Travel reviews by Family K from London

"We used this lodge as an overnight stop after arriving in Botswana.

The location is pleasant enough, and the grounds nicely landscaped. The staff were friendly and helpful, although the service in the restaurant was a little slow.

The highlight of our short stay was finding a hippo on the river bank 5 metres from one of our chalets when we walked back after dinner."

"This is a fantastic place to stay. We were made to feel welcome and were looked after from the first minute to the last. We saw numerous birds (all identified for us), hippos, crocodiles and a variety of plants (with explanations of their use); we learnt to fish and gained a brief insight into the life style of people on the delta. The guide was brilliant. The mokoro trip was a fantastic experience, one of the highlights of our holiday, culminating in a close encounter with a family of hippos.

The hosts were great, the food was good, all the staff were friendly and helpful. Our nut allergy was responded to by taking nuts off the menu during our stay - much appreciated.

The rooms had enough space both inside and on the decking outside and a view different enough from the common area to provide a choice.

A great location with plenty to see and to do. Strongly recommended. This is an excellent place to explore the wide open space in and to experience the emptiness of the delta.

One small detail - the totem pole is not what you might expect if you've seen one in North America and the distance from the town to the south was not quite what the instructions said. We found the guide as much by chance."

"We stopped here over night between Mahango park (which was worth the visit) and heading into the Caprivi strip.

The camp is in a nice location. We watched elephants crossing the river and saw buffalo on the other bank, as well as a variety of birds around the camp.

The tents and toilet blocks are fairly basic, and whist having a separate toilet area is not ideal in the winter it does have its advantages!

The central lounge and dining area is spacious, well stocked with books and relevant literature and the stand in management very well informed.

The food was good."

"We stayed here two nights on a tour around the Okavango. We picked this lodge in order to see a traditional village and to visit the Mudumu park to the south. Overall we were disappointed with this part of our trip, not because of anything the lodge did or didnt do, but because the N-S main road is being rebuilt and so instead of a short drive down from the main road we encountered a series of temporary surfaces, active road works, and some delay (as well as dust). The drive to Mudumu was hard work and the lack of road signs meant that we missed the park entrance.

The camp is in a nice location on the river. We heard hippo but didnt see any, and we saw plenty of birds.

We had a family chalet (two rooms and bathrooms with a connecting door). This worked to help communication, but with a single high roof meant that we heard almost everything that went on). The rooms looked out directly onto the river with great views of the sunset. We had plenty of room inside and on the veranda, and were far enough away from the fairly busy camp site to have feeling of isolation.

The local traditional village was worth the visit. It was interesting to hear first hand from the locals about how their lives are changing and about how the government is working to capitalise on tourism without any negative impact on the locals.

This camp has a large number of tents and space for camper vans etc, so there is less personal attention. Nonetheless, its a nice enough place to stay. Dinner is served on separate tables but at the same time. The food was good.

Overall we enjoyed the camp. It was a nice place to relax after several hours of difficult driving!"

"We stayed here two nights, primarily to see the Falls.

The location is OK, on the edge of town with a view down to the Falls. Everything is within easy (safe) walking distance. The town is relatively busy, and so the hotel's open spaces, balconies and spacious restuarant create a pleasant enough refuge.

The rooms are in good condition and were well serviced (including quick and cheap laundry service). We used the restuarant both evenings having failed to find a local restuarant that could promise a nut free meal to the member of our family with an allergy. The hotel staff by contrast were helpful and worked to make sure our stay was accident free.

The Falls were well worth the visit. Including walking to the view point, crossing the bridge to watch bunjee jumping and talking to the local vendors we spent a full day in and around the park."

"We stayed here two nights had a game drive and a boat trip. This was the largest place we stayed in during our fortnight trip around the delta, and whilst lacking first name personal service provided excellent guiding on the trips, and good service in and around the lodging.

The lodge is in a nice location with great views over the river, and grounds that attract small animals and abundant birds.

The game drive was excellent - we saw an abundance of animals (including lions and a leopard cub), numerous birds and had quite detailed explanations of everything we saw from the guide. It was cold (6am in the winter), but blankets were provided. The park was busy (exactly what it says in the guide books - at one stage there were 10 vehicles chasing a lion), but once we elected to drive to a quieter area we had a great time.

