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Traveller reviews

Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs K from from Wales

Review Distribution

Excellent
Good
Average
Poor
Terrible

Total number of trips

3

Countries visited

4

Lodges stayed in

14

Excursions taken

0

A good but weather affected trip

Botswana between 5 Feb 2025 and 18 Feb 2025

Trip rating: Good
"The camps were a mixed bag, with ra dinare by far the best. We were extraordinarily lucky in that on every drive except one we had the vehicle to ourselves. Thank you, Anton, for your efforts on that matter.

The weather was not the best, with two rainstorms, and sundry other rains. Resulting very long grass in places affected viewing. We both had stomach bugs at intervals, which did not help. but was not too serious. The camps dealt with it well.

As regards PomPom, if I were at all involved with Expert Africa, I would consider removing this camp from the website. It is tired, dispirited, and is saved only by the good game viewing in the surrounds

As regards Splash, there was such a dirth of game to watch, that I think this area should be avoided at this time of year

However, the ra dinare experience was wonderful on all fronts. A lovely place, well run, good guiding and nothing to grumble about."

Feedback response

We are sorry to hear about these travellers experience in Botswana, particularly due to the lack of wildlife experienced on this trip. This is unusual for the safari areas visited, and typically we would expect excellent wildlife sightings in these regions, as experienced by ourselves and many of our previous travellers at the same time of year. Last year the region experience a very hard drought forcing wildlife to be in greater concentrations. This current rain season the region has bounced back with very good rainfall, and as a result the wildlife was more dispersed. We always do our best to provide the most up to date information to our travellers, although weather patterns are unpredictable, sadly these conditions impacted the wildlife viewing on this occasion.

Arranged By Anton Walker


Lagoon Camp

Lagoon Camp

"Lagoon Camp review"

3 nights Arrived 5 Feb 2025
"We have been several times before, and little has changed.

Very nice camp, very nice visit for us, good guide (Rico) and tracker (John) and excellent game viewing.

Our first morning safari we met 4 lions, 2 cheetahs and 3 leopards.

The food was average at best, verging on poor"
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Average
Facilities
Good
Pom Pom Camp

Pom Pom Camp

"Tired"

3 nights Arrived 8 Feb 2025
"This camp is very tired.

So much so I am surprised Kwando have not closed it for a rebuild to remove risk of reputational damage.

Not impressed at all. Its saving grace was that the wildlife viewing was excellent - good guide (Ryder) and tracker (Tango).

Almost all facilities were poor, and the food especially so"
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

Location
Good
Service
Average
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Poor
Food
Poor
Facilities
Poor
Splash Camp

Splash Camp

"Splash Camp review"

3 nights Arrived 11 Feb 2025
"The almost exact opposite of Pom Pom. New(ish) camp. Is this a forerunner of the new Kwara design.?

The rooms are similar but about one third the size. The design is different, and for me I prefer the more standard type room available almost everywhere else.

All comfortable and well run, though the food was still poor. However, the wildlife spotting was very poor indeed. Our guide (ST) and tracker (OB) were good, and worked very hard to try to find things,. but there was really very little indeed to find. Partly due to the very long grass of course, but we had long grass at other camps.

We went on this trip for the wildlife, and this camp should not have been in the agenda"
Poor
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Poor

Location
Average
Service
Excellent
Activities
Terrible
Rooms
Good
Food
Poor
Facilities
Good
Rra Dinare

Rra Dinare

"Rra Dinare review"

3 nights Arrived 14 Feb 2025
"Lucky for us this was the final camp, else our memories of the trip would have been different

A really lovely camp, with excellent position, staff, rooms, and good food. It really is a lovely place, which we enjoyed hugely.

Excellent guide (Zulu) and tracker (Mike)

The wildlife sightings were exceptional, especially of predators.
Leopards with cubs, wilddog kill and cheetah kill."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Excellent

My Feb 2024 trip

Kenya between 15 Feb 2024 and 29 Feb 2024

Trip rating: Average
"Overall this was a disappointing trip, partly made up for by the excellent last camp.

I did not enjoy the two middle camps, and apart from the last camp the volume of plains and other game was sparse. We have been to many countries in the area through your company, and others. We have also been to Mara and other Kenya areas many years ago.

This was not our best trip with you."

Feedback response

We are ever so sorry to hear about these travellers experience in Kenya, particularly due to the lack of wildlife experienced on this trip. This is particularly unusual for the safari areas visited, and typically we would expect excellent wildlife sightings in these regions, as experienced by ourselves and many of our previous travellers at the same time of year. Due to the El Nino, February 2024 experienced much higher rainfall than we would expect in a typical year, and as a result the wildlife was more dispersed than expected for many parts of Kenya. We always do our best to provide the most up to date information to our travellers, although weather patterns are unpredictable and so sadly these exceptional conditions impacted the wildlife viewing on this occasion.

we are very sorry to hear how this impacted these travellers safari experience

Arranged By Lyndsey Marris


Four Points Nairobi Airport

Four Points Nairobi Airport

"Four Points Nairobi Airport review"

1 night Arrived 15 Feb 2024
"This is an excellent hotel.

