Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs H from W. Sussex

"We were met by very welcoming staff who upgraded us to a business class room which was a lovely surprise. Lovely room, bar by pool and we booked the evening meal at the Chuma grill. It was lovely to be eating outside on a warm evening, enjoy the BBQ buffet and listen to a very good live local band. Overall a great start to our holiday"

"Although the owners were away for the weekend the staff left in charge (Faith and colleagues) were very welcoming and helpful.
Our guide Joffre was excellent and we particularly liked his friendly manner combined with excellent knowledge.
Flat dogs was our busiest camp with about 34 guests but we still had small guided tours and never felt we lacked attention.
I particularly liked the huge range of choice in the menu and all food was delicious.
Our tent was in a good position overlooking the river and had everything we needed.
A big highlight was the elephants walking through the camp every day.
The pools looked like they could do with better cleaning, slightly green and murky."

"Wow! What can we say about this camp other than we wished we had booked for at least a week. Our hostess Kim couldn't do enough to look after us and we had an amazing time. She even organised a special romantic champagne dinner for 2 outside our tent as she must have been told this trip ( meant to be last year) was to celebrate our Ruby Wedding anniversary. Our guide Daudi (The president!) was very experienced and knowledgeable and we had some great sightings including a pride of 8 lions.
Hippos were very noisy at night and even munched right outside the tent at night."

"Tena tena probably gave us the best wildlife sightings on the guided drives including lots of Lion sightings which we haven't had on previous trips to Africa . We also did a morning guided walk which was hot but very interesting. Nyambe our guide was very knowledgeable too.
The tent had everything we needed including cotton kikois which were essential to drape over us wet in the afternoon when it was at least 38°C
Unfortunately it also had a large array of midges, mosquitos and big spiders in the tent on our first night. We discovered the insect spray wasn't working so guess it hadn't been used for a while!. I got a lot of bites here."

"From the moment we arrived and were told we were in the honeymoon villa we knew this would be a wonderful experience. Our villa was amazing, our hostess Adele was extremely helpful and looked after us royally.
Food was generally very good though the chef seemed to like adding olives to a lot of dishes! The only disappointment was one starter which we left as it was an olive brushetta rather than tomatoes we were expecting. This was a shame as on that particular evening a table had been set aside with candles etc for us for a romantic meal.
I think it would be an improvement to have a choice of 2 starters, 2 mains and 2 desserts rather than just a choice of main course.
We could relax and enjoy the facilities including kayaking and learning how to paddle board and especially enjoyed the snorkelling trip to to see the cichlid fish. Altogether a wonderful four days."

"This was fine as a one night stop before travelling home and the restaurant had a good choice of food. Friendly staff."

"Really liked Villa Violet.

Comfortable rooms and friendly hosts, ideal for the first night in preparation for the driving to come."

"We didn't think we could better our visit here 2 years ago. How wrong we were. From the moment we were upgraded to Bush Camp this became a very, very special place for us. Our guide Richard was truly excellent and he took us to parts of Okonjima we hadn't seen before. Food was very good and activities awesome.

Saw Shanti twice, a leopard my wife had sponsored 2 years ago, as well as seeing a rare pangolin. A great way to start our Namibia trip."

"Friendly staff, lovely location on the banks of the Okavango. Went to the Living Museum close by and enjoyed the Sundowner cruise on the river, though this no longer is free to guests staying 2 nights.

Food was buffet style largely with good choices.

Road off the B8 before Rundu is now the B10 and is fully tarred. Hakusembe is signposted off the B10 onto a gravel road."

"Situated on the banks of the Okavango just before the river begins forming its delta. The tents were very comfortable and Klaus, the manager, took us on our own personal safari into Mahango National Park. We saw numerous hippo, elephant and ostriches being chased by around 50 baboons who were after their 12 chicks!

We also enjoyed the sundowner cruise here and saw our first snake - a Western African Green Snake.

The owners dog was lovely as well!"

"Nkasa was a truly memorable experience for us, almost on a par with Okonjima. It is definitely worth the 40 minute jeep ride to find it. The owners are great and always looking to help guests get the best out of their stay. It is situated in Mamili National Park, it is unfenced and therefore animals are free to wander into the lodge grounds. Elephants came through on our first night and a baby and mother were about 6 foot from our tent, preventing us from going down the steps and to dinner. ON the second night they came through again and at least one elephant bumped into the side of our tent!!

We opted for the Combo activity, comprising game drive and river cruise. On the game drive we came across 5 lions after a kill, and on the river our boat was charged at by a hippo!! All very exciting, but safe!

Apart from one meal where the vegetables were cold the food was excellent. We would suggest that anyone going to this area should make a point of staying here, it's just fabulous."

