Reviews of Old Mondoro Bushcamp

"A nice intimate feel about the place. Facilities and guiding excellent." See all these reviews: 17n in Zambia

"Perfect camp in which to end our safari, very warm welcome from our hosts Jason and Kayla who were perfect company and food was of an excellent standard. Chalets very comfortable with outdoor shower/bath overlooking the water so lunchtime siestas never quiet with frequent elephant crossings and wonderful birdlife to observe.

Many elephant and buffalo in camp so getting to and from chalets always exciting, could not ask to get much closer to these wonderful beasts.

Guiding topnotch (thanks to Levy and Morat) and our last night drive yielded an excellent sighting of the elusive pangolin in addition to several leopard sightings during our stay.

We very much enjoyed our stay and felt this camp to be a perfect place to enjoy the Lower Zambezi park - very much hope to return in the not too distant future!" See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia

"We had a great time at Old Mondoro. Jason and Michaela were excellent and relaxed host, happy to chat and share a joke with us. The food was very good including a lovely bush brunch and it was great to spend some time on the water after 8 days in South Luangwa. And we caught (and released) some Tiger Fish which was fun. Lovely to be on the water

We saw great game here; lots of leopards again as well as some great birds and really nice smaller game such as civets, genets, honey badger, porcupines (everywhere) and bush pigs. We were disappointed to miss the aardvark that had been spotted a couple of weeks prior to our visit but that's a good reason to return.

Rooms were great; a nice balance of bush and comfort. A balance between Zebra Plains and Tafika in fact which worked nicely. We also had some big elephants in the camp which was interesting albeit made for some logistic challenges getting to and from the rooms. This was ably sorted by Jason and the guides with a shuttle service to the room when necessary." See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia

"We had a great time at Old Mondoro - it's reputation as one of the best bushcamps in Zambia is well deserved.

Two nice leopard viewings, elephant eating from the roof of the room, tracking a herd of buffalo on foot, canoeing down the Zambezi (with and without hippo contact) and wonderful location, food and service to just name a few of the highlights.

Would recommend a stay of at least 3 nights to enjoy all the different activities and experiences this small, personal camp has to offer." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia; 5n in Malawi

"This was an excellent bushcamp providing very personal service and a wide range of different safari activities. As a result we were able to see the animals from a variety of perspectives - walking, game drives, canoeing and river cruising. Theer was an abundance of wildlife to see, hippos, lions, leopards, antelope, honey badger and a wide range of birds to mention but a few. One of the many highlights was the elephants walking through the camp and crossing the river, providing us with a total close up experience of life in the wild!

Our hosts, Kayla and Jason, were warm and welcoming and along with the guides, very knowledgeable!

The food was excellent and our lovely room offered a quiet retreat to watch the animals from our private verandah.

A wonderful stay all round!" See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia

"Jason and Michaela had only just taken over but they were really welcoming, fully in control and very good company. It was a really good location with a great atmosphere.

The approach to the camp was lovely but the views from our accommodation even better - especially at night while having a bath under the stars! Food was delicious and the hot coals under the dining table a unique feature of our holiday - we will try the same when eating outside at home!

Lots of great stories and a really happy few days with lots of good lepoard sightings. Also thoroughly enjoyed our "lunch in the bush" - a complete and very welcome surprise. Thank you Michaela and the team!" See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia

"We did all but fishing. Walking, driving and canoeing.
This was again a different camp, a bit more upmarket than the others.
Started off with an evening drive, not so much wildlife but a habitat completely different from what we had experienced, and a very beautiful one.

Our guide,Levy, was yet another very experienced, knowledgeable and committed guide. We had a good morning drive with him as well, afternoon was set for a trip in the canoes. We went into what they call "discovery channel", close up with most animals including hippos. It all ended by one hippo attacking and taking two bites of the leading canoe. The incident went very well thanks to the competence of Levy and Peter (the other guide). This goes for the camp management as well. We would not like to have the canoe trip undone.

A very good walk in the morning with elephants on their back legs going for the green branches high up in the trees.

Last day we, all 8 guests, had a surprise lunch out in the bush, very much appreciated. And coming back to the camp we had some 13 elephants around the houses for several hours. Last evening drive we had an exceptional 1 hr spotting and very close up to a leopard - walking and climbing trees, very professionally conduced drive.

The coal boxes under the table during dinner was nice and warm, as the evenings in Lower Zambezi were much colder than in the Luangwa area." See all these reviews: 17n in Zambia

"The wheels were falling off when we were there. The managers had left (perhaps been fired) and an assistant manager from Caingo was there filling in until the new managers arrived. The towel replacement was terrible. We put a towel on the floor (which I would have thought is a universal code for not wanting to use them again) but the cleaner picked it up and put it on top of a clean towel - making two dirty towels. We put the 2 towels on the floor and again they were hung up by the cleaner. We had a couple of new towels one day and random changing of face cloths but other than that we used the same towels throughout our stay.

When we commented at the end to the acting manager, he told us that they should have been changed every day and that the staff should have understood what putting towels on the floor meant. We could not get reliable hot water and, even after we drew that to their attention and the hot water was "fixed", we still could not get reliable hot water. Showers were unpleasant. (We later learned that in the floods the water heaters had been damaged, an insurance claim had been made, and new water heaters had just arrived and were to be installed after we departed.) We also have to ask for shampoo to be replaced. The outdoor bathtub was fantastic, even though getting it full of hot water was a rather laborious process.

We enjoyed the game drives (though there wasn't as much game as we are used to in Sabi Sand) but the night game drives were a bit of a waste of time unless cats were around, to the extent that we eventually cut them short and asked to be taken back to camp. One night after we had come back to camp early from a rather boring night drive, another vehicle spotted a leopard. We were extremely impressed that Spencer came to our chalet to tell us and give us the opportunity to go out again - we saw the leopard. That, to us, showed the difference between a worker and a professional with pride in their work. Well done, Spencer!

The water actives were great - fishing, canoeing and being taken from Old Mondoro to Chiawa by boat." See all these reviews: 15n in Zambia

"Our third camp on this holiday. We were met by Michael, our pilot, at Lusaka airport and flown to Jeki airstrip in the Lower Zambezi. The only passengers on board, we had a bird's eye view of the river - and what a view! Maurat met us and drove the short distance to the camp. Lunch was waiting for us after which we settled into our new room, on the banks of the river.

Everything about the camp was excellent. There are opportunities for game drives, boat trips, fishing and walking. We chose what we wanted to do and when we wanted to do it. It was also nice just to sit on our deck watching the animals and birds drinking.

Beukes and Jacomine were very attentive hosts. Beukes shared some of his guiding stories around the campfire.
Our very knowledgeable guide was Levy and it was apparent that he is passionate about the environment. Equally knowledgeable, Andrew guided us through the channels of the Zambezi pointing out birds as we floated gently passed hippos. We enjoyed bush walks as well as game drives.

One evening we were about to sit down to dinner when we heard a leopard. Grant (the owner) suggested that we have an additional game drive in the hope of seeing it. We all piled on board the vehicle and went to search out the elusive animal. Great fun, although the leopard was hiding extremely well! We returned to another beautiful meal and fireside chat.

It is the unexpected that we enjoy so much about being on safari. Not knowing what we will encounter next and the flexibility and willingness of staff to do everything they can to make our experience one to remember for a lifetime.

Highly recommended." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia

"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." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia; 2n in Zimbabwe