Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs G from Leics

"We stayed at Latitude 15 three times on this holiday - including a final afternoon stopover before the flight home. It is a very well designed hotel with comfortable bedrooms and delightful public areas.

The staff were extremely helpful especially the gentleman on our last stay who spent a lot of time finding us the bathrobes from our previous bedrooms that we wanted to buy as a souvenir. The meals were excellent - dinner on 2 nights and breakfasts.

The hotel is not near the centre of Lusaka but is convenient for airport transfers and for getting out of the city without too much traffic."

"We had stayed at Kaingo last trip but Mwamba was even better. Craig and Lindy were very welcoming hosts and it is a lovely small bush camp with comfortable rooms and an efficient bucket shower system.

Andrew and Alex were definitely the A team as far as tracking and finding game and we were lucky in seeing the wild dogs with puppies plus several leopards and a lot of different prides of lions. We were very impressed with Andrew who not only was very knowledgeable and informative but was also clearly dedicated to his work and the business of conservation and also passionate about his country and its people which made for some interesting discussions - he also had a great sense of humour.

The hides by the water hole were a pleasant way to spend a few hours in the middle of the day and to get some great close up photo's.

There was so much to see I wish we had had another night or two!"

"This was our third trip to Shiwa which is a truly unique place to stay in Africa. Jo and Charlie are exceptional hosts and it was fascinating to catch up on all their projects and find out what had happened to people we had met there before.

There was plenty to do including riding every morning with Jo, walks, a tour of the estate with a visit to the new mill, game drives with Charlie - mainly to see antelope including eland, sable, Lichtenstein's hartebeest and sitatunga. We also fitted in a morning at the hot springs which was very relaxing. Then of course there is the opportunity to spend hours in the archives reading Gore-Browns diaries, photos etc.

One unexpected highlight was hand feeding a baby bushbuck who came up to the porch after dinner for his milk and fruit.

We were fascinated to hear the plans for the house in the next few years and will probably have to have another trip to see it when it is finished."

"As before [Ed: see below]"

"The drive into Musekese is daunting. Once you turn off the tarmac road there seems to just forest with no signs of any wildlife except for the millions of tetse flies clinging to the outside of the (thankfully) closed vehicle. However as you get nearer camp the scenery opens up and the tetse traps start to take effect. The camp itself is lovely by an open area with a lagoon which still had water and so had a constant flow of animals and birds coming down to drink. It is a small bush camp but the rooms are very comfortable and the staff are friendly and helpful.

There was plenty of evidence (tracks) of all the carnivores around lion, leopard, wild dogs and cheetah but unfortunately despite the best efforts of Tyrone they proved largely elusive - although we did have a lioness precede us into camp one night temporarily clearing everyone out of the car-park, and we did get a brief sighting of a magnificent leopard who was waiting near the boat docking site on our transfer out on the last morning. Possibly as a result of all this activity the other game was a bit quiet and skittish but we did see some unusual things like a clawless otter, a very relaxed wild cat, and a bush pig. It is also an excellent place to see birds -finfoot, blackbacked barbet, Schawlow' s turaco, nightjars and many others.

We spent most evenings on the river which was lovely as a change from driving. One evening a large group of nearly 30 elephants crossed the river just in front of us as we had our sundowners and another evening we saw two malachite kingfishers doing a display dance to each other in the most amazing evening light.

Phil and Tyrone have built a lovely camp with top quality staff and guides. They are entertaining hosts who are very committed to the business of conservation and I hope ther long term plans for rhino are successful making Musekese and even more attractive place to visit."

"This is another small camp but with a few more amenities i.e. running hot water and electricity. The staff were all very friendly and attentive and we felt very spoilt on the day we had the camp to ourselves. The meals were very good and the little extra touches, such as different places to eat the evening meal, were much appreciated - particularly enjoyed the last night on the viewing platform which really felt out in the bush. We also liked the hot water bottles in the blankets on the morning game drives.

The camp's location looking over the plain was excellent with large herds of lechwe and puku always present - and even 2 roan antelope one day- and there was a lovely pair of bushbuck under the tree by our tent (a tree which attracted a suprisinging variety of birds during the day).

We saw plenty of lion including one group with cubs and saw another pride firmly planted under the other vehicle from our camp appreciating a bit of shade. On our last morning four lion had taken up residence near the camps fire-pit and when disturbed by the staff getting breakfast ready slowly moved across the plain in front of our tent at about 6am - all observed from the comfort of our bed!

There were three of us travelling together and we had a vehicle and guide to ourselves for the 3 days including the transfer up from Musekese. The transfer was the only time the tetse flies were really troublesome - you just had to drive faster than they flew. At Busanga they were not a serious problem except by the airfield in the daytime.

I had arranged this trip to try and see some of the large antelope and was delighted to see 2 large herds of roan and one of sable - both seen in the evening when the light was great. The eland will have to wait for the next trip.

The balloon ride with Eric was a real highlight of the whole trip. The animals are very well habituated to the balloon now allowing some amazing low level game viewing and ascending up over the trees shows what a huge area the Busanga Plains is - quite hard to imagine it covered with water. It was beautiful to see the lechwe emerging through the low lying mist back lit by the rising sun and then fly over a hyena protecting a kill from a flock of vultures.

This is a very different area to any other we have visited on our trips to Zambia and made a real contrast to our other camp in Kafue (Musekese). The activities are mainly game drives and often require travelling some distance to see the more interesting game but there are plenty of species to see (elephant, buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, hartebeest, oribi, honey badger and lots of different birds including Fuelleborn's and rosy-throated longclaws.)"

