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Traveller reviews

Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs B from Somerset

Review Distribution

Excellent
Good
Average
Poor
Terrible

Total number of trips

1

Countries visited

1

Lodges stayed in

6

Excursions taken

0

Our First Safari Experience September 2012

Zambia between 12 Sep 2012 and 24 Sep 2012

Trip rating: Excellent
"We hadn't been on a safari before and this trip exceeded our expectations in every way!
The standard of food and accommodation was excellent. The Norman Carr guides were very knowledgeable and only too happy to answer questions. We learnt a lot about the animals and birds and the environment they live in, which we found very interesting. The hosts and their teams in the camps were all very friendly and helpful, doing their utmost to make our stay very enjoyable.
Maybe we were lucky because we went to the South Luangwa Valley at one of the best times for wildlife viewing but we were amazed at the amount of animals we saw, especially whilst walking, when we hadn't really expected to see much.
The best part of the whole safari experience, for us, was definitely the bush camps and the walking. We loved the thrill of seeing the animals from ground level and the feeling of being "away from it all" at the camps. It was a fantastic experience."

Arranged By Claire Scott


Kapani Lodge

Kapani Lodge

"Kapani Lodge"

2 nights Arrived 13 Sep 2012
"Apart from our last evening, we were the only guests at Kapani. This wasn't a problem as we enjoyed having the guide, Charles, to ourselves. Everyone was very attentive and the drives were tailored to our particular interests. Obviously this wouldn't be the case had there been other guests.
As this was our first safari holiday we didn't quite know what to expect. The game drives on the whole were very enjoyable and we saw a lot of birds near Kapani but the animals were mostly inside the national park. At times, particularly on the night drives, there were quite a few other vehicles present around the animals, which wasn't such an enjoyable experience."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

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

Luwi Bushcamp

"Luwi Bushcamp"

2 nights Arrived 15 Sep 2012
"Luwi is a lovely camp and we really enjoyed being in the bush listening to the sounds of the animals at night. The camp was much more luxurious than we had imagined it would be and the delicious food also exceeded our expectations.

We went on our first walking safari from Luwi and enjoyed it very much. The focus of the walk was about the environment in which the animals lived and we learnt a huge amount about their surroundings and daily life. The walks were also a good opportunity for birdwatching, and we did get quite close to larger animals on occasion, a real treat!

The highlights of our stay at Luwi would have to be the herd of seventeen elephants walking past us as we sat relaxing in camp one afternoon and the large number of crocodiles eating a dead hippo at the lagoon."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Nsolo Bushcamp

Nsolo Bushcamp

"Nsolo Bushcamp"

2 nights Arrived 17 Sep 2012
"We walked to Nsolo from Luwi, which was a lovely way to arrive at this delightful bushcamp, passing herds of impala and puku on the way. We also had our first encounter with a buffalo! Pippa, our enthusiastic hostess, made our stay very enjoyable. The food and accommodation were excellent and being able to peek over the bathroom wall and be face to face with an elephant was a very novel experience.
The walks with Lawrence and Innocent were a wonderful opportunity to join zebra, elephant, wildebeest, warthogs and antelope in their environment. We were also lucky to see a serval and grysbok on our night drive."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Kakuli Bushcamp

Kakuli Bushcamp

"Kakuli Bushcamp"

2 nights Arrived 19 Sep 2012
"Our walk from Nsolo to Kakuli with Innocent was one of the highlights of our safari. We were very fortunate to see lots of animals and birds along the way. Standing 15m away from 3 giraffes was a magical moment as was the sighting of a leopard sitting in the dry river bed.

We were met at Kakuli by the very capable Amy, who along with her usual duties, had marauding elephants to cope with! We were informed of the safety drill regarding the elephants coming into camp and shown to yet another beautiful chalet. After a delicious lunch and a visit by Dickson, the resident elephant, we happily spent the afternoon on the viewing platform watching a group of elephants with babies drinking and enjoying the water in front of us.
We saw a huge number of animals during our time at Kakuli, particularly during the afternoon/night drives with our guide John. We were thrilled to get very close to giraffe, buffalo, hyena, leopard and even a pride of lions eating a zebra."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Mchenja Bushcamp

Mchenja Bushcamp

"Mchenja Bushcamp"

2 nights Arrived 21 Sep 2012
"Walking from Kakuli to Mchenja accompanied by John and Davis, we saw a group of young male lions on the other side of the dry river bed - we were looking at them and them at us. It was amazing to be on foot and be able to view the lions in this way thanks to the expert knowledge of our guide and scout. A bit further on we found ourselves in need of this expertise again when the wind changed as we walked past some young male elephants. Having been ushered swiftly to a safe spot, with Davis ready with his rifle, we were able to watch one of the elephants as he put on a macho show of trumpeting and throwing his head back, tusks displayed. Fortunately he decided against charging us but our hearts were thumping!

We arrived at Mchenja to be greeted by our lovely host Amber, who was very good company. By now we had grown used to the routine of delicious lunch followed by tasty cakes at afternoon tea and excellent dinner under the stars interspersed with informative walks and drives watching amazing wildlife. We were reunited with Lawrence as our guide for our two night stay, much to our delight as keen birdwatchers, as he took us to where hundreds of carmine bee-eaters were building nestholes - a marvellous sight. In addition to all the other animals we saw, he also came up trumps on our last night drive by finding a honey badger (up a tree), which we had been particularly keen to see."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
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Eight Reedbuck Hotel, Zambia (this camp has since closed)

"Eight Reedbuck Hotel"

1 night Arrived 23 Sep 2012
"We only stayed here as we had to be near the airport for an early flight back to London. The room was comfortable and perfectly acceptable for a brief overnight stay. We had an evening meal in the dining room as the hotel didn't appear to be located in an area where there were any restaurants. We thought the food was overpriced and not very good. With hindsight we should have enquired whether there were any other places to eat nearby. We were provided with items for a very basic breakfast the night before, as we had to leave for the airport before they started serving breakfast."
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

Location
Average
Service
Average
Activities
Average
Rooms
Good
Food
Poor
Facilities
Average

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