Hi Camille

I’ve been meaning to give you some feedback for a while but only just found time to do so.

Firstly all of the transfer arrangements went very smoothly, planes and cars were there, where and when they were supposed to be.  Thanks for re-arranging the transfer from Chobe Game Lodge to Elephant Camp.  The border crossing from Botswana to Zimbabwe was very smooth thanks to the guys at Wild Horizons.

We enjoyed all of the places we stayed at.  I think Kwara was our favourite as the ‘camping’ experience was very well managed and the game/bird viewing was excellent considering it was the dry season.  Having the ability to go off road was definitely a plus.

I think Chobe Game Lodge was the only place I would have any criticism of and that was only about the food.  The first day we were there we had a very nice breakfast and a la carte dinner.  The remaining days we were there, there was a party of 28  so they provide buffet style food which really wasn’t very good, certainly inferior to the quality we received on the first day.  Having said that though we enjoyed our stay there although there wasn’t a great deal of animals around.  The guides were all female which made a nice change and ours, Thuso, was excellent.  This was probably helped by the fact that on several drives we were on her own with her.  We were also in electric- powered Land Rovers part of the time which was a novel experience as were the electric powered boats on the Chobe river.

I’m glad we added the extra night at Elephant Camp as that was a great experience.  We thoroughly enjoyed the walk on the Zimbabwean side of the falls.  Lunch at the Lookout Café was great and I would recommend it to other travellers.  Sundowners overlooking the Batoka Gorge was another memorable activity.  I have to say though I wasn’t that impressed with the Zambezi Royal sunset cruise.  The upper Zambezi is pleasant enough but I wouldn’t describe the scenery as stunning and we didn’t seem to go very far at all.  For me, the amount of food and drink seemed to be way over the top for what you would want at sundowner time.

The Hide was great and we thoroughly enjoyed the ‘camping’ style experience. Leanne, Ian and their staff made us very welcome and provided great personal service.  We actually saw very little game there though and, you’re probably aware of this, but someone without an interest in birds could well have been disappointed.  I think Hwange in general is very much about its waterholes and when there’s plenty of water and you’re not able to leave the park roads the animals can be very elusive. Definitely one for the dry season, which is presumably when your colleague went there.  Anyway we enjoyed it in the wet season.

So, overall, once again a very well organised and planned trip which met the brief precisely.  I’m sure we’ll be back.

Thanks again and best wishes

Jeff