Travel reviews by R & C from Aylesbury

"We very much enjoyed our four-night stay at Mwamba. The two-hour drive from Mfuwe through the park was a good start to our trip, but arriving in the dark and then being woken at 5.15 next day by a particularly enthusiastic drummer was a bit disorienting!

This year, the camp was being run by Matt and Charlotte (Charlie), a very likeable couple. The camp is a genuine bush camp but facilities were good with hot water for bucket showers provided on demand.

Game drives or walks started early, followed by a substantial brunch at around 11.00 - all the food was very good. Matt acted as our guide for the whole time and did a great job - we saw lots and continued to cover new ground. The permanent waterhole is a definite bonus - there were always animals and birds coming to drink – and the hides at Kaingo can also be used. Note that battery charging is a bit rudimentary, I think using vehicle batteries."

"We spent a very enjoyable four nights at Tafika. The rooms are very comfortable (but we did get upgraded to the honeymoon suite).

John & Carol Coppinger are very good hosts and the camp seems to be very efficiently run by a good team. All our games drives were interesting and the guides very good (we had different ones most days), although we did go over the same ground once or twice.

A quiet area - we didn’t come across other vehicles on our drives – and we approved of the policy of not using radios, the guides having to find their own things to see and make their own luck. We did two walks that we enjoyed. Food was very good but dining possibly a little formal for us."

"Much the most 'luxurious' camp that we stayed at in a great location. It lacked the intimacy of smaller camps but the facilities were very good – lovely, spacious rooms but with some steps in our bathroom that were a bit difficult to negotiate. Very good service from all the staff (the personal 'butler' idea is very nice but not quite our style, but we did appreciate our room decorations!) although at times the camp felt somewhat over-staffed. Food was very good; we had one lunch on a sandbank in the river and a dinner in the bush – both very enjoyable.

We had our own guide (Hastings) for all activities - he's a pleasant and very competent guide. Knows his birds.

The range of activities was very good. However, the walk we did was disappointing with a rather casual scout in an uninteresting area: not really worth doing. (There is too much vegetation here for safe walking anywhere interesting, and it was our impression that the many elephants were somewhat more aggressive (and bigger!) than those in South Luangua.)

Drives started around 7.30am which we thought was a bit late, but if anyone wanted to go earlier they were accommodated.

Trips on the river were interesting and very relaxing, and canoeing up a backwater with crocs and many hippos was good, if a bit scary. Night drives were memorable, mainly through close encounters with hunting lions and stroppy elephants. We didn’t try the fishing which seems to be seasonal.

(Note that Potato Bush and Sausage Tree are effectively the same camp, sharing staff, equipment and catering)."