Travel reviews by Mr N from Southampton

"Being allocated sitting at brunch and dinner with the people you had spent time on game drives was unnecessarily restrictive.
We found it less intimate than the bush camps and in retrospect would not have spent 2 nights there.

The game drives from Kapani suffered due to the volume of other traffic, particularly night drives. Advise clients that game drives in the early morning and after dark can be cold at this time of year and necessary warm clothing is required. Simon was a very good and knowledgeable guide.

We enjoyed our visit to the local Yosefi school. We were very impressed with the headmaster who showed us around and the teacher that we met. It added another dimension to our visit to Zambia."

"Lovely initimate atomosphere. We had the camp to ourselves on the first night. Terese was the best hostess of the tour and Luwi provided the highest level of service, Jason in particular was outstanding.

Sam was the best guide in that he had an interactive style which encouraged active engagement of us.

The second evening ws enlivened by the arrival of a Channel 5 "Rough Guide" film crew. Norman Carr representatives (Christina and Dave) were most solictitous about the Intrusion of the film crew but we enjoyed it as an addition dimension to our stay."

"Best walking safaris of the trip. Shaddi was an excellent guide. Monica was an excellent hostess.

We enjoyed the high degree of privacy provided by the accomodation and the extended "balcony" was a particularly nice feature.
The atomosphere at Nsolo was particularly tranquil."

"Kakuli was our least favourite bush camp though the standards were as high as elsewhere. We were least impressed with hostess, Lucinda, here and also the guide, Aubrey, who although knowledgeable was less engaging than the other guides.

The "sundowners" on the last evening on the dry river bed was a nice touch."

"Overall this was our favourite camp. The best room (including a bath!), the most attractive location, Richard and Suzy were pleasant hosts and Levi was an excellent guide who produced the best total of lions.

On the last evening when we were the only guests as a surprise they set up an initimate dinner for two on our room balcony with "champagne" and a private waiter."

"Our flight from Mfuwe to Lusaka was about an hour and a half late, apparently an unexceptional occurrence. There was nobody to rendevous with as there had been on our arrival at Lusaka from London and the hotel transport did not appear at the designated location at the airport for over an hour. (We found this location on our own as there were no instructions in any information you had sent us.)

After an hour, I made representations to Zambian Airways to phone the hotel, which they did, and the transport arrived about 30 minutes later. Zambian Airways invited us to stay in there office until the minibus arrived. Zambian Airways were very helpful. At the hotel the check-in process was perfunctory and no explanation or apology as offered for the failure of the transport to show up.

On checking out we were presented with a bill and when we expalined we had handed in vouchers on check-in the bill was eventually rescinded with ill grace, the check out process lasted 15 minutes. There was only one service to the airport in the morning, at 5.30 am, therfore we arrived an hour too early for our check-in at the airport. For an alledged top class hotel the staff were surly and incommunicative and a complete contrast to the staff at all Norman Carr venues.

We do not know what caused the failure to pick us up at the airport. Should there have been someone to meet us? Were the hotel responsible for this? Our information from you was inadequate. Having been through many airports in Africa, S America and Asia, it is fortunate that Lusaka airport on a quite evening was not a threatening place. However had my wife been travelling alone it might not have felt so unintimidating. I would not recommend the Taj Pamodzi to anyone."