Travel reviews by Mr J from Cambridgeshire

"Well this hoteal taught us both about bedding sheet thread count. We now are proud owners of some posh cotton white sheets.
V&A is lovely, fab location, great views of table mountain.

Great fuss made about our wedding/honeymoon. Rose petals on the bedding, champagne and a nice welcome sign
Very friendly in deed especially manager and trip organiser

Bit miffed that they charged for travel into town by hotel car. Should have said up front that it cost X amount versus taxi charge of Y. Honesty/clarity was needed"

"This place has a fab building, super grounds, middle of know where, very peaceful. Loved the little cottage, but....................

The people let it down, they were removed, somewhat cold, only came out to greet at meal time. They did not mix with guests, did not inform us about history of the building, I asked about the owners etc and did not get a clear answer etc. There was no feeling of warmth, happy for you to be with us - non of that feeling"

"Loved the trips
Loved the location
Cottages/houses are really cool loooking out onto the forest and the cheeky monkeys are so funny, having a shower with them is really funny !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the evening the meal is around a large table and the wiatress manages to learn all 30 christian names and repeats them back to everyone both dinner - amazing.
Love how they have used local labour, giving something back to the community - Big Joe the chef is great comes and speaks with you around a camp fire with drinks before eating."

"Great place to view animals, although hard to find in quantity, seeing perhaps one of the big five each day. Although did not see a leopard. Next time a park with more anaimals and the same viewing privacy (not many trucks/drives) was great would be ideal

The staff are wonderful and great lodges to stay in by the river.

Trackers are knowledgable and friendly, eating freshly made pancakes in the bush whilst watching wild animals was fab.
Staff were very friendly"

"Had trouble in Jo-Burg from the minute we stepped onto the runway. The taxi was late by 1 hour.
The hotel was not well organised
They would not accept the taxi vouchers
They held us up the following morning on the way to train station - incompetent reception staff. I gave them 50 Rand and walked out leaving them to sweat over the vouchers.
The taxi driver did not know his way to Pretoria railway station
I called Expert Africa staff in S.A and UK 3 times to be sure that they had not over charged me and ask where the taxi was."

"Well I now know why Mr Rovos guarantees nothing at all. This was a nightmare journey at times, but at the same time a real experience. If I was booking again now, knowing about the train delays, Zimbabwe country state, and the noisy train during the night I would skip this experience for further nights at Hog Hollow of Tongabezi. At some point we were 16 hours behind waiting for a diesel train to arrive, we missed our wonderful game drive. We even got off the train dressed for the game drive and then were told by the side of the track that is was cancelled, since the game park owner was fed up of waiting for us to arrive. We were so far behind in our schedule on the second night the train doubled it speed and ran through the night. It was so noisy we could not sleep properly. At some point we were nearly faced with turning back to Pretoria and being flown to Vic Falls. The food and service was very good, all very friendly. I would advise new railway travellers to skip this journey unless you are mega nuts on trains, rich people on a train through Zimbabwe is not a clever thing to be doing right now."

"Superb place with wonderful people. What an experience to be woken by 20 Hippos at 5.45 each morning snorting and blowing off wind plus singing in their unique style. The Croc outside our window was small and fab to have as a guard dog.

Our valet Nymabe we wanted to bring home with us.

The setting by the side of the river in hut/cottage number 1 was just an amazing experience."