Travel reviews by Mrs B from Edinburgh

"We had a wonderful four nights at Laikipia Widerness Camp.

Everything about it was exceptional but we have to single out Annabel's hospitality and Steve's game drives. Annabel was a wonderful host who made us feel at home and very relaxed. She went out of her way to reorganise our flight to the Mara to a private charter when she realised our scehduled flight was rerouted and would have taken us all day.

Steve and 'Four o'clock', his spotter, made our game drives spectacular tracking wild dogs and watching a kill being a highlight."

"Great location and game viewing but after a very special time at Laikipia Wilderness it seemed very commercialised in comparison.

The camp was quiet and we benefited from very few vehicles in the area which made for enjoyable game viewing in the Masai Mara. Our driver / guide was not as enthusiastic as many others and we were always first back in camp which was disappointing as we have always previously had excellent guides here. We were fortunate and saw lots of animals including the Big 5.

Eating outside was good but when raining the dining tent was very dark and unispiring. Would be lovely to have a pool for the middle of the day!"

"Absolutely wonderful beach hotel where we had the most relaxing few days at the coast after a week on safari. I cannot praise the hotel enough!

It was quite quiet but even if it was busy the hotel would never feel crowded as there are so many little areas to sit in and enjoy peace and quiet. We loved the fact there is no dining room - finding where our lunch or dinner were being served, from the pool to the beach hut, was great fun and always a surprise. The food was outstanding.

Attention to detail was apparent everywhere and the genuine interest of the managers was great. We had expected to explore a bit and eat out a couple of times - we never left the hotel!"

"Enjoyed relaxing for the afternoon by the pool. Lovely quiet location - very handy for Joe's Beerhouse"

"Basic accommodation for a stop off on the way to Fish River Canyon.

Keetmanshoop was not somewhere to spend any time."

"Great fun to stay here - really quirky with trees growing through old vehicles. Ideal location for Fish River Canyon.

Friendly, fun staff. Food very good and nice to have a choice from the full menu as part of DBB package.

Rooms are nicely decorated in bright colours. Some more space and loungers round the pool would have been appreciated."

"Really enjoyed our night here - great to see round a real working farm. We would have enjoyed a day going round with Stefan to see more.

Stefan and Jenny were very welcoming and their two children made us feel at home! Stefan's enthusiasm and passion for his farm are infectious - we loved hearing about his land and animal management plans."

"Wonderful location and the rooms have fantastic views while being very private - the plumbing for the sink and shower (copper piping with on/off valves) was great! Lovely pool but lack of loungers - only 3.

Seating area for after dinner is very relaxing and comfortable. Food was good for two nights but lamb neck bone stew on the third night was disappointing - couldn't find the meat. Great service - smiley, friendly, happy staff.

We went for a sundowner horse ride - two experienced rides, one OK and one absolute beginner - Lisa was excellent at looking after us all.

Packed breakfast for sunrise at the dunes was very good. Only drawback is that the external gate to Sosussvlei opens one hour after the internal gate for those camping in the park. Buy tickets the day before and you can drive straight through when the external gate opens."

"Right on the beach - great location although it is a few miles out of town. Other than a mix up over the booking - a family room is not ideal for two couples! - the rooms were very comfortable and having a fridge and kettle etc was very handy.

The restaurant at the hotel - The Wreck - has a very good menu and is much easier than driving into town for dinner. However on our first night we were told it was fully booked and only after some discussion they agreed to try and squeeze us in after some early diners were finished if we didn't mind waiting in the bar area until then. We went up to the restaurant at the agreed time and were somewhat irritated to find half the tables empty - no wait at all.

The food was very good though - so much so that we ate there again on our second night. This was the only place in our three week visit where the dining room service was poor - the head waiter was totally uninterested in serving us, spent the first evening in complaining about a table of Italians who were very late in arriving but was no more pleasant on the second evening. The other restaurant staff seemed very junior and were not of the same standard as everywhere else we visited.

Reception staff on the other hand were very helpful."

"Loved it for what it is and where it is. You feel like you're at the end of the world and then you come across this old mining camp converted into a holiday 'resort'. We had refurbished rooms which had very comfortable beds - we especially liked the bathroom door - a stripy bit of material pegged onto a fishing line!! Fridge and coffee / tea in the rooms were very welcome.

The staff were great - happy, smiling and pleased to spend some time chatting to us about their lifestyles which involve weeks living at Terrace Bay away from families unless they bring them with them (there is a small school etc for children). Helensmith deserves a special thanks for her smiles. The manager was also very friendly and proud of what they have achieved in upgrading some of the rooms.

Don't expect any luxury but enjoy the whole experience - great fun! Annoyed at ourselves for forgetting to write on the dining room wall to leave our message amid the many that are there - lots to read over breakfast!"

