Travel reviews by Dr&Mrs B from Wensleydale

"We chose the Avani for its convenience to Victoria Falls, and we weren't disappointed. We arrived early afternoon and were able to walk to the Zambian side of the Falls very easily from the hotel The following day we walked from the hotel across the Victoria Falls Bridge to see the Falls from Zimbabwe. We enjoyed the walk and queuing up with the locals to go through immigration, but that mightn't be for everyone. The Falls were certainly worth seeing from both countries, even though there was little water this year.

Our room on the first floor at the Avani was very good. There was plenty of variety at the buffet breakfast. We had the buffet at the Boma the first evening with a wide variety of dishes, including a action of Zambian dishes, Pan African dishes as well as international dishes. There was live music and performances of local dances.

The following evening we used the hotel's shuttle to the Royal Livingstone, the sister hotel, to have a drink and snacks, watching the sunset over the Zambezi. We then had dinner at the Avani Pool bar.

All the staff we encountered were very pleasant and helpful."

"Kwara was our first lodge in the Okavango Delta. It had only opened at the beginning go the month and everything was immaculate and well designed. The camp was very quiet, only 2 other guests the first night and 6 the following night.

We landed at the airstrip after the afternoon game drive had started, but, after ascertaining we wanted to join the drive, the driver, drove about 10 mins to locate Pax, our guide and Mike the tracker. We saw a cheetah within another 10 minutes, a male lion, herds of elephants, zebras, giraffe and various antelope. The subsequent game drives were productive with wildlife viewings, although the wild dogs were elusive. Bird life was plentiful and we enjoyed sitting by the water watching birds. Pax was very knowledgeable, but less forthcoming with information than some guides. We were very fortunate that we were the only guests in the vehicle for 2 of the drives.

The staff were all very pleasant and food excellent."

"Luckym our guide here was very good. We were again very fortunate and had all game drives to ourselves. On the drive to the camp we saw wild dogs resting in the shade of a tree. They moved a few hundred yards and then resettled. We saw the same pack later that afternoon as well as many herds of common animals. The highlight for my husband was the porcupine and honey badger we saw, after dark, returning from the game drive. The moroko trip was very good with Chief and Gringo.

Animals were close to camp and a group of elephants walked right beside our tent one afternoon. Lions had killed a zebra close to one of the guide's room's the night before we arrived. At the start and end of each activity we watched the 2 females and their 8 young cubs eating the kill. Luckym explained the behaviour of the animals. The adult moving the kill under the shade of the tree so it was cooler and out of sight of other animals and covering the blood on the ground with sand, again to deter other animals.

The accommodation was good but we prefer to have a mosquito net and/or solid doors to prevent insects in the room and avoid use of sprays. Due to the lack of water there was no water channel in front of the lodge.We were unsure why one couple each evening were seated at a separate table. We felt we were isolated and would have preferred if we had been asked if we wanted to sit separately."

"We chose Pelo as it was a very small camp and usually surrounded by water, concentrating on water based activities.

We liked the small size of the camp and the staff were all very friendly. Due to the lack of water, game drives were on offer and again we had game drives to ourselves with Lech(?). He was very good at making sure I had my binoculars lined up for animal sightings. We saw 2 leopards, a sitatunga. wild dogs as well as many elephants, buffalo etc. We enjoyed a couple of mokoro trips and saw the rare Pels fishing owl, wattled crane and slatey egret.

Although there was wifi in the rooms this was not working whilst we were there.

The only concern was the lack of co-ordination for boat transfers to and from the lodge. When we arrived from the airport and arrived at the water one of the managers had just arrived and after introducing himself he said to Lech there was no petrol in one of the boats so he would have to transfer some from the other boat At the end of the trip we were ready 30 mins before departure and then heard the helicopter, for our return to Maun arrive, admittedly a bit early. However the lodge then realised there was no boat available for our transfer. Lech took us by mokoro so far and then we transferred to the boat which was returning with guests from their game drive. this was therefore a much slower journey and the helicopter pilot had to wait for our arrival and the other guests had longer in the boat."