First of all, the overall impression: everything was perfectly arranged. All contact persons were present at the time and place we expected them to be.
Our experiences per address:
- Kings Walden (Tzaneen): lives up to the promise. A delightful address with exceptionally friendly staff, beautiful rooms, and delicious food.
- Mohlabetsi Safari Lodge (near Hoedspruit): a beautiful accommodation, where everything is well organized. The food is tasty and it is very nice that the tap water is drinkable. There didn't seem to be as much game in Balule at the time of our visit as we later saw near Rhino Post.
- Rhino Plains Camp. A beautiful accommodation in a very game-rich area. Our ranger was a very striking type; our kids had a blast with him (and so did we). The ranger was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and on several occasions he managed to imitate animal sounds so faithfully that the animals responded to him. He made three runaway rhinoceroses look back and take a few steps in our direction. Our fellow guests (with very extensive safari experience) had never experienced this imitation at such a level before. In short, we thought this was a great address.
- Nuarro Eco Lodge (Mozambique). A very pleasant address. Quite far from the airport (four hours by car, of which two hours are unpaved; we found the drive very worthwhile because in that part of Moz daily life takes place entirely along the road, so we can see a lot of it got). Besides us there were only two other guests. It was therefore decided to house our children in their own house, instead of in our 'attic'. We were extremely happy with that; that attic is workable, but didn't seem very useful.
There was a lot of Mozambican staff. Extremely friendly people, but unfortunately most of them barely spoke English. That didn't get in the way of a pleasant relationship. The accommodation is clean and comfortable, and the food is tasty. The tap water is drinkable. Normally, whales are often seen in the first week of August. We saw them twice. My husband's birthday was the day we arrived in Nuarro, and our oldest son 2 days later. Attention was paid to both birthdays; they even organized a dhow picnic for our son's birthday. Very nice, especially when two whales suddenly came into view during that picnic 🙂
So much for our experiences. We had a very nice holiday.