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Traveller reviews

Travel reviews by C Plowdog from Sydney

Review Distribution

Excellent
Good
Average
Poor
Terrible

Total number of trips

2

Countries visited

4

Lodges stayed in

13

Excursions taken

2

Our August/September Rwanda and Zambia trip

Zambia and 1 other country between 19 Aug 2018 and 9 Sep 2018

Trip rating: Excellent
"Terrific.

Rwanda was great to see the gorillas. they were magic.

Zambia, though was marvellous. We have been to places in Namibia, Botswana and Tanzania before and we really enjoyed them. However when/if we return to Africa we will go back to Zambia: Kafue and South Luangwa. The people were terrific overall, and we saw a variety of wildlife and birdlife.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No"

Arranged By Lucy Copson


Hotel des Mille Collines

Hotel des Mille Collines

"Hotel des Mille Collines"

1 night Arrived 19 Aug 2018
"Good hotel to start a trip to see the Gorillas."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Mountain Gorilla View Lodge

Mountain Gorilla View Lodge

" Mountain Gorilla View Lodge"

3 nights Arrived 20 Aug 2018
"We really enjoyed the Mountain Gorilla Lodge. The rooms were spacious, food terrific by Alfred the Head Chef and his team, it was very close to the the locations from which you walk to see the Gorillas and it was nice to have an open fire in the room in the evening.

The day we left it was raining very heavily (lucky we'd been trekking the 2 days prior) and there was some leakage into our bathroom."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Gorilla Trekking Safari

Gorilla Trekking Safari

"Gorilla Trekking"

21 Aug 2018 • Morning excursion

We had 2 treks on consecutive days. The first day was an easier trek than the second while both were classified as "moderate". We engaged a porter both days.

Seeing the gorillas was a wonderful experience and the local guides, porters and trackers were all excellent.

The second trek was outside the comfort zone of us both although more so for one of us. It was steep, slippery (although not wet) and a tangle under foot. If it wasn't for the porter it would have been almost impossible, and the standard payment of $10 was well earned by the porter (although we gave him more) who was exceptional.

However all things considered we are very glad we saw these wonderful animals, particularly the young ones. In one instance the head tracker facilitated our seeing a young gorilla with its parents.

Excellent
Gorilla Trekking Safari

Gorilla Trekking Safari

"Gorilla Trekking Safari review"

22 Aug 2018 • Morning excursion

see previous
Excellent
Hotel des Mille Collines

Hotel des Mille Collines

"Hotel des Mille Collines review"

1 night Arrived 23 Aug 2018
"see previous [Ed: see below]"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Kigali Tour and Genocide Memorial Visit

Kigali Tour and Genocide Memorial Visit

"City and Memorial Tour"

23 Aug 2018 • All-day excursion

It was an eye opener.

We weren't sure we wanted to do it but overall the memorial was well executed and very informative.

We also enjoyed the craft market on this tour.
Tafika

Tafika

"Tafika review"

3 nights Arrived 24 Aug 2018
"We enjoyed Tafika. It's in a good location in South Luangwa on the river. Our guide Cooper was excellent. We were fortunate to see some excellent animals (Genet, serval, civet) at night.

Food was excellent; the room was spacious and there were other interesting guests."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Big Lagoon Camp

Big Lagoon Camp

"Crocodile Bushcamp review"

2 nights Arrived 27 Aug 2018
"Crocodile was rustic. The chalets had a great view over a dry lagoon where warthogs and Zebra came.

However the staff there were magic: they conjured up miracles of meals from a wood fire. Cakes(!), dinner, entrees, sweets. Nothing was too much trouble.

Our guide Moffat was wonderful: knowledgeable and good company. The guys that walked with us (Zie and Paul) were good humoured and very competent. We felt very safe

We had two reservations with Crocodile: firstly there is not a very high density of wildlife; also there were a lot of biting insects. If we had seen that lion pride that we tracked on foot for an hour it would have been great."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

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

Kaingo Camp

"Kaingo Camp review"

3 nights Arrived 29 Aug 2018
"This is a terrific camp. Rooms were very comfortable with a great view over the river.

The food was really good and the staff, overseen by Eve, looked after us extremely well. The drives were excellent with our guide Yorum. Like Tafika the night drives were wonderful. We saw a porcupine, honey badgers, civets, and genets. And also some hunting lionesses walking around the truck, while we were trying to photograph a rare owlet."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Musekese Camp

"Musekese Camp review"

4 nights Arrived 1 Sep 2018
"My husband's favourite camp. That said our one and only reservation was the limited lighting in the chalet. A bit of a challenge at night especially on the day of arrival.