"Absolutely wonderful. Sleeping in a comfy bed outside under the biggest sky with the most stars we've ever seen was a highlight of our holiday. The reception / dining room looks like an old dark fort on top of a hill as you drive up but once you're in it the views are fantastic and the big soft sofas are great.

The rooms were the best we stayed in. 1/3 of the round building is outside, separated by glass doors from the inside. These can be pulled back and the bed rolled outside so we slept under the stars both nights. Each room is totally private with a great view - the outside shower (additional to the inside one) was a bonus.

Staff were very friendly and smiley and the evening (short) singing and dancing were very good.

Morning game drive tracking desert adapted elephants
Enjoyable but expensive....
We had pre booked the morning elephant drive. This was enjoyable but it is expensive for what it is. Difficult to tell how the 'desert adapted' elephants differed from those in Etosha especially as they were not in the desert when we saw them!

A word of warning - on leaving Doro Nawas to go to Etosha we wanted to go to the Petrified Forest. We stopped at the sign on the road, paid N$30 each (4 of us) and walked round with a guide, surprised at how broken up the petrified trees were (like logs lined up!!). With hindsight the fact that it took 10 minutes when the guidebook said an hour and the sale of bits of the forest should have warned us! 20 minutes later we came across the proper site with official entry, guides etc. We had to laugh but it's worth letting others know to wait until they come to the official site (white writing on a brown metal sign rather than handpainted signs at the side of the road) - having looked at others' photos I think it's a lot more impressive than the bits we saw!!!"

"Great location, just outside the park gate if you are unable to stay in the park. it would have been better to stay inside the park to enjoy the evenings at the waterholes (heard reports of 8 rhino plus elephants and lions there in the evening) but the restcamps were all fully booked.

The rooms were comfortable but a bit more privacy for the outside toilet would be appreciated! The shower is also outside - a bit chilly first thing in the morning! There are cooking facilities at each tent and it would have been fun to have used the barbeque but for one night not worth buying all we'd have needed and the food for dinner was excellent anyway. All meals are outside in one of the eating areas - organised in the style of a local village although the male / female eating areas are not enforced!!

Dinner round a huge fire was a self service buffetstyle and had some of the best food we had all holiday. Great choice of salads for starters (everything from avacados to smoked fish / soup etc). The main course was cooked as we waited. Fantastic choice of lean, marinated meat (game, beef, pork and chicken) which was cooked exactly as we wanted with stir fried vegetables, choice of sauces etc. Huge choice of deserts and cheese. There were few people staying but a huge amount of food - all changed for the next night.

We had packed breakfasts one day so we were in the parkas early as possible but had an early breakfast at the camp the next morning - great choice and all wonderfully fresh.

We liked the lawn mower (a zebra) and were sorry we didn't have time to spend at the pool which looked very inviting. Some signs to find our way back to our rooms after dinner would have avoided our night wandering round the entire but equally less wine may have helped!"

"Very new camp fairly close to the park gate. Tented accommodation which was much more luxurious than we had expected - lovely rooms. Reception and the dining room / seating areas were very attractive.

We had dinner inside the first night - the second was outside with a barbeque. The second night was very busy - everyone sat in a horseshoe in a circular enclosure and had to go up for their food. I had asked at lunchtime for a vegetarian meal (too full of meat by then) and was very impressed when I got to the front of the queue at the barbeque to be presented with a lovely pasta dish which they had waiting for me without me asking!

Had an early morning start in the park then a late lunch at the lodge with some lovely chilled SA wine before we spent an afternoon relaxing at the pool which was pretty busy but there was plenty space and lots of loungers etc

Again friendly happy staff who all came out for an evening singing and dancing."

"Loved it here. The central areas were very attractive and relaxing and the rooms - round thatched style - were lovely. The front opened up to an area with our own bird bath and food to put down for the birds - a great way to pass an hour or so, although I think the warthogs ate most of the birdfood!

We weren't quite clear exactly what we were booked to do in the FBA package and it could have been made clearer at the beginning of our stay - not a big issue but, for example, we didn't appreciate on our fist day that a night trip to the hide was included. In summary there were 4 available day activities of which we had two included and there were 2 available night time activities of which we had one (the night hide) included. Not sure if we could have picked which day time activities we wanted but we were happy with the leopard and cheetah visits and then we added hyena tracking as an extra activity.

Our guide was excellent - funny and knowledgeable. The leopard tracking was great - we saw 3 leopards over the two days. The cheetah morning not quite so good as the 5 cheetahs which are accustomed to vehicles are very old (14 and 15 years) and are sadly looking it! We did go and see a male leopard as well that morning though and it was very interesting hearing about the Africat projects.

Two of four of us went on the hyena tracking in the afternoon. We drove for miles, including up a vertical dirt track at the edge of the reserve - an exciting trip in itself! Eventually we tracked 'Pooh', one of the two radio collared hyenas, to a small area; got out the vehicle and went looking for him by foot. We did see him a few times from ground level but only fleetingly!"