Reviews of Sausage Tree Camp
(95%) From 19 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Sausage Tree
True elegance on the banks of the Zambezi. We were lucky enough to share this camp with just one other (honeymoon) couple after the first night. The location can't be beaten, and a constant stream of elephants crossing the river provide for regular entertainment.
Superb chalets, with a lot of storage space and places to lay out of the camera gear. Nicci and Alan were superb and attentive hosts - and we loved the story about the honey badger and the box of wine! Real Africa hands with a wealth of experience and anecdotes and a pleasure to be with. Hastings was an excellent guide bringing a lifetime of experience to the drives, while Victor shared a wealth of knowledge during a morning walk in the bush. James was a great spotter.
Claver (? spelling) was the most attentive "muchinda" you could ever ask for. His wry smile when we told him "10 minutes" for an evening collection from the chalet for dinner didn't give away the candlelit path through our bedroom to the bathroom when we opened the chalet door, nor the already prepared bubble bath - he knew we'd be more than 10 minutes! Highlights - sitting in the middle of the huge buffalo herd; the leopard sightings, and the lion bellowing as the sun went down.
But for pure experience, lunch on one of the reed covered snadbanks, with our feet dangling in the Zambezi river, would take a lot of beating. Even in October, the area seemed greener than South Luanga, and the bush was definitely denser. Personally, we would have liked to have spent a little more time just sitting out at the water holes and lagoons watching what appeared, but this is a minor comment, based on nearly two weeks bouncing about in a Land Cruiser, on what was an excellent finale to our Zambian excursion.
Sausage Tree Camp review
friendly knowledgable staff, beautiful location, care and attention, fabulous room
Read more about the whole safari
Sausage Tree Camp review
Out of Africa with luxury, elephants holding us hostage, canoeing on the Zambezi, great birding, superb guiding and an unbelievable experience of dining in the river.
Small moan about quality of equipment and staffing of fishing trip which were not good.
Sausage Tree Camp review
Sausage Tree Camp was just fantastic and I could not in anyway fault the accommodation, food, entertainment, Game Drives and accommodation. It was pure perfection.
There were four hosts being David and Tash, who are leaving at the end of the season and Alan and Nikki who are taking over from them. They were all excellent hosts and nothing was too much trouble.
We just had the most wonderful time and regret that we were only there for a week.
Again no postcards!
I am concerned to hear that there are plans to develop the camp further and the room that I had is to be converted into a two story room. I fear that there is a risk that Sausage Tree could become over developed and the luxury that would be offered in the future could bring it out of the price range of its current clientele. Only the very wealthy could then afford to stay there and the whole atmosphere of the camp would change. This was a general concern of all of us who were staying there and was also shared by a number of the staff and guides.
The whole palace was perfection, although I do understand the necessity to keep up to the competition of other camps in the area. What I am saying it would be a terrible shame to see this place change in any way. It is pure perfection.
If I do have just one concern that is that there is a very old Land Rover that takes one from the plane to the river to join the boat for the majority of the journey to camp. There was no problem as far as we were concerned, but one day the Land Rover did break down and the guests were delayed in reaching the camp. If this were to happen on the final journey from camp the guests were to miss their connecting flights, and as you know there is only a short time between the arrival from camp into Lusaka airport and the connecting flight to London Heathrow. If guests missed the flight to London because the old land Rover broke down then this could be a problem for everyone involved.
I can't wait to go back there as it is the best location that I have ever stayed at andwas just out of this world.
Sausage Tree Camp review
Rather OTT and I feel rather over priced and over rated. The guides were not as good as they were in Tafika and we saw nowhere near as much wildlife.The food was nowhere near as good as at Tfika we always had cheese and biscuits for lunch dessert and soup for evening starter. Mostly coleslaw salads with everything else.
We had to have safety talks before every activity. This may well change when Nikki and her husband take over and were given an indemnity card to fill in. Reading the back of the cards tells us that once we have signed them we cannot claim any damages to our person or property as a result of the camps negligent acts or omissions. For example I assume that if the driver of the boat didn't check for leaks, it sunk and we were eaten by crocodiles this is not the camps responsibilty? I think it is.
We did not sign these forms and did not give them in. We have never before been asked to fill in forms like this before and I would advice anyone else visiting the camp not to fill them in.
Expert Africa comments
We’re very sorry that these travellers felt that Sausage Tree was over-priced and over-rated, and that the food wasn’t up to standard. We’ve passed these comments to the camp.