The boat trip was somthing of a highlight given the numerous elephants (including families crossing the river, cleaning the grass before eating), water buffalo, impala, hippo, giraffe, crocs, eagles, etc... Again the river was busy but there was plenty of time and space to stop and watch the animals. The guide was excellent.

The rooms here are excellent - lots of space inside the room, plenty of furniture, a large safe, decent sinks/shower area and separate toilet cubicle. Also a small deck although without much of a view given that trees line the river bank.

The food is a mass produced buffet and has the potential to be busy if you arrive just after a coach party. Nonetheless, there was a wide choice of dishes, some of which were cooked on demand. The staff here were most helpful - when asked about nut ingredients the chef was summoned and gave us a detailed explanation of everything on offer that day."

"We spent two nights at Camp Kalahari as part of a self drive holiday. We were met at Plant Baobab and driven to camp. Initially everything was fine.

The camp itself is spacious, with reasonably well equipped family tents and a nicely laid out central area where everyone eats together. The location is fabulous, some distance from the main road or any other habitation. The surrounding area has a varied desert landscape, vegetation and wildlife, creating plenty of opportunities for interesting and informative walks or drives.

The daily format is simple, groups of up to eight or nine per vehicle with a guide undertake activities together. We asked about the itinerary on arrival and were pleased enough to be told that we would do a few drives and go-karting on the second day. Before the karting our enquiry about crash helmets was deflected with a request to bring a cloth to wrap around our heads to help keep our hair clean! Safety goggles to keep the dust out of our eyes? No luck there either. If we wanted to go karting it was clearly at our own risk.

We were given a time to meet, but left 30 minutes late. The guide stopped repeatedly, dismissed requests to get us to the karts and we eventually started karting an hour late. No big deal except that it was now clear that we would be driving at night and return later than originally understood. We arrived at the end of the karting route with about a minute to prepare to watch the sun go down. We then spent 30 minutes contemplating the vastness of the desert - great except that it was cold. On the way back we stopped to visit an "archaeological team" - which was actually the bar from camp reconstructed in the desert. After another round of misleading information we found that we were eating in the open. Also great if its summer but we had gone karting with the expectation that we would be back at camp to prepare for dinner, change, sort out warmer clothing etc, not spend the evening in the cold. Then yet another round of misinformation about 'fossil beds' which as a geologist I was intrigued by, apart from the fact that it was dark, which turned out to be a set of beds constructed in the open with the expectation what we would sleep out overnight. This 'surprise' was welcomed by some but not all. Even though this appears to be a routine, the camp staff did not have a simple process to make clear this offer was a choice and to help confirm who wanted to do what and then get other people back to camp. More time in the cold. Two of us returned arriving at camp about 2 hours after our holiday bed time. Again, not an issue for some but we were travelling the next day and a good nights sleep would have helped.

It is clear that some people enjoy the 'surprise' element of camping at Kalahari. Personally I do not go on holiday to be lied to, to be misled, and ultimately to be left in a situation that might endanger life. One of our family who stayed overnight has a nut allergy. The camp was aware of this, but at breakfast the team in the desert could not confirm whether or not the food contained nuts.

The last morning demonstrated the limitations of the managements capabilities. We had discussed and confirmed a departure time, twice. On our return to the camp we were then told that the vehicle that was taking us to Planet Baobab had no fuel and so had gone to Jack's camp to refuel. This camp had a year's notice of our booking and had driven us around for two days in a vehicle that had 1/4 of a tank before realising that they could not perform the contract. We left over an hour later than intially agreed. We arrived too late to do anything at our next stop. Lucky we were not catching a plane that day.

Overall, great location, interesting place but one of the worst experiences I have had on holiday."

"We stopped here for one night, and arrived late (no fault of anyone at this camp) which was a shame as we did not really have a chance to enjoy the camp or surroundings.

I can feedback that this camp is in a great location - we had fabulous views from both tents and from the communal areas. The food was fantastic, as was the open air kitchen.

The camp's attempt to minimise the environmental impact gives one plenty to think about. Seeing someone carry water for your shower helps us appreciate what we take for granted elsewhere.

We spent the evening in the company of a family who did not get clear directions to the camp. We had been sent some very specific details which we followed closely (we also surveyed the route on Google Earth). We had no problem at all. This was helped by having a 4WD."