Travel reviews by Dr G & Dr E from UK

"We shared a vehicle with a honeymoon couple on their first safari and after almost every drive I had to reassure them that this was not a normal game drive. So many extraordinary things happened.

Our guide Lewis was excellent, very keen to find things and enthusiastic. When he told us that we would walk up to 4 young cheetah, I think that the honeymoon couple thought that they had misheard him!

A lion kill outside camp, failed lion stalks, eles galore and lots of birds to boot. A fabulous start to the trip."

"A lovely camp in a quiet park. Our guide was young and so needs to gain in confidence, but was willing to learn about positioning for photography.

There was a film crew in camp for the start of the trip, which made things more interesting. A great stop for birders as the park offers lots of bird life, but also in camp, they have controllable sprinklers in your “garden” which attract all manner of birds, a great photographic experience.

The food was fabulous and the camp had a great atmosphere. The infinity pool overlooking the lake is lovely. Honourable mention for the lesser Bush babies who also call the lodge home."

"There was an issue with the guiding which has now been addressed by Expert Africa with African Bush Camps"

"From the hustle and bustle of the main part of the park, it was nice to end the trip in a concession to avoid all of the other traffic.

Game viewing is entirely depend upon the time of year and for us the game drives were quiet, but plenty of game came to drink at the pan, including a leopard every night. Lots of birds in and around the area.

A relaxing end to the trip, made extra special by being given the honeymoon tent, which was fabulous, including an outdoor bath!"

"Lovely position, friendly staff, well organised.

Activities were very productive and the pontoon allows access to the park without using the main gate (although the water levels were so low - we drove across). Amazing leopard sightings. As the lodge was not full, we had several private game drives, which was a bonus."

"Lovely camp in an isolated location. Less game around, but lovely for birds and hippos.

Camp host/management left a little to be desired though. There was a known problem with the hot water, which was not explained until we complained about it. They are apparently "waiting for parts". This means that there is an initial few minutes of hot water until the boiler overheats. It then has to be switched off for at least a minute, whereupon a further minute or so of hot water is available and the whole process has to be repeated - not very convenient.

Our room fan broke and not fixed. We lost some clothing in the laundry and were told it was not in camp and if it had been left at Nkwali, then it would have been forwarded. No further attempt was made to track it down. There was little atmosphere in camp, perhaps because the hostess was entertaining her brother."

"Fabulous position, beautiful isolated camp.

Managed several private activities as camp was not full, which was an added bonus."

"Beautiful position on the river, just outside the national park. Unfortunately, as it is such a dry season, the nearest portion of the park was very dry and only sparsely populated with game. Consequently, it would be about 2 hours of driving to get to the productive area of the park, which meant that afternoon game drives were not possible. The resident game in the GMA was also limited to some impala, waterbuck and elephant in camp and a night drive revealed a solitary genet!

However, being on the river, the birds were prolific and the access to the river by boat made up for the afternoon drives. A lot of customers were there for the fishing and therefore I don't think the management are as wholly focussed on game viewing as those within the park. We had to ask to leave camp earlier in the mornings as we were missing the light because of this and somehow we ended up with a private vehicle from that point onwards - an excellent bonus.

We also did an all day drive, which meant we had both AM and PM activities. I think it is worth the extra money to stay at a lodge within the park, but we booked too late for this.

The albida suite was fabulous - I could get used to having a butler!"

"Good stop over instead of Windhoek - not sure what you'd do for longer stays though"

"Not sure how much lea way Bruno gives to those who are less fit or used to the heat than he is! Just about managed to keep up, but certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Bruno is an extremely knowledgeable guide and we had a lovely 3 days here (even though the animals were all hiding!). Would defiinitely return, but maybe after some training or at the end of the trip when we had acclimatised to the heat"

"Not so much a bush camp, but more a luxury lodge. Good position to get into the park, but still at least 30 mins once you've paid the fees etc.

Service not quite what I would expect, but perhaps I am drawing unfair comparisons with South Africa"

"Was pleasantly surprised at our first NWR stop. The rooms are definitely better than expected and would not be out of place in a privately owned lodge. Unfortunately the food/restaurant service is very busy and takes a long time. Once you've come to terms with this, it is actually a very nice place.

The waterhole is much more intimate than Okaukuejo and less like a circus...