Meanwhile, several interesting points are raised here…
Firstly, we’re delighted that this camp has a clear policy of safety talks before every activity – even though to our regular travellers, it’ll seem a bit superfluous.
Secondly, it is becoming more commonplace for lodges and camps to ask their guests to sign indemnity forms. We address this in our brochure’s General Information section, which says:
WILD ANIMALS
In taking a trip to Africa, you acknowledge that it involves risk. Amongst other problems, wild animals can present threats to your safety and your health. These risks are your responsibility. We will do everything we can to ensure that you are well-informed of the risks and, where necessary, have you guided by some of the best guides in the business. You can minimize the risks by following the instructions and advice of your guides, and never walking out on your own. In camps where animals wander freely, make sure that you have a guide to escort you when you walk around the camp. Do not touch any plants, animals or insects, however harmless they seem. Any could be hazardous. Please note that many safari lodges will require you to sign personal indemnity forms, or in some places equivalent indemnities are incorporated by law into the guest register that you sign. If you do not accept such risks, then do not book a trip with us to Africa.
Whilst our travellers are at liberty not to sign such forms … they must accept that there may be a few camps where this will result in them missing out on some activities.
We would always encourage lodges which remind travellers of the inherent risks in any African safari – using a form to read and sign, or briefing of any sort. If a traveller isn’t willing to accept these, then we recommend that they don’t travel with us.
However, we do not encourage lodges to ask travellers to sign disclaimer forms waiving liability for their acts of negligence. There’s simply no point: these are useless!
The good news is that our travellers can rest easy and sign such forms without concern. If any of our travellers tried to claim damages for a (hypothetical) sinking boat, as outlined above, then they would claim directly against Expert Africa, not the camp. So if the (hypothetical) boat driver was guilty of the gross negligence which caused an injury or death from sinking … then no waiver form on the planet would absolve us from liability for this in the British courts!
In the light of this traveller’s comments … we’ll be pointing this out to Sausage Tree camp, so that they can re-consider their form, and their policy.
Sausage Tree Camp review
When we first pitched up at Sausage Tree we knew that they would have to be something special to match Nwakli so on the first evening outing when we didn't see many animals we were regretting our decision to move on. However, the staff were so friendly and nothing was too much trouble for them. anything you wanted they would arrange. they arranged two superb meal suprises for us and the other guests - one a bush dinner and the other lunch in the Zambezi (Yes in the Zambezi).
We had two canoe rides and met lots and lots of hippos which was a bit scarey but the guides were so professional and we never felt threatened even though we did have a bit of a stand off with one Hippo who did not want to let us past. A great time had by both of us.
Excellent accommodation with personal touches
The location was superb and both Dave and Tash took extra care with all their guests. Dinner in the bush, lunch in the river (yes in it!) were both excellent and different.
We were fortunate enough to be upgraded to the Honeymoon suite on our last night, which was beautiflly decorated with candles, a hoit bubble bath prepared after our game drive and a private candle lit dinner for us on our suite. We were completely overwhelmed and it was the perfect end to a perfect trip.
We tried canoeing, which was a new experience for us - an excellent way to view the wildlife and so peaceful. We were a little nervous about being in a cnoe, but the guides were very good and we felt very safe.
Our personal butle, Shepherd was very attentive throughout our stay and we have passed on our personal feedback direct tothe camp about him - he was so good.
Tash did an excellent job taking care of my dietary needs - the food at the camp was superb.
Sausage Tree Camp review
We loved our experience at Sausage Tree Camp. Our tent was fantastic with great views and a fantastic bath. We really felt like we were close to nature and could just sit in our tent and watch the Zambezi.
The food was great and varied and we felt the place was very welcoming. There was also a great range of activities, we went on game drives during the evening, a canoeing trip, boat rides and went fishing for Tiger Fish. We encountered loads of animals including a leopard and lots of lions.
The guides were increadiby friendly and very knowledgable. We felt very spoiled at Sausage Tree Camp, a romantic dinner was planned for us as a surprise in our tent and everyone in the camp had a special lunch with our feet dangling in the river. The camp was so relaxed and we felt really at home.
Absolutely first rate
We have known about Sausage Tree for quite a while (this is our sixth time in Zambia).
Our first visit, and honestly couldn't fault it
Very highly recommended
We have always believed that acting responsibly is the only way to approach tourism and we're one of
the few companies to hold AITO's original coveted 5-star status for responsible tourism. It's a lead
that others are now following.