"We thought our stay on the Chobe Princess would be the highlight of our trip. Somehow it wasn't quite that. Our room was lovely though the aircon controller holder was falling off the wall, and the toilet seat was wobbly, even after trying to adjust it myself. We had a deck all to ourselves and that was brilliant.

The activities consisted of the same thing - trips in the tender boat up and down the river. We saw lots of elephants and hippo, water monitors and birds, though we felt it was all a bit of the same each time, and we seemed to spend ages just going slowly next to reeds. Most of the water activity involved the tender boats whereas we had thought we'd be cruising up and down on the main boat.

The plunge pool seemed to be filled with brown river water rather than clear water and as a result nobody got in despite the heat, which was a pity and didn't match up to the images of clean clear water on their website.

Food was OK but had the feel of microwaved pub food you get in the UK. The staff were perfectly nice and friendly though we felt they didn't go out of their way to make sure we had a good time as much as other lodges. It was still a good experience but in our opinion we would only do this once."

"We really enjoyed the Avani. From animals in the grounds, including a croc! to eating at the Royal Livingstone we had a great couple of days. It was a shame we were visiting Victoria Falls in low season as the main Zambezi river flow goes over on the Zimbabwe side. However we took a helicopter ride over the Falls and this was a great way to see them without involving border check points, passports, park entry fees etc.

Food was good and served buffet style with plenty of choice, and our room was equally good. We would stay here again if coming back to Victoria Falls."

"Welcome was good we were offered a juice drink straighaway. Very refreshing after the long journey from England!

Food of good standard and room spacious and comfortable. Did hear that this was part of a group and other Lodges in the group had been sold off. Would imagine River Crossing could be on the market as well."

"We thought Bullsport might be disappointing. Far from it, we really enjoyed our stay there.

Our room was excellent, food good and the hosts very pleasant. Quiver Tree Gorge hike was really enjoyable seeing Mountain Zebra, Kudu, Dassies, Klipspringers, Dijk-Dijk and Baboons. Fortunately no sign of Amanda the Spitting Cobra!"

"From the moment we arrived we were made to feel special by Thomas, the owner. The room was superb, the views excellent and our guided trip to Sesriem & Sossusvlei was excellent.

Food was very good, but not quite excellent. Some people may think that a little harsh but when you visit a place like Hoodia where pretty much everything is excellent, but that was our opinion."

"Great place to stay if you visit Swakopmund.

However we may well have enjoyed staying at Walvis Bay more as that was where we kayaked with seals - great fun! My wife also had one of the best meals of our trip there in a restaurant called Anchors Aweigh - fantastic Prawns & Wings!

Whilst here, Expert Africa organised a Kayaking at Pelican Point trip. They commented:

We were really glad we did this trip. Well organised by Jeanne who very quickly after send us emails and videos of our time in the water with the seals.

Thoroughly recommend this trip and would say you need to book in advance with Jeanne as her trip is by far and away the best. 3 others offer a similar thing and we spoke to a Dutch family who went with one of the others and whilst enjoying what they did, they didn't get Jeanne's personal touch."

"Fabulous accommodation, view and scenery. Lovely people who would do anything to help, especially if you tried to engage with !Click language! Desert Elephant trip also brilliant.

Don't miss this Lodge is our opinion, if it's cold they'll put hot water bottles in your bed. This touch certainly appealed to my wife so 10 out of 10 was always going to be their score from us!"

"We stayed 1 night prior to going to Okuewejo. Room pleasant, food good and lovely views from their elevated deck overlooking the savannah."

"Despite reviews we'd read Okaukuejo exceeded expectations. Check in/out was easy and quick, our room was very nice indeed and plenty of food choice, which was always of a good standard.

The waterhole was fantastic. We counted 32 elephants including 4 calves there just before we went to bed. We also saw 5 or 6 rhino come and go and a leopard ambush a jackal, not to mention, numerous giraffe, zebra, springbok etc."

"Lovely staff, great atmosphere and possibly one evening meal that was the best of our trip! We also dined underneath the stars in the Boma. We would recommend Mushara to anyone and particularly those taking younger children.

Room was a tent plus walled rear area accommodating the WC and shower. Another place where hot water bottles were put in our beds!

Warthogs on the lawn - what more could you ask for!"

"Great place to finish a fabulous holiday. Staff attentive and not too pushy as far as trips etc concerned. We tracked and found Leopard and Cheetah and walked with the Cheetah. Our guide Gideon was the best guide we have encountered, not just on this trip, but on previous trips.

They provided us with a bottle of Champagne to celebrate our anniversary which was a lovely touch. Our room had a great view out over the plain with hills in the distance, and Warthogs, Oryx and Impala in sight. In fact our room was stunningly spacious.

We have to return as we have adopted a Leopard - 2 years time all being well."