We had such a great trip! Bianca did a fantastic job setting everything up-it went very smoothly! We loved the Marly hotel-it was very comfortable and beautiful. It was in a great location next to several very good restaurants. I would add Bo Vine to your list of recommended restaurants in Cape Town-it was great! The staff at the hotel was very kind and professional. We enjoyed our tours and really loved the food tour we took with Cape fusion food tours-I would recommend people don’t eat at all before the tour-so much delicious food and a good tour of the city as well! Our transfers everywhere were good and the flights all very easy.
In Zimbabwe, Ilala lodge was very nice and a beautiful location. It was nice to be close to the town and shops. The complementary 3 course meal didn’t happen which is ok-I asked the front desk about it, and they looked and said yes it’s there, but we didn’t get a voucher or anything to tell the restaurant, so we just paid for the meal-no big deal, but in the future, I would have the lodge give you a voucher or some way for that to be recognized if it is something offered. I feel like all the other places would have noted it and made it happen. We really liked the river cruise there-it was great. I really enjoyed the village tour-i thought it was very interesting, if a little rough. It seems like they are still fine tuning what they want that experience to be. The one thing I wish I would have known is that they have a project to get sanitary pads to women who can’t afford them, which is awesome. So they have their own souvenir shop they would like you to shop so they can fund their project-I would have liked to do that, but I didn’t bring much money with me because I didn’t think I would need it! So for future reference I would let your clients know that the shop would be there and to bring money (like a couple of hundred dollars-souvenirs more expensive in Zimbabwe than I was anticipating at first) if they want to support them.
Our safari experiences were fantastic! At Simbavati Waterside, the facility and ALL the staff were just terrific. Everyone was very kind and helpful. I think overall the food there was the best of the trip! The guides were terrific and the drives were so enjoyable! We saw so many animals and all of the big 5. I absolutely would recommend that lodge with no reservation. They also let you put the tip on your bill which was very helpful. We also really enjoyed Chobe-another very beautiful facility with extremely helpful lovely staff. Our guide there was also terrific and all the drives we saw interesting things. We saw more lions and leopards in Chobe than we did at Simbavati. I liked the land and river drives to see different aspects of the animals and behaviours. At this park you could see more of the interaction of different animals at the river, which was very cool.
It was a fantastic trip-thank you so much for arranging everything!
Teresa Reading
(Travelled July 2024)