We were there just overnight, so cannot judge much of their services, but generally excellent"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Kicheche Laikipia

Kicheche Laikipia

"Kicheche Laikipia review"

3 nights Arrived 16 Feb 2024
"A nice comfortable camp with excellent rooms, good food, good management and a very very good guide (William). The disappointing aspect was a scarcity of game.

There were a lot of rhinos. both black and white, and the efforts being made by the conservancy (and elsewhere) to improve the rhinos' lot are to be admired, Sadly there was not a lot else to see."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Average
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Laikipia Wilderness

Laikipia Wilderness

"Laikipia Wilderness review"

3 nights Arrived 19 Feb 2024
"The room was a good shape and size, and very "African", and for that I have no criticism. However, internally, there was shortage of much comfort - lighting, bathroom facilities bathroon layout etc.

Management was friendly, but rather distant and unconcerned, and there was little guidance about how to progress with life. Food was OK but no better than that.

Our guide (Simon) was poor, and that contributed to the lack of game we found. Wildlife generally was sparse.

Frankly, I was left wondering quite why this camp is on your website"
Poor
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Poor

Location
Good
Service
Poor
Activities
Poor
Rooms
Average
Food
Average
Facilities
Average
Serian

Serian

"Serian review"

3 nights Arrived 22 Feb 2024
"A very nice camp in a great position with first class management and excellent food. Excellent room with all facilities and a great view of the river.

Ben and Amy, the managers, are worthy of special mention - they are first class. I appreciate the idea of a guide allocated to you and you alone for the whole stay, but this depends on the quality of the guide. In our case we had guide (Johnathan) and spotter (Henry), and the spotter was actually also a guide.

Despite this, we did not feel they were good guides. They spent a great majority of their time chatting in Masai, and partly because game was sparse, we did not really see as much as expected"
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Average
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Kicheche Valley

Kicheche Valley

"Kicheche Valley review"

3 nights Arrived 25 Feb 2024
"Finally an area to save the trip, and to have the volume of game we had been expecting.

A very nice camp. with excellent rooms, first class management and staff, excellent food and an excellent guide (Mika). We very much enjoyed this camp, which was a relief.

There was lots of game to see, and to be found."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good

Excellent trip

Zimbabwe and 1 other country between 31 Oct 2018 and 15 Nov 2018

Trip rating: Good
"Excellent trip"

The Hide

The Hide

"Good"

3 nights Arrived 1 Nov 2018
"We had a very good stay at The Hide, but none of it was what I would call exceptional.

The rooms were good, the staff excellent, the food was not much better than average, and the guide was good but, again, not exceptional.

Overall a very nice stay, but I would not return."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Excellent
Camp Hwange

Camp Hwange

"Good trip to this camp"

3 nights Arrived 4 Nov 2018
"We had a truly exceptional guide, by the name of Andy, who was not part of the staff, but a freelance as far as we could tell.

He was thorough, very informative, and able to pass on detailed information on a wide range of subjects. Possibly the best guide we have had on any safari. Otherwise the camp was comfortable, the staff were excellent, and the game was profuse. We liked the location, the rooms and the food was good, though not exceptional.

As we go to these places primarily for the guiding, Andy made the trip for us."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Batonka Guest Lodge

Batonka Guest Lodge

"Very nice 24 hrs in a delightful place"

1 night Arrived 7 Nov 2018
"A really nice and comfortable hotel/guest lodge.

Very nice staff, very good food, and the location - outside of the main town - was probably better than closer to the Falls. Nice and quiet.

Highly recommended"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Tafika

Tafika

"Nice stay, good guides and good company"

3 nights Arrived 8 Nov 2018
"The overall stay was really nice, with good sightings, good food etc, but I was not keen on the rooms. Basic is nice on safari, but basic can be overdone.

Excellent location, very friendly and informative staff and management.

Overall a good stay"
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Average
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Nsefu

Nsefu

"Nsefu review"

3 nights Arrived 11 Nov 2018
"A very nice stay indeed - certainly somewhere I would like to go back to.

Possibly the best location, in terms of view, of any lodge we have stayed at anywhere. Beautiful.

Very nice, if somewhat quirky, rooms, excellent staff, very good guiding - overall a most excellent stay.

The only downside was the food was far from the best of our trip."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Average
Facilities
Excellent

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