Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs W from Berkshire

"A good place to start"

"Very pleasant and helpful staff in a location that was spectacular"

"A truly luxurious lodge in a setting which seemed quite out of this world. Two nights was not enough.

Siegfried, our guide was first class."

"A very imaginative lodge in a quirky location. Our guide, Taffy, was excellent. However, there was no apparent effective management and it showed. We arrive mid afternoon and were offered no lunch. We were then asked to pay for the lunch we had prior to departure. We declined. (This was tried first, on Mr Kelly and then on me!) Management improvement is definitely needed here.

Food was OK, save for our last evening meal, which was specially laid on in the boma and was delicious. The kudu steak was the best meat we had in the whole of our trip, including in Cape Town."

"Outstanding setting with lots of animals. Good rooms but in need of updating. The same applies to the main building. It is 20 years old and feels it, something we discussed with our excellent hosts, Jonathan and Sylvia.

Food was average and not to the standard a lodge of this class should provide. It was also variable in quality.

The staff were very good, particularly Abram who was our guide and went out of his way to look after us."

"The hotel is in an amazing position and looks wonderful and rooms are good. Sadly, the standard of service does not match its appearance and is definitely not 5 star. The staff are either poorly trained or just indifferent. bags took THREE hours to get to our rooms and had to be chased three times.

Meals were painfully slow - 45 minutes between starter and maincourse on one occasion. Wines are outrageously overpriced. When have you ever had cocktails in the bar and been told there are no nibbles to go with them; nuts or crisps?

The sundowner cruise organised by the hotel was lovely to see but the hospitality on the boat was poor - a few nuts on paper plates and no wine included. We felt it was something of a rip-off. On the other hand, the helicopter trip was magical.

We found on our trip to the airport that we were not alone in these views."

"Difficult to answer this. The experience was very good but, viewed objectively, the Lodge does not really live up to its promotional image. You describe the chalets as luxury; they are not, in comparison with what we have experienced in, for example, Bali. It is quite rustic; rooms are nicely appointed but do not really feel luxurious. We had to ask for our bedlinen to be changed after several nights!

The food is unimaginative and we were disappointed that the fish, which we were looking forward to, tended to be game, i.e. tuna type fish, rather heavy. It was also oversauced to our taste. On the other hand, wine was good and fairly priced (in comparison with the Royal Livingston earlier in our trip.) The staff, however, were very nice - willing , agreeable and competant.

Activities are good but lean heavily to active water sports. A gentle cruise along the coast in a low-powered boat, not a high powered cat, would have been welcome. If you can't snorkel, you don't see fishes. A glass-bottom boat would enable that. Also, several of the cats had no sun protection and some of the guests appeared after a trip on one to have been affected by too much heat.

We were, however, very impressed with the Marlin Lodge lounge at the airport when we left - a very well appointed facility and a nice touch.

All in all, when you look at the cost of the stay, it was perhaps expensive for what we experienced. Perhpas we are just a bit too old and well-travelled for this sort of holiday."