"Great start to the holiday and we really enjoyed the different daily routine with visits to the hides mid-day and a "private" lunch on your own deck which was very relaxing. We saw lots of well fed lion at a recent kill near the camp but probably as a result not nearly as many leopard as we saw last time in S Luangwa.

All our guides were excellent, very knowledgeable and friendly - especially enjoyed the game drives with Ian. The effort the camp put in grading the roads made the driving noticeably less bumpy and was much appreciated. We had a sleep out at the elephant hide which was great fun - although we should have set our alarm clock to get up earlier and enjoy our early morning tea.

The only "problem" was that I wish we had had 4 nights there as there was a lot to see and the first day was all taken up with travelling in from Jo'burg."

"This was our second trip to Shiwa and we enjoyed it just as much as last time. Jo and Charley are excellent hosts and make you feel really welcome and involved in their day to day activities.

It was interesting to see how the farm had progressed from last time, catch up on some of the gossip and see the progress in organising the archives which are fascinating- you could easily spend several days in the tower room reading the letters and looking at all the photographs.

The riding with Steve and Lucy was very good with fit well trained horses and plenty of opportunity for long canters through the woods and along the lakeside. All this plus walks, drives and bird watching means there is plenty to go back and do for another visit in the future."

"A very luxurious camp with lots to do, helpful staff and very good guides - George and Marshall. The mangement coped amazingly well as we were there during the Zambian elections and they managed to keep a full camp happy and occupied despite having half their staff away voting.

The river trips and game drives were good, with Marshall managing to track down a good leopard sighting during a night drive, and seeing a roan antelope from the river - although unfortunately it was standing in Zimbabwe. The highlights were probably our canoe trip to the airport on the last morning and the final night drive with George when we just sat quietly by a waterhole with our sundowners watching all the game sorting themselves out for night-time.

The rooms were lovely and very well equipped (useful to have an extra set of good binoculars provided), and a drink in the pool or our outdoor bath proved a nice way to cool off in the afternoons whilst watching the activities on the river. The food was good and very well presented."

"A really lovely place to stay, especially after a long day travelling from Zambia.! The rooms are large, luxurious and very comfortable with indoor and outdoor sitting areas with great views of Table Mountain and we even had a private pool - although it was not quite warm enough for swimming. Unfortunately we were only there for 2 days I wish it could have been longer.

The delivery of our hire car on the first day did not go according to plan but Tess sorted it out and arranged alternative transport so that we did not waste the whole morning and she was also very helpful with suggestions about organisng our trip, places to see and restaurant suggestions.

Bishops Court is quite a way from the centre of Cape Town but we found it easy to drive in and park during the day and decided taxi's were probably a better option for going out at night - although we did stay in and have a good Malay curry one night."

"This unfortunately was the low point of the holiday. We arrived at a weekend and there was only one new member of staff on duty who although very pleasant didn't seem to know quite how the place operated. Checking in was a bit chaotic and as she left at 8 pm we were left to sort the rest out ourselves.

Luckily we had made reservations for the "on site" Ryans Kitchen which provides a molecular style of cooking in a small restaurant watching the chef at work - a real piece of theatre and fine dining. After that things did still not go to plan as the places we wanted to visit were closed -museum, wine tasting - which was no fault of Rusthof but didn't help the overall experience.

We did have a nice Sunday lunch at a nearby winery as recommended by Tess from our last hotel. The scenery in the Wine district is lovely so it was a little disappointing that the view from our room was only a concrete wall or the car park (avoid room 7) although the room itself was nicely furnished and the advantage of Rusthof being on the main street was that it was easy to go shopping and get to the local eateries.

The usual staff on the last morning recognised we had not been entirely happy with our stay and gave us some wine in recompense. Riding at nearby Paradise Stables was fun on their arab endurance horses."

"This hotel is ideally located on the coast path just outside Hermanus and when we arrived the whales were already in the bay only a few hundred metres off shore so we had our sundowners on our balcony with a glass of wine in one hand and binoculars in the other.

The rooms were very good, well furnished with lots of extras (robes, sherry, filter coffee) and nice bathrooms. The staff were helpful arranging trips, restaurant suggestions etc and the breakfasts were excellent - in a nice room overlooking the bay (not often you have to take binoculars to breakfast).

The coastal walk provided some much needed exercise and had a strong security prescence during the day. We did the whale trip in what was described as a gentle 3-4 metre swell but it was well worth it to get so close to the whales who continued about their activities completely unbothered by the nearby boat. Sitting right at the front was exhilarating (if a little wet - we were warned) and seemed to stave off any sea sickness."

"A nice place to stay with comfortable and well equipped rooms and a nice swimming pool, and plenty to do in the surrounding area. It was a long drive from Hermanus, with a few scenic stops along the way, so we were glad to arrive and check in for dinner.

Possibly because of our late arrival we didnt actually explore the rest of the hotel until the last day when we discovered the tv internet and nice library (it is all mentioned in their guide but none of us had thought to ask where it was!) There were not many other guests when we stayed so the communal evening dining was quite entertaining and the food well presented. The breakfast buffets were extremely good with lots of choice and even Bucks Fizz for an extra treat.

The last day we took a boat trip up the river where there are some very pretty picnic spots but due to a miscommunication our picnic hamper only contained some fruit and muffins when we had been hoping for something a bit more substantial - particularly those of us who had done the quite energetic walk over to Monkeyland first.

The staff on our return were very apologetic and unknown to us kindly arranged to pay for our meal out that night - at Emilys a very pretty location with good local food."