the vehicles we saw from the main camp were shared by 6 people.

The tents are very spacious and quite luxurious. We particularly loved the outdoor shower. We found the staff to be very welcoming and efficient. The food was excellent, and the barbecue at the boma on our first evening was great."