Travel reviews by Mrs S. from Somerset

"We spent one night between flights at Pioneer Camp. It served its purpose as a stop over near the airport well.

Major problem, over which they had no control, was that there was a power outage much of the evening which made things much more difficult.

Food was fine but not brilliant and the staff helpful and friendly.

Certainly a better option than a featureless city centre hotel."

"1). Accommodation
We (3 adults and 3 children) stayed for 3 nights in the very self contained Croc Nest accommodation. Whilst the rest of the camp seemed to become crowded and busy we were entirely isolated from this. It worked very well for our group and we would all recommend it to anyone. Comfortable, large, well maintained, with good views to the river. The pool (about 8mx3m) was a real bonus keeping the 3 children completely occupied during the down time between drives.

2). Food
We had all our meals apart from breakfast delivered to our tent/house. The food for lunch and dinner was good with a reasonable choice of dishes (more choice than we have had at other lodges) and arrived promptly. Drinks are not included which was unusual and possibly a negative. The predrive breakfast eaten at the main camp compares badly to other camps. Very basic. Similarly the sundowners and mid morning drive snacks were rather uninspired.

3). Game Drives
Most important, the reason for visiting! South Luangwa has the reputation of being one of the most game prolific areas of Africa. We were not disappointed.
We had Yokim as our guide, possibly Flatdogs chief guide (a previous history of safari-ing meant we were not assigned a rookie, a very good touch). He was knowledgeable and prepared to engage with the children.
Some of us are especially keen birders and he was able to show us many different species. We thought he was pleased not to have to spend his time chasing big animals. The children enjoyed filling the check list in, they ticked about 75 different birds, Mabel (our evening spotter) clearly found this odd. Our only complaint would be that on evening drives Yokim was less alert to our interests due to interaction with Mabel.
We particularly enjoyed our leopard cubs and lion cubs spottings and the huge numbers of hippos and crocodiles. Plus genets (lots, a first for me) elephants and giraffe. I would have liked to see more big buck but for this we would have to be more into the dry season. Plenty of small ones: impala and puku."