Travel reviews by Peter from Oxfordshire
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
2
Lodges stayed in
3
Excursions taken
0
My Sep 2019 trip
Zambia and 1 other country between 18 Sep 2019 and 6 Oct 2019
"We had a full-on holiday in South Africa and Zambia with 9 flights and 7 different locations. We had two safari experiences that complemented each other perfectly.
Tongabezi as a base to see the Victoria Falls was great and a perfect way to end our holiday.
Everything went as planned without a hitch of any kind - a real tribute to professional organisation. Many thanks!"
Tongabezi as a base to see the Victoria Falls was great and a perfect way to end our holiday.
Everything went as planned without a hitch of any kind - a real tribute to professional organisation. Many thanks!"
Arranged By Lucy Copson
Kwandwe Great Fish River Lodge
"Kwandwe Great Fish River Lodge review"
3 nights
Arrived
18 Sep 2019
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Sightings report
Black Rhino
4 sightings
Brown Hyena
1 sighting
Buffalo
1 sighting
Cheetah
3 sightings
Eland
2 sightings
Elephant
10+ sightings
Giraffe
2 sightings
Hippo
10+ sightings
Leopard
1 sighting
Lion
8 sightings
Meerkat
1 sighting
Oryx
1 sighting
White Rhino
3 sightings
Wildebeest
Many sightings
Zebra
10+ sightings
Kaingo Camp
"Kaingo Camp review"
4 nights
Arrived
30 Sep 2019
"Kaingo is a very special place - in comparison to Kwandwe it is much more remote and a Camp inside a national park. We really enjoyed Zambia and our time in Kaingo.
on our penultimate day we decided to have a walking safari in the morning. This was well worth it - despite some nerves at the beginning. We all learnt a lot from Sandy on all our drives but also the walking safari. I feel i need to raise one issue though - at the end of the walking safari we were due to meet our car at an agreed location. Due to a misunderstanding the car was not there and our guide Sandy had difficulty in getting a response from the Camp on his radio. It seemed like a long time standing and waiting but it probably wasn't that long. What surprised me though was the way the camp office reacted. Surely they must have standard operating procedures - especially on walking safaris?
What if one of us had fallen and broken a bone - or had a heart attack? Being on foot rather than the car creates additional risk that I didn't feel the camp recognised"
on our penultimate day we decided to have a walking safari in the morning. This was well worth it - despite some nerves at the beginning. We all learnt a lot from Sandy on all our drives but also the walking safari. I feel i need to raise one issue though - at the end of the walking safari we were due to meet our car at an agreed location. Due to a misunderstanding the car was not there and our guide Sandy had difficulty in getting a response from the Camp on his radio. It seemed like a long time standing and waiting but it probably wasn't that long. What surprised me though was the way the camp office reacted. Surely they must have standard operating procedures - especially on walking safaris?
What if one of us had fallen and broken a bone - or had a heart attack? Being on foot rather than the car creates additional risk that I didn't feel the camp recognised"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Feedback response
We’re really sorry that a delayed pick-up raised safety concerns and we’ve looked into this closely with the Kaingo team. An error led to the delay – but the guide didn’t view the delay as a major emergency, and so didn’t activate the camp’s emergency protocol for raising the alarm, which is only used in extreme circumstances.
Firstly, the guide had informed the managers of the planned route for their walk and organised the rendezvous correctly. However, when he first radioed for a pick-up, the message was received by Kaingo, but not passed on as it should have been. When their guide radioed a second time, on arrival at the rendezvous point, poor radio reception caused the message to be garbled, and hence the vehicle was further delayed before it finally arrived. The camp has put additional training in place to double-down on this for the future.
This shouldn’t have happened, and we apologise most profusely to these travellers.
Fortunately, had the situation been more serious or urgent, then there are two more extreme steps that would have been taken – which would have alerted more people and brought help immediately. Fortunately there wasn’t a major emergency, and these weren’t needed.
Firstly, the guide had informed the managers of the planned route for their walk and organised the rendezvous correctly. However, when he first radioed for a pick-up, the message was received by Kaingo, but not passed on as it should have been. When their guide radioed a second time, on arrival at the rendezvous point, poor radio reception caused the message to be garbled, and hence the vehicle was further delayed before it finally arrived. The camp has put additional training in place to double-down on this for the future.
This shouldn’t have happened, and we apologise most profusely to these travellers.
Fortunately, had the situation been more serious or urgent, then there are two more extreme steps that would have been taken – which would have alerted more people and brought help immediately. Fortunately there wasn’t a major emergency, and these weren’t needed.
Senior Africa Specialist | Southern Africa & Seychelles
Tongabezi
"Tongabezi review"
2 nights
Arrived
4 Oct 2019
"Well -after the safari this was pure luxury! So relaxing! We wished we could have stayed for a week.
All the staff we so helpful. The evening boat trip and the surprise visit to the Sandbar was very special."
All the staff we so helpful. The evening boat trip and the surprise visit to the Sandbar was very special."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Sightings report
Giraffe
4 sightings
Hippo
1 sighting
Everything was carefully thought through and we even managed to see the big five in one morning.The room was very comfortable indeed in a great location.
The food was excellent - delicious and varied menus. all the staff were very helpful and nothing was too much trouble"