Travel reviews by Dr H from Lancs

"A very well appointed ,international standard hotel.

Clean, efficient service, good food and courteous staff."

"The staff were helpful and the food and service were satisfactory. The rooms are tired and in need of money spending on them. The rooms looked bare and in the bathroom the shower curtain around the bath had been removed, inverted and converted into a curtain for the window which was adjacent to the shower.

This curtain was grubby/mouldy because it was repeatedly wet.When I first arrived there was no water from the taps but the staff rapidly sorted this out.
There was a long printed list of do's and don'ts in the room including advice that you weren't allowed to wash any clothes and if you did you may be charged!

It was cool in the evenings. The staff would light a fire in the sitting area of the room if required and each night I had two hot water bottles placed in the bed, I think that was standard practice.

However the view from the restaurant terrace over Lake Kivu is stunning."

"Nice accommodation, a little way out of town overlooking Lake Kivu with great views from the room's balcony and public rooms.

I arrived in an extended downpour [umbrellas available] and the narrow slippery paths between the cabin and reception/restaurant might be tricky for someone with mobility problems.

I was the only guest staying there [ I spent 2 nights] and that felt slightly weird but I was well looked after by considerate staff and after the initial rain, the next day was clear.

I had a trip to the local museum which dealt with ecological matters, natural history, geology and a roof garden where there were plants growing that are used in traditional Rwandan remedies. also had about trip on the lake which was enjoyable too."

"Beautiful lodge. On arrival, be warned there are 190 steps from the car park up to reception. One of the staff carried by fairly heavy bag on his head all the way up! I gather that they are in the process of building a ramp/series of ramps to improve accessibility.

Friendly personal greeting from Philip and Chrissie who manage the lodge as well as hot towel and a soft drink on arrival.

Lovely accommodation in individual bungalows with your own personal attendant to make bed, change towels take your washing to be done and replenish water [from their own bore hole/spring which is filtered]. comfy beds, electric heaters and a fire can be lit if necessary. Hot water bottles in bed too. Lovely food and good choice. All staff extremely attentive and welcoming

Early start for Gorilla trekking. Be down at reception at 6.00am, they put gaiters on you, give you a snack bag to take for the trek and provide gloves [ for gripping the undergrowth and in case of nettles.] Quick breakfast [cooked or continental] Then off to the Park Centre to be allocated the Gorilla family [ one of ten that are habituated to humans.....they also have another ten families for research only] that you will be visiting. You can specify easy, medium or more difficult treks but as the Gorillas move about from one day to the next there are no real guarantees.

I did 2 treks the first was about 90-120mins but not much elevation and we saw about 20 Gorillas including a three day old baby. The next day it was a shorter trek but much steeper and the landscape and vegetation were different so it was a nice contrast. On that occasion we saw about 16 gorillas who were much more active and were interacting, grooming, playing, climbing trees and eating bark from the trees.

It was all first rate and thoroughly enjoyable and very memorable.

When you arrive back at the lodge, they insist on taking your gaiters and boots off and cleaning the boots for the next day!"

"For our three night stay we were the only two guests and were looked after like royalty.Janet was a great hostess , very warm,chatty and welcoming.Our guide was Pax and our tracker was a Bushman called Shoes and both were excellent. with good knowledge and able to answer all that we asked. We had great sightings of the local pride of Lions every day, sometimes at very close quarters . We also saw Cheetah ,Ellies,Giraffes,Antelope [Springbok,Steenbok] and had a great trip to Baines Baobabs with lunch alfresco.All the meals were excellent and the food was plentiful.

From our room we had a great view of the Elephants at the nearby waterhole. Sitting around the camp fire at night we had wonderful views of the stars and milky way.Pax used his laser pointer to show us all the constellations.The beds were very comfy and we slept extremely well.The early mornings and evenings were cool but otherwise it was brilliant blue cloudless skies all the time."

"Another good Kwando operated camp ,nicely appointed with friendly,helpful staff ,good food and busier than Nxai Pan.We had two different guides and trackers over the 3 nights and being a private reserve did night drives and one short walk in the bush.Here we saw our only Lepoard sighting ; beneath the tree where its kill was hidden in the branches overhead .

We saw a herd of Buffalo crossing the river and had Ellies wandering outside our tent the first night and Hippos the next night who were noisily eating the Sausage Tree fruit practically on our verandah.......it sounded as if they were cracking skulls open! We also saw Roan Antelope here and Lions but although we tracked Wild Dogs furiously we never saw them.

The camp staff made traditional food for one dinner and entertained us with wonderful traditional singing and dancing."

"This was another excellent camp with great staff led by Leso and Hilda who were all friendly,welcoming and made our stay memorable.Good food ,comfy beds and well appointed tents.Our guide Hobs and tracker Kenny were great and very knowledgeable.On our first evening drive we tracked and were very close to a pack of 9 wild dogs and followed them until nightfall. Also saw Spotted Hyena and two male Lions walking along the road near to the camp .

The following morning we tracked a pride of Lions after finding their kill [2 Zebras].We also tracked two different Cheetah groups and saw them killing an Impala.We had a lazy motorboat trip on the Delta one evening with a glorious sunset and a Mokoro trip early one morning near to a few not too inquisitive Hippos.There is a great emphasis at all Kwando camps on guest safety so we always felt secure and in safe hands.

We liked the fact that at all of the camps the emphasis was on tracking and seeing the animals and we also liked Kwandos emphasis on Staff Training and personal development .Once again we had an evening of traditional food preceeded by wonderful singing and then all guests joined in with the dancing with varying degrees of success!!"

"All the staff were wonderful - made to feel very welcome. Guiding was superb, both walks and drives. We loved the surprise bush breakfast!

Accomodation was first class! We loved it!"

"All the staff were fab - we got on so well with Fiona, Kiki and Brendan. We were very lucky to have Brendan just to ourselves on the walks which was wonderful- his knowledge was so impressive. Fiona was a great hostess- so easy to talk to and very good at keeping the converstaion flowing at dinner. We wish we had been able to record Kiki's laugh- so infectious!

Thanks Fiona for organising a great surprise bush dinner whcih we enjoyed immensely.

Accomodation was great- we even liked the family of 13 tree frogs living behind our bathroom mirror!

We were lucky enough to see a play performed by a local theatre group who came to the camp. Their improvisation and singing were excellent. Real Royal Shakespeare Company standard!"

"We were welcomed to camp by Oliver the elephant who frequently wanders through camp!

When we first arrived, apart from the 2 of us, there was a party of 12 Italians who spoke little English. We were given a lot of support at dinner and sat with the staff, which made it easier for us.

We loved the location of the camp. Being able to sit outside our tent and look across to the other river bank and see elephant, hippo, crocodile, buffalo, warthogs and a variety of birds was spectacular. We had neither fished or canoed before, and really enjoyed these activities.

We were also taken to see a 6 month old orphaned elephant being cared for at Conservation Lower Zambezi, and shown around the site. It was interesting to hear about CLZ's education programme and how they teach local school children about the bush and poaching etc.

We were very lucky to have 2 walking trips with Duncan, the head guide, who was not only an excellent guide but a lovely person too."

"It was a bit of a shock to the system arriving here after being in the bush. It was obviously much more commercialised. But the hotel was fine and we enjoyed visiting Vic Falls and did a microlight trip.

We can also reccomend afternoon tea at the Royal Livingstone- yum! The views were spectacular."