Reviews

Manaslu ciruit

a fantastic trek in a remote, beautiful part of Nepal. the Northern part of the trek is very close to the Tibetan boarder and hence has a very Tibetan feel, which is interesting and quite different from the more Southerly, Nepalese villages, people & animals.
not to be underestimated. high altitude, although very good acclimatisation (& I took Diamox)
and basic accommodation – very basic as you get more remote, nearer to the pass.
the first and last parts of the trek are well worth it in their own right. fantastic landscape & people. very Autumnal when we were there in November; very fertile & well populated. a marked contrast with the wilder, more remote areas further North.
a very well organised, well balanced trek. far better than Annapurna sanctuary for example, which has become over popularised.

A voyage of discovery.

Having been on many trips of discovery with Exodus, I had never been on one that offered so much.
The itinerary was exactly right.
The starting point is Rwanda were we met our leader for the tour Jacob, as usual a friendly face after a long flight out from the UK.
After a nights rest, the next day we visited the Museum to the genocide which took place in the mid nineties, the museum has graphic pictures of this terrible time in Rwanda`s history. A reminder of how the west turned it`s back on the suffering of a whole group of people.
Onto our first highlight, the mountain Gorillas. After a long trek up into the foothills of the Parc National des Volcans we met our first Gorillas after about an hour of walking through mud and clothes clawing undergrowth and overhead vine. This first encounter was unbelievable, such gentle creatures given the size of the alpha males. We spent an hour with them and they just carried on eating/ playing and sleeping as if we were not there.
On into Uganda, no problems with crossing the border and onto Lake Bunyonyi. With the lake there are opportunities to take boat rides on the lake or hire canoes for a leisurely paddle.
On through Uganda with it`s abundance of wildlife, mammals and bird life.We had our first encounters with the real wildlife in all their natural environment.
Adrenalin seekers will love Jinja as the site we stay Adrift, were you can do white water rafting on the Nile or perhaps bungee jumping.Or you can just take a stroll around the local are to veiw the many and varied bird life.
On into Kenya, this is when they asked to see our Yellow fever certificate, other than that it again was straight forward.
Due to adverse weather we had miss the village camp, however not to worry, onto the Masai Mara.
Arriving at lunch time we enjoyed yet another great lunch prepared as always by Wilson and Ester.
We then had a half day taster into the game park. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to encounter. All you ever see on TV was there in front of you in all it`s splendour, to many to list. The next and last full day of the tour(excluding travel days) you again go into the park for a full day`s game drive. Amazing experience, so well organised and lead by the team, from the leader through the driver and cooks who took so much care of us.
Thank you .

Moroccan Highlights Solo Travel

Highly recommend this trip. A really varied trip showing the best that Morocco has to offer. Marrakech is very manic and a bit ‘in your face’ but thanks to an excellent tour leader and local guide the group were able to find our way to such hidden gems as the Majorelle Gardens (Yves St Laurent’s former gardens) and the ‘Secret’ Garden. The trip up to the Atlas Mountains and stay in Douar Samra was nothing short of magical, I got to stay in the Tree House while others stayed in the very unusual and individual rooms in the house or annex. Meals were a delight thanks to the marvellous cooking of Rashida the resident cook and the atmospheric use of candles (there is no electricity in the main house) and traditional low level seating and tables. Your luggage is transported the final distance by donkey and there are also ducks and all vegetables are grown in the Douar’s vegetable garden. Fabulous views and sunsets and great walking in the mountains. However the gem is absolutely Essaouira. I had never heard of this place before but it is the most delightful and fascinating seaside town. Again great orientation tour from local guide Rashida and plenty of time to enjoy the shopping, sweeping sandy beach, bars, restaurants and busy exciting fishing harbour. Our leader, Abdul, was very informative and accommodating and great fun. Morocco is well worth a visit and I will be back!

Fabulous cycle tour and bus, train, boat journeys across Vietnam from S to N.

Overall, the trip deserves 10/10. Everything was great: the country, the scenery, the people, the weather, the group, the organisation, the guide and the support team. Danh, our guide, gets a special mention for his excellent and informative leadership.

Fabulous Country!

I booked this trip a year ago and had high expectations. I was not disappointed! Fabulous country with very distinctive regions. Seeing the Atacama was top of my list and remains my favourite. The Torres del Paine comes in second and we did get good weather there.

Fabulous trip

This was one of the best trip I have done. Its a fabulous mix of cycling, culture and wildlife/flora and you get to stay in some lovely hotels and guest houses.

Its pretty full-on – every day was packed out – and the cycling is challenging. Its hillier than I anