Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs L from Surrey

"Galton House was very helpful at getting us into self-drive mode."

"Castro our Guide was excellent. The Admin staff were very helpful sorting out our Balloon Ride that had not been correctly booked.

The Sossusvlei sand-dunes were amazing.

The only criticism was the unevenness of the paths out to our room."

"A very nice modern hotel."

"Our first night dinner was spoilt because they decided without consultation that we would be given a "treat" and sat on our own on a windy balcony where the lighting was so poor we could not see our food properly. They tried to do something similar on the second night and we objected. Otherwise we enjoyed our time at Kipwe and thought the rock art was well worth the visit.

We did not go on the drive to find the desert elephants where they also saw giraffe and zebra."

"Being booked into a premier waterhole room was excellent - we had great views of the waterhole and our room was very comfortable."

"A great opportunity for a breather on a busy trip. We had a really good guided safari back into Etosha and a relaxing afternoon by the pool."

"This was totally different but a great experience. The drive to the camp is long and challenging and the camp is more basic. However the opportunities to have completely different experiences made it more than worthwhile. We went out with the owner for an evening drive to check the waterhole and watched the elephants come to drink. The next day we went out on a walking hunt with the San people and then spent time in their village. The second day we went out again with he owner into Khaudum NP to check several water holes in readiness for the annual elephant count."

"This is an excellent camp which is fully integrated with AfriCat Foundation and its work. It was a great place to finish our trip to Namibia."

"Evening meal was good food but slow to come. A good start to the holiday."

"Great birthday - we saw wild dogs and leopards. Great sun downer surprise."

"The contrast between this wet season and our visit last year in the dry was most noticeably. The walk to see the nesting storks was particularly memorable despite the mud!"

"Seeing the river in full flow was most impressive. Unfortunately rain prevented morning game drives but sighting the two leopards on our final drive was a highlight."

"We felt that the bath/shower in our room was very deep and quite difficult to get out of when wet. It needed a grab rail.

Otherwise it was a great choice for a stop over"

"It was an experience like nowhere else, Jo and Charlie were great hosts and they have such an interesting Estate.

We were well looked after and felt very welcome and relaxed. We saw at first hand their hard work in their community.

A great start to our Zambian trip."

"Our guide, Fred, and our hostess, Shannon, were so helpful and knowledgeable and the staff were great. We had some amazing game drives and took many photos. Watching the Leopard pull its prey along a dry river back to a tree will stay with us for ever. Seeing the way the vultures (50+) climbed over each other at another kill was also pretty amazing.

Hints for visitors -

- Hat and long sleeves need to be at hand for the drive from the airport at midday in an open vehicle. It was very hot.

- The pool edge is very slippery with wet feet.

- Be prepared for the very early starts in the morning"

"Yet more great RPS staff, Pius was an excellent guide and Sebastian led a really good walk. Florence and Ruth looked after us very well.

We had more great game drives, the highlights were the carmine bee eaters on the river bank and seeing so many leopards.

Nsefu's rooms are not as spacious as Nkwali's but they are still very comfortable and well looked after. The views are different as well and not quite as intimate."

"Stanley runs more as a hotel than the other RPS lodges and does not have such a great location. Nevertheless we were well looked after and our driver Babylone was most helpful. We enjoyed our walks at Vic Falls (Zambia and Zimbabwe sides) and our sun-downer at the Royal Livingstone Hotel.

Unfortunately, due to poor communication about the options for our Zimbabwe excursion and the guide being booked for only 2 hours, we didn't get to have morning coffee at the Victoria Fall Hotel as expected and our visit seemed so hurried for the costs involved in going to Zimbabwe for such a short time.. A contact card with a number for our driver or the lodge would have been useful to resolve this whilst we were in Zimbabwe. We would have been happy to have self-guided if we had been properly briefed.

The open cottage was not like Nsefu or Nkwali and the insects were very active. We were moved at their suggestion to a closed cottage which helped, although the effect of the smoke from the many mosquito coils lit for us at night is still trapped on our non-washable belongings nearly a week later!"