Travel reviews by Dr R & Mrs C from France

"We loved this place.

We arrived very early in the morning, due to the time of our flight. They were very welcoming, immediately served us an excellent breakfast and the room was very quickly made ready for us. It was beautiful, with an amazing shower.

The evening meal was good too."

"The tents here have been renewed and although we were very happy here on our last visit, the new ones are really beautiful. Ours had lovely views. Food was just as good as before and so was the sun downer drive. The guide, Coulisse, was a mine of information.

The young couple managing Erongo had only been there a few weeks but were very helpful and did everything they could to make our stay enjoyable."

"Although we loved Bush Camp on our previous visit, we had an even more amazing time in the Villa. On our final night, we had the whole place to ourselves. The facilities are incredible.

Beautiful suite with every luxury and wonderful views of the bush from our bed. Drinks and laundry were inclusive and the meals, cooked for us by the chef at the Villa, were delicious. Clive was an excellent guide and we had some really great sightings of leopards, cheetahs and much more besides.

We definitely plan to visit Okonjima again."

"A very attractive hotel in a pleasant location.

Some lovely pieces of antique furniture in the public areas and beautiful gardens, complete with a large tortoise. Very good service. Excellent breakfasts and evening meals were good too, with a choice of restaurants. The room opened on to a courtyard garden and was very quiet. Our only criticism is that the decor looked a little tired and there were no bedside lights. We commented on the lack of reading lights when leaving and were told that the room was shortly to be refurbished."

"We were given a beautiful room, with wonderful sea views and our own small garden in front. There were oil paintings on the walls. Staff were very friendly and helpful.

We were made very welcome and served coffee in the comfortable lounge, as our room was not ready when we arrived - which was some time before their check in time. There was complimentary port and sherry in the room and on the second evening, we found a basket had been left, containing wine, chocolate, nibbles etc. Breakfast was great. Definitely recommended.

A fabulous place for whale watching."

"This had been recommended to us and we were certainly not disappointed. Although only a short walk from the main street in Franschoek (which is quite busy) it was very quiet and secluded, surrounded by trees and with lovely gardens. We arrived to find complimentary Champagne in the mini bar, as well as a selection of other drinks. Laundry and a daily newspaper were also included. Our room had a balcony with roses and jasmine climbing up the railings.

It was beautifully furnished with a number of oil paintings, a very comfortable bed, fresh flowers and a selection of books. The breakfast was amazing. Beautifully presented fresh fruit, home made meusli, freshly squeezed orange juice, smoothies, cheese, ham and the option of a cooked breakfast, all brought to us at a table in the garden. The owners clearly take a great pride in their guest house and were very friendly and helpful. Their dog was delightful, too!"

"Lovely accommodation in a beautiful location.

Outstanding food and service. Staff couldn't have been more welcoming or helpful.

Really enjoyed the sundowner boat trips and being able to sit on our deck and look out over the river. We were able to watch the most beautiful sunrise without leaviing our bed!"

"We loved his place.

Beautiful setting with accommodation and food of a very high standard. Everything very clean and well maintained. Enjoyed eating at a communal table - dining area and bar were very comfortable. Staff very friendly and helpful.

Mohali was a very good guide, tracker also very effective. The guide made great efforts to point out plants and insects (which are an interest) as well as larger animals and was a mine of information generally."

"Having arrived here from Lagoon Camp, we were happy to find accommodation which was just as good and in another beautiful setting. Food was great and staff couldn't do enough to make our stay enjoyable.

Very good game viewing with Alex. He is very knowledgeable and obviously loves his job. He gave us lots of information on everything we saw and was able to answer all our questions."

"The game viewing here was wonderful - we saw lions with cubs at close quarters and many other animals and birds. Very comfortable new vehicles.

The camp itself however, was far from satisfactory when we were there. The shower in our tent (No4). would only run too hot to use or freezing cold and in spite of three very polite requests to the manageress, nothing was done. There were also issues with cleanliness, the condition of the tent generally and the fact that baboons might be able to get in and interfere with our possessions. Food was truly dreadful - sometimes overcooked, sometimes served cold or undercooked. It was generally unappetising.

The camp is in a lovely position, overlooking water. However, the effect of this was spoilt by fallen dead trees and branches in front of the camp and outside areas could be much improved by a bit of tidying up."

"Perfect place to spend the first night.

Made very welcome Lunch willingly provided, although we arrived rather late for this. Beautiful room, lovely garden. Great food. The owners say that they want Terra Africa to be the very best. We think they've already succeeded in this.

