Travel reviews by Family G from Toronto

"We really enjoyed Erongo Wilderness Lodge - the scenery, the walks, the guides, the dining room help, the privacy and remoteness.

The food was excellent and quite possibly the best of the several camps we visited in Namibia and Botswana."

"A good spot in Swakop. Worked for us, but you need to know it is a few kilometres out of town to the north (which we knew in advance). We liked the safety aspect of this and the availability of parking on the property in an enclosed area.

The dinners are very good, although the decor was a little aseptic."

"We enjoyed almost all aspects of our visit to Kulala Desert Lodge although the activities seem to be excessively priced and the food was awful.

--> Of the four camps we stayed at in Botswana and Namibia and the restaurants we went to in the non-Safari part of our trip (Swakop, Vic Falls and Cape Town), the food at Kulala was close to the worst. It was the only place that I regularly passed on a dish or ate a fraction of the food. My kids seemed to think it was fine and ate without complaints.

--> We found the guide who took us into Sossusvlei to be fine, but he was fairly disengaged and only offered up any comments when asked specific questions."

"Good spot for a stop-over on way in or out of Windhoek. Convenient to airport and we were happy to be there rather than in Windhoek. Neat to be out in the bush but near civilization.

The one surprising thing is that the website and marketing material suggest that there are activities and self-guided walks, but the attendant at the front desk gave a simple "No" when we asked if there were any activities that we could do."

"We very much enjoyed our family visit to Kwetsani. The hostess went out of her way to make us comfortable and our guide (Moya) was excellent. We saw a good amount and variety of game.

We enjoyed the motorboat rides to/from the islands for game viewing as we were keen to be on the water, not just on land, but a real water-based camp with leisurely water-based activities is not really feasible when tourists are rushing in and rushing out after two or three days. We had a brief mokoro ride one morning, but this was no more than a trailer to a movie.

One downside to the time of year we were there is the need to get back to camp via the boat before dark, which is a disadvantage compared to land-based camps."

"Our family enjoyed Lebala. Good variety of game. Neat to see a honey badger during the day (very rare, I think) and we enjoyed the wild dog pack and their puppies. Sorry not to see any leopards tho'!

Lots of elephant coming past and through the camp each day. The guides and staff did a reat job, but not quite as polished as Kwetsani."

"We enjoyed VFSL and chose it on purpose as we had our three children with us. Great accommodation for families, view from the lodge, Boma dinner and so on. Hourly shuttle into/out of town worked well and the drivers were great.

We went to the Vic Falls Hotel for dinner one night (at the outdoor restaurant - the Jungle Junction?) which was great. I love the Vic Falls Hotel and would probably have preferred to stay there if it was just the two parents - mainly for the location with the view of the river/bridge and for the nostalgia for old colonial Africa."