Travel reviews by Mr E from Berkeley

"This was a nice enough camp - fairly basic in terms of amenities. The bed was comfortable. The room was very large, so plenty of room to spread out. The bathroom was a bit strange – the shower/tub combination was strangely constructed. The tub itself is embedded in the floor and rather large and deep. The shower head is high above the tub. In order to enter the tub/shower, you had to step up above the lip of the tub and then down rather far into the tub itself, so this requires a bit of dexterity and balance.

I didn't use it anyway since I didn't get any hot water. I was leaving rather early in the morning, and I ran the hot water for around 15-20 minutes and never got any hot water, so I just didn't bother.

I ran into a number of people during my holiday who stay at Pioneer Camp – mainly as an overnight hotel close to the airport for early departing flights. It fulfills that need fairly satisfactorily. It's about 30 minutes from the airport.

I had a continental breakfast in the morning, and it was fine. What's nice is that there's free wi-fi here, and it worked fine and was fast enough. They were also nice enough to allow me to print out my e-ticket for my proflight flights the next morning on their printer."

"This is a very nice lodge – well appointed and comfortable. It is nice to be in a lodge that is on mains power. They even had a nice little mini-fridge with beverages (sodas, water, beer). The bathroom was nice with plentiful hot water. The bed was comfortable – a bit on the firmer side, but that's how I like it. There's also a ceiling fan that helps to keep the air moving, but I was there during the Zambian winter so it wasn't quite necessary, but it was also helpful in blowing any mosquitoes around. A nice touch was also some free postcards.

The other facilities include a pool, which I didn't use, a comfortable map/reading room, and a small gift shop.

The food was fine and plentiful. Breakfast was cold with cereals, fruits, breads, yogurt, fruit juices, tea, coffee; and with eggs cooked to order and porridge (which was very good). Brunch/Lunch was good with a selection of hot and cold entrees/salads. Afternoon tea was usually a nice cake and beverages. Dinner was a 3-course affair. In general, the food was very good.

Guiding was good. I had John as my guide and he was certainly knowledgeable and diligent about spotting game. He was also my host at meals.

Game drive vehicles were standard Landcruisers with 3 rows of seats. The camp was very quiet, and I basically had private game drives while I stayed here."

"This is definitely a bush camp. The facilities are a bit primitive, but certainly “luxurious” for anybody used to a rougher sort of camping. While the chalets are reed and thatch, the beds are comfortable and the toilets flush. The showers are of the “bucket” variety and the staff is happy to fill it whenever you like given 15-20 minutes notice. I would suggest that they need to change the shower head to something that produced a bit more water and pressure than the current dribble. All the water was potable here. Tap water was completely potable.

What's nice about the chalets is that they have open skylights in the roof that are covered with mesh giving you a view of the night sky from your bed. The front porch has two chairs with a view over a channel of water (generally dry).

The common areas include a chitenge with a bar where most of the meals are taken. There are also other sitting areas, including one near the channel and another on top of a very large termite mound. All-in-all, this is a very comfortable bush camp. The camp is on solar power, and they do offer to charge your electronic devices, like camera batteries. All you have to do is leave your charger with the camp manager, and she'll take care of it for you.

When I was there, there was a resident group of baboons that commute back and forth in front of the camp every day; as well as, a number of elephants that would come by on occasion. Also, there were plenty of other wildlife – impala, puku, mongoose, etc. about camp.

The food was good. They do things a bit differently than the other camps I stayed at. They do tea at 6:00 a.m. (basically just beverages plus cookies), and then do a full breakfast (English) at 9:30 a.m., then a lunch after the noon activity, and then afternoon tea, and then a late dinner. All of the food was good and they certainly feed you enough.

The guiding was very good – and geared towards photographers. More than any other camp, the guides are sensitive to the needs of a photographer. They take care in positioning the vehicle, pay attention to the light, and have a pretty good sense of photographic opportunities. For example, we were driving around during the afternoon game drive, and the sun was setting and I was looking for a good setting for a sunset photo. Before I could say anything, the guide asked if we wanted to stop to get the setting sun behind some trees and had recognized a good spot for that. The guide was also able to recognize when a particular sighting was a bit static (e.g. a bunch of wildebeest just standing around not doing much of anything), and could tell when it was probably time to move on.

With other guides, I had to give quite a bit more guidance in terms of what I wanted photographically, but I rarely had to with the guide at Mwamba. He was also used to photographers who wanted to get our early and stay late, so he was always ready to go.