We would definitely recommend it to anyone and would love to go back."

"We enjoyed our visit. The dune chalet was very attractive, with lovely views. Very informative guide."

"Everything was great. Loved the early morning trip to see the sunrise over the dunes.

Accommodation was beautiful, with fabulous views.

Richard was a very well informed guide."

"This was an amazing place. The swimming pool had the most incredible views.

The food was good and the menu had a wide range of choices. good choices. The owner was very helpful and friendly and posted cards for us.

Loved the meercats."

"We loved the surroundings. We had a very good guide, who had an amazing knowledge of plants and wild life generally.

The accommodation food and sevice were very good. There was a lot to see around our tent. Some amazing lizards. Also some wild cats, who kept us awake at night but were nevertheless, a great delight.

We loved watching the rock dassies trying to steal food put out for the lovebirds outside the dining room area."

"Beautiful and very spacious accommodation. We were impressed by the way the this had been constructed so as to blend in with the landscape.

Very friendly staff, good service. We had a very good guide, Lister, who managed to find the desert elephants.

One of the highlights of our trip."

"We arrived here following heavy rain. The last part of the access road, leading to the Tented Camp, appeared not to have been very well maintained. There were large pot holes and indentations, which had filled up with water, in some cases, right across the road. We managed to make our way through this, with great trepidation in our 2WD car, once or twice having to drive into the bush at the side.

We were met by the manager and explained that we were somewhat shaken up by the drive and were worried about leaving again, if the rain should continue. He said that he had not looked at the road. The rain did continue and we mentioned our increasing worries about getting out several times but did not feel that this was taken seriously, or that anyone really cared. We knew that there was no mobile phone reception and that it was not safe to leave our car, if we should get stuck.

On our last day, on returning from a drive with our guide, we found the road being 'made up' using large lumps of stone and a bulldozer which was making the situation worse. On returning for lunch we again asked the manager about the situation and he said that the road would be smoothed over and passible by the evening. At sundowner time we asked him again about the road. He had not been to look! We then said that we would like to get our car down to the main entrance gate straight away, as it was still raining and we were leaving in the morning. He agreed to this but then spent some time radioing for a guide to help us, until we pointed out that it was now practically dark and he decided to follow us in a Land Rover himself.

We were bogged down in mud several times but just managed, with much spinning of wheels and stalling, to get to the gate, in the dark. We went back in the Land Rover. The first course at dinner had been served but none kept for us. We got away in the morning by joining a drive, although this meant early rising and checking out at 7 but no other alternative at a more reasonable hour, for getting to the gate was offered.

For 2 of our 3 nights, we were the only guests, so staff were not busy. It would have been possible for arrangements to take our car to the gate to have been made much earlier, without our having to insist on some help and to have ended up negociating mud in the dark. By our third night, other guests had arrived, some of whom shared our concern about the access arrangments. We were told that we could stay on longer, if unable to leave, or be towed out of mud but neithor of these options appealed to us! There were other things too. Rain that blew into the bar area, creating a small flood, never seemed to be mopped up, so that guests were paddling to get from here to the eating area. Sandy footprints from the night before were not swept up in the dining area at breakfast time.

The camp itself and the tents were beautiful. It had been particularly recommended to us by our daughter, who stayed a few years ago, when it was under different management. None of the above problems would have appeared had it not rained. However, this was not good service and showed no apparent concern for guests' well being. The whole situation could have been made acceptable with some effort on the part of the manager - possibly the car could have been returned to the main gate straight away following our arrival.

We'd love to go back but would need to be sure that the management was of the previous standard. It was a real disappointment, as we'd been looking forward to our stay here so much and it was our longest stay in one place. The guide, Barnabus, was excellent but told us he was leaving for another job very shortly. In spite of the weather, he twice found lions for us to see and clearly went to great trouble to make our stay interesting, in spite of the weather.

Incidently, unlike at other Wilderness Camps, we were not asked to fill in an evaluation form. This was in fact, as relief, as it would have been an embarrassment and we preferred to leave on civil terms with the manager."

"We were so happy here and are already talking about returning. Wonderful accommodation, setting, service and food.

We had a brilliant guide, Richard, who showed us cheetahs the first evening and persevered for a very long time on the second one until he finally found 2 leopards for us to watch. This was unforgettable. His enthusiasm for the work of the Africat foundation was lovely to see and he was clearly very committed to his work.

The staff generally were very friendly and couldn't do enough to make our stay enjoyable. We greatly enjoyed watching the birds through the huge window in our chalet. It was all marvellous."