Travel reviews by Miss A. from Pulborough

"This was a stunning venue, with lovely helpful staff, especially on the booking in and tours desks, where our needs were fully and carefully considered, proving an excellent guided tour etc.

The room was very good, high standard, a bit noisy as at the back near the staff and work area of the hotel. Tea making really appreciated.
We enjoyed the up close and personal wild life in the grounds.

Swimming pool very good."

"We were in Linyanti camp not Linyanti Ebony.
We were very well welcomed and accommodated by the staff at all levels a really good start to our camp experience.

This was a lovely friendly simple camp, just what we had asked for, the food was simple well prepared and presented, which met our needs very well. Hot water flask in our room was great, again just as we requested as was the location nearest to the main lodge, thank you.

The journey to the lodge started for us at 10.30am from Victoria Falls via Kasane and then a flight followed by a 2 hour+ safari, type journey in a safari vehicle, arriving at Linyanti at just after 3pm, having had no opportunity to eat since breakfast at 8am, we would have appreciated a warning about this and could then have made provision. We were then expected to have high tea and go straight out on a drive, all too much we needed to get into our luggage wash and change shoes etc. Additionally we learnt that the journey from the airstrip was actually only 1 hour, the safari element increasing the time taken, in the hottest time of the day, We felt that the food and time element needed discussion and adjustment at the time of booking. The staff at Linyanti were very keen to give us our "money's worth!" and found it hard to understand that we needed time and we eventually negotiated a safari delayed until 5pm, unnecessary hassle really.

Baboons are very active here, so care needed to keep items in drawers or closed bags etc.

It was a thrill to be sitting on the veranda and find an elephant's trunk pop around the corner as some 12 mothers and babies cut through to the river."

"Again we were well accommodated as requested with a tent nearest to the main tent and hot water jugs whenever we wished, much appreciated as tea addicts!

Staff were all very helpful and skilled, inevitably the guides take pride of place and are allocated for the stay, which is really helpful in every way. All the staff are well trained, very caring and friendly with a good sense of humour, which I am sure they need given the international range of visitors.

This camp was quite different to my expectations, as the web site has not been updated, so the tents were comparatively new, well furnished with modern equipment including re charging units in the tent, great except that the African 3 pin adaptor did not fit, but much more convenient to have an inhouse charging point.

We very much appreciated the fact that our wants and wishes were fully and unquestionably met whenever possible, ie which animals, details about plants , trees bushes etc We are both gardeners, so the amazing knowledge of the guide Action on all these matters was excellent and much appreciated.

We did drive past the village, but our hopes of visiting the village and school was not on offer, not sure if this was due to the relocated camp or not. We had indicated a desire to make local contact when we booked, but no negotiation seemed possible. A shame as we did not really like the idea of just being passing ships in the night, without at least meeting some locals who were in fact very near the camp."

"The drive to and from the airstip was about 50 minutes, so acceptable.
This was a new somewhat more up market camp, with a large number of staff, reflecting the fact that there were 12 tents, two of which were family tents. Again we requested a tent nearest to the main tent and to meet this we were given a family tent. Well we really lived in luxury with a six foot wide bed and a "room"each plus a shower each etc, rather more than expectations but a lovely way to end our safari. The large movable fan in each "room" was very helpful and again charge points in the room, no African 3 pin, and many additional niceties making us feel very privileged. The closeness of the river tributary brought animals very close in to the tents, with some wandering happily through the camp grounds adding to the excitement.
Most of the time we shared the vehicle with a French family of three, they were helpful and accommodating, but he was a smoker, which was not helpful, even though he was careful and discreet.
Staff were not aware of our request for hot water for tea making, but did accommodate the request after some discussion.

This camp was community orientated, but the village was 3hrs drive away, so no chance of a visit. Many of the staff were local to the village, so we did have some discussion about their lives etc.
The amount of food seemed way over the top, but hopefully it did not go to waste and that the staff shared it.
As in every camp the staff were very helpful, keen to please and make adjustments with good diplomatic skills between guests to meet all needs in the best possible way.
A good example was the on the first night we wanted to do the advertised "boat" Safari rather than a game drive or a mokoro ride, as the mokoros were low and difficult for me. The water level was low, so we compromised with a short boat safari and a short vehicle safari, which met the needs of our French friends.
In each camp the game drives were excellent but very bumpy by the very nature of the terrain, so some alternatives were welcome, cooler on water of course.
We enjoyed the small shop at this camp, but there were few really local goods for sale.
The swimming pool was quite big compared to others, but uncomfortably in full sun, with shades over sunbeds but blazing heat when actually in the pool, swimming with an umbrella sunshade has its problems!
I personally appreciated the provision of a 2 step ladder to help get in and out of the vehicle. The vehicle at this camp were much easier to access compared to Linyanti and Khwai, due to the open side from the step, this could be a factor for anyone with disability."