Travel reviews by Ms S. from Germany

"There are lots of elephants, warthogs and baboons that roam the camp grounds. Our rooms (8+9) had wonderful views of the lagoon and the animals came REALLY close.

We did not see any predators in the Kwara section of the concession. Every sighting was found/tracked and called in by guides from Splash.

There are Wild Dogs around 4Rivers and Splash, but NOT Kwara!

The vehicle we were assigned had no 'floorboard' on the 2nd row of seats, so for someone with short legs like me, there was a lot of (unnecessary) bouncing around. I did not know there were vehicles with such a floorboard until the ride out to our helicopter or I would have asked for another vehicle. There also were issues with both the truck (overheating) and the boat (fuel pump), technical according to our guide, but maybe due to lack of driving skills on their part.

The rooms were very comfortable and spacious. Even hairdryers were provided on request.

There is a charging station in the rooms as well as wi-fi that worked without a glitch."

"Wonderful game viewing both from the camp as well as within a really short distance from the camp. We saw lions galore - 13 on our last game drive which started in Lagoon and ended at Lebala.

The Family Suite has the best location overlooking the bend of the river while the others are spread out along the river.

The road transfer from Lagoon to Lebala is normally treated as a game drive in the morning, with a set meeting point in the middle and time (8:30-9 am) for guests to transfer from one vehicle to the other. So bascially there is not much time for sightings during the first part of the transfer. We were lucky that our guide took us all the way which gave us the chance to enjoy the best lion viewing we had on our whole trip (2 males roaring around camp, gearing up for a fight; a pride of 9 including cubs crossing the river; 2 younger males roaming).

We were so glad that we had booked private vehicles at both camps which give us flexibility and made this possible!

We did not see Wild Dogs here, but all the guides are working together and dedicate part of the game drives to search for the den. They found lots of tracks going in and out a very dense thicket, so are confident that the den is hidden there. Hopefully they'll locate it!

The rooms are as spacious as the ones at Lagoon, but it felt a lot colder, since the canvas 'blinds' to keep out the breeze were inside (instead of outside) and there were none in the bathroom/toilet area.

The food was as good as at Kwara, with almost the same arrangement of table service and buffet. The only difference being that there was just one appetizer in the evening (at Kwara there were two).

Charging station in the rooms worked great. There is no wifi yet, but it's coming, supposedly later this year."

"We did not have any sightings from our porches as we did at the other camps, and at first glance, the area looks very dry with lots of high grass. There are plenty of waterholes and a channel, though, but we had to leave camp to see them.

The rooms were the coldest we had, because the sides are basically mesh all around, including bathroom/toilet. Probably great in the heat of summer, but it was really drafty in winter. There are no blinds of any kind to help with the breeze and the cold. There is a bathtub inside, but only outside showers.

The food was good, but the 'egg station' we enjoyed at both Kwara and Lagoon for brunch was not offered consistently.

Charging station in the room worked fine, but again, no wifi yet. Lebala is the only camp which still uses generators. They will be switching to solar power later this year and are also supposed to get wifi in the process.

There are Wild Dogs around, but we did not see them and the guides are making no effort to find the den. The big pack they used to have, split up and apparently, haven't settled in one area.

We had the best Leopard sighting of our trip here. Our guide found a female Leopard early in the morning and we followed her to a tree where she'd put her kill - and Aardwolf! We watched her feed all morning and then tracked her again in the afternoon. Our patience and tenacity were rewarded when we watched her re-unite with a very young cub none of the guides had seen before!"

"The tents at Camp Kalahari took some getting used to. The opening and closing of the zippers were pretty hard on my parents - 80 and 78 years old with back problems. Contrary to their website, there is light in the tents at all times as well as a charging station. So no need for all the powerbanks I'd brought along! Wifi is available in the pool area.

Camp Kalahari shares the reserve with two sister camps, Jack's and San and ALL the experiences are planned and assigned by the people at Jack's. It was assumed that we wanted to do every activity - which we did - but there was never really any discussion about that. I guess we could have decided not to do one, but then we would have missed it, since there's no flexibility with regards to the Meerkat experience and the night on the pans. As such, we found it a bit annoying that the information was only ever shared in the afternoon for the following day.

The activities are assigned to each jeep. So a family group of 6 will have an exclusive experience, but 3 couples sharing a vehicle would also share that experience. We were lucky to have the jeep to ourselves, as it allowed us to go out on the pan in the vehicle, rather than on the quads and for my horseback ride to end at the Bushmen village, meeting up with my parents there.

There is flexibility with the timing of the horseback ride. It can be done in place of a scheduled morning or afternoon activity, but also in addition during other times of the day, like I did. It is also exclusive to the group doing the booking, so as I had booked as a single rider, I was taking out by myself, which is great, as the guides could tailor the pace to my capabilities. We saw jackals, elephants, wildebeest and the guide explained about termites and special plants along the way. It was a wonderful and completely unique experience and I highly recommend it!

Overall and as expected, we did not see as much wildlife as in the other camps, BUT we were extremely lucky:
- We saw a cheetah on the airfield as soon as we landed and caught up with her again the next day, feeding on her kill.
- There is a very accomodating Aardvark which comes out before sunset and he even allowed us to walk with him for a bit.
- On the way back from the pans we spotted a Black-footed Cat, one of the rarest sights of all!!

The food was good, but there is no buffet - other than the cereals in the morning. Lunch is one dish decided by the chef and there is a choice of three entrees for dinner."