Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs R from Salisbury

"We had only one night here. Arrived from the UK and were out on a boat on the Chobe river within 90 minutes. Rooms were comfortable and well appointed. I suspect that one lodge's boat trip on the Chobe river is much the same as every other lodge's boat trip!

Can't comment further on other activities.

All staff were friendly and welcoming"

"Very nice location inside Mudumu Park, by the river.

Extremely well appointed guest rooms in the gardens.

Enjoyed two game drives in the park.

If there is to be any minor criticism, the kitchen seemed to be trying a little too hard to over-complicate the food, but that is largely a matter of personal taste"

"Fantastic accommodation and hospitality at Nxamaseri.

As made plain on the website, this is a fishing and birding spot, not a game lodge, but we are not obsessives at either and had a great time over two days.

It may just have been chance but the clientele was very diverse by typical game lodge standards - not in a bad way!"

"Namushasha did us well for an overnight stop.

It is a much bigger lodge than many in the area and thus had rather a different ambience to the other places we stayed.

Can't comment on activities as we didn't have time for any."

"This is about as close as you can get to the falls on the Zambian side.

Food and facilities were excellent.

Worth noting that in October the Zambian side of the Falls is pretty unremarkable, although we were using Livingstone more as a stopover than as a destination in its own right."

"As far as we were concerned, Tafika and its sister camps are about as perfect a safari experience as it is possible to get.

The location is fantastic, the guiding is great and no importance is placed on superfluous luxuries.

Given the remoteness of the location, the quality and quantity of the food is quite extraordinary.

Try the mountain biking!"

"We were spoilt in that we were the only people there, so I believe we had 8 people in total looking after us between the walking safari and the lodge itself.

It is very much as described in the brochure - remote, walk in & walk out, tiny (maximum 6 people) and with limited things to do in the evening.

Seeing as you get up at 5am, this is not a big drawback!"

"Difficult to pick a winner between Chikoko and Crocodile, and many people visit both.

With your first floor bedroom opening directly into the bush (just a bar there to avoid you falling out!), you may like us have the odd sensation of hearing an unidentified animal grazing outside on a moonless night and be completely unable to determine what it is.

The cook at Chikoko makes everything in a hole in the ground wood oven"

"As far as we were concerned, Tafika and its sister camps are about as perfect a safari experience as it is possible to get.

The location is fantastic, the guiding is great and no importance is placed on superfluous luxuries.
Given the remoteness of the location, the quality and quantity of the food is quite extraordinary. Try the mountain biking!

On a memorable last afternoon, 5 elephants sauntered around the camp for half an hour or so. Fortunately there was no one in the hammock at the time."

"Very friendly and hospitable owner; impressed with the layout of the family room. Can't comment much on food as only ate breakfast there."

"We really enjoyed it here; the staff were very friendly and welcoming and the situation inside the park is a big bonus as it allows you down to the dunes either early or late (we did an afternoon / evening trip to Dead Vlei and had the whole place to ourselves, which was just fabulous, and the light for photography is as good at sunset as at sunrise). Trip cost from the lodge to Sossussvlei is very good value given the cost of the shuttle transfer if you don't do the last 5km by your own 4WD (or on foot!)

We liked the hot water bottles - it was very windy when we were there and the rondavels certainly sounded like they were being blown about, but remained intact.

If there was anything to suggest as an improvement, it would be to provide a little bit more information in the rooms about what was available in the way of trips. Food was generally good but on occasion seemed to be trying slightly too hard."

"Since most people's first wish on reaching Swakop is to cleanse themselves of the dust and sand accumulated on their journey, and their next wish is to indulge in various activities to re-cover themselves in dust and sand, good ablutions facilities are critical to your choice of hotel. Guesthouse Indongo scores well on this point, and was generally pleasant - quiet, clean, good family room.

Certain of your previous correspondents have marked it down, in my view, quite harshly, as it is not setting out to compare itself with many of the other Namibian lodges. It's essentially a small town hotel, which we had pretty much to ourselves. The receptionist was friendly and helpful and seemed to do just about everything.

Minor quibble about the food, the breakfast was a bit uninspiring and some of the fruit in the fruit bowl was in less than pristine condition."

"We probably didn't get the best out of Doro Nawas as we only spent one night there. It was very polished and professional - possibly just a bit too much so for our liking. It seemed a much bigger place than anywhere we had stayed hitherto on the trip, and everything seemed like it was available for a price - nothing was free (contrast Etendeka Mountain Lodge). Specifically, to be informed you couldn't drink the water from the tap but not to have any bottled water freely available in your room just seems a bit un-Namibian!

The pool area was small given the number of guests it can accommodate and the game drive seemed pricey."

"We loved Etendeka (all 4 of us, including our children aged 11 and 10 who really didn't want to leave). It is a fantastic place in a fantastic part of the country. The simple comfort of the tents, the excellence and homeliness of the food, the outstanding quality of the guiding by Bonny and Dennis. There is nothing else to add - it is one of the most memorable places we have stayed anywhere in Africa."

"In Etosha the first choice is whether you stay in the park or not. We think that staying in the park is the right way to go as it cuts down on the amount of driving you do each day to get in there and you have the signfiicant advantage of the night time game viewing at the waterholes at the ldoegs (when we came back from dinner the first night we stayed there were more than 30 elephants and 3 rhinos at the Okaukuejo waterhole!)

The revamped lodge rooms are much smarter than they were and of a good standard, if a bit cramped. The food is a bit canteen like and outside of the canteen there is little in the way of self-catering faiclities in the rooms."

"As for Okaukuejo - if you decide to stay in Eotsha, then you stay in the three rest camps or nowhere. The family room we had here was better than the two adjoining doubles we had in Okaukuejo and the self catering faciltiies were better - albeit still at the kettle and fridge only level.

It is a smaller place than the other two camps and less affected by tour buses and overland trucks. However, there is a slight paucity of good waterholes nearby"

"We liked it here - it was stopover en route to the airport and we got the impression many of the other guests were using it as a stopover at the beginning of their trips - en route to Etosha. Large percentage of German guests and a German manager, but he was extremely good - understood exactly where we were at (long drive from Namutoni after morning in Etosha = tired and dirty!).

Form the sound of it, the game drive would have been good if we'd had the time to go on it.

Friendly staff and very good food."