Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs T from Glos

"Tafika lived up to expectations once again - a lovely camp with excellent hospitality and great guides. Some of the little gems of information given to us by the guides were really interesting. Once again, we saw leopards many times and it made the trip.

Although not as luxurious as other camps due to its remote position, it nonetheless provides all you need and you are made to feel very comfortable. Once again, too much food! However, at least they serve you so you can have as little or as much as you like."

"Elephants and other animals were constantly in and out of this camp which added to the experience of being at this camp. It was also great just to be able to relax, chill out and use the pool at this camp - one of the best pools we've seen in the bush.

However, having been twice to Chiawa, I would still recommend Chiawa to any prospective traveller to the area. Nothing can surpass Chiawa so far - the best camp we have ever been to.

Also, I would say that it was much nicer at Tafika where they served food to us and we could take as little or as much as we liked. At Chongwe, we were just given our food in the evening on a plate, which meant a lot of food was wasted. It is just not so pleasant to be told, in effect, how much food you should have."

"Tafika was recommended to us as a place to see leopard, and we saw some good sightings of leopard. Out of 7 game drives, we saw leopard 5 times, so overall, this met our expectations and was a good recommendation.

The camp is excellent given its location. As it's more remote than others, it is not as luxurious. For example, there is electricity available in the central area, but not in your hut.

Overall, the food is excellent, but we did feel rather overwhelmed in the evening with yet another meal. The favourite meal of the day for us was lunch and we really didn't feel that we needed much more food that day after that."

"This was our second time at Chiawa and it continued to live up to expectations. It seemed to have got a bit bigger since 2001 and the rooms/tents definitely have improved.

Again, as in Tafika, although the food was always excellent, we were overwhelmed with the amount of food and really didn't feel the need for a full four-course meal in the evening. We seem to remember that before we had a quick cup of tea/coffee with some small snack before morning activities, back for a brunch, afternoon activities and/or evening activities followed by an evening meal. Have all the camps changed that they provide three main meals a day, plus cake with afternoon tea, plus many other snacks in between?? Are they trying to fatten us up?!"