Travel reviews by Mr P from Southampton
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
2
Countries visited
4
Lodges stayed in
16
Excursions taken
0
My Aug 2024 trip
Tanzania between 31 Aug 2024 and 5 Sep 2024
Arranged By Tamara Hoskyns-Abrahall
Katambuga House
"Katambuga House review"
Ubuntu Camp
"Great location for the migration crossing"
Last I would like to give my special thanks to my guide Christian, without whose talents I could not have seen what I did.
I shall always remember fondly my visit to Ubuntu. Thank you all."
Great trip overall
Namibia and 2 other countries between 30 Aug 2008 and 23 Sep 2008
Thank you Expert Africa!"
Arranged By Maruska AdyeRowe
1 on Queens (Not currently featured by Expert Africa)
"good location - but no sleep"
We had been to Cape Town before so our activities were centred on things we had not seen on our previous visit - the highlight of which was seeing the penguin colony at Boulders Beach."
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
De Kelders B&B (Not currently featured by Expert Africa)
"beautiful location - shame about the weather!"
As we could not go shark diving,we instead toured the Overberg. This is a little-touristed area containing such gems as Elim - a beautiful village - and very fine fynbos. We also went to Cape Agulhas - the southernmost tip of Africa and very windy!"
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Ndedema Lodge
"Great wildflower viewing in the Cedarberg."
Our hosts could not have been kinder or more helpful and it was they who made our stay with their recommendation of a wonderful wildflower drive. On the way back we walked the Sevilla trail - a stroll through the wild flowers to see ancient rock art - a superb end to the day."
Mountain View Guest House
"Beautiful room and excellent wildflowers"
We stayed 2 nights here from where we drove several wildflower routes, the most memorable being Skilpad - large expanses of Namaqua daisies - and Goekap - amazing variety of different wildflowers in lovely setting."
Kalahari Anib Lodge
"A great stopover"
In the event, we had an excellent dinner in pleasant surroundings served by very friendly and efficient staff - clearly a well managed establishment. We did not go on any activities since this was our first stop in Namibia en route to Sossusvlei and the dunes."
Kulala Desert Lodge
"Great location - awful service"
Our room was also not very clean with quite a lot of sand about and large balls of fluff and dirt in the wardrobe.
However, this was only the beginning. At dinner my wife was served the only 2 vegetables she does not eat as her main course. We then had to wait a long time while the restaurant staff then went through my wife's dietary requirements in detail! Eventually we were served an acceptable meal but by then it was getting quite late.
Because of the problems the previous evening, my wife and I did not get "brunch" at Sossusvlei at the end of our dune excusion and instead were taken back early to the lodge for lunch there which consisted of a greek salad (less feta cheese and cucumber!!!) - ie an olive and lettuce salad with a few tomatoes. As a final insult the lodge tried to charge us for 2 beers with the lunch which were freely available at no cost on our dune excursion, not to mention the complimentary glass of wine which they gave us the night before while we waited 2 hours for our dinner!!
It is also worth noting that having been on holiday in Southern Africa for 23 days, this was the ONLY lodge/B&B which served tinned fruit salad at all mealtimes when fresh fruit was freely available.
At lunch on our final day, we sat down with the staff and wrote out again a list of my wife's dietary requirements which we asked them to pass on to Doro Nawas and Wilderness Zambia.We also discovered that the list Kulala had received from Wilderness was considerably shortened and while this would normally excuse them a little, the fact that they refused to run through the detail on our arrival was Kulala's fault alone.
Overall this stay was very disappointing and very poor value for the money we paid."
By way of apology the lodge has refunded the cost of the morning excursion to the dunes at Sossusvlei.
Sea Breeze Guesthouse
"A great little B&B"
We were also lucky that we arrived in and departed Swakopmund in sunny weather which gave us the opportunity to "walk the sights"."
Doro Nawas
"A brilliant stay"
They had clearly received the dietary list and meals were no longer an issue. In fact nothing was too much trouble and Doro Nawas clearly benefitted from being properly managed. To cap it all we also had our sundowner watching a herd of 11 desert elephants in the Huab river valley. Thank you!"
Okaukuejo Camp
"Much better than expected"
We self-catered in the evening so as not to miss the activity at the waterhole but did take breakfast in the restaurant- plenty of choice (even for my wife (fresh not tinned fruit!) which was excellent. Checking in was a little tedious but checking out very quick with no need for an inventory check to collect my refund of the 500 Rand deposit.
Game viewing was excellent throughout with plenty of activity at many of the other waterholes we visited. Highlights at the Okakuejo waterhole were Black Rhino every night - 6 on one night - huge herds of elephant with tiny babies, massive numbers of zebra in the morning and a jackal kill right in front of us."
Haus Sonneneck
"Another pleasant night stop"
We had to leave at 5.15am the following morning to catch an early flight from Windhoek and so were not able to enjoy the breakfast hospitality. However we were both given a generous packed breakfast to see us on our way.
While in Windhoek, we took a lovely little drive out to Dal Viljoen National Park some 20 km away and spent a pleasant couple of hours walking by the lake."
Taj Pamodzi Hotel
"Poor value for money - certainly not 4/5 star"
Our room was very noisy throughout the night - we do not know what it was - some kind of machinery - and we found in the early hours that the toilet did not flush. All this was reported to the duty manager in the morning and he took my email address - I have still not heard from them.
On a point of safety there was a small step from the bathroom to the bedroom which we both tripped or fell over during the night - fortunately with no injury. This is an unnecessary hazard.
We were also briefed to expert a message in the hotel from Wilderness Safaris concerning our flight to Kafue. Despite asking 3 times during the evening we were there and also the following morning we heard nothing. The end result was another Wilderness shambles with us being stranded on the wrong side of Lusaka Airport as the Taj Pomodzi driver had no idea where Sefofane was and was misdirected to the wrong operator!!"
Wilderness Safaris did contact the Taj Pamodzi Hotel regarding the morning transfer details as arranged, but it seems that this message was not passed on. To avoid similar problems in the future, Expert Africa well be using a separate company to arrange transfers between the airport and hotels in Lusaka.
Lufupa Tented Camp, Zambia (this camp has since closed)
"Very enjoyable even with no leopards!"
Unfortunately Wilderness Safaris' communications let them down again and the poor manager (JD) had no idea at all of my wife's dietary requirements. Once this had been sorted out with yet another face-to-face meeting, the food was not an issue. To try to prevent any more problems JD sent his catering manager (Kenny) along with us on the rest of our safari."
The shortage of animals during this visit is unfortunate and something that could not have been forecast. Wildlife sighting figures throughout the year show that this was and unusual ‘slump’ and not a common occurrence. We were pleased to hear that the excellent wildlife sightings at Musanza Camp made up for this.
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Musanza Bushcamp, Zambia (this camp has since closed)
"A lovely tent in the bush and great wildlife"
The only slight negative was again on the food side, where sending the catering manager along to supervise tended to inhibit Musanza's own camp chef, leading to one very disappointing meal in particular for my vegetarian wife. While the rest of us were tucking into a huge barbecue with lots of different meats and assorted vegetables, my wife was only offered the 2 vegetables as her main course whereas on every other occasion a separate main course (including a protein element) was prepared for her in addition to the usual vegetables. We put this down (kindly) to forgetfulness but it showed poor attention to detail and an element of laziness which completely spoiled my wife's enjoyment of the evening."
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Lunga River Lodge, Zambia (this camp has since closed)
"Great last night"
We had a lovely room overlooking the river and did 2 outstanding river trips with fantastic elephant sightings in the water.
In particular the river trips kept us well clear of the tsetse flies!"
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
The only minor negative point was that, on settling my bill, they seemed to be unaware that I was staying on prepaid half board terms. As a result I had to go back to the room to get my trip itinerary to prove this."