Travel reviews by Mr W & Ms W from NL

"Nice, spacious chalet with a lovely view of the surrounding bush.

Service was very friendly, nice with the kids as well. Good food."

"We especially liked the room we had, with a lovely patio overlooking the waterhole (with cheetah's on the first evening). Travelling with small children it was nice that we could self cater here.

The park was a bit hit and miss. Sometimes we would see nothing at all and then suddenly a leopard or a hunting lion. The fact that there was only one road meant it felt like pure luck when we would encounter something (rather than a result of our spotting skills)."

"Lovely room, a bit away from the others, giving us some privacy.

One small issue was that one of the bedrooms had a resident bat.
The kids found it mighty interesting that the bat would poop on their beds, but didn't want to share the room with it.
Otherwise, the chalet was fine."

"The lodge is located very centrally in Keetmanshoop, which makes it easy to do some shopping.
Otherwise, it was a bit basic, but the service was very friendly."

"Great lodge to visit with small children. They were constantly looking at all the old cars.

The rooms were very nice. There is the possibility of doing a short walk up a hill, which is nice with sunset.

It is also very close to Fish River Canyon."

"We had a separate house from the main lodge, which was nice as it gave us a lot of privacy and our own garden and parking area. The room was very spacious.

It was a bit odd that there were no cups or glasses in the house at all and we could only get them (along with everything you'd need to self cater) with a deposit.
In general the amount of warnings on the walls of the lodge suggested that they don't really trust their guests.

Despite this the service was really friendly and the food lovely. We also enjoyed the short walk up a hill behind the lodge to enjoy the sunset."

"Very nice rooms and great service. The view over the dunes was marvellous.

The access road was a bit longer than we expected.

We didn't go on any organized activities (quite expensive and not ideal with small children), but the lodge is conveniently located to visit the dunes yourself."

"It's a very small lodge which gives it a very intimate feeling. It's nicely located in a quiet area of Swakopmund.

The owners are very friendly, and all the tips we received on arrival were usefull."

"We really enjoyed the walking here.

The guides are very friendly and knowledgeable. Beautiful area and very nice rooms.

The staff was very friendly."

"We knew what to expect and it lived up to those expectations.

The room (Premier Waterhole Chalet) was very spacious and of course had a great view of the waterhole."

"The room (bush chalet) was fine, if a bit far from the waterhole."

"We had a lovely room connected to the souvenir shop. The gardens are very nice and have a lot seed pods for the kids to collect.

The food was very good. Our son also really like the 'play room'.

Being outside the park is slightly inconvenient with small children as you have to cut your gamedrives at bit short to be at the lodge at a sensible time (for the kids)."

"The room was a bit of a challenge with the four of us (including a 2 and 4 year old) and no separate bedrooms.

Otherwise, everything was great."

"We really enjoyed our stay here.

The garden suite we had was a bit removed from the main hotel giving us a great deal of privacy.

The kids also really enjoyed the tortoises around the property."

"The appartment was really beautiful and offered great views over the bay."

"We stayed here only one night in the separate family room.

The service here was excellent, but the room was a bit small for the four of us."

"This was one of the highlights of our trip. The staff was excellent and also great with our kids (they called the waiter, Louis, their friend).

The room was much better than we could have possibly expected with a private pool and plenty of room.

The kids also really enjoyed 'cubs corner'.

When we ask them about their trip to South Africa they still list it as one of the highlights."

"This was certainly the 'worst' of the places we stayed at during our trip, but still fine for a few nights. It's actually more or less what we expected all stops to be like, but the rest just exceeded our expectations (in some cases by a lot).

The location of the lodge is fine and the room was big enough as well. We liked that there were a lot of toys for the kids to play with. This was the only stop where we encountered any bugs, but there were no mosquito nets for the kids. Our boy was stung several times on his face due to this.

