Travel reviews by philek from Hampshire

"I cannot fault any aspect of the trip or service. We went knowing it was the 'end of the rainy season' but never saw a raindrop! The only issue with March as a time of year to visit is the grass is high and this restricts sighting of smaller mammals such as Jackal, Warthog, Steinbeck, etc. We did see all of these animals but they are harder to spot and follow in long grass. Overall we had more sightings than expected and have no complaints whatsoever."

"This is the full yext of an email sent without prompting.

We are back from our hols and I wanted to say thanks for your help and guidance.

The holiday was fantastic and we even managed to hold onto our luggage, which many people didn't.

The camps which you recommended at Kwara and Lebala were both fantastic. Exactly as you described as ''lacking the chic of CCAfrica'' but very comfortable with good food and very high standards of game viewing. We had a great time at both camps with great staff and great game viewing. Our guides (Steve at Kwara and Vundi at Lebala) were first class in all respects.

The 'tents' at Kwara are new and very smart, whilst at Lebala they are older and a bit tatty in comparison.

The only slight hesitation with Kwando is that all camps seem to serve the same meals on the same day each week. so anyone doing 3 or 4 Kwando camps would spot this. The food was always good and more than enough, so it is a very minor issue meant to be constructive.

The transit arrangements at Jo'burg worked very well, though the transit lounge only has one scanner and so there is a large line to get through.

Now the negative! Luckily it was the single element of the holiday that we insisted upon so you are totally in the clear.

We returned to Nexabega because we enjoyed it so much last time. The camp was largely unchanged from 5 years ago and the food and accommodation is superior to Kwando in small details such as style and the quality of the cuisine. However with water levels in the Delta very high this year the game viewing at Nexabega was very poor. The staff admitted that some 5 weeks back they considered closing the camp because of water levels and the lack of game. The range of area available for game viewing was limited due to the water depth. There were loads of Elephants, Giraffe and great bird sightings. No big cats at all (no Lion for the last 4 months), though there is a Leopard in the area which we did not see..

It is a bit like going skiing when the hotel has failed to mention there is virtually no snow! I would be very careful of sending other customers to this location. It is still pretty scenic with all the water but so is Kwara ( with Boat and mocorro trips) and Lebala (no water based activities) but lots of lagoons to drive around, and there was massive animal populations with daily Lion and Leopard sightings. We also saw large herds of Zebra and Buffalo. We saw 4 big cat kills with Kwando and Lebala which had daily sightings of Lion prides and Leopards at both camps, Nexabega was very sparse in comparison."