Apart from that, the location was excellent as it afforded boat safaris, walking safaris and drives. Unfortunately a recent bushfire had caused some animals to be not as prolific but even so we saw a lot of animals here and no other tourists. Again the night drives were an absolute highlight.

Staff were great including Phil (one of the owners), Kolo (the manager) and James our guide. James was knowledgeable, thorough, and good company.

We saw a number of creatures here that we had not seen before: an enormous python, a terrapin, sable and both a lion and leopard immediately following kills. Also with the lion kill we were fortunate to see the behavior of other members of the pride in fighting over the dead puku. The birdlife here is beautiful."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Old Mondoro Bushcamp

Old Mondoro Bushcamp

"Old Mondoro Bushcamp review"

3 nights Arrived 5 Sep 2018
"Old Mondoro was well located especially for the elephants. The chalets are high quality.

The staff were very friendly and the the food was really nice. Our guides there (Sebastian and Marshal) were knowledgeable friendly and committed to us having a good time. This camp unlike the others had the guides sharing the guests. It worked out well as both guides were excellent but overall our preference is one guide for a visit.

We saw some excellent bird life and again the night drives were a highlight (including the Great Eagle Owl). It was pretty good to see a leopard on our initial drive into the camp from the airport.

Old Mondoro is a pretty flash camp."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Avani Victoria Falls

Avani Victoria Falls

"Avani Victoria Falls review"

1 night Arrived 8 Sep 2018
"Well located for viewing the falls.

It's a big hotel, the rooms are good and breakfast was excellent.

It is a perfectly acceptable hotel, but coming from the intimacy and wonderful experiences of the safari camps perhaps it couldn't stand out."
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

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

Loved it, miss it, want to return.

Tanzania and 1 other country between 7 Sep 2014 and 16 Sep 2014

Trip rating: Excellent
"See the short title. It was different, the places were great, and we were so well looked after.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really at this time. Thanks James."

Southern Sun Dar

Southern Sun Dar

"Entering Africa"

1 night Arrived 7 Sep 2014
"Excellent hotel. Good food, nice location but for a very short time. Staff were helpful."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Rooms
Good
Impala Camp

Impala Camp

"Luxury and wildlife next to the Rufiji"

3 nights Arrived 8 Sep 2014
"Just so terrific. Having not been to remote Africa before we didn't know what to expect from Tanzania and Impala Lodge. Suffice to say both were extraordinary. We loved Selous, and Impala Lodge was exceptional.

The staff and service was brilliant, the game drives excellent (our first sight was giraffes a plenty, and then we saw lions, a leopard, wildebeest, with Zebras, kudu, hippos, Goliath herons, bee eaters, hippos, and 2 resident giraffes-including Brian-and many many more animals). We loved the walk, the river landscape and we were looked after so well by Evans, our waiter, Hassan, Simon any all the staff. Dennis the guide put in huge effort to ensure we saw many animals and enjoyed the landscape.

We had no great expectations about the food but it was really good: the tomato tart and crime caramel were brilliant. Go there.

The only suggestion I have is to have combined, not separate, dining."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Kigelia Camp

"Excellence in the bush"

4 nights Arrived 11 Sep 2014
"Kigelia was a great experience in the Ruaha. It was remote, hidden among the trees, and only had 6 tents for guests. It had a couple of resident elephants who joined us every so often, at one time looking closely into the mess tent.

Mollel our guide was magic. He found so many animals for us: 17 lions in one spot and a single cheetah were probably the highlight although we also saw a leopard on the amazing night drive (as well as genets, an african hare, an African fox, and many night creatures), and many elephants, buffalo, birds (the highlight being a small owl), kudu, zebra and giraffes of course, jackals, hyena, warthogs, hippo etc etc. We ate at night under the stars and were excellently looked after.

Hot water was always available and the food was great despite the remoteness. Thanks to Musa, Godfrey and the team for excellent service. Don't miss the Ruaha or Kigelia Camp."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Kholle House

Kholle House

"The triumph of style over substance"

1 night Arrived 15 Sep 2014
"Looked good, beautiful building but it didn't really work."
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

Location
Good
Service
Poor
Rooms
Good
Food
Average

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