The service at the lodge also has room for improvement. With the exception of Charlene at breakfast, none of the staff seemed interested in the guests. Diner was often very chaotic, whereby we once received two courses at once and nothing for the kids. Management was never around."

"We had an amazing time here. Everything from start to finish was perfect. The staff was very friendly, the food was great, the room was superb with it's private pool, and the gamedrives were done very professionally. Every day here was special.

In terms of game viewing this place still has something to offer even if you've been on quite a few safaris before. We expected it to be difficult to go on gamedrives with our small kids (2 & 3), but this actually went fine.

The ranger, Evan, and tracker, Sibo, were really great with them. Every day the kids looked forward to going in the safari truck with their friend Sibo."

"We really enjoyed being back here. The focus of this camp is really where we think it should be: enjoying the great wildlife of the area in the company of great guides. We also really enjoyed the flexibilty. One day we went out for a gamedrive at 6 in the morning and only returned at 7 in the evening.

The camp is ideally located for the wildebeest migration, but when we were there most of the wildebeest had already left. Despite this we did witness several crossings. The area can be a bit busy. At one sighting of a coalition of 5 cheeta's there were at least 20 cars present. Our guides were quick to suggest we should just have a quick look and then go look for something else, with which we agreed wholeheartedly.

The camp itself is perhaps a little more basic than the main Serian camp in Mara North, but to us this only adds to the charm. And really for us it's more than luxurious enough."

"Driving up to Serian from Nkorombo you pass quite a few Maasai villages and cattle, but we found the wildlife in this area to be at least as good as at Nkorombo. The only difference is that there are no river crossings in Mara North, but on the other side there are far fewer other vehicles as well.

One of the great things at Serian is that when you transfer between their camps you take your guide with you. This allowed us to really get to know Shadrack and Mark quite well, and they also knew very well what we were interested in by the time we reached this camp.

The camp itself has a great atmosphere. We really got the feeling that the staff enjoy working there and have a passion for wildlife. While we were there a baby elephant got trapped by the river and separated from it's mother. The staff went out of it's way to save this elephant and eventually made arrangements to have it transferred to David Shedricks (this was after many attempts to locate the mother)."

"We really liked the idea behind the camp, being out in the bush as much as possible and experiencing it in many different ways - not just driving. We also had really great experiences with the wild dogs, lying down next to the road and waiting for them to come sniff us. Something we'll remember for a long time!

Aside from the wild dogs we didn't find that much game. As such it doesn't feel like a prime gameviewing area. But who needs other game when you've got wild dogs anyway!"

"Our stay here felt like the highlight of our trip. The camp location is excellent and allows you to go many different directions to find interesting things to see. We certainly had our share of luck here, with countless lion and cheeta sightings. Several crossings, a lion kill, a crocodile kill, a leopard, etc.

Despite being inside the reserve the number of cars at sightings was never a problem. The behaviour of the other vehicles was also much better than what we expected based on what we read/heard beforehand.

The camp itself is very small and intimate. We really felt at home here, rather than just guests."

"The camp is very beautifully situated next to the river. The area directly next to the camp is a bit bushy/rocky and was usually not the area were we found our best sightings (we did see lion and leopard close to camp however).

Driving 15-20 minutes from camp we usually entered an area were anything could happen in terms of sightings. Many lions, a cheeta with cubs that hunted regularly (we saw 2 kills, another couple that was there for 4 nights also managed to see 4 kills) and lots of other exciting stuff. A night drive in this area produced an aardvark.

The standard of guiding (both here and at Nkorombo - same guides) was very high and comparable to the best guiding we've experienced in Zambia and Botswana."

"Reception could have been warmer: we were sent away for a few hours, because we were too early (which was true). Not what we were hoping for after a night flight with a small child. Aside from this everything was fine (though they seemed more geared towards German tourists).

Room and breakfast was nice."

"Very friendly staff, great for children. Great food and a very nice view from the lodge."

"Very friendly staff and great with children. Location is perfect for east Etosha."