The game drive vehicles were good – standard Toyota Landcruisers with 3 rows of seats. They have a shelf in front of each seat to hold your belongings, as well as, bean bags for your camera. They also have dust covers for your lenses or camera. They also provided a step-ladder for entry or exit from the vehicle, though I tended to eschew it as I just used the standard step up points on the vehicle.

The two noon-time activities offered here were either the hide near camp or a visit to a nearby lagoon. The hide wasn't very interesting – hot, sweaty and not much action going on. I think it'll be better later in the season when animals come by for water, but nothing was happening on my visit. The lagoon was largely about birds, but again, I think June isn't the best time for this waterhole.

The camp was fairly quiet, and I basically had private game drives until the last drive where two other guests joined me in the vehicle.

The hosting was also very good. Debbie was very accommodating and was trying to anticipate any needs and checking in how my stay was going. She also was fairly good at hosting during meal times and keeping the table conversation interesting and flowing.

This was probably my favorite camp mainly due to the photographic orientation of the guiding."

"Kakuli has a bush camp feel to it, though it was certainly a more substantial lodging than other bush camps. The chalets/tents were very large with a quite spacious bathroom/dressing area. The hot water was provided by on-demand water heaters (powered by firewood), but required about 15 minutes to heat up for the shower. There were flush toilets, complete with resident tree frogs, and plenty of room for luggage. Tap water was completely potable.

The beds were comfortable. The chalets were a combination of reed and thatch with canvas walls. There were also two chairs out on the front porch with a nice view overlooking the river. There are quite a number of hippo and crocs in the river to watch from the tents, and you can hear the hippos calling all the time.

The chitenge was nice with a bar and a verandah that looked out on a marshy area near the river. We saw plenty of hippos, and a pride of lions in this area one morning.

As with the other camps the food was good and plentiful. Hosting was good. Sarah was very nice – she was attentive, personable, and looked after whatever needs we may have had.

The guiding here was very good. I was guided by Aubrey, and he is very knowledgeable and has plenty of good stories about his years of guiding. Easily one of the most personable guides I had during my safari. Kakuli is a walking camp – they do walks as the morning activity and drives as the afternoon activity.

I had 3 walks during my stay – one morning we stalked a herd of buffalo and spent some time sitting with them. On another walk, we had the previously mentioned group of lions walk by during breakfast, and we left immediately to follow them. Aubrey and the scout did fairly well tracking the lions and we sped along fairly quickly to keep up with them before falling behind. The last morning, I walked to the transfer point across the river, and along the way we visited a hyena den where we were able to get within 15 feet of a hyena pup.

Game drive vehicles were again standard Landcruisers with 3 rows of seats. There were pockets in front to hold belongings – big enough for a pair of mid-size binoculars, but not much else.

The ground in South Luangwa is rather broken in areas, so I recommend a sturdy pair of hiking shoes/boots and perhaps a walking stick."

"Nsefu had a bit of a different feel than some of the other bush camps I stayed since it was certainly a more substantial lodging with the rondavels.

The rondavels were smaller than other accommodations I had stayed in, but they were sufficient – certainly enough for me, and the bathrooms were more than adequate. Like the other camps, hot water was from on-demand water heaters and took a few minutes to heat up. I was cautioned to not use the tap water for drinking purposes, though it was fine for brushing one's teeth. There was a flush toilet, sink, and the usual amenities. A nice touch was the provision of Kikoys in the room to use on game drives or around camp. I used mine as a dust cover for my camera during the game drives, though I saw others around camp using them in more traditional roles as shawls or sun protection.

The beds were comfortable and the bedding sufficient for the temperature. There was a front porch with a couple of chairs and small table that looked out on the river. One very nice bonus was that the camp provided a selection of post cards (around 6) in the room and at the bar area, and they were happy to provide the postage and mail them free of charge. This is a very nice perk.

In addition to a covered dining area, there were a number of places to sit around camp with a view of the river, as well as, the bar/lounge area where we took afternoon tea. There was a spotting scope, comfortable furniture, books, the bar, and the charging station for any electronic devices. The generator ran for a few hours in the morning and evening which was when you could get things charged. There was a power strip with universal plugs.

