Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs B from Glos

"Lovely location. Staff very welcoming.

We were lucky enough to be the only guests during our stay and were well looked after."

"Lovely to have our own tree house although final step to the bedroom was a bit dodgy.

Isaac was an interesting guide although he had no conception of time!"

"Quite enjoyable."

"A lovely setting and very comfortable room. We really enjoyed being able to sleep almost in the open with the tent flaps open. Appreciated the hot water bottle at night!

We found using red light for spotting during night drives made it difficult to take photographs.

It was a bit annoying to have to radio for an escort to walk a few yards to dinner or if an elephant was in camp. Once back at our room the elephant was grazing right outside and was not bothered about us."

"Kapani is a good place to start. The drives give the opportunity to get close to the animals for the views you tend not to get when walking.

Our guide, Innocent, was first class and asked us what our interests were before setting out. He was very enthusiastic about all our sightings.

Kapani set the scene for the quality of food we were to enjoy at all Norman Carr camps."

"Our experience at Luwi was mixed. We arrived at nine o'clock in the morning after the drive from Kapani. Apart from eating, our next activity was at 15.45 almost seven hours later. There was little to do at the camp as the safety arrangements were, in our opinion, restrictive and assumed we had absolutely no idea how to behave in the bush.

With the obvious exception of the guides and scouts we had more bush experience than the camp staff having travelled reasonably extensively, travelling and camping unscorted in big game areas and having many 'interesting' encounters.

There is a great hippo pool with a hide overlooking but we were not allowed to stay there alone without a 'minder'. This arrangement did not work well - I think I managed a 30 minute stay - and the first few hours at Luwi were very frustrating - essentially sitting and waiting for the opportunity to actually do something. Unlike kapani there was little to maintain interest in the dead hours.

Apparently the restrictions on staying at the hide had been introduced when a visitor was lucky enough to have elephants visit the vicinity. He enjoyed the experience and we would also have enjoyed the experience. Sadly my diary entries refer to the camp as 'Stalag Luwi'.

On the walks we went out as a group of six,ourselves and a group of four italians travelling together. After the luxury of having our own guide in Kapani we found that this became a bit wearing. Groups of four stick together as a group of four and we inevitably found ourselves at the back of the group very quickly. This prevented significant contact with the guide and we lost sighting and photo oportunities also. The group size of six was particularly frustrating when other pairs went out as a group of two. Why not two fours? We raised our concern and disappointment with the camp staff but this made no difference.

We finally got a change in approach when we raised the same concerns at Nsolo and our host (Pria) took action. Whilst at Kakuli the GM, David Wlson, spoke to us and apologised for our experience. He also agreed with our view of managing the risk from wildlife encounters in a more thoughtful and less defensive manner. If you want to have any sensible bush wildlife experience then there is inevitably an element of risk, but it needs to be managed, not avoided. If you want to avoid risk altogether then stay at home and watch 'The natural world' etc. The roads are more dangerous than the animals."

"We still had the same problems at Nsolo as the message had not got through for some reason. We therefore still remained in a group of six whilst others went off in pairs. A lot of frustration!

On the plus side it is a beautiful camp. Our host Pria was excellent and our (sometime) guide Shadi was very competent and knowledgeable. The walks out of here were very good (group of six not withstanding) with lots of interest and good duration (3-4 1/2 hours)"

"Great camp - lots of activity seen from rest/bar area and from our room,which had a lot of character.

Again camp safety arrangements OTT with (eg) staff over-reacting to risk from elephant not behaving in threatening manner (chasing with brooms does tend to elicit a charge) and escort back to room at night (we were not allowed out on our own) 'panicking' when we saw an elephant minding its own business, not on our route, quietly browsing, and hurrying back to find the scout.

Finally got our own guide in a sensible group size."

"Lovely camp - the tents are fantastic!

Good walks with lots of little details and track interpretation.

Enjoyed listening to Pel's Fishing Owl in the evening."

"Ernst was refreshingly laid back making this the most relaxed experience. For us a much more mature approach to bush safety - very aware but not molly-coddling.

Walks were very good with wading in the river (where the crocs weren't) and some good encounters in close cover. Ernst was very good at recognising what you knew, and what you didn't.

No 'host' here so first hand knowledge on tap. Food was again very good - although not Norman Carr standard."

"Not much to say, really. It was somewhere to stay at the end of our trip.

Much more backpacker/laptop/mobile phone/just out of town atmosphere.

Good location being handy for the airport but out of town."