"Nice spacious rooms, very private (except for the honey badgers). Friendly staff at the restaurant, reception and filling station. Good place to start gamedrives from."

"The premier waterhole chalet was as great as we hoped. Service was suprisingly friendly and efficient at the restaurant and reception (much better than on previous visits).

Filling station ran out of petrol for a few days. We had a wonderful time here."

"Room (family room) very spacious but getting a bit old.

Friendly staff, but the restaurant does not have a child seat (they did put in extra effort to make a nice special dinner for our 1 year old). Nice walks in the area."

"Nice place to stay in the city.

We travelled with a baby and on arrival there was a baby cot ready with some toys in it. We felt this was a nice touch."

"The location is excellent of course. The rooms are fine and the service this time was not as bad as we experienced here before.

If you travel with a baby there is not a lot of room for the cot and the rooms are not very well isolated. We had neighbours and we're sure they knew we had a baby with us."

"Nice place to stay and relatively close to the park.

The rooms are very nice and the view is spectacular. The staff was very friendly."

"The tents have been upgraded since our last time here (2011) and there's a lot more room in the tents.

The atmosphere in the camp is really great."

"Much better than staying inside the city. Beautiful area with nice walking options. Very nice rooms.

The restaurant needs some work and the staff there is not the friendliest.

There is a braai with every room so there is a nice alternative."

"They were upgrading the rooms when we were there and we were lucky to get a room that was already done. Rooms are nice with a great view of the desert. Staff is very friendly.

We travelled with a baby and a very nice touch was that they not only supplied a cot, but also a baby tub for him to have a bath on our veranda.

He enjoyed the most luxurious bath imaginable with a view of a breath taking sunset."

"See earlier comments. [Ed: see below! ]"

"We had a great guide (Dutch) and tracker (KB) and that's all we needed. The area is great for game as there is always something going on.

The atmosphere in camp was very relaxed and friendly and even though the tents are a little dated the camp serves it's purpose just fine. We actually quite like the fact that you're still staying in something that looks like a tent as opposed to some of the other 'tented' camps."

"A perfect way to see the public parks of Botswana. As close to nature as possible, but still with plenty of comfort and good food.

Nkosi was the perfect guide for us. We could go on safari with Letaka forever and not get bored."

"We had a good time at Lebala. We had a good guide, but at times felt he could have been a bit more enthusiastic.

In terms of game the area was a bit quiet, but still we saw plenty (wild dogs) due to the active tracking."

"We very much enjoyed the fact that gamedrives in this camp where often combined with short walks to check out something interesting. We also liked the ability (and flexibility) to go on (unplanned) night drives, even after a full day out on gamedrive.

The camp is located in a nice spot overlooking a waterhole and has a very relaxed atmosphere. Especially when Dave is in camp.

The area is probably more spectacular later in the dry season as then there will be more game at the waterholes. Outside of the waterholes a large portion of the area surrounding the camp is covered in mopane."

"Good location to walk to the Falls. Nice history and beautiful gardens."

"Probably the nicest place in Maun to spend a night at. Loved the walking trails on the lodge grounds.

Great food, huge tents and very friendly staff."

"We had an excellent trip. Staying in each location for three nights means you really get to know the area before you leave it.

The tents are very comfortable. Not as big as those in some of the tented camps, but you have everything you need.

Our guide, Grant, was excellent. He knew a lot about the areas we travelled in and was a very good storyteller. The staff was friendly and did a good job.

A perfect way to see the parks of Northern Botswana."

"Guiding was of an extremely low level. Vehicles kept breaking down. Management was indifferent.

The camp was beautiful though and the tents where absolutely huge and very comfortable. The food was great as well. We expected the focus to be on the guiding and the wildlife, however, and it certainly was not."

"The guiding was not of the level you hope for with Kwando. We did have a good time.

The camp was excellent with very comfortable tents and very friendly staff."

