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Traveller reviews

Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs M from Chelmsford

Review Distribution

Excellent
Good
Average
Poor
Terrible

Total number of trips

2

Countries visited

2

Lodges stayed in

12

Excursions taken

0

My Sep 2012 trip

Zambia between 27 Sep 2012 and 9 Oct 2012

Trip rating: Excellent
"If you love Africa and safari but are less keen on the cost of Botswana or crowds in Serengeti or Maasai Mara then try South Luangwa or Lower Zambezi in Zambia. Expert Africa, and Maruska Adye in particular, organised a wonderful and faultless trip.

After several visits to Africa we can confirm that the continent's best accomodation, and best value, is the Albida Suite at Chongwe River Camp!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No - great service, thanks."

Arranged By Maruska AdyeRowe


Pioneer Camp

Pioneer Camp

"Pioneer Camp review"

1 night Arrived 27 Sep 2012
"Pioneer Camp is like a bush camp but on the outskirts of Lusaka. A good overnight stop-off on route from the airport to a safari holiday.

Bird life at dawn was fantastic."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Good
Service
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Kakuli Bushcamp

Kakuli Bushcamp

"Friendly luxury bush camp"

2 nights Arrived 28 Sep 2012
"The camp has a lovely setting on the Luangwa river. Spacious and comfortable "tents", friendly, enthusiastic and welcoming staff, good food (how do they provide fresh produce and cook it so well in such a remote place?) good guides and abundant wildlife. This goes for all the Norman Carr camps we stayed at.

Our nighttime visit from Dixon the elephant was quite memorable. The only minor negative was the appearance of mosquitos at night."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Nsolo Bushcamp

"Remote bush camp"

2 nights Arrived 30 Sep 2012
"A very small luxury camp on the banks of the dry Luwi river. We loved the walk from Kakuli Camp to Nsolo, but it was very hot (40+) in early October. Spacious and comfortable cabins, friendly, enthusiastic and welcoming staff, good food (how do they provide fresh produce and cook it so well in such a remote place?) and good guides.

Wild life was less abundant than other sites as the place was so dry and tsetse flies were a nuisance. We would return, but earlier in the dry season when the location could be fabulous.."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

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

Mchenja Bushcamp

"Mchenja Bushcamp review"

3 nights Arrived 2 Oct 2012
"Spacious and comfortable tents, friendly, enthusiastic and welcoming staff, good food (how do they provide fresh produce and cook it so well in such a remote place?) good guides and abundant wildlife.

Unbelievable game sightings - on the first night a pride of 12 lions killed a bull buffalo within 200 metres of the camp and 2 Pels fishing owls live in the trees by the camp, Hippos honk their songs and lions call all night long."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Chongwe River Camp

Chongwe River Camp

"Chongwe suberb - Albida suite is pure luxury"

4 nights Arrived 5 Oct 2012
"We stayed in the Albida suite for 4 nights, and it is the best accommodation we have ever experienced in all our years of travelling.

Michael was the perfect butler, Flossie the wonderfully exuberant host and Patrick Cryvet (littlebrownjobs1) the best birding and all-round guide we have ever had.

Waking up to watch, from our bed, the sun rise across the Zambezi while the hippos splashed and grunted their laughter in the river was a wonderfully moving experience. We absolutely loved it."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent

Namibia - a wonderful place to visit

Namibia between 18 Jul 2009 and 31 Jul 2009

Trip rating: Excellent
"Our trip to Namibia beat all expectations. We had less than two weeks so we concentrated on the central highlands and game spotting. Namibians were, to a person, friendly and helpful.

Olive Grove is a peaceful place to start and wind down at the finish. The choice of Erongo was a great opener, followed by the countless game of Etosha.

Mundulea was the definite highlight, and Okonjima was a great finale as it made sure we saw the cats.

Suggestions for improveMent:

No suggestions, the service was excellent."

Arranged By Tracy Lederer


Olive Grove

Olive Grove

"Olive Grove review"

1 night Arrived 18 Jul 2009
"A peaceful friendly guest house with comfortable well-equipped rooms; a great place to start and finish a trip to Namibia. We had dinner in the hotel on both nights we stayed; the food was very good and other guests who went in to the city to eat were disappointed, so we made the right choice."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Facilities
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Erongo Wilderness Lodge

Erongo Wilderness Lodge

"Erongo Wilderness Lodge review"

2 nights Arrived 19 Jul 2009
"We were uncertain what to expect at Erongo, but like everywhere we visited in Namibia it surpassed our expectations. The setting is stunning, surrounded by wonderful mountain scenery which can be explored with an expert and friendly (no surprise here, every single Namibian we met was friendly!) guide. The "tents" are large and well equipped, all individually and privately sited. The birdlife is superb and we met small antelopes and a large troop of baboons on our walks. We also heard a leopard a few hundred metres from the site but didn't see one. We also found black rhino tracks but again no other signs. It's worth visiting for the sunsets alone."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Okaukuejo Camp