Food was very good – especially the cakes for afternoon tea. Hosting was excellent. Lucy is very personable and diligent about looking after the comfort of the guests. She's also very good about anticipating the needs of the guests and trying to accommodate them as much as possible. For example, she noted my impatience with some of the guests I was sharing the game drive vehicle with as they tended to be 20-30 minutes late for every game drive. Since the camp wasn't full, Lucy was able to arrange a private game drive for me so that I didn't have to wait and had me join another vehicle on a different occasion when it looked like I was going to get another delayed start. She ran a pretty good dinner table, as well.

Guiding was excellent – there was a team of 3 guides at Nsefu, and they all seemed to work well together, and each was quite experienced and good trackers. They were quite amusing as well, as they told tales of guiding and the pranks they play on the caterers.

Game drive vehicles were the best out of the lodges I stayed at in S. Luangwa in my opinion. They use Landcruisers, but mostly in a configuration with only 2 rows of seats. This gives you quite a bit of room to maneuver on game drives. They also have the shelf instead of pockets in front of each seat, and provide bean bags."

"Old Mondoro is a very nice bush camp. The chalets are reed and wood structures with an open frontage on the river. There's plenty of room, but it's a very open plan with the entire front open to the river. There was comfortable furniture on the back porch from which you could watch life on the Zambezi unfold – mostly sleeping hippos. The beds were comfortable, and the bedding sufficient. It was rather cold in June, and I appreciated the hot water bottles they provided in the evening.

The bathroom was fine with the shower and separate tub outdoors. The hot water heater was an on-demand water heater, and a bit tempermental – there was tendency of the water heater to shut off during showers, but was fine. The generator runs all of the time, and there are a couple of electrical outlets from which you could charge your electronics, as well, as electric lights in the room. I was advised not to drink the water, and they provide a carafe of potable water in the room.

A nice bonus is that they give you a water bottle to use during your stay for potable water, and which you can take home with you as a souvenir. They also provided kikoys for use during the drives.

It should be noted that the area is very active with large animals. The hippos come by very close, and can be heard calling almost all day. For two days in a row, guests had to stay in their rooms while elephants ate the foliage nearby and around the chalets. We actually considered this a bonus – it's what you come to Africa for, but guests do have to be cautious around camp.

The main lounge area was very comfortable, and was unique in that it had a loading platform for the vehicles which means you didn't have to climb in and out of the landcruisers.

Food was good. It was rather cold in June, and a nice touch was that they provided braziers of coals underneath the dinner table to keep you warm. Hosting was excellent. The camp managers were very attentive and looked after the guests very well.

Guiding was good. I think the game density is a bit thin this time of year, but I think Morat was fairly diligent in trying to track down game. I did enjoy the forest in this area very much – it's such a different environment from South Luangwa. I also enjoyed the boat tour on the safari – the guide was very good at spotting birdlife.

Game drive vehicles are the standard Landcruisers with 3 rows of seats. However, these vehicles have a roll bar over the front cab, which can be good and bad. It's good since it provides a place to steady your camera, but it's bad in that it can obscure your view. They provided bean bags, and there were pockets in front of each seat.

Of note, they use a red filter on the spotlight during night drives. The justification is that the red filter is less blinding to the animals and allows them to act naturally when observed. I must say that I found this to be true during a leopard sighting, as the leopard seemed very comfortable with the red light on him. Unfortunately, the downside to the red filter is that it makes for very poor photography on the night drives. In addition to the strong red color cast, the light output is much diminished, which makes for very slow shutter speeds. I pretty much gave up on photography on the night drives.

I did ask about the use of flash, and they discourage it for the same reasons that they use the red filter on the spotlight – to keep from blinding the animals. It did seem like this is a trend for the Lower Zambezi as we ran into a vehicle from another camp and they even had red filters on their headlights.

I'm not advocating one way or the other regarding the spotlights, but just noting the pros and cons."

"This is a very nice lodge within a 10 minute walk of the falls. The room was very comfortable, and the front desk was helpful. Bathroom had plenty of hot water and good water pressure. They did screw up my transfer from the airport, but they gave me a credit and an apology, so they did resolve the issue. Breakfast was included in my rate and was very good. Dinner at the restaurant was good.

The location is excellent – shopping and the Victoria Falls Hotel are all within a few minutes walk. They also have a computer in the lobby for free internet access. Wireless access is available for a fee.

My room was on the ground floor and had french doors that led out into the backyard of the hotel. Of interest, there was a small sounder of warthogs munching on the grass out there every day."