Travel reviews by 5 friends from Amsterdam

"The accommodation was excellent - obviously recently refurbished. But the food was no more than average. And the service - both at reception and in the restaurant varied a bit - some people were very friendly, others a bit indifferent.

There was a lovely terrace outside the restaurant, but it was a shame that it wasn't actually open in the morning for a cup of coffee! We did enjoy watching a group of mongooses playing there while we were killing time."

"Beforehand we had booked for 2 nights, but could only get the waterhole chalets for one of them. When we arrived they did their best to work out how we could stay in our waterhole chalets for the 2nd night too. And what a perfect spot it was! You could see the elephants (and all the other animals) from your front door! You hardly needed to go on safari ...

The restaurant was pretty good, especially considering how many people it had to cope with. It was well organised and the staff were quite friendly.

The camp shop, though, didn't stock anything that you could take with you for a picnic."

"We didn't go to the Tembo Hotel, but we did spend 2 days during our Etosha period at the Kempinski Mokuti Lodge. Quite a luxurious lodge as far as the main building and the layout goes, but the chalets themselves could do with an upgrade.

They are well fitted out, but the floor and furnishings could better match the overal level of comfort. Service was good, both in reception and at the restaurant. However, the food was at times quite disappointing, especially the evening buffet.

Because of the ambience, you would expect the food to be good quality, but that just wasn't always the case."

"Taleni Etoshi Village has been open for less than a year and not many people have discovered it yet. But it's definitely worth the visit.

Very friendly staff, a nicely designed lodge with excellent food and comfortable walk-in tents on platforms. Everything can be arranged for you - including a tasty packed lunch. Good cocktails at the bar too for a reasonable price."

"Hakusembe had been flooded earlier this year, and we noticed that in one of our chalets which smelt rather musty. The chalet was also very cold, especially as this was our coldest night of the holiday (-7).

The food here was very good and the service too - they even arranged a doctor for us at very short notice. The Sunset Cruise is definitely worth the money."

"A small lodge where they really do their best to make you feel at home.

The food was OK, though not haute cuisine (but it was served on the most beautiful hand-painted crockery).

The location is great, with wonderful views of hippos and elephants on the other side of the river - hippo noises make for a truly African lullaby! The owner Horst is a good guide on the sunset cruise."

"Suzuwe is a small lodge with perfect service from very nice people. Our ranger Beaven taught us a lot and even found wild dogs for us! And he and some colleagues helped us change a flat tyre on our departure.

It was the most beautifully designed lodge on our trip: real African style down to the last detail. Very large chalets - although the beds were a bit short for the taller people in our party.

The only slight disappointment was the food - beautifully served, but not always cooked properly - or perhaps it was prepared too far in advance. The other problem was the tea - which consistently tasted of coffee! (perhaps they should just use separate containers for the hot water)"

"Coming from the Caprivi, the 'mass-tourism' of Chobe is a bit overwhelming. Lots of (rather noisy) boats on the river and too many jeeps in one spot.

The lodge itself was nice, tastefully decorated, with friendly owners and staff (including the 7 dogs and 3 warthogs!)."

"For us this was just an overnight stop. It is a beautiful spot."

"A beautiful secluded spot for a restful visit to the Okavango Delta. Excellent guide for birding trips on the water - rich variety of the local bird life. Fantastic sunrises and sunsets!

The service was very personal. The chalets themselves gave a lot of privacy, but didn't have a proper front wall. You could solve this - if you didn't want to be brave at night - by pulling down a transparent tent canvas."

"Fine for one night. Nothing special."

"The room was beautifully furnished, but tea facilities would have been nice. The service was mostly polite, sometimes friendly, but sometimes rude. It seemed like the owner's experience with some previous guests influenced her reactions to current ones. Perhaps that's the consequence of people never staying for more than one night, so she never gets to know her guests properly.

We would have appreciated knowing beforehand that it is a game farm. This was the only game drive we went on where the animals ran off quickly when they spotted the jeep!

It was a very different 'food experience' to any of the previous lodges. It was also the only one that didn't serve bread or an hors d'oeuvre. They would have preferred it if we hadn't wanted a second helping from the buffet. And they got rather annoyed when it turned out that we wanted breakfast at a different time to what she thought we had said the day before. So our punishment was yoghurts over the use-by date in our packed lunch for on the way to the airport!

Although it was in pleasant surroundings, we may have enjoyed an overnight stay in Windhoek just as much. After all, the distance from Ghanzi to Windhoek wasn't all that long."