Travel reviews by RMN and AT from London

"This was an excellent place to start a trip as it involved no more than an hour or so car drive from the airport.

The lodge consists of four very comfortable and tasteful "villas", privately located so you are not overlooked, and with a small plunge pool on your deck. The set up consists of a farm and a fenced conservancy area well stocked with game. But as there are no dangerous animals, walking is possible and we did this twice with a pleasant novice guide Lazarus. We saw Sable antelope, Kudu, Oryx,,waterbuck and plenty of the more abundant buck. Also a very beautiful snake which we eventually identified as harmless. We also had a drive through the area with the owner, and met some of the staff managing the reserve. All very satisfactory and relaxing.

The food was very good and the overall service and atmosphere of the place we found excellent"

"This place was even more luxurious than we were expecting, as we had A/C in our room which we were very glad of in the heat.

This is the place to be to visit the dunes at Sossusvlei, although it takes well over 30 minutes to get to the area which is invariably more crowded than anywhere else we were likely to visit. However, with an excellent guide, Simon, and a very comparable couple from Switzerland in the vehicle with us we had an excellent time. This included looking for game, with the usual suspects being supplemented by two really exciting species: cape fox (just peeping up out of its burrow at sunset, and a brown hyena which we had set our hearts on seeing.

We also did the balloon trip (not, if I recall mentioned in advance to us by Expert Africa) which was simply marvellous, even with a 4.30 wake up call and a very major currency drain. Our first ever ballon trip, setting off at sunrise, travelling for an hour and finishing with a luxurious (apart from the sparkling wine!) breakfast seated at tables in the middle of the desert where we had landed. Unmissable.

The other highlight for my husband if not for me, was a quad biking ride though the desert at sundown. Each villa has a plunge pool in an outdoor courtyard area, and an outside bed for star gazing. We were lucky to be there with no moon and the skies were a marvellous sight. Plenty of shooting stars too: unforgettable.

Food very good and a very well run place in all respects, with very friendly and helpful staff"

"It was hard to choose which of the places we stayed was the most enjoyable, but this was one of the two best. The lodge is "old school" whereas all the others were newer and flashier. Nothing wrong with old school though when the location is so magnificent, but despite the very friendly staff we felt the overall management was in need of some tightening. But everyone comes here to track totally wild black rhino which are virtually extinct in Africa.

I had assumed the rhino wore collars and could be located easily and electronically. Nothing of the sort. The trackers leave at first light ahead of the guests who leave at 6.30 hoping for news of a sighting. The scenery of the unfenced reserve is very varied but all of it spectacular. We got news of a sighting after about an hour, but caught only a very fleeting glimpse of a nervous animal disappearing into thick cover. Big disappointment. However the next sighting was altogether much more thrilling, lasted for at least 30 minutes or more and we ended up, out of the vehicle, on top of a high ridge standing above a very irritated rhino who clearly could not get to us, but had a very good attempt at a charge, getting to within 2-3 metres of one of the more intrepid trackers and then snorting and scuffing the ground in irritation as he could not reach us. The trackers drivers and guides were all so excited at this close encounter, as were we. Eventually he gave up and wandered off as we drove on, until we spotted what looked like a large grey rock lying in the shade, which turned out to be a female rhino with a calf no more than a month old and which had not been seen and recorded by the trackers. We got a very good view of them trotting off into cover, and again the trackers were delighted. Total: four rhino so far.

We stopped for lunch in the shade of a big tree and then set off again, to be rewarded with a fifth rhino and a good close sighting. We were out of camp for almost 10 hours, covered 140 kms on. very rough stony tracks and eventually learned that 5 in a day was a record for the year so far. Altogether a thrilling day. The next day: not a single rhino, but we saw a different part of the beautiful reserve and plenty of other animals.

Our policy is always to spend three nights in a place if at all possible and I would highly recommend that for everyone."

"This was the other of our top two locations and experiences. This is a very luxurious lodge in a spectacular setting with every facility except A/C, which is acceptable and understandable given the remote location and the all solar power supply. Also the best run of all the lodges we stayed at with a very varied programme of drives.

We were blessed with an excellent guide, Ben, and again had a very companionable couple from Belgium in the vehicle with us. Most of the driving is done in the river bed of the Hoanib river, dry at this season but which last rainy season had been in full flood for several months due to heavy rains many miles in to the interior. The evidence of the flood were everywhere: uprooted trees, crumbling banks, but it was hard to imagine so much water in an area now so arid.

