Travel reviews by J&B from Wirral

"This hotel was perfect for a one night stopover.

After picking up our checked luggage it was 10pm by the time we left arrivals. It was then about 5 minutes walk to the hotel along a safe walkway within the airport complex.

The room was airconditioned and well appointed, and the bed very comfortable. Breakfast was buffet style, with lots of choice and an egg station.

Great location, good value with friendly and helpful staff"

"The lodge is about 40 minutes away from Maun Airport.

We had requested a room overlooking the river, and our room (#5) was was in a great location - a short walk from the restaurant but in a quiet location overlooking the river. The room itself was OK and the bed comfortable.

The staff were lovely and very helpful, and the food - buffet dinner and breakfast - was fine.

We felt that the Lodge was a little over priced for the quality but we enjoyed our stay there."

"This was the first of 3 camps we visited in Botswana and what a great introduction it was. Our guide Lucas and tracker Gee met us at the airstrip and on the way to the camp we had a delicious lunch on the river bank,serenaded by a pod of hippos.

Lagoon is a lovely camp overlooking the Kwando river, and in close proximity to Namibia. All rooms overlook the river - with resident hippos and crocodiles - and beyond to grassland with elephant and antelope. We were in tent #5 - a huge room with a covered outdoor space which we enjoyed very much during the afternoon siesta period between game drives. Water levels were too low to make use of the camp's boat and mokoro.

We mostly had 4 of us in our jeep. Everyone was like-minded (this could be an issue if guests have different expectations) and wanted to maximise our experience by letting Lucas and Gee do their excellent work. Tracking and seeing two Cheetah brothers, watching a female leopard lose her kill to hyena and then to win it back, and observening a magnificent male lion at close quarters were just 3 of the highlights.

We were fortunate to see an Aarwolf and a rare Sitatunga. When we were there (mid October) hundreds of Southern Carmine Bee-eaters were nesting in the river bank close by - quite a spectacle.

Peter, John and Inc looked after us very well and we enjoyed the food and hospitality of Lagoon. The lovely singing of the staff - particularly at the dinner our in the bush - was great."

"After a 30 min flight from Lagoon we had a 50 min game drive to the camp, with our guide KB and tracker LB, both of whom were excellent. Splash is a lovely camp with all rooms overlooking a large waterhole, where elephant, antelope and warthogs always seemed to be present. We were allocated room 8 - a family room with an outdoor deck. Nice room with great views over the water hole.

We had some wonderful sightings at Splash - Lions hunting Buffalo - a full day event, Leopard with prey in a tree, Angolan painted frogs on a mokoro trip, Cheetah on the move and a Kudu, killed by wild dogs and stolen by lions in the camp close to the dining room - our guide and the camp staff handled this extremely well. Bird lifewas wonderful (as it was in Lagoon and Rra Dinare) - a Secretary bird and Malachite Kingfishers to name but 2.

Innocent, Kenson, Kim and Getti looked after us very well in the lodge.

We had some small issues with fellow guests who were sharing our jeep. Some were safari veterans and insisted on the guide accommodating their personal requirements - insisting the guide move on when the majority wanted to observe and see how things developed with a leopard and its prey in a tree (glad the majority view held). Some were probably squeamish - preferring to return to camp for dinner (again pressurising the guide to comply) rather than witnessing the end of a day-long buffalo hunt by lions - a once in a lifetime opportunity. Some were insistent on hogging the best seats in the jeep - everyone else was very happy to rotate but not this particular couple.

This did not detract from the wonderful time we had at Splash. Our guides, (most) of our fellow guests and the camp staff were great, and the wild life excellent."

"Our third camp and what a gem. Rasta our excellent guide and tracker Mike met us off our 30 minute flight at Santawani airstrip. After a 40 minute drive through a desert landscape, we arrived at the camp.

The view from the raised deck was breathtaking - a verdant flood plain teeming with animals. For most of the time we were there, we were the only guests at Rra Dinare. We enjoyed the company of Lex, and his staff, and the food was of a similar high quality to the other Kwando camps we visited.

Our room (#5) was excellent - a large tent overlooking the flood plain and a huge number and variety of animals and birds to watch.

The game drives were superb, with multiple sightings of a large (32 animals) Wild Dog pack, including them hunting an Impala very close to the camp. They then brought down a Kudu right in front of the camp's viewing platform. A large group of mongooses - Rasta estimated about 40 animals - moving as one big animal was enough to deter Wild Dogs from attacking.

Cheetah, Lions, Leopards were all seen multiple times - including two (unsuccessful) lion hunts and 3 Cheetah brothers gorging on a Kudu. We enjoyed watching a new born baby elephant learning how to use his trunk to drink (and giving up and immersing his head in the water instead!). There was also a huge variety of birdlife - Secretary birds, Goliath Heron, Osprey, Scops Owl and Kori Bustard to name just a few.

Temperatures were high throughout our stay, at about 38-40C, but it was a dry heat with a breeze so it was fine."

"It took us about 45 minutes to travel to/from airport to the Southern Sun.

We arrived around 16.30 and left at 06.30 the following morning, during which time we enjoyed dinner in the restaurant, followed by a good nights sleep in the comfortable rooms. Breakfast - which is served buffet style starts from 04.00.

Highly recommend this hotel for a short stopover in Dar."

