Travel reviews by Mrs & Mr F from BC

"We stayed here one night before travelling to Kgalagadi Park. A delightful place to stay on the river. Our room was spacious and elegant. As we had to buy provisions for our trip to the park, our hostess was very helpful with suggestions on where to shop. She even offered to drive us to shops but we had a vehicle and managed to find our way around the town quite easily.

An added bonus was we were able to have dinner here. It was a delicious 3 course meal. We even had enough leftover grilled pork to take with us for dinner the first night in the park.

We highly recommend River Place as a great place to stay!"

"We stayed here for one night after travelling in Kgalagadi Park. Rooms are very nice and spacious. Staff were very friendly and helpful.

We arrived mid afternoon and they cheerfully provided us with lunch even though the lunch service time was over. Dinner was a surprisingly good buffet and the staff sang and danced towards the end of the meal. It was a fun evening. The hotel is quite large and there were some tour groups but they could easily handle the food for everyone.

Our only criticism was of the bar lounge area. Although it's large and spacious, there were not enough comfy chairs. We had to perch on uncomfortable backless stools.

We did not have time to go on a drive or walk but the activities here look very interesting."

"Hoodia is in a beautiful location in the desert. The rooms are lovely with the cottages set apart for privacy.

The main building has great seating areas for a relaxed drink before dinner. Food was very good.

We took the all day tour to the dunes and highly recommend it. Our guide, Jonathan, was very knowledgeable and we had a much more interesting experience than if we had driven ourselves. The tour also included an elegant picnic lunch complete with linen tablecloths and chilled wine.

Our only disappointment was that they were not offering other guided activities so probably 2 nights would have been enough. We were on our own for our second day and went for a great walk so did enjoy our 3 nights there."

"We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. The owners are charming, very warm and welcoming. There is a nice homey atmosphere with pet dogs and a rescued pet meerkat.

The cottages are nicely spaced away from each other and are very spacious. Food is excellent, oryx the first night and then springbok the next, plus great starters and dessert. We ate with the owners and there was some great conversation over dinner.

We went on the sundowner drive around the very large farm and I recommend this. We also hiked the trail up the small mountain in the morning and came across a herd of mountain zebra who were very curious about us. This trail is worth doing and a great start to the day."

"A very convenient and nice place to stay in Swakopmund. In a quiet area but just a short walk to the centre and restaurants.

The staff and owners are very friendly and helpful. Excellent breakfasts. We ate dinner at the Tug and the Jetty and can recommend both.

Also had an excellent lunch at the Hansa Hotel."

"Erongo is situated up the hill well away from any road so it is very peaceful and quiet. The tent cabins at Erongo are nicely situated among large boulders. We had the highest cabin which was quite a climb up a trail but worth it for the beautiful view and it was very private. The tented cabins are lovely with sitting out space where you can watch rock hyrax which were everywhere. We went on a guided morning walk the first day, which I highly recommend. We then walked on our own on very well marked trails The scenery is beautiful.

The lodge is run by a pleasant couple who are very helpful. The staff are friendly although a bit inexperienced. Our food and drink orders got lost a few times but this was cheerfully remedied so it was not a problem.

Food was a bit hit or miss. so I did not rate it as highly as at the other places we stayed. We had an excellent pork chop one night but overcooked rather tired fish the next night. You do get a choice between two items for dinner so I'd suggest avoiding the fish. Each meal starts with a lovely fresh salad which was very enjoyable but the vegetables with the main meal were often overcooked.

But these are not major criticisms and we'd gladly stay here again as we enjoyed the walking and the quiet beauty."

"We loved our stay at Doro Nawas. It is in a lovely desert location. The cabins are private and spacious. A real treat was being able to wheel our beds onto the patio and sleep under the stars. It was cold at night but we were cosey under the down duvets. A very special experience and we both slept extremely well.

Staff are charming and the service was excellent. We had dinner out in the "bush" the first night and it was a delicious buffet. Walking through the desert at night was fun. The next night was table service in the dining area. Food was excellent and the meals were finished with singing from the very good staff choir.

We went on a long morning tour to the desert elephants, rock carvings, and the living museum. Our guide was very good and I recommend the tour. We were fortunate as it was just the two of us on the tour. Many guests chose to drive around by themselves but we saw much more by having a guide. Plus self drivers would not have seen the desert elephants."

"Dolomite was a disappointment. The camp is in a great location and has potential to be very good. Unfortunately it is not well run. In fact we saw no sign of anyone in charge while we were there.

We had a bad start. It took 1.5 hours to check in and get to our room. When you arrive you unload your luggage in a parking lot at the bottom of a hill and wait for a golf cart to drive you up the hill. We had just missed a golf cart and had to wait over 40 minutes before it returned. The system is to take guests up to reception and wait until they have checked in and then take them to their chalets. The chalets can be a long way from reception so this takes time. Once we got to reception we had to wait to get checked in. Then we had to wait to get driven to the room. It would make more sense if there were two carts: one for the drive from the parking lot up the hill to reception, and another to transport guests from reception to the chalets and to the dining areas.

Walking between the chalets and the dining area is on very uneven paths up and down some steep areas for a long distance. We ended up walking as no cart ever seemed to be around but this would be very difficult for anyone with mobility issues and some older guests were having problems. There is no way to call for a ride so not much choice but to walk.

Rooms are small but quite nice with lovely views but extremely hot as they get the sun all afternoon.

There are two dining rooms. You reserve your time for dinner and you are assigned a table but not told where you are supposed to eat. Whenever we went to a dining room there were no staff there. The waitresses were trying to do a good job but they have to go to separate buildings to get food and beverages so were often away for quite a while. It would be really nice if they had a host in each dining room to greet guests and serve the drinks. The waitresses had too much to do. The first night we were assigned seats at a table beside a large group who were finishing their meal when we arrived. They left and we ate at the end of this large table by ourselves.

Food was adequate. Lunches were good as they were made to order but dinner was poor. Food was over cooked or sometimes vegetables were almost raw.

Service was a mix. Some staff, especially in the dining room, were wonderful and very friendly and helpful. Others just did not seem to want to be there and it showed. This was the only place we stayed on the trip where all the staff did not greet you. The day we left the golf cart driver had to be tracked to the kitchen where he was drinking coffee even though guests were waiting to be driven down to the parking lot. Although we had prepaid for dinner and breakfast the bill included dinner so we had to get that sorted out before we left.

I think with good management this could become an excellent place to stay. The location is great and the far end of Etosha has very few vehicles. Also we had some great viewing at the Jakkalswater water hole. We are glad we stayed here because of the location but compared to all our other accommodation Dolomite was a disappointment."

"Ongava Tented Camp is a lovely well run camp. Rooms are very nice. All guests eat together at one large table and this was very enjoyable with some good conversations.

There is a very active water hole by the dining area. We saw kudu, elephant, impala, waterbuck (not native to the area but had been introduced at one time and were thriving), jackals, warthogs, a black rhino and even a caracal. There are many rock hyrax and hornbills around the grounds.

Food and service were excellent. The game drives and walks were very good and our guide, Bono, was excellent. We had an outstanding rhino walk."

"We were pleasantly surprised with Halali, after our negative experience at Dolomite. The chalet was spacious, well maintained, and in a very quiet area. Food was good. It is served buffet style but meat is cooked to order at dinner and eggs are cooked to order at breakfast.

Most of the staff were very pleasant and efficient although there were a few in the dining room that wandered around without doing much. As wine drinkers we were disappointed that they did not have most of the wines on their wine list and we could only get wine by the bottle. The only wine available by the glass was a sweet white which seemed very strange. However our overall experience here was good.

The location is excellent as a base for game drives and the waterhole is good, especially for rhinos and elephants."

"A lovely small camp. The tents overlook a waterhole which was fairly quiet while we were there but an attractive view. At night we could sleep with the front completely open so could look out and see the stars. Hot water bottles were provided which nicely kept our feet warm. The tents are very comfortable. Staff were charming and service was excellent.

Food was superb! The best we had on the whole trip. Erasmus, the chef, prepared meals worthy of a high end restaurant.

We only took one activity: a walk one morning which was good. The rest of the time we did our own game drives into Etosha."

"Mundulea is private game reserve owned and run by Bruno Nebe. Bruno is perhaps the best guide we've had in Africa. At the end of our 4 days we felt we'd just had a fascinating course in Namibian ecology, geology, and wildlife. We had the great fortune of being the only guests for our 4 nights here. This is a walking camp and we really enjoyed our walks. One morning we walked to another waterhole which was very busy with a good variety of animals and birds. There is also a waterhole at the camp with hides and we saw quite a variety of animals there too.

The camp is simple but very comfortable. Food was very good and more the style of home cooking which we enjoyed. A bonus was a porcupine who came to visit us at dinner time most nights.

Our stay here was exceptional. Mundulea is a very special place and we feel privileged to have spent 4 days here."

"We stayed here on our last night in Namibia as we had an early morning flight. Etango was an excellent choice as it is just a few minutes from the airport.

Etango is a ranch and, although close to the airport, has a very rural feeling which we liked. The rooms are comfortable and very quiet. Food was very good. We had excellent steak (from Etango Ranch) for dinner.

I highly recommend Etango if arriving late or leaving on an early flight."

"Pioneer Camp is great for the night on arrival. The cabin was comfortable and we had a good dinner and breakfast. Evertone was very helpful and friendly. However if I was staying longer I would choose to stay nearer the city as Pioneer Camp is located out of town and there is not much to do here if you don't have a vehicle.

Please note that only soap is provided in the bathroom. You need to bring shampoo etc."

"Our first bush camp and we really enjoyed our stay. It was my birthday the first night and we had roast chicken and a chocilate birhtday cake. The staff sang a Zambian birthday song. Our cabin was comfortable and the food was excellent. The camp seemed very well run.

We had some very good game drives and monkeys, hornbills, bushbuck, and hippo were around the camp. Brent Harris, our guide in Kafue, was excellent. We had a lovely river boat trip one afternoon."

"This was the most basic camp we stayed in but the tent, service and food were great.

The fish pie and curry chicken dishes at lunch were big hits. We had meals in a number of different locations which was fun.

Unfortunately the boat was not working so we did not get a river trip here. Some good drives and Brent, our guide tracked a leopard and we had an amazing sighting one night."

"Absolutely loved this camp and wished we could stay for a few more days. Our tent looked out onto a wide open plain covered with antelope. Saw two amazing large male lions on our last morning strolling out of the mist. A lovely sight.

This was the end of our one week Kafue Rivers and Plains tour with Brent Harris as our guide. It was a great trip and I highly recommend it, especially if Brent is the guide."

"An excellent experience. If there was a rating of outstanding this camp would qualify. The food here was the best we had anywhere on the trip and the walks with Phil were wonderful and quite exciting as we kept meeting up with elephants.

This feels like a real bushcamp with an outdoor bathroom and our hut looking out over the plalin.This camp is very well run with Babette in charge. We especially enjoyed having seats set up for our sundowners in different locations and eating in different areas around camp at dinnertime.

The lions killing an impala in camp added some excitement also!"

"Big spacious rooms overlooking a shallow river bed. The rooms are open with no curtains and watching the sunrise from the bed was magic.

A whole family of elephants in camp one afternoon. One young bull came trumpeting and charging towards our cabin. The whole family came and ate right beside our deck. We didn't see as many animals in this area as we did ifrom some of the other camps but I think that's just a matter of luck as we did hear lions and hyenas at night.

The food was good but more basic than the other camps without as large a selection of salads and fruit."

"Large spacious cabins overlooking a waterhole which had a lot of animal activity. Puku, implala, wart hogs, waterbuck, kudu, bushbuck, monkeys, elephants, and a hippo were all in camp at the waterhole. A large family of elephants came in each afternoon and were great fun to watch.

This was another one of our favorite camps and we'd have liked to have stayed longer. Good drives and morning walks."

"Large comfortable cabins on the water and we could watch animals coming to drink. Good food. Some great morning walks and an exciting night drive where we saw 3 lions, a leopard, and 6 hyenas. We had a great cook to order stir fry braai one evening down by the water.

One sugestion to the owners: We would have liked chairs on the deck instead of hammocks as we like to sit outside and write and also to watch the birds through binnoculars and found the hammock quite awkward for this."

"We loved both Kaingo and Mwamba camps. they are different from other camps as have an activity around noon each day. This usually involves going to a hide or driving somewhere we could sit and watch animals.

The animal viewing in this area was superb. We saw many lions, civet, gennets. Lions were everywhere and we saw a short fight between 2 males, lions mating, and a lion kill. The kill was amazing, 5 lionesses chasing antelope in all directions around our vehicle. We also saw elephants chasing hippos out of the pool at the hippo hide.

Kaingo is a very well run camp with excellent food. We especially anjoyed lunch sitting on our deck over the river. A number of guides work out of this camp and they were all excellent. We had great walks an drives."

"We especially loved this camp maybe because we spent 4 nights here and because it is small taking only 6 guests. Because of this we got to know our guide Kennedy and Debbie the manager more than at the other camps. Mwamba has a real bush camp feel to it with an open bathroom. Animals wandered by and an elephant came to dinner one night.

We walked from Kaingo camp to Mwamba and saw a number of animals including hyenas. Our morning walks with Kennedy were always interesting. The drives here were great too with many lions and a lovely leopard . We would like to return to both Kaingo and Mwamba camps."

"This was a big change after staying in bush camps for 3 weeks. The hotel is in a superb location a few minutes walk from the falls.

Rooms are good and the service was very friendly. Breakfast was good and we had an excellent but expensive buffet dinner one night. The other nights we ate at the Royal Livingstone sister hotel which has an a la carte menu which was very good.

We enjoyed watching the monkeys, zebra, and gireffes that live on the hotel grounds. Went into Livingstone one day and enjoyed the crafts maket and museum."