Key species here are desert elephant and desert lion and we saw a total of 12 elephant and four lion, which is about as good as it gets. Both are small and the lion more scrawny than their identical fellows in non desert areas, and the behaviour of the elephant much more restrained than their fellows elsewhere. They walked more slowly, went to a waterhole and had a drink, no playfulness, before moving slowly on to pull down some tree branches to eat. Ben found the lion for us after very skilful tracking which in itself was exciting, given that there are so few in the area. He also magnificently tracked a snake for us and found a puff adder under a bush lying in wait for prey.

The other highlight of the lodge is a drive to the coast, about 60kms and three hours away to the west where there are seal colonies. The drive itself was splendid, with lots of flowers in some areas. and the rocky and sandy coastline was a treat. Elegant picnic lunch on the beach. The journey ends with a 15 minute flight back to camp.

I would unhesitatingly recommend this place."

"No tourists are currently allowed in Angola but here, in the remotest lodge in Southern Africa, Angola is about 100m away on the other side of the Kunene river, which, unlike anywhere else in N Namibia flows all year. So you get in a boat, have a look at the crocs, and get out on the other side to visit the Angolans trying to eke out a living from growing maize and tobacco in the sandy banks of the river.

This is a lovely lodge on the riverbank, supplies come in mainly by lorry from Windhoek which is a 2-3 day journey, so it is remarkable that they can produce such good and varied food with this sort of supply chain. There are two highlights: the flight up and back over some of the most beautiful, multicoloured, remote and barren land as you could expect anywhere in the world, and the visit to the Himba village to see a nomadic tribe surviving in such a hostile land and in a way which is broadly unchanged over the centuries. Unmissable. Also more opportunity for quad biking, both on rocky and sandy terrain, and some walking possible. Don't come here to see animals as there are none, except a few baboon. But the flight/scenery alone is more than ample justification.

There is a small swimming pool, and when we were there it was very windy a lot of the time, so much less hot than we had expected. We ate out outside almost always but the more wimpy guests took to the indoor space which is perhaps a little gloomy. Staff extremely friendly and efficient."

"The title is perhaps a little harsh. But in comparison to the Wilderness Safari lodges we had stayed in, this privately run conservancy was our least favourite lodge. Not however that there was any lack of good animal sightings, far from it. But it was poorly managed, notably in the check in and the restaurant service.

On arrival I was asked to write my email address into no less than three separate forms and there seemed to be masses of paperwork to fill in. The restaurant service was regularly poor, and at times there were no staff attending to the needs of clients eating for maybe 10 minutes at a time. That is frustrating when there are drive deadlines to be met. Having said that, there are pluses too.

The Bush Lodge villas are comfortable and spacious if a little tired by reason of their age, and one had the feeling that Covid had hit this place hard and they were struggling to get back to normal. The place is a private fenced reserve of about 400sq. kms into which the notable introductions are leopard and white rhino.

The key drive is a leopard tracking drive, using some rather old fashioned looking UHF aerials to find the leopards, most of whom are collared. We spent almost three hours tracking without success in an overly full vehicle (seven guests, with those at the rear having a poor view) and had more or less given up hope before we found a male drinking at a waterhole and had an excellent few minutes with him at very close range. The animals are clearly very habituated to the vehicles so there is an element of artificiality about seeing them from such close quarters. Then on the way back to base we found a second male, by chance, with another good view. On other drives we were searching for rhino, with the number in the reserve a closely guarded secret. Our driver followed tracks and we seemed not to be having any luck when we came across first a large male, who obliged us with very good views as he searched the ground for the scent of his colleagues, four other males whom we eventually also found. Again they were undisturbed by the vehicle and walked by at very close quarters.

The other highlight was two sightings of bat-eared foxes out during the day which is unusual, and there were plenty of sightings of giraffe, zebra (including Hartmanns Mountain Z) kudu, eland, sable antelope small buck, oryx and wildebeest. Birds were good too and I was glad to have a guide who knew his birds. Other trips were less crowded and I did two drives on my own which is always good fun. Food was rather dull and uninspiring, and we heard others saying the same thing. The atmosphere of the place was nothing like as friendly or efficient as the Wilderness lodges, which may be an unfair comparison. There is a small swimming pool. One irritating feature of the set up is that there are some activities which are not included in even the full board price, including a night drive, and for which a £50 per head charge seems excessive. A pangolin hunt at night is even more expensive at £100, but there is a lot of tracking work involved in spotting these persecuted animals.

For anyone who like us had got accustomed to the high standards of the Wilderness Safari lodges in the more remote areas of the country, where the scenery is the main attraction, I would think this place would disappoint."

"This was a final one night stopover on a Sunday before the flight home. It was a cold and wet day and night and we were back in the big smoke after so long in remote places. So there is a bit of a culture shock. A perfectly comfortable hotel, often used for overnight stays, but we found the atmosphere somewhat unfriendly.

