Most Inspirational Moment
Watching a Kudo at night following a Cheetah and sending out warning signals to other animals. This was on an optional extra charge game drive
Thoughts on Group Leader
He was professional and friendly. With good knowledge of animals. Some more information on the rock formations etc would have been good. He did not accompany us if we had a specialist guide when at times it would have been useful. He had a difficult time with the other 2 men who were the driver and cook however he tried to keep this from the group.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Take good hiking shoes and be fairly fit for this trip
Suggestions
We received the wrong joining instructions . Due to this we booked our own taxi to the first night hotel rather than wait over 4 hours at the airport . However the guide was waiting for us and concerned when we didn’t find him at the airport. This was very poor from the Exodus Office. We understood this was full service camping however pressure was put on the group to pitch and take down tents etc. The 2 day stay at Etosha was changed to Etosha’s first camp and was a very poor campsite with poor facilities and a small pitch. The food was also very poor on Christmas Day with no choice and limited quantities of vegetables etc. The driver and cook seemed to be very unhelpful at this point. The vehicle we used was cramped with little space for us to put anything..
Reply from Exodus
We appreciate your review for this trip, Angela. We are encouraged to view your comments of your tour leader’s professionalism, which has been shared, and that you found the overall trip to be interesting with good wildlife viewing. However, we were regretful to read that you were displeased with some aspects of your trip, especially your arrival transfer. Regrettably, your transfer details were incorrectly added via our system on your Final Joining Instructions, but pulled through correctly on the information sent to our local team, and they, therefore, attempted to meet you upon arrival to provide the service you will have expected. Unfortunately, no one in the Exodus team picked up on this error, meaning that the transfer driver was not aware you were making your own way to the start hotel, and while this is a very rare error, we sincerely apologise that it happened.
As you have mentioned, this is a full-service camping trip, and we are very sorry if you felt pressured in erecting and taking down your tent. Having looked into this, your tour leader advised that the general procedure occurred where groundsheets are opened and all that is required of guests, is to place their bags and mattresses on the ground cover and the local team do the rest. On these trips, it is not uncommon for customers to choose to participate in the camp set up, but this is never expected.
Pertaining to accommodation used in Etosha National Park which is run by the local government; we generally receive better reviews regarding these sites but have recently noticed a trend on more negative feedback regarding the upkeep during the busy month of December. We choose to stay inside the park as it provides better access to the waterholes and, unfortunately, the government have a monopoly over accommodation within the national parks in Namibia. Our local manager has raised this with the park management, though, as I am sure you can appreciate, we have limited influence on government run establishments. That said, we do find that customers enjoy staying in these sites despite the slightly lower standard compared to other accommodation on the tour, given their unique setting.
We were regretful to learn that you found the food to be subpar, the truck to be too cramped and the cook and the driver to be unhelpful; this was naturally concerning, so we asked our local manager to look more closely into it. They have confirmed that the feedback they received from your departure was particularly positive regarding meals and dietary options provided and that further positive comments were made, in general, regarding the driver and that it was a 14 seater truck for a group of 12, which we find reassuring.
We are sorry that you felt some parts of the tour could have been improved, but please be assured your comments have been shared with the local team. Moving forward, we will closely monitor future feedback, and should we receive comments of a similar nature to yours please be assured these will be followed up on accordingly, as it is always our aim for our customer to have the best experience on their trips with us.
– John Penge, Exodus Product Manager