Travel reviews by Beth&Paul from Nottingham

"Lagoon camp was set in a beautiful riverside location where you could regularly see hippos, elephants, antelope and baboons from the camp. In fact several times we met the elephants on foot heading back to our rooms! Amazing.

The staff were all friendly, welcoming and excellent at their jobs. In particular we had a great team for our game drivers with our guide Spencer and tracker Kern. The food was excellently prepared and served and the managers were always around for a chat about your day.

We had been prepared for the food to be less good than other camps we'd been too but that wasn't our experience at all! Yes, it's buffet style not fine dining but we had many high-quality and excellent dishes. Early morning light breakfast (best muffins ever!) followed by brunch after your drive, afternoon tea and then dinner at around 8pm. Shout out as well to the self-service bar which even provided lemon and ice for G&Ts and a good range of beer and wine.

But of course we were really there for the animals! And they didn't disappoint. Straight off the plane we were offered a game drive (and said yes of course!) and were soon sat watching 3 leopards eat their dinner and then drag the remains up into a tree. Other highlights included a huge lion pride on the move, seeing the wild dogs at their den and some rare night drive encounters (including an Aardwolf!!). If you've not been to a camp that does night drives before, it's a great addition.

EA is right to highlight that Kwando camps emphasise hunting for predators and that sometimes this means lots of time spent tracking (not always effective, but really interesting... our guides were experts) and darting off to the other side of the reserve at speed when another vehicle spots something. But that's how you see leopards and wild dogs!

Compared to our time on safari in south Tanzania the overall game density felt lower, or at least harder to find, but that led to much more willingness to search for specific sightings and it paid off in rare animals we had never seen before. If you have a specific interest, your guide will definitely try and find it for you. One of our group really wanted to see an owl and we found three different species (two technically owlets). Yes, we were there for the predators but by the end I was quite the birding expert as well! All down to Spencer's outstanding knowledge about everything we saw.

Would definitely recommend Lagoon camp to others and fingers crossed we might be back one day!

(We did experience an unexpected negative event whilst staying at Lagoon camp that resulted in us leaving a night early for another Kwando camp. I am fully convinced this was an extremely rare occurrence and out of the control of Kwando, it's staff and EA - all of whom helped us handle it with minimal disruption to our trip. I mention it here in good conscience so that you can speak to EA if concerned but personally would still 100% recommend this camp. Things can go wrong anywhere; if you're very unlucky and it does you'll find you're in good hands.)"

"Splash camp is located in a small belt of trees overlooking a 'pan' (watering hole) where you'll see wildlife throughout the day.

It's a very new camp and you can tell, with everything in great condition and the rooms much more modern feeling that other camps we have stayed at. It's still the familiar layout of a central hub and then rooms spaced out in their own bit of wilderness but maybe it felt just a little less in harmony with the landscape than other camps. However, this would be great for anyone who wants authentic safari with a touch more comfort (solid built lodges, mosquito nets, individual tables in a more enclosed dining space etc.).

And don't get me wrong, you are still right in the heart of a beautiful wildlife area! We had a male lion walk past at one breakfast around the fire and a genet scavenging after dinner in that not-so-enclosed-after-all dining space.

The staff were all excellent. Particular shout out to our guide KP and tracker Alan (but he might be a guide by the time you get there... good luck in the exams Alan!). As at our other Kwando camp we were super well looked after and the managers were always around to check in with.

The food we also thought was really good. Not fine-dining maybe, but really high quality offerings on a small buffet with lovely range of dishes. Worth mentioning that one of the other guests whilst we were there was vegan and it looked like they did a great job of handling it. A super open bar as well with lots of beer, wine and we even opened some port on our last evening!

At the end of one of our morning game drives they had organised a wonderful brunch out in the middle of nowhere with a large herd of zebra just 100m away. So special.

The stars of the show were of course the animals. We had amazing sightings of lions, both some big males with a great roar and some lionesses walking right passed the vehicle (I mean RIGHT passed. I could have reached out tickled her ears...) then spreading out into the reeds to hunt. We saw wild dogs and hyenas both at their den spots, two different leopards, some cute baby elephants and an absolutely incredible night time Serval hunt. It caught a springhare right in front of us!

No cheetah this time sadly, but not for lack of effort on KP's part. He asked us from the beginning what we wanted to see and set out to make it happen. Compared to our time on safari in south Tanzania the overall game density felt lower, or at least harder to find, but that led to much more willingness to search for specific sightings and it paid off in sightings we had never had before. EA are right to highlight that at Splash they are quite predator focused and you will sometimes drive fast and cover quite large areas to get to sightings, but that really worked for us and we also enjoyed the mokoro trip and a boat cruise for a change of pace. (Do take note that the mokoro are a short 30min taster as part of a game drive rather than a full activity. I don't know if it's done differently elsewhere but it worked fine for us).

In June, Splash is a little less 'splash-y' than you might expect as it was just at the start of the Okavango floods (it looked like Kwara might be wetter sooner) but the more we drove, the more we started seeing flooded fields and fording roads that got deeper every time we crossed. Very exciting!

Splash is a great camp and we had an amazing trip. Would definitely recommend for a taste of the wonderful Delta!"

"Avani has a superb location right within the national park surrounding the Victoria Falls. If you listened you could hear the roar of the falls from the hotel and it was just a very short walk to see them (entrance included when you stay at the hotel).

There were animals everywhere around the hotel: vervet monkeys, baboons, impala, zebra and giraffes!! (Oh and crocodiles... but don't worry, they didn't join us for drinks and dinner unlike the other animals).

The breakfast was a great spread with some variety every day (and tasty fresh pancakes, waffles, omelettes etc.). We also enjoyed the great stone-baked pizzas and an African buffet with entertainment at the Boma. Mmm... crocodile steaks! Great drinks list and super friendly staff everywhere too.

We walked around the falls on the Zambian side getting totally drenched and then took ourselves over the border to Zimbabwe for great views from the other side (all you need is a KAZA visa, lots of space for passport stamps and a bit of confidence... but there are tour buses if you prefer).

At the hotel, we organised a game drive and walk to see the white rhino. Phenomenal seeing a 2 month old baby rhino at such close range accompanied by the rangers who protect them. 200% recommend! We also went on a wonderful Zambezi river trip, combining a small boat cruise where we saw an elephant on one of the islands, and then a lovely sunset drifting along in the larger boat. A lot of food and wine included! Two of us also went horse riding in the national park.

The hotel wasn't the best at providing information about the excursions (including the basics like where to be when, and what's included) but I think the Zambian way is just to chill out and go with it and once we got that down we were fine!!

If you're going to Victoria Falls, I wouldn't even consider staying anywhere else!! (Unless it's the 5* Royal Livingstone on the same site... and even then I preferred the theming at Avani)"