"We had a great guide, Dutch, who knew a lot about the area and was very enthusiastic about the wildlife.

The camp itself was perfect. More simplistic in style compared to Lagoon or Lebala, but this seems more fitting in the bush."

"A fine place to spend the night while in Windhoek. Conveniently close to Joe's Beerhouse and easy to reach from the airport.

Parking area can be tight if the place is full and a lot of the guests drive 4x4's.

The staff was very willing to help us with any questions or requests (e.g. stamps, checking in for flights, etc)."

"Good location from which to explore the Sossusvlei area.

The walking trail from camp is wonderful at sunset."

"Fine place to spend the night in Swakopmund. Within walking distance from the beach and easy to reach from the 'highway'.

Very nice garden. Breakfast was excellent."

"Beautiful place to stay. Incredible view from the main area and from the (very large) rooms.

Interesting to spend the night sleeping under the stars on the 'roll-out-of-your-room' bed."

"Unbelievable view. Very friendly staff."

"This camp probably has the best location in Etosha. It seems however that because of this some of the staff is not really motivated to make your stay here even more special.

The waterhole is fantastic and we saw lots of rhino's there at night. We also went on a night drive which proved very productive, but not quite up to the standard of guiding we're used to on night drives in Zambia (the spotlight is operated by the driver so he might miss a few things)."

"Very good camp and friendly staff. Close to the gate."

"Beautiful area. A great place for walking around by yourself.

We also went on a game drive on top of the plateau. The guide was very informative and funny and we saw a lot of wildlife (much more than we expected).

While we were there the swimming pool was out of order. It didn't look like anything was done to fix it either."

"Just as good as at the start of the trip. [Ed: see their first review, below]"

"The staff and management were very friendly. Our guide (JJ) was a little bit too much focused on finding leopards. We found them on two of the three days we were there (which was nice), but sometimes we would rush past other interesting sightings (lions, hyaena's on a kill, etc.) in the hope of spotting another leopard.

The room we were assigned was supposed to be the honeymoon room, but was identical to the other chalet rooms. Each chalet is split up in two rooms, and while we were in our honeymoon room the other room of our chalet was also occupied. We could hear everything they were saying...

The rose petals in the room (all over!) were a very nice touch."

"Beautiful camp in very wild surrounding.

We were not so lucky with our sightings here, but our guide Stephen was excellent."

"Just like before this was one of the best places we stayed in."

"Mwaleshi lived up to expectations this time!

The guide, Greg, was a very nice guy and he knows a lot. Special is special of course."

"Coming back to Tafika felt like coming back home.

We had ridiculous luck on our game drives with wild dogs everywhere (again). The guiding was excellent (Mukupa and Amon)."

"We liked the atmosphere at Flatdogs a lot. The staff was very friendly and talkative and made a lot of effort to make us feel like special guests. The accommodation really made us feel at home.

Game viewing was excellent with well maintained and spacious vehicles and a wonderful guide (Yotam).

Another strong point of Flatdogs was the fact that we could eat our meals with just the two of us at whatever time we wanted."

"The accommodation was fine and as luxurious as we expected based on what we read before the trip. We really liked the sunken baths (though we didn't have a lot of time to try them). The food was fabulous and the staff was generally very friendly.

We were somewhat disappointed by the way game drives where conducted. It seemed there was a bit of a shortage of guides and/or vehicles. This meant that sometimes there were seven people in the vehicle which felt a little cramped. Also the vehicles seemed to lack some maintenance. The brakes tended to make a terrible screeching noise scaring any wildlife within sight.

On morning game drives we left the lodge a bit later than we would have wanted (perhaps this was a request of other guests?). Because we had to cross the river the game drive would start at around 7 in the morning.

We did have a great time here and saw a lot of great stuff."

"We liked everything about this camp. It's very quiet and remote. The food, the staff, the guide (Alex), the room, everything was just perfect!

We could spend weeks here!"