Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs F from St Albans

"Fantastic room; the evening meal was outstanding and good value for money."

"All mod cons in the room, including wifi, fridge, kettle, air conditioning.

We enjoyed the sky bed, though a thicker cover and hot water bottle up there would have made the open-air experience even better. A room nearer the main building would have been preferable because of the soft sand on the paths.

Our guide Manzee was great."

"Room was functional but had everything you needed (including a bath!). Lots of hot water. The breakfast room was lovely and breakfast was excellent (best cooked eggs of our whole trip).

It would have been good to be forewarned regarding the difficulty of booking a restaurant for the evening meal. Had we known of this beforehand we would have booked the nearest good restaurant, The Tug, in advance, for at least the first night. My advice to travellers would be to do some research and book restaurants for all evenings in advance.

Cornerstone was only 5 minutes walk from The Tug."

"Stunning, unique location. Go there for the location, rather than the wildlife. Important to get a room with superior view.

We enjoyed the walk they had marked out close to the camp.

The 4-course meals were too pretentious, and we didn't enjoy the meals as much as we did in other places."

"Wonderful welcome and departure with singing. The service was the friendliest and the best on our trip. The food was out of this world, including a barbeque. Wines of high quality. Amazing to get all this in such a remote location.

Finding black rhinos wasn't easy but it was a marvellous experience when we saw them. Walking up to the rhinos for a short distance made it even better.

Hot water: we found out that there was only enough hot water for one shower a day.

NB The instructions said that the transfer from our car to the camp would take 3-4 hours. This is wrong; it took an hour and a half, but it was still quite hard work. My recommendation would be to fly into this camp, even if the rest of the holiday is self-drive."

"Our first game drive was into Etosha and the second one was on the reserve. We preferred the reserve drives because animals were not surrounded by cars.

On the reserve we saw lions and white rhino which were spectacular. Again, we could walk a short distance to the rhino, which is not possible in Etosha.

On the best waterholes, with regular visitors, including rhino!"

"Different to our usual tented camps, which made it a great place to stay. Huge room with best outdoor shower of the trip.

Meals eaten on a large deck overlooking a waterhole and we were lucky to see three cheetah coming for a drink. There were patio heaters when it was cold.

More young families here than in our other camps."

"The camp and the facilities were excellent. The small waterhole outside our room was a little pointless.

The game drive was disappointing. Africat is all about cheetahs and leopards, but seeing the cheetahs was a real disappointment.

The cheetahs were collared so they could be found. When we found them, we saw two rather scruffy looking animals, fast asleep in the back yard of a small house. The collars reinforced the impression that they were rather domesticated. Not a patch on the beautiful beasts in Ekosha. We cried off from the next drive which was supposed to be about finding a leopard.

On the same drive we experience the worst "sun downer" of the whole trip. The car stopped in a windy, not-very-special spot, and we were handed a can of drink. A cold and unmemorable experience, best forgotten asap."

"Our overriding memory was that it was cold and draughty. However, the room was fine. Functional but all the facilities we needed, including air-conditioning which we used to warm up the room.

Being miles away from any restaurants, we had our evening meal at the B&B. Much was promised, but it was over-rated and over-priced. The vegetarian option was good, but the only alternative, meat option, was disappointing.

Staff were very friendly and helpful. Nevertheless, we wouldn't go back there. Not a patch on Olive Exclusive."

"Fantastic setting and the quality of the accommodation was comparable to the best we have experienced in Europe. Great modern decor and all the facilities you need in the room/cabin. The food was really fantastic.

We enjoyed all the trips on smaller boats and marvelled at the number of elephants, hippos and crocodiles we saw. A perfect experience.

We had expected the boat to be moving along the river but apparently there was a problem with one of the engines and it stayed moored in the same place. However, in the end it did not matter much because we still had a great time."

"We were delighted to be staying in Ilala Lodge rather than the Victoria Fall Hotel. We visited the latter for afternoon tea and that was enough. Ilala was more "African", smaller and more exquisite.

The room was excellent and the tea/coffee making facility was a bonus (we could even use tap water for the kettle!). We were glad to be on the ground floor which, we think, provided the best experience. The food was good, though not as good as that on the Zambezi Queen.

They were very helpful organising the helicopter ride and everything went to plan. It was lovely to sit in the outside bar and hear the roar of Victoria Falls in the distance. Equally we loved seeing its "smoke" from our bedroom window."