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Traveller reviews

Travel reviews by Mr L Chequer from UK

Review Distribution

Excellent
Good
Average
Poor
Terrible

Total number of trips

1

Countries visited

1

Lodges stayed in

9

Excursions taken

0

Let's go back!

Zambia between 6 Sep 2007 and 25 Sep 2007

Trip rating: Excellent
"Owner-run camps are far superior to the Wilderness camps, for the most part (Lufupa excepted).

Expert Africa should work harder to promote the smaller camps which have invested so much in providing and further developing outstanding experiences for their guests. I would hate to see them pushed out by the larger international operations. The tsetse fly situation came close to ruining our visit in a couple of places.

You really should do more to warn visitors of their presence. People should not be subjected to long drives at tree line or in forests during peak fly times of day. Mosi Beer lived up to expectations, though! Would be happy to discuss our visit with Anna in more detail.

Finally, we would like to thank the people in Expert Africa for all of the help that has been provided for us. Anna has been a real source of good and reliable information and has come up with lots of suggestions which made our trip special. She has gone that extra bit to ensure that everything came out well and all of the bits were in place. I am sure that there were times when we were real pains, but we never knew it from Anna. With people like her, I'm sure that your organisation will continue its run of success."

Feedback response

We're very heartened by some aspects of the comments here, and have clearly noted all of them!

What Expert Africa does is all about offering our travellers a wide range of well-informed choices. We do our very best to research in detail, and to seek out the top camps in Africa's most interesting areas – whether they’re marketed well or not. We go and see them for ourselves, judge for ourselves, and then offer the choices as impartially as we can to our travellers, offering views based on our personal experiences.

Most of the team here share a special liking for small safari camps run by their owners, as we find that they can bring an individuality and a passion to the game experience that’s hard to beat. Kaingo and Mwamba are great examples of this kind of small, owner-run camps – and camps don’t come much smaller (or food much better!) than you’ll find at Kutandala.

That said, some areas of Africa are exceedingly difficult to operate in, very expensive, or just sometimes there simply aren’t any owner-operated camps! The Busanga Plains area of Northern Kafue is a case in point: there Wilderness Safaris are really the only company to have permanent camps.

Wilderness are big enough to handle the logistics of this area (where few others could), and have the resources to be capable of protecting the area better than any smaller operations could ever hope to. So for that reason – and the fact that many travellers enjoy their consistent style of their more luxurious camps – we’re happy to offer them as a choice for our travellers also.

It is, we believe, all about us helping our travellers to be well-informed about all the choices that you make when you’re deciding on a safari to Africa - but it's not about choosing the camps for you!


Shumba Camp

Shumba Camp

"Facilities way over the top, Activities?"

3 nights Arrived 7 Sep 2007
"We depated the rating, ave to poor. The facility and food were what is expected for the price.

Nobody really thought out our activities for the time we were there. On day two, we were the only people in camp and got the morning and evening drive and were offered and all day drive for the last day. Next day, with two couples just off the plane from the USA, we drove 20k beyond Treetops [Ed: south!] and then returned and had a three hour night drive before hitting camp. Game was not up to expectations on the entire stay.

On the next day we retraced the trip as we went to Lufupa. Discussed this with camp management. Tsetse fly problem is BIG in Kafue. It seems it is legenday as per every subsequent guide we met. WARN pepple about this. Wilderness seems to have some inexperienced camp managers who seem to be selected for people skills.

Idos is a very good guide but needs to be more in tune with how his clients are reacting. (We drove much too far and he wouldn't give up and took us on a goose chase on the night drive when we were all exhausted.)"
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

Location
Average
Service
Excellent
Activities
Average
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Image alt

Lunga River Lodge, Zambia (this camp has since closed)

"good locaton, cooking and very good guide"

1 night Arrived 7 Sep 2007
"Brian was our guide. Would have stayed here longer.

Camp has a good feel too it, not overly posh but a step above bush camps. Screens could be used on windows."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Image alt

Lufupa Tented Camp, Zambia (this camp has since closed)

"Lufupa comments"

2 nights Arrived 10 Sep 2007
"Buzz and Natalie were by far the best managers of any Wilderness camp.

Robert was an amazing and knowledgeable guide. Wilderness is making great strides with this camp; it'll be better when all the supplies arrive -- and it's up to Natalie's standards!"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Taj Pamodzi Hotel

Taj Pamodzi Hotel

"Posh but lacking in some areas"

1 night Arrived 12 Sep 2007
"Looked fabulous. Problems with next morning's shuttle; had to get manager to sort out. They wanted us to leave hotel at 5a.m. for 9-ish flight; original receptionist was less than willing to help at all. Her supervisor was wonderful and arranged another time (which others took advantage of, too!). She helped up arrange a trip to the cultural/craft center.

Steaks 'n' Grill restaurant had no game, though it was on the menu. Food available was great. No indication about whether to drink the water in hotel -- everyone we mentioned it to said Lusaka water NOT good to drink! Lynne fought diarrhea for two weeks as a result. Breakfast not ready at 5.30; supposedly began at 5!"
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Average
Service
Average
Facilities
Average
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Image alt

Kutandala Camp, Zambia (this camp has since closed)

"Magic! Top-notch guiding; chef incredible!"

4 nights Arrived 13 Sep 2007
"Rod and Guz work wonders in the bush. Camp is super and exceeded our expectations.

Care and attention to Lynne was much appreciated. Rod worked extremely hard to make sure guests were happy and doing what THEY wanted. He infectious enthusiasm for the bush shows in everything he does. And what Guz does with her limited kitchen facilities is nothing short of a miracle: one night we had cinnamon ice cream, served in an ice bowl!

Sundowners in the river was an amazing experience. And looking at the night sky through Rod's telescope was great, too. Huts are well designed, comfortable -- and the staff mega-attentive."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Kaingo Camp

Kaingo Camp

"A 'must return' camp!"

2 nights Arrived 17 Sep 2007
"Hooray! Jules had antibiotics for Lynne! Game plentiful, guides excellent and knowledgeable.

Opportunities to do different activities: bird hide (yes), elephant hide sleepover (interesting?); hippo hide, walks, etc. Hard to keep up with the pace of the camp and its activities. It's an opportunity to overindulge in food and drink in a BIG way -- Mosi beers could've been colder (John), but it was getting VERY warm!

Camp is dedicated to the game and bush, rather than the frills of camp itself (see Shumba). Jules and Derek have the balance exactly right."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Mwamba Bushcamp

Mwamba Bushcamp

"What a great little gem in the bush!"

3 nights Arrived 19 Sep 2007
"Ian and Gail do a terrific job -- with limited facilities. Experience shows!

Huts are terrific and stood up to close encounters with munching elephants. Everything we said about Kaingo applies here."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Kaingo Camp

Kaingo Camp

"See previous notes"

1 night Arrived 22 Sep 2007
"See previous. [These travellers stayed at Kaingo twice - either side of their stay at Mwamba Bushcamp.]

The reason we rated rooms 'good' rather than excellent was lack of cross-ventilation. Solar power might give them the ability to put ceiling or floor fans in room for hot weather."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Kaingo Camp

Kaingo Camp

"see previous"

2 nights Arrived 23 Sep 2007
"see previous"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent

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