Travel reviews by Mr R&U from Northwood

"Our 2 days at Duma Tau 25/6 to 27/6 were a fantastic introduction to the Linyanti Reserve. Duma Tau team were really lovely and our guide ' Name ' was very patient and thorough.

Having been on safaris before in the kruger, we knew that the ' big five ' would always be there so best time was when we spent a whole morning tracking a pride of lions and our guide's expertise led us to them and what an awesome sight. The game viewing here was generally excellent and the camp very exclusive and friendly. Lovely scenic pool which my kids enjoyed and elephants came up to them from the lagoon right up to the pool.

Food excellent and out lodges were lovely too - only issue was no hot water in our lodge for the 2 days and only had hot water on the final morning. It didn't effect my our overall experience but my wife was not best pleased! They did try to fix the issue twice to no avail.

That not withstanding, it is a lovely camp indeed and the staff and manager very friendly."

"Wow - what can i say about Little Vumbura - from the moment we were picked up by Kaye - who has to be the best guide in Africa - to the moment all the staff danced and singed for us as we arrived at the camp, we knew we were in for a treat and we were not disappointed at all.

Kaye was almost talking to the elephants - really was!! - and it was as if they respected and knew him. He has been at Little Vumbura for 28 years and it shows. If you go there, do request him.. We tracked and found leopards, wild dogs, a majestic male lion, buffalos and the elusive sable antelope with ease. My highlights included the fantastic sundowners looking at fisheagles on the trees, the numerous hornbills, egrets, and a really special sighting on our mokoro trip of a malachite kingfisher - which might not sound special but believe me - when on a mokoro in the delta at sunset and a sighting of this amongst the papyrus, it really was special.

Food and facilities were fantastic and talking to the guests, definitely a better bet than vumbura plains lodge. Everyone here was one happy team. We even had an okovango delta trust inspector called Wilson on our guides and it was his job to monitor the preservation of the delta etc and he was assigned there for 3 months.

All the other guides were winding him up e.g. hey wilson - hope you are behaving yourself etc - and it was all very friendly banter.

My son-aged 24y and daughter aged 22y were having a great time taking photos and videos etc..

Met some nice people from all over the world and some interesting conversations with this guest who was a private guide from Zimbabwe about his penchant for game hunting in Zimbabwe - aaarggh - which proved to be a highly interesting and provocative topic for after dinner drinks around a fire - all conducted positively!

An elephant swan across the lagoon and into our camp also and a leopard had left its kill outside our lodge the previous week - so of course we declined the open air bath tube on our patio!!! Some brilliant photos and videos here which i will ask my kids to add to this review.

If in doubt where to stay in the Delta, then just go to Little Vumbura.."

"This was a perfect place to unwind after the fantastic safari. The setting and staff were great. Only 6 lodges and we had 3 and there was a couple in another and it seemed like the whole island was to ourselves. Fantastic sunset trip on the zambezi on our 1st day.

Victoria Falls on our 2nd day was truly magnificent. Our kids did the microlight flight over the falls and said it was one of their best experiences ever - imagine looking at the falls fro 50 m above!!

Siankaba is a village next to the lodge which has very close links to the lodge. Staff are sponsored by the lodge who come from the village and it is a lovely relationship between the two.

The bridge taking us from the reception area to our lodges took a little bit of concentration for the dads/mums as it ran over the zambezi with crocs and hippos so it proved a nice chuckle for my kids as my wife and i negotiated the bridge. I would say that if you want to really unwind after or before a safari, then this is a nice place and my preference would be this or any other lodges on the upper zambezi and not the tourist filled hotels in livingstone."