The scenery and waterholes around this camp are the best in the park (in our opinion)"

"A busier rest stop than Halali given its proximity to the gate. The waterhole in particular was very busy (with game and people). Some guests did not respect the wildlife/or other guests.

Lots of busy waterholes nearby

Restaurant insists on reservations for dinner which helped, but lunch service was very slow"

"A beautiful location and experience. Amazing to get so close to mountain zebra and we were even lucky enough to see a black rhino (the first our guide had seen in 5 months. there...)

Very cold on the second night - made the bucket showers interesting

The road there and in particular the Grootberg pass was very slippery - a bit scary when trying to make the 4pm deadline and it wasn't clear on the map that the last 121km is gravel...."

"Overnight stop instead of Windhoek. In that respect obviously better than a B+B. However, I am not convinced about the conservation aspect of this endeavour. It seemed very much a make money from tourists scheme.

Wouldn't have wanted to stay more than one night

The most annoying part was that we were placed with others for dinner with no warning (and when there were tables for two). We expect this on safari, especially when groups will be sharing vehicles and need to get to know each other, but on our last night, we were looking for a bit of alone time and it would have been nice if someone had asked if we minded"

"The camp felt a bit disorganised (although there was a large bush fire nearby). We did not have a welcome talk so subsequently they did not know when to provide hot water for the bucket shower.

The camp manager/host (I'm not sure what her job title was as she didn't tell us) seemed more interested in entertaining/reminiscing with the (almost) resident wild dog researcher than her paying guests. She was certainly very responsive to demanding Americans, but for us laid back Brits, she did not do much. In fact, whilst broken in a Land Cruiser down at the side of the road, she continued transporting her guests back to camp, without so much as a hint of concern about our situation."

"Fabulous camp and wonderful hosting by Steve. Upgraded to the honeymoon suite due to camp being empty.

Lovely game viewing by boat and land rover.

Nice to be by the water after dusty Hwange!"

"Excellent location and guiding. Amazing to walk up to lions, wild dogs and very large elephants.

A very different safari experience with the guides also doing the hosting in camp, this enabled us to find out more about how the country is doing.

Also managed to get to Mana Pools just before it started getting really hot!"

"Back to the land of luxury after "roughing it" in the bush. So nice to have a bath!! Couldn't beat the location.

Slightly shocked at the American food prices though..."

"This is a fabulous camp.

However, the remote location which is a plus point in terms of isolation from other visitors, meant the game drives were a bit repetitive and we did not get to see the plains (and their cheetahs). If we had realised this in advance, we would have booked two separate camps in Ruaha."

"This camp has a great location. However, I have serious concerns about how it is run. Customers are not given a personal water supply on game drives. This means that to have a drink, the truck has to stop, the driver pours out a cupful of water, which you have to drink on the spot and then return it to the driver, in order to set off again. This actively discourages you from drinking as it delays the drive and leaves you dehydrated. Unfortunately, the water supply in the rooms were not adequte to make up for this - we ran out one day and had to ask for the water to be filled up twice a day.

I also got the impression that they were actively discouraging customers from going on game drives:

1) after our first full day we were asked what we wanted to do the next day (two game drives) to which the reply was "not a river cruise?"
2) when wanting to go out at 6.30am "not at 8am?"
3) and on our last day (short transfer to another camp) "would you like a lie-in, late breakfast and enjoy the use of the pool?". We had to argue for a game drive, which they then cut short by an hour - depositing us at our next camp an hour prior to what they had expected.

I do not pay the amount per night that these camps charge to be palmed off onto cheaper and easier activities. If I am staying 3 nights, I expect 6 game drives at my convenience.

The atmosphere was not as welcoming as the other camps.

According to the guide book, this camp is only fractionally cheaper than selous safari camp - if this is the case, then safari camp is infinitely better value for money"

"Fabulous in every respect"

"Room not available on arrival but otherwise excellent.

Despite catering for travellers to the airport, breakfast service only available from 6am which is too late for UK flights"

"friendly knowledgable staff, beautiful location, care and attention, fabulous room

would have been nice to have airconditioning in the vehicle which collected us from the airport"

"friendly knowledgable staff, beautiful location, great care and attention paid"

"friendly knowledgable staff, beautiful location, care and attention"

"friendly knowledgable staff, beautiful location, care and attention, fabulous room"

"friendly knowledgable staff, beautiful location, care and attention"