"Okaukuejo Camp review"

2 nights Arrived 21 Jul 2009
"We stayed at the premium accomodation by the waterhole and it was superb. Animals visited the waterhole all day and night and being accomodated so close we spent a lot of time sitting there watching them. We saw countless black rhino (yes, we lost count one of them one evening), zebras, giraffes, jackals, springboks and kudu, and two male lions that we had heard roaring all night visited while we watched. Unfortunately we could not see the waterhole from our balcony due to trees. The food was very good if you like lots of game, but as we don't it was average. The location is good for exploring the central area of Etosha by car; it is easy to find lots of game by the waterholes and birds in the trees, particulalry raptors. We didn't try the game drives as they use the same roads as we could drive on, and the game vehicles were packed full."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Average
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Average
Facilities
Good
Namutoni Camp

Namutoni Camp

"Namutoni Camp review"

2 nights Arrived 23 Jul 2009
"We stayed in a pleasant, large, well fitted double room set at the back of the camp. The waterhole was a disappointment after Okaukuejo and we hardly spent any time there. The fort was a great place to eat and drink, and the food was very good if you like lots of game, but as we don't it was average. The location is good for exploring the eastern area of Etosha by car; it is easy to find lots of game by the waterholes and birds in the trees, particulalry raptors. We didn't try the game drives as they use the same roads as we could drive on, and the game vehicles were packed full."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Average
Rooms
Good
Food
Average
Facilities
Good
Mundulea Reserve

Mundulea Reserve

"Mundulea Reserve review"

3 nights Arrived 25 Jul 2009
"Our time at Mundulea was the best we have experienced in Africa, and possibly anywhere we have visited worldwide. Don't visit if you want hotel accomodation, but if you want to learn about and experience African game, birds, trees, plants, insects, predators, politics, conservation, Namibian history with the best guide you will ever meet then this is for you. Bruno Nebe has bought 4 old cattle farms and is turing them back into their pre-farming state, stocking them with all the native antelopes, game and cats except (to date) lion, elephants or white rhino. It is a massive task, and must be one of the world's best unsung conservation efforts.

Bruno has built a superbly secluded camp site, fitted it out with furniture he has made by hand. He cooks excellent food over an open fire. He takes you on walks to suit your level of activity, and the knowledge he imparts on the walks is breathtaking in its depth and breadth. Ask any question about anything Namibian and you get a detailed answer. Unfortunately we didn't see his leopards and cheetahs on foot, but we saw plenty of signs, including a duiker freshly killed and hidden under cover by a leopard.

Tracking the Black Rhinos was fascinating - he knows the individuals by their footprints. His most amazing conservation effort is to take the last male animal in the most endangered black rhino sub-species and breed it with females with the right genetic make-up borrowed from Etosha in an attempt to re-generate the sub-species. The camp is beside a waterhole and we spent all daylight hours watching the game come down to drink while we were not walking. But the most exciting part of the visit was when we stroked the puff adder he caught by hand!"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Okonjima Plains Camp

Okonjima Plains Camp

"Okonjima Main Camp review"

2 nights Arrived 28 Jul 2009
"We left Okonjima until last on our trip to Namibia so that if we didn't see leopards or cheetahs anywhere else we could be sure to see them at Africats. We were not disappointed, although it is not the same seeing them wearing tracking collars or in fenced enclosures as finding them truely in the wild.

It was very quiet and seemed only half full, so were lucky enough to get upgraded from the main camp to the bush camp, where the accomodation was large, comfortable, well-fitted and totally secluded. Seed was provided to temp the birds and we spent hours on our open veranda watching and photographing numerous beautiful species.

The main reception area was excellent and the food was very good, if limited to one option only. Dave Houghton, the owner who we knew from the TV series about Africats, was eating there with his guests. All the staff were very friendly and helpful, as we found everywhere in Namibia.

Activities were included morning, afternoon and after dinner and our guide Chris was very knowledgable, entertaining and chatty. The activies included tracking leopard by vehicle - we found the male leopard and watched him eating a young zebra he had killed. We tracked and found spotted hyaena on foot, and had close encounters with 5 cheetahs in their large encosure. The porcupine feeding after dark was fun, but the honey badger didn't turn up (not that he was expected, just hoped for). The final morning was spent learning bushman crafts and hunting techniques, and we found fresh leaopard tracks about 200 metres for the camp - maybe made the one that woke me by roaring at 4am."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Olive Grove

Olive Grove

"Olive Grove review"

1 night Arrived 30 Jul 2009
"A peaceful friendly guest house with comfortable well-equipped rooms; a great place to start and finish a trip to Namibia. We had dinner in the hotel on both nights we stayed; the food was very good and other guests who went in to the city to eat were disappointed, so we made the right choice."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Facilities
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Good

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