Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs K from Virginia
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
1
Lodges stayed in
4
Excursions taken
0
Overall
Botswana between 30 Jun 2009 and 10 Jul 2009
"Just one comment. I would not particularly recommend the guest house we stayed in for one night at Johannesburg. We felt the dinner was a rip-off and the accommodations were only acceptable. The transportation to and from the airport, however, worked very well indeed.
Suggestions for improvement:
When we go again, which we plan to do, we will certainly contact you guys. [Ed: this means Expert Africa!]
Everthing was very well organized and all went smoothly."
Suggestions for improvement:
When we go again, which we plan to do, we will certainly contact you guys. [Ed: this means Expert Africa!]
Everthing was very well organized and all went smoothly."
Airport Guest House (Not currently featured by Expert Africa)
"Overall review"
1 night
Arrived
30 Jun 2009
"Good trip"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Average
Facilities
Excellent
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
DumaTau Camp
"DumaTau review"
3 nights
Arrived
1 Jul 2009
"This was a great camp, and we were lucky to have an extremely experienced guide.
We particularly enjoyed the elephants who wander through the camp every day and animal sightings were very good, including leopard and lion.
Food was decent as were the tents which had a great view out over the river from the deck. They also offered the chance for a short walk, which we did."
We particularly enjoyed the elephants who wander through the camp every day and animal sightings were very good, including leopard and lion.
Food was decent as were the tents which had a great view out over the river from the deck. They also offered the chance for a short walk, which we did."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Facilities
Excellent
Little Vumbura
"Little Vumbura review"
3 nights
Arrived
4 Jul 2009
"This is a water camp, but actually you spend most of your time on game drives, but because of the location you have a 15-minute boat trip to get to the vehicle and back twice a day. At first that is fun, but it gets old pretty quickly and it reduces your time for the actual drive.
They offer mokoro trips here and rides on the boat, but most people only do the mokoro as you get a boat ride every day. The mokoro was fun, as an elephant walked across the river right in front of us and we saw baboons in a tree as well as river life.
However, if we did it again, I would not go to a water camp. Other land camps also seem to offer experiences on a river, and I think that makes more sense."
They offer mokoro trips here and rides on the boat, but most people only do the mokoro as you get a boat ride every day. The mokoro was fun, as an elephant walked across the river right in front of us and we saw baboons in a tree as well as river life.
However, if we did it again, I would not go to a water camp. Other land camps also seem to offer experiences on a river, and I think that makes more sense."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Average
Facilities
Excellent
Feedback response
We passed these comments to the Little Vumbura team, and they commented:
"The floods in to the Okavango Delta have been absolutely tremendous this year and have been recorded as the highest since 1963. A number of scenarios have contributed to this including above average rainfall over the past couple of years in the catchment area in Angola; good rains over the Okavango Delta; and heavy late rains. All three factors resulted in a vey high water table which meant when this year's flood came down in to the Delta, instead of seeping in to the ground it rose to cover a far great area than usual (since 1963).
From an environmental perspective, the high water levels will lead to a fantastic regeneration process for the years to come. From an experience perspective for our guests, Chris is correct in that rather than the normal 40 minute drive from the airstrip to the boat station and a 10 minute boat transfer in to camp, the transfer became a 10 minute road transfer to a new "boat station" and a 40 minute boat transfer in to camp. This new transfer route was in place for most of June and part of July and we had hoped that the beauty of the transfer and the phenomena of the floods would increase the experience for our guests. However for those guests who were visiting Little Vumbura for predominantly the land/game experience, the boat transfers may have felt too repetitive. Little Vumbura is what we call a combination camp and, by virtue of being located on an island deep in the Okavango Delta but in an area where there is permanent dry land close by, it offers both superb water and game activities.
The flood has now pushed its way quite a long way down and as a result the water levels have dropped in the Little Vumbura and Vumbura Plains area and we are now [Ed: comments received on 31 July 2009] back to using our game drive transfer route in to camp."
"The floods in to the Okavango Delta have been absolutely tremendous this year and have been recorded as the highest since 1963. A number of scenarios have contributed to this including above average rainfall over the past couple of years in the catchment area in Angola; good rains over the Okavango Delta; and heavy late rains. All three factors resulted in a vey high water table which meant when this year's flood came down in to the Delta, instead of seeping in to the ground it rose to cover a far great area than usual (since 1963).
From an environmental perspective, the high water levels will lead to a fantastic regeneration process for the years to come. From an experience perspective for our guests, Chris is correct in that rather than the normal 40 minute drive from the airstrip to the boat station and a 10 minute boat transfer in to camp, the transfer became a 10 minute road transfer to a new "boat station" and a 40 minute boat transfer in to camp. This new transfer route was in place for most of June and part of July and we had hoped that the beauty of the transfer and the phenomena of the floods would increase the experience for our guests. However for those guests who were visiting Little Vumbura for predominantly the land/game experience, the boat transfers may have felt too repetitive. Little Vumbura is what we call a combination camp and, by virtue of being located on an island deep in the Okavango Delta but in an area where there is permanent dry land close by, it offers both superb water and game activities.
The flood has now pushed its way quite a long way down and as a result the water levels have dropped in the Little Vumbura and Vumbura Plains area and we are now [Ed: comments received on 31 July 2009] back to using our game drive transfer route in to camp."
Chitabe Lediba
"Chitabe Lediba review"
3 nights
Arrived
7 Jul 2009
"This was also a wonderful camp. We had another amazingly good guide who hunted all over for big cats for us. We saw a cheetah stalk on a hunt, although it scared the impala too early so we never saw it run. We also watched a small pride of lions trying to stampede a buffalo herd so they could catch one. They too failed, but the battle between the lions and the buffalo was great to watch. One minute the lions were chasing buffalo, the next the buffalo bulls were chasing the lions.
We found lots of other animals here and the night drives were particularly productive, I think because the guide was so good. We went out with Newman.
The staff here went out of their way to be hospitable. For a couple of nights we were the only guests, and one night they surprised us with a candlelight dinner on our deck!
Spectacular place. Although Duma Tau rates right up there too, this was the best camp of the three for us."
We found lots of other animals here and the night drives were particularly productive, I think because the guide was so good. We went out with Newman.
The staff here went out of their way to be hospitable. For a couple of nights we were the only guests, and one night they surprised us with a candlelight dinner on our deck!
Spectacular place. Although Duma Tau rates right up there too, this was the best camp of the three for us."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Facilities
Excellent