There is a choice of restaurants, not all open on a Sunday evening and we chose an unexciting so-called tapas place."

"our first camp, and an excellent guise, Carl. We had only one other person with us on the vehicle for part of our stay, so that was a bonus, and Carl was keen on the birds and very accommodating to us.

The accommodation was good, but in the heat we missed a ceiling fan as opposed to a standing fan. The place was very quiet. The game was excellent and we were very lucky to see cheetah at close range. Also porcupine and honey badger birth by day and by night.

Excellent lion viewings close to the camp, with seven young cubs"

"After Gomoti Plains, where our game total was 18 species, we were keen to see four in particular: Hyena, sable, roan and wild dogs.

We had a good guide, though not as good as Carl at Gomoti, and we failed to see either of the antelope. But we did have several viewings of three different packs of dogs including one family of 18 at very close range, so tat was a real treat.

The accommodation was excellent and the ambience very good. We had one day of rain when the temperature dropped from 40 to 20, but that'd to the bonus of the Termite Emergence, which was very exciting, so long as you are prepared for clouds of large flying beasties while eating dinner!!"

"After the extreme heat of Botswana, it was a treat to have some air conditioning for two nights recuperation. The Lodge is very pleasantly situated but there is less to do by way of game viewing than other places.

The Falls of course are a draw, but I would say this is a place for a quick rest before the rigours of a real safari camp, and that's why we were there. Being upside the main town is certainly a plus. We had a good guided walk, and learned a lot abut the bush, without seeing very much.

The river cruise is a bit tame."

"This was in some ways the disappointment of the trip. The place was in the hands of a trainee manager, Nigel, who was clearly not up to the job, so the whole mechanics of the place lacked the efficiency and the standards of service we enjoyed elsewhere.

The extreme drought did not help, as the pool was emptied because the elephants had got to it. It should have been possible to make a pool more elephant proof, as had been done at Little Makalolo for example. They emphasised the flexibility of the timetable which frankly did not help. Everywhere else has a very clear timetable, and for good reason. Flexibility is a mistake. The service standards were well below par, especially the staff in the main camp central area, but we did have a good guide.

The game viewing was good and the elephants almost too o abundant and very stressed and noisy! A highlight was a very long day trip to the entrance village at Hwange, where we visited the school and met teachers and staff. After nine hours on the road, this was the first time we were not greeted by staff with a cold towel on our return. That happened several times after other game drives. We also visited our guide's home village which was also fascinating."

"This was an exceptionally well run place in every respect, despite the heat and drought. The standards are high and the quality of the place shone through.

We had a really excellent guide, Leo(!) and all the camp staff were most charming and helpful. The highlight, once again for us, was a visit at breakfast time of a small pack of wild dogs, three adults and six pups, to feed on a dead elephant who had died overnight just in front of camp.

We watched them for 90 minutes and were delighted to observe them at such close quarters. We had some excellent game drives and saw leopard, bush baby, genet and, finally , eland to add to our tally overall."

"This is one of the finest establishments we have ever stayed in; quite exceptionally well run and managed in every way and we could not fault it.

Restaurants were booked, taxis arranged to get to them, routes and maps given out, the car washed, tea brought to our room. We seem to have an upgrade to a pool room which was huge , with a large sunny terrace and part of a private pool. The gardens are wonderful and the whole place very quiet.

Very highly recommended"

"Two hours of dirt track to get to the lodge was exciting in our little car, but this was a wonderful two night stay, despite the whole day in the middle being a wash out, with rain and cloud all day.

That did not stop us having a beach walk and a fynbos walk and learning so much from the team. The management is expert and very friendly and the food was probably the best of all the camps we stayed at, despite its remoteness. I would recommend three nights if possible.

We did see whales and dolphins, but not in great numbers. This is the end of the season for them the locality."

"Having had three nights at its sister establishment in Constantia, it was impossible not to avoid a comparison, and this place just does not match up. Its location right in town gives it a very cramped feel, especially as they have added a large wing in what would, I assume, have been a garden. So there are no balconies to terraces, and many of the rooms have no real view.

We had booked a pool room, and did not get one, but in fact I think the upstairs room we did get was a better bet. There is a small upstairs terrace which gets afternoon/evening sun, although it wasn't easy to get a lounger! The breakfast arrangements are well below the standards of Constantia, although the menu was identical and the staff by no means so polished.

Having said all that, it was a fine base for us to finish our stay. We could have done with more help with places to walk. The surrounding scenery is quite beautiful but working out how best to have a really good walk was not easy."