Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs B from Berkeley

"Tamara, the manager, runs an outstanding operation and she made our transition to Namibia easier after an unexpectedly long 2 days of travel.

Tamara was so helpful in sorting out our phone issues, helping us get a sim card, and cluing us in to local customs, expectations and safety issues.

A comfortable place to recover from jet lag."

"We loved our stay here.

Very comfortable spacious well equipped rondovals/chalets with easy walk to main lodge.

Very helpful staff, especially General, the Manager, who helped us sort out the decision about self-driving the the Deadvlei trailhead versus taking a shuttle vs going with a guide in a group.

We drove ourselves and didn't get stuck in the sand and were so happy to be on our own schedule -- we didn't leave Deadvlei until almost 11 and then spent an hour at Dune 45. But all staff were quite helpful.

Wonderful view, enabling you to feel part of the environment while being extremely comfortable."

"Very comfortable stay here and conveniently located.

Owner Hoby very kind, well informed. Generous delicious breakfast. Would recommend, and go back.

Our room was a former storage room and was without much ventilation, making it chilly and damp -- fortunately they provided a heater, which kept us comfortable."

"The stay at Doro Nawas was a highpoint of the trip. I would almost fly all the way to Namibia just to stay here.

Location is perfect: As the lodge is perched on a hilltop, you really get a sense of the topography around you, & you are aware of where you are.

Staff: A wonderful mix of professional and personal, everyone is engaging and highly competent. Many (at our encouragement) tried to teach us the local language. They shared much about life in Damaraland.

Lodging: Extremely comfortable chalets, with the option (which we chose each night) of sleeping under the many stars. Food: The best we had in Namibia, every meal, every snack.

Wildlife viewing with Stephanus, highly trained guide: A highlight within a highlight. He provided a well informed successful wildlife trip, and shared a lot of information about Namibia. He was a friend away from home. This was also a valuable cultural experience for us -- in addition to the language lessons, the staff is very embracing, and their nightly singing (and dancing) is something that will stay in our hearts for a very long time."

"Wonderful comfortable camp.

We chose a Premier Waterhole Chalet near the watering hole (#33) which we could see from the deck on the 2nd floor.

Magical experience, many animals, very comfortable lodging, friendly staff, easy to get around. A wonderful start to Etosha.

Food surprised us -- the fish we had the first night was much better than that served us at an allegedly gourmet seafood restaurant the previous night in Swakopmund."

"This camp is really in the bush, & it took a minute to get used to not having a view of either a watering hole or the desert.

It is lovely, well designed, comfortable sleeping tents, well equipped, very competent staff and several made the time to discuss questions we had about Namibia. A very enjoyable stay.

I don't understand the questions [Ed: This refers to Expert Africa's feedback questions] here about wildlife sighting.

The camp is fenced in, and so there are no animals. Of course once we went in to this side of the park, we saw lots of animals, just not at the Bush Camp."

"We had a very large suite which we appreciated and the bed was super comfortable.

Olive Grove seems a bit pretentious. The rooms were dark b/c of the darkened color of the walls and with concrete floor, walls and ceiling, the room was an echo chamber. The toilet area had no privacy.

Staff were not particularly engaged but were helpful when needed."

"3 days at Chitabe provided our quintessential game viewing experience -- in 21 days enjoying African game parks.

The game was present and the guiding was committed, determined and successful -- we even experienced a 10 hour all-day drive [we were met with a bush lunch served with tables and chairs -- amazing]. On this particular drive we witnessed a cheetah spot, chase and kill an impala, saw leopard brothers guarding their kill tied in a tree, followed a pack of wild dogs through the bush on their hunt, observed a pride of lions from 2 meters, resting after their kill ... and more. We really appreciated our guide's high motivation and ability to deliver -- the guiding here is serious, and each group of guests felt they had the "best" guide -- quite a testament.

Accommodations were luxurious beyond expectations, food was delicious and almost too generous, staff and guides were very sociable and sophisticated, and our cultural evening, which included dances, was really appreciated. Exceeded all expectations."

"Our guide at Kwara was highly knowledgeable and a wonderful companion, but in 3 days of game drives, including a 7 hour drive where we were met with a delicious bush lunch -- we saw almost no game apart from the hippos that were at Kwara's front door, occasional elephants and the omnipresent impala and two jackals.

Our accommodations were excellent, the food satisfactory and to our liking, and the opportunity to enjoy non-vehicle activities was a plus -- our mokoro trip and hike were great and informative, as were the double-decker motorized launch trips, which gave us a unique awareness and appreciation of the delta, its waterways, bird life and vegetation.

But because our prime motive for visiting expensive Botswana camps like Kwara was to see game, fundamentally we were disappointed and wouldn't recommend Kwara -- at this time of year -- to visitors. We were told by our guide that the normally resident prides of lions had moved away from the reserve. A bad fire had scorched a sizeable area of the reserve just a week before our visit."

"We were thrilled by the Footsteps experience -- really luxury camping and hiking in wild Africa. Footsteps offers a different level of intimacy with the wild, and we were very happy to discover it.

The accommodations far exceeded our expectations for what we expected to be a more rustic camp, and the great food and opportunity to share a deeper social connection with the camp manager and staff -- we were the only guests, but this camp never has more than 6-7 -- was another unexpected plus. Hiking on foot to see plentiful wildlife -- zebras, giraffe, elephants, and even lion -- is a different experience than being in the safety of a vehicle, and has to be experienced to be understood. Game was plentiful.

But we had an unexpected event -- walking at dusk, later than we had felt was prudent, we discovered ourselves under surveillance by a male and female lion, though 100+ meters away, the female arose and began to circle us -- nothing untoward happened and we were able to return quickly and safely to our vehicle, but we felt our guide, while armed, should not have had us walking so late. Perhaps the fact that our guide was substituting for the regular guide, was not physically fit and seemed to delay this last walk, contributed to this scary experience. Fortunately the assistant guide was vigilant, very observant and spotted the lions."