"Everything about our stay at Beho Beho was absolutely first class. Beho Beho is a short (40 min) flight from Dar but it feels like a world away. The camp is a 5 minute jeep drive from the Beho Beho International airstrip – with its cute “terminal”.

We stayed for 4 nights in early November – a very good time to visit. The camp was very quiet with only 2 other guests during our stay. Selous was green and beautiful as the short rains had arrived in October. This made for some interesting jeep rides – they really are phenomenal pieces of kit and coped very well – and although water was plentiful for the animals, we were fortunate to see lots of animals and birds. We did have some rain but this tended to be at lunch time or overnight. The Beho Beho policy of rotating the guides works very well, as does the communal dining with guides and guests at different locations throughout the property.

Many thanks to our expert guides Saningo, Mike, Godie and Idrissa – we learnt so much from you. The walking safari and boat safaris are highly recommended. Rooms are fantastic and we had “visits” from Elephant, Hippo and Water Buck. The shower was great and the WIFI worked well. The communal area is very comfortable and we liked the lack of WIFI here, as it meant that everyone spent more time in conversation or enjoying the views. Very few mosquitoes and Tsetse flies. Anyone planning a trip to Selous could not do better that Beho Beho.

It was sad to leave – but nice that Elephant and Wild dogs came to the runway to see us off!"

"Ikuka is an excellent camp in a great location – the views are wonderful. When we visited in early November, there had been very little rain – a big (and good) contrast from the Selous where we had come from. Ruaha was hot and dry, but thankfully with few mosquitoes and Tsetse flies. Our request for a room away from the central area was granted with room 6 – the 200m walk was our only exercise during our 4 nights at Ikuka, and was very welcome. Festo, our guide for the 4 days, is truly exceptional. His knowledge of animals, birds, flora and insects is first class, and he is a funny guy so it made for a great few days. Thanks to Festo and his attention to detail – for example positioning the jeep in just the right place to view/photograph animals and birds in the best light. We saw our first ever Leopard, Ostrich and Serval Cat. Elephant and Giraffe were especially plentiful, and we had a number of Lion sightings – all of them up close.

The Camp is beautiful very well appointed – not that we spent much time there other than to eat and sleep! Dinner was a communal affair which we really enjoyed and the food was excellent.

Ikuka really go the extra mile to ensure you have a great stay. On our departure day the zip on my travel bag broke. Jake kindly organised for a the camp tailor to fit a new zip. Thanks both! Also, since our flight was not until 1pm, we were able to go on the morning game drive, and were met at noon by Luca and taken to the air strip via a few animal sightings, complete with a packed lunch for the flight.

Many thanks to Mark, Jake, Lillie and all the wonderful staff at Ikuka – we had a fantastic time. Anyone planning a trip to Ruaha would do well to put Ikuka at the top of their list.

Our only suggestion would be to put WIFI in the rooms – perhaps at the expense of the current WIFI in the communal area only…… just to encourage conversation over working on phones/computers in the communal areas."

"Make no mistake, Baraza is a beautiful resort, but we felt it could have been even better with a little more attention to detail.

What we liked: We had a Garden view room (#28) which was fabulous and private. We used the plunge pool a lot. The hotel grounds and pool are beautiful, with lovely views of the beach and reef, and moon rise! The food was good and quite varied, although quality suffered when meals were served buffet style (see later). Wines and cocktails were very good. The staff around the resort and in the bars and restaurants were excellent – going out of there way to help and always with a smile on their face and genuine warmth. We enjoyed excellent service from them.

The reef walk was very good and it was great to be able to use the facilities if the sister resort Zawadi. This was located about 40 minutes walk away along the beautiful beach, and had great snorkelling right from the resort. We had lunch there one day and a swim in the pool and a cold beer on another day. The beach was very quiet when we were there with few hawkers. We were not hassled at all to buy stuff.
Special mention for Yolanda the Baraza Manager, who is very good and highly visible around the resort, and she often joined us for a chat.

Now to the things that could be better – keeping in context that the Baraza is marketed as a top 5 star all-inclusive resort.
• At the start of our stay we were asked about dietary requirements, the only one of which is that my wife does not like shellfish and prefers not to eat fish. There was follow-up on this and there were occasions when there was no choice other than fish or shellfish
• We were assigned a Villa Host on arrival who showed us to our villa. We didn’t get her name (abit of information overload after a long travel – a card would be helpful – and we didn’t see her again until checkout. That was fine by us, but not sure what her role is.
• Extras that shouldn’t be in an all inclusive 5 star resort: Expresso, Cappucino plus the list if “included” spirits was really quite short – no single malts, Johnny Walker Black Label or Drambuie. We (and other guests) found this policy to be petty and would recommend Baraza look again at this.
• There was a little too much buffet dining for our liking. Unlike my wife I love fish and would have preferred to have had it cooked to order. Buffet style the wonderful fish – Snapper, Kingfish, Dorado etc – were a little dry.
• No conditioner provided. A combined shampoo and conditioner which was a poor substitute for separate shampoo and conditioner
• Safety – The plunge pool in our villa was great but it was difficult to get into and out of due to 1 big step. The tiles around the plunge pool also had sharp.

All of the above may be considered minor details in the overall scheme of things, but for us they did detract from our experience and hope the feedback is useful and will be acted upon by Baraza. It’s the difference between a 7/10 and a 10/10.

We had a very relaxing time at the Baraza after a few days on safari, and we’re glad we chose to stay there."