Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs B - Wokingham

---

Great trip despite the incorrect marketing

On this trip, I visited Botswana between 28-Sep-2012 and 8-Oct-2012 and I travelled with 1 other person.

We had a really great safari, only let down by the lack of almost promised buffaloes in Duba Plains. Maybe it's time to see how often the buffalo are on the island and not rely on information from 5/6 years ago. For this reason alone, we've given a "not very" to the "knowledgeable" question as the interraction is now rare.

I stayed at and have reviewed:

Place	Overall rating
Duba Plains Camp, Botswana 28-Sep-2012 review: Great but marketed incorrectly	Good
Little Vumbura, Botswana 3-Oct-2012 review: Praise indeed!	Excellent

---

Excellent safari and many memorable moments

On this trip, I visited South Africa & Zimbabwe between 2-Oct-2011 and 12-Oct-2011 and I travelled with 1 other person.

When the game is as good as it was in Hwange, the waterhole at Kanga so enthralling, the scenery at Mana Pools so beautiful and the company so much fun it's easy to forget the negatives.

In overall terms we had a really good time.

I stayed at and have reviewed:

Place	Overall rating
Cape Grace, South Africa 2-Oct-2011 review: Cape Grace review	Excellent
Somalisa Camp, Zimbabwe 3-Oct-2011 review: Somalisa Camp review	Good
Kanga Bush Camp, Zimbabwe 7-Oct-2011 review: Kanga Bush Camp review	Excellent

---

Kilindi needs to move up a gear or two!

On this trip, I visited Tanzania & Zanzibar between 2-Feb-2010 and 16-Feb-2010 and I travelled with 1 other person.

We were expecting more from Kilindi. Their website is very outdated and their blog states that it's the place to read about latest events and what's happening but hadn't been updated since the middle of 2009! We understand that management/ownership changes are afoot. If this happens, we have faith that it will be a fantastic destination and doesn't have to be somewhere to go just at the end of a safari. We stayed for two weeks and, had things been better, that wouldn't have been a problem.

Firstly, we hadn't been told that Zanzibar hadn't had power for two months so were surprised. Kilindi had two generators but one of them was small and only used to power essentials. The other was regularly switched off to protect it. Not much fun when the temperature is in the mid 30s and the fan gets turned off early morning and you wake due to the heat and can't get back to sleep. Talking to other visitors to Zanzibar we met in the BA lounge or on the plane, their (cheaper) hotels managed to keep their generators on 24/7.

Two hairdryers for a 15 room hotel? Not acceptable. I had to ask for hair conditioner. Not acceptable. The spa looked fantastic and Cynthia was a great masseur but she was the only person available. We had no choice of oils, the hamman wasn't open and they couldn't carry out facials because they didn't have the products. Again, not acceptable especially given the prices of treatments. Knowing that cotton is grown in Africa and straw bags are cheap in the markets, a beach bag would be useful.

Unfortunately we went down with food poisoning for two days. This can happen anywhere, but when recovered we asked to speak to the chef. He told us that due to the power problem on the island, he couldn't guarantee the freshness of the meat but knew the fish was going to be fresh and well stored. Steak tartare was now off the menu. Well, we rather wish we'd been told this before we ordered meat!!

Everything is in place for a great holiday destination but at the prices Kilindi are charging, we really did expect something far superior than it was. Staff though are delightful and can't be faulted.

I stayed at and have reviewed:

Place	Overall rating
Kilindi, Zanzibar 3-Feb-2010 review: Honest review of Kilindi	Good
Oyster Bay, Tanzania 16-Feb-2010 review: Oyster Bay review	Excellent

---

Good time and odd time ...

On this trip, I visited Botswana between 4-Jul-2009 and 12-Jul-2009 and I travelled with 1 other person.

Despite comments made on the previous page about our time at Linyanti, we enjoyed the holiday as a whole and had some excellent and unique experiences. We don't think the additional cost of travellilng to Botswana was worth it since there was no more exclusivity than we have received elsewhere e.g. Beho Beho in the Selous and Chongwe River House in the Lower Zambezi NP - both booked through Expert Africa.

Suggestions for improvements:

Maybe have more confidence in sending more tourists to Vic Falls ...?

I stayed at and have reviewed:

Place	Overall rating
Victoria Falls Hotel 5-Jul-2009 review: Two good nights at Victoria Falls Hotel	Excellent
Selinda Camp, Botswana 7-Jul-2009 review: Excellent safari at Selina	Good
Linyanti Bush Camp and Linyanti Ebony , Botswana 10-Jul-2009 review: An odd time at Linyanti	Average

---

Flintstones for a week

On this trip, I visited Zambia between 12-Nov-2007 and 20-Nov-2007 and I travelled with 5 other people.

We had the most amazing time. Five guests and 20 members of staff who were all delightful. Highly recommended.

I stayed at and have reviewed:

Place	Overall rating
Chongwe River House, Zambia 13-Nov-2007 review: The Awesome Chongwe River House	Excellent