Jason & Ann Londt

Alan Baxter

First I'd like to thank you for all the work that you did in planning our trip.  I'm sure that you and Ralph spent many hours arranging and rearranging all the details.  In particular, all our overnight stays were arranged so that we

arrived well before dark and were able to relax and go on short tours before nightfall.

Kalahari BushBreaks was the first lodge at which we stayed, and one of the two best on the trip.  It has a beautiful location and the accommodations are excellent, as is the food.   We had a short guided tour around the reserve when we arrived, but we would liked to have stayed an extra day there.  I would unhesitatingly recommend it to other visitors.  It is a smaller lodge than some, but that makes it easier to meet other guests, and it has a friendly staff.

Crocodile Camp in Maun was effectively a stopover before we flew to Gunn’s camp.  It was OK, and has a nice bar, but the whole camp and the cabins need an upgrade.  

Gunn’s camp was one of the highlights of our trip, we had excellent service, great accommodations in the Meru tents, and great tours on the river and on Chief’s island.  This is also a lodge that I would recommend without hesitation.  It is a small, intimate place with a friendly and excellent staff.  We could easily have spent more than two days there.  The light plane flights into and out of Gunn’s camp were also memorable.  On the return trip we flew over and photographed a large herd of Blue Wildebeasts fording a river in the Okavanga Delta.

Planet Baobab was a stop-over because we could not get accommodations in Nata, and Ralph was very concerned about the rough roads to Kasane and the time it would take to get there.  It’s a funky camp that has excellent accommodations and a great bar.  More suited for young people, and not as much wild life to offer as Crocodile Camp or Etosha.  However, the Baobob trees are worth seeing.

The Garden Lodge at Kasane was a beautiful place to stay.  It was small and

intimate, and I think a better choice for us than the more commercial Chobe Safari Lodge, which was initially on our itinerary.  Also we were able to leave our car inside a fenced and locked enclosure there while we visited Victoria

falls.  Kasane is another place where an extra day’s stay would have been welcome.  We had a great cruise on the Chobe river, but extra time in the National Park would have been very worthwhile.

Victoria Falls was another highlight of our trip, and I am very glad that we signed up for all the tours that you recommended.  The “Walk with the Lions”, and the tour of the Victoria Falls themselves, were the two highlights that I would recommend to anyone.  The Victoria Falls Safari Lodge is an excellent hotel, with very nice rooms and an excellent restaurant, but it was more commercial and crowded than other lodges on our trip, and the prices were higher (even though we were told that tourist travel to Vic Falls was down because of election time troubles in Zimbabwe).

Toni – thanks a lot again for all your help.

It’s great working with you

Karen MacDonald

We are finally home after our fabulous African trip and I thought I would drop you a line with some feedback.  Thanks for all your hard work and for looking after us in the days before we left when Bertus was dealing with the unfortunate passing of his mum – we really appreciated your extra effort.We had a fabulous time and we have already put an itinerary on paper for 2009 so Bertus will be in touch down the track to discuss our requirements for next year.  I thought that this feedback would help you to identify the best places for us for our next adventure – here goes….Kwa Nokeng
Much better than last year (they had their camp ground operational and the showers were working).  This campsite is a bit “rustic” but conveniently located, I must say that I thought it still looked a bit run down and the camp area was full of potholes and was quite uneven (not a real drama for us as we were in roof top tents) this site would be challenging for anyone in a tent though.Chobe Safari Lodge 
This is a beautiful Lodge.  If I had my time over I would have preferred to stay in the lodge!!  The river cruise was exceptional.  The camp area is very small and cramped.  We managed to pack ourselves in but it was really tight. Showers and facilities were very good and the staff were great.  For future reference this camp is not large enough for a group of 8 vehicles (who are self catering).Nyla Lodge (Livingstone) – I don’t think it is called this any more….
Fabulous and very well suited to a group of our size with roof top tents.  Facilities were great and the staff were exceptional.  Highly recommended for roof top campers!!  Transfers to heli flights were easy and well handled, camp is well located to town.  This is an ideal set up for our group.Camp Kwando 
Fantasic camp, well laid out, good facilities and very friendly and helpful staff.  We decided to eat at the camp restaurant (R$110 for 3 course set menu), the restaurant is right on the river - a very pretty spot, the clients loved it.  This was an ideal set up for our group.Namutoni – Etosha 
Neat clean camp area, hot showers – no dramas!!  Lots of jackal in camp no animals at the waterhole though which was disappointing (not surprising with all the water around though).Okaukejo – Etosha 
Better than Namutoni, recently renovated (still a bit of work going on), fabulous waterhole viewing area, good facilities.  We had to take up an extra site to fit us all in (we had 2-3 vehicles per site which was a bit squeezy).Opuwu
Tented Camp.  Fabulous, staff were very helpful and tents were neat and tidy and well set out.  The clients loved this too.Palmwag Lodge 
Lovely site, neat and clean facilities.  We were still stacked into campsites quite tightly.  We did however, have a kitchen area here which was great (shelter, sink, tap – nothing fancy but every little bit helps when you are getting tired!!).Cape Cross (Mile 72) 
Decided to press onto Swakopmund.  No shelter, big winds – yuk.Alte Brucke 
Very accommodating – we arrived a day early due to our decision to skip Mile 72.  We ended up with 2 couples in each 2 bed chalet, this worked fine (we knew each other quite well by this point).  We were offered the option to move to one bed accommodation for the second night but all decided to stay put.   Great location, rooms are getting a bit tired looking and the hot water to the showers was scant for 4 pax sharing a room.  Otherwise neat and clean.  Breakfast was great.Sesrim -(not booked by you) 
We were placed in the over flow camp which lacked shade and was quite spread out, otherwise facilities were fine, water hot.  No dramas.Betesda Guest Farm 
Lovely spot, good campsite and clean functional facilities. THEIR SWIMMING POOL IS THE COLDEST WE HAVE EVER BEEN IN!!  Had a good laugh watching people get in (and out) very quickly.  Lovely staff, very helpful. Canyon Roadhouse 
This is the only place that really made my hair stand on end (I was VERY unhappy with the sites allocated to us).  Management had us placed on sites separated by a toilet block which was under construction which was highly inappropriate.  After much wrangling on the part of Bertus and myself we finally managed to get them to swap us into adjoining positions.  Facilities were very good but the staff were inflexible and had to be “managed” into doing the right thing.  The overland truck site here would have suited us PERFECTLY.Springbok Caravan Park
Neat and clean, bit noisy but considering options in the area – fine.Lambert’s Bay (can’t remember the name of the camp). 
Wouldn’t recommend this camp.  Very cold and damp, long way from town (understand that landing in the area on Crayfish Festival weekend was challenging).  Dinner at “Mouse House”was fantastic, the clients loved it.All in all the whole trip was fantastic and we really appreciate your efforts.  We will probably increase the number of nights that we stay in accommodation rather than campgrounds for next year (since accommodation places in Africa are so charming and such great fun!!).  Based on the feedback that we had from this year we would love to stay at places with the following in mind:Our clients loved the tented camp we stayed in – we’d love to do more of this or stay anywhere that is a little bit “different”, we are staying in roof top tents for several nights at a time so accommodation that offers a clean bed (we don’t have to make), a clean towel (ours can get a bit manky after a while on the road in a dusty 4X4) and an “African” outlook (critters, sunsets, rivers, chasms, mud huts or anything else of interest) will impress crazy Australians.  We are happy to adjust itinerary to some extent in order to make accommodation worth staying in a feature of our trip if it’s worth it.campgrounds – camping areas that have designated spots (with post railing around them) are particularly challenging for roof top tented camping.  We prefer open camp areas so we can position our “kitchen” centrally and have the clients set their vehicles up around us.  I know this sounds picky but if you could get a feel for the layout of campgrounds it would help.  It may also help to ask if the campground has an area which is used for overland trucks as these campsites (from what we have seen) are often larger than standard, come with a braii and kitchen sink/bench set up and are well located to other camp facilities like pools and bars.

Camp restaurants.  From what we have seen many campgrounds have restaurants which offer set menus at reasonable prices (and an opportunity for tired expedition leaders who have to drive, guide and cook to have a shower in peace and a night off)!!  When making bookings for us if this option is available we would like to be advised of options and pricing as we may go with this as well

I think that covers everything.  We are looking to travel in April again in 2009.  Could you please advise when it would be best to set you in motion with our bookings so that we can get the best options

Tim Scarborough

Tinus Wolhuter

Johnathan and Alicia Moseley

Well, we are back in South Africa from the Vic falls. Somedays we forget to appreciate what we have in our country despite all of the dangers and challenges that we face.

I would like to say thank you for your amazing service, for making sure that everything was in place for our trip. We had an amazing experience and a wonderful time at the falls. I appreciate your efforts and will gladly recommend Jambo Safari and you to everyone.

I will say that I experienced two things in Zim. The first is that the people and the country are amazing, both have potential and are amazing. The second is that there is so much poverty and I pray that the country is redeemed and that the people will rise with favour and blessings.

Thanks again.