Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs D from W Sussex

"This was a very good way to start our holiday with a relaxed routine on the house boat and in the excursions by the small boats.

A very successful fishing expedition in the river near Kasane.

The staff were excellent. Parish and John as the guides operating the boats with Ernest in charge and Vincent the chef.

When in the small boats you get a very different view of the wild life along the river banks than from the house boat or from a vehicle on land."

"A small tented camp with bucket showers and a flush loo set on the river bank with abundant wild life a lot of which shares the camp with baboons around during the day and two lions walking through the camp at night and roaring outside the tent at 0300 two nights in a row. Amazing what some people will sleep through..

Arrival by small aircraft to a small bumpy airstrip was an exciting start.

The area for game drives was very dry and with many elephants the trees were being devastated.

We did one evening boat trip which seemed to be a token event as we saw little and could well have been missed out. It was felt that the main camp, which was 40 minutes away, had prior claim on the use of the boats.

Staff were excellent. Dennis the guide, Jane who served at table and provided drinks and cold towells with three other staff who togethre made up a greeting and farewell choir.

On departure there was a mechanical problem with the aircraft and we were delayed two hours as it had to return to Kasane to be fixed and the time for departure was changed three times. This meant we sat at the airstrip for about an hour."

"Quite a large camp which is spread out along the bank of the lagoon and a lot of the wild life comes in to camp particularly the baboons who will get on to the tents and into them if the access (sliding doors) is not properly secured. The showers are open air at the rear of the tents and the baboons get in there. Elephant were in the camp around the central area which was interesting at 20 feet.

Guide was George who was very knowledgeable and competent. There was lots of game in the area with lions, and cheetahs being the high lights though we felt that too much pressure was put on some of the lions when they were on the move with up to three vehicles following them and over taking them and stopping in front of them.

An evening boat visit to a heronry was an excellent excursion.

The food was disappointing and it was put out when the first vehicle arrived back at camp and left out until the last vehicle got back which could be an hour and a half as the priority was game drives.

Each tent had a gas driven hot water system which required careful manipulation to get a hot shower but half the holes in the shower head were blocked with scale which crerated a back pressure which tripped the hot water syatem"

"We wanted a relaxing few days to end our holiday and the Islands of Siankaba was a brilliant choice.

Run by Bret and Clare with Mellindi, who runs the local pre-school supported by the lodge, in close support. The staff were excellent and looked after us well in a friendly atmosphere and this visit was all we hoped it would be.

Highlight was the visit to the pre-school and as it was my birthday having 'Happy Birthday' sung to me by forty small children.

Being out on the river for sunset and fishing was highly enjoyable if not very successful.

We visited the Victoria falls (45 minute drive) and having seem the falls from the Zimbabwe side some years ago at the same time of the year the view from the Zambian side was disappointing as the eastern cataract is dry in September. It may take more time but going to the Zimbabwe side might be preferable."