Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs N from London

"Good choice for a 1 night stay at the beginning of the holiday.

Would stay again."

"Very happy overall with this camp. Lovely setting on a dried up riverbed.

Wildlife in the area was plentiful. Safari drives were excellent.

We did 2 bushwalks and did not find them very interesting. Would not return to this camp for walking."

"Well run camp in beautiful location.

We enjoyed all the activities. There was a good variety of game drives, walking and boating.

However we would have found it helpful to have a written description of the activities on offer when we arrived so we could have planned our stay better. For example, we were unaware that the hide/platform did not have any shade and had to abandon our visit there."

"An excellent small camp. Although the accommodation is essentially a grass hut, it has all the facilities necessary and if there is the occasional frog sharing your bedroom, it's all part of the experience. If you prefer five star hotels, this isn't the holiday for you.

The guided walks were the highlight. You get closer to the animals when you're in a car but walking through the bush is a completely different experience. We were there in mid-October and it has to be said that with the temperature at around 38 degrees, some might find it excessively hot. By the time we got back from a walk at 10.00 a.m. we were all ready for a cold shower.

It did mean, however, that the animals congregated around the available water and were much easier to spot.
The hide, overlooking a waterhole, attracted much wildlife, with elephants approaching very close to the hide.

The drives were also very productive, with us encountering a leopard within 30 minutes of setting out on our first drive.
Considering the limited cooking facilities, the food was very impressive."

"An excellent small camp. Although the accommodation is essentially a grass hut, it has all the facilities necessary and if there is the occasional frog sharing your bedroom, it's all part of the experience.

The guided walks were the highlight. You get closer to the animals when you're in a car but walking through the bush is a completely different experience."

"This was my favourite camp of the four we stayed at. The chalets face onto a small waterhole which ensures a constant parade of impala, warthogs, baboons and birds. We even had a lion stroll past as we were eating breakfast.

Although the accommodation is essentially a grass hut, it has all the facilities necessary and if there is the occasional frog sharing your bedroom, it's all part of the experience. If you prefer five star hotels, this isn't the holiday for you.

The guided walks were the highlight. You get closer to the animals when you're in a car but walking through the bush is a completely different experience. We were there in mid-October and it has to be said that with the temperature at around 38 degrees, some might find it excessively hot. By the time we got back from a walk at 10.00 a.m. we were all ready for a cold shower. It did mean, however, that the animals congregated around the available water and were much easier to spot.

Our guide, Brent Harris was very knowledgeable and keen to share his enthusiasm.
Considering the limited cooking facilities, the food was very impressive."

"This was the largest of the four camps we stayed at and as it was the last camp on our itinerary at I was slightly concerned that it might be an anti-climax to the more intimate camps that we'd already stayed in. I need not have worried. The camp faces onto the river which ensures that a large variety of wildlife is always present. And far from the size of the camp deterring the animals, I was awoken during my first night by elephants browsing on the tree above our bathroom.

The walks and drives were largely along the river which ensured that we saw game in abundance, including large herds of buffalo and sizeable herds of elephant."

"A fairly typical international hotel which supplied everything we would have expected.

It's centrally located and we were able to walk to everywhere we wanted to see.

Food in the restaurant was rather expensive but there's little competition within the immediate vicinity."

"A good resort hotel within a short walk of the Falls. The two-storey accommodation blocks are built around a large green containing a swimming pool and bar, across which herds of impala and zebra frequently graze.

There were large numbers of children when we were there, but it wasn't noisy and most people seemed to go to bed quite early.

We decided to have one dinner in the Royal Livingstone, the neighbouring hotel, but we had some difficulty in booking a table - their administration didn't seem to be very efficient. We managed it in the end, and it was well worth it, but make sure you book early.

You need to take a taxi to get into Livingstone, but for the typical visitor, staying at the Falls is probably preferable to staying in Livingstone."

"A very comfortable camp and with lots of animals around.

The elephants wandering through the camp during night were a bonus. The staff were very attentive and were keen to cater to our choices of activities. The boat trips were particularly interesting and different to anything we've done elsewhere in Africa.

When a leopard was spotted near the airstrip and a report was radioed into camp one lunchtime, the staff went out of their way to drive us straight out there and make sure that we had a good view of it."

"We were lucky enough to be staying at Footsteps on our own so all the activities were geared to our interests. Obviously the main attraction at Footsteps is the walking and this did not disappoint. Andrew, the guide, knows his stuff and was able to point out and explain all sorts of things which we would have otherwise missed. The walking is in no way strenuous; it didn't feel much more than a gentle stroll, but being on foot gives an entirely different feel to game viewing. You don't get as close to the animals as in a car but it's an entirely different experience.

Although I was very pleased with the camp and the facilities, it has to be said that they wouldn't be to everyone's taste. They are, deliberately, very simple and basic, so if you don't like having to use a hole in the ground as a toilet, or having to use a bucket shower, this isn't the camp for you. But if you want to feel a bit closer to nature, I would strongly recommend it. The staff do try to make it as comfortable as possible; the food is plentiful and tasty and the cool box is always full of drink."

"This was pretty close to the classic African safari experience. The basic style of the camp would probably have been recognisable to anyone going on a safari 60 or 70 years ago. Although I was very pleased with the camp and the facilities, it has to be said that they wouldn't be to everyone's taste. They are, deliberately, very simple and basic, so if you don't like having to use a hole in the ground as a toilet, or having to use a bucket shower, this isn't the camp for you. But if you want to feel a bit closer to nature, I would strongly recommend it. Within limits, the staff do try to make it as comfortable as possible; the food is plentiful and tasty and the cool box is always full of drink.

The selling point of Santantadibe is, of course, the guide, Grant, whose family have been in Botswana for generations. He clearly knows the area intimately and has a pretty good idea of what animals are around and where they're most likely to be found. We managed to find everything on our wish list, with the exception of wild dogs, for which Grant was very apologetic. He's obviously very keen on lions and we saw some on every game drive.

On one night drive, we were taking some time to locate any lions so he turned out all the lights in the car and imitated the cry of a buffalo calf in distress. Sure enough, after a few minutes he turned the lights back on and we were surrounded by a pride of lions looking for an easy meal.

The other big attraction is the walking. The walking is in no way strenuous; it didn't feel much more than a gentle stroll, but being on foot gives an entirely different feel to game viewing. You don't get as close to the animals as in a car but it's an entirely different experience. Grant was a fantastic guide with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the animals, birds and plants. He always managed to come up with something interesting and we felt entirely safe in his hands.

Most of our friends have marvelled that anyone should choose to stay in basic accommodation and go walking among wild animals. I can't think of anything more satisfying.

One point which should be borne in mind is that it took us 5 hours of driving through the bush (not on a track) from Santandibe to reach Maun. For anyone flying home after Santantadibe, it's likely that the drive to Maun, combined with the waiting time in Maun will push the whole journey time to over 24 hours."