Travel reviews by Mr S from Sanur, Bali

"Great vibes and very calming. Room was fantastic and WIFI worked well. Food was average."

"Fantastic place, the location and the isolation is what i was looking for. I'm definitely happy to have chosen this over Little Kulala, which i was also considering. I did pass Little Kulala on one of the excursions as a reference point and i definitely preferred the setting at Sossusvlei desert lodge. The service here was phenomenal. They literally went above and beyond for us. There was a surprise every day waiting which overwhelmed us and really should the quality of the company, our sunset and dinner experiences differed every day and it was just amazing. The team was always warm, genuine and welcoming. Our butler Anna was superb, a big shout out to her. The food was great, especially the deserts at dinner. The only thing i can constructively criticize is the room and our assigned guide. The room is nicely decorated but there are aspects that are outdated and a little warn out. There is a safety hazard on the 3 little steps that connect the living room to the sleeping area. My wife actually fell in the middle of the night because the step sizes and distances. Fortunately she wasn't badly injured. As for the guide, he wasn't bad by any means, but in comparison to the other guides we had on the trip we connected a little less and was a little less engaging for us. Speaking of excursions i would have preferred going on less mainstream activities where we would be amongst a lot of tourists or alternatively started earlier before the migration. I would have been happy to climb up another less 'famous' dune alone, near by, and then gone to 'Dead Vlei' separately after the morning rush has thinned out. I would have captured the ambience a little more, it would have definitely felt more exclusive and it would have been more relaxing. As we were climbing 'Big daddy' dune we constantly felt rushed going up the ridge as there was a line up of people behind us, leaving us barely any time to take it all in, let alone feeling that we would inconvenience people if we wanted to stop and take a photo. The dune was impressive and just gorgeous, but i would have rather been walking on a ridge alone or in a smaller group. AndBeyond should explore an alternative, since our guide never gave us one. On that note though, our morning picnic after the dune experience was fantastic. We definitely felt that 3 nights was a perfect. 2 nights would have been to short and 4 nights would have been too long as we would have run out of excursions to do."

"Excellent transit hotel. One of the best transit hotels i have ever stayed at, with an excellent room service meal. Also really accommodating to our requests."

"Lower Zambezi is serene, and Chongwe River Camp sits well in this serenity. We were so happy to be booked in the Cassia Suite. What a gorgeous set up. It really has an understated luxurious feel without losing any of its roots. The staff and management were amazing. Having an elephant walk into the room while having lunch was the cherry on top. The activities were great, the highlight was definitely the canoeing, i had wished this was more emphasized as a 'must do'. I would have definitely sacrificed a game drive or two for the canoeing (especially since there were other game drives to be had at other camps). Our guide was good. Fun and upbeat character who is definitely knowledgable. Going on game drives did feel a little rushed at time, rushed in a sense that he was driving quite fast and the animals would often bolt. The game driving experience was good nonetheless, however the sightings was average at best, fortunately the surroundings made up for it all.

Would definitely come here again. Amazing"

"This one is a tough one to comment on. I personally loved the bush camp feel, the rustic nostalgic charm, the isolation and sense of adventure. We got there in the dark and it was a little intimidating for my wife, she has a phobia of frogs. She manifested her fears and when we got to the room there were frogs everywhere and unfortunately we had a snake crawling around as well. She was uncomfortable the whole night. I feel the website (official) does not really grasp what Luwi is all about. And when i enquired what the difference is between Nsolo and Luwi was, i was told there were nearly identical but in a different surrounding. Yes the concept is similar however the feel and layout is completely different. My wife felt a lot more comfortable at Nsolo then at Luwi. The following night we decided to do a sleep out (away from the frogs haha). The sleep out was one of the highlights of the trip. Absolutely fantastic experience and so liberating. My wife loved it as well. The best parts about Luwi was the common area, the FOOD!, and our guide Phillip. What a happy go lucky knowledgable guide. It was so nice cruising around with him, we had a great drive and the best part is, that it was private, there were no other guests with us. The staff in general were amazing as well. I would definitely stay at Luwi again, however i would have to ensure that the person i would be traveling with would be comfortable in that surrounding."

"This was my favorite place on the trip, despite only hanging out there for only 6 hours. It had a great vibe/energy and openness. I was completely immersed in the atmosphere and was completely relaxed. I connected with this place and the people here, particularly Gloria the manager. Nsolo really fit the safari stereotype. Its a place i could stay at for months while reading books, writing stories, eating good food and observing nature make its magic. The reason i didn't stay the night is because at that point we were tired of moving constantly, getting settled and going through the minor packing-unpacking situation. So we went directly to our final stop at Chinzombo and added a night there. Besides Nsolo being a favorite for me. We had the best meal of our trip there, prepared at lunch. Love it."

"Chinzombo is a gorgeous property, the interior design and spacing is immaculate. This is absolute bush luxury and it was a good wind down spot to end the trip. I did enjoy the whole set up, but what made Chinzombo special was the guide we had; Abraham. Abraham was trained by Norman Carr himself and his expertise showed. It was a whole new guiding experience for us taken to another level. He was so passionate about it all, it felt more then a job, despite the fact that we was a rather quiet personality. The only thing about Chinzombo and the experience was how many other cars there were around. After being in isolated regions and then sharing a viewing with multiple vehicles created less of a sense of authentic tourism and more of a sense of mass tourism. Was a little disappointed that we had no lion sightings here after spending 4 nights at the property. Nature is unpredictable, no one to blame, just unfortunate in that regard. Nevertheless we were completely grateful and thank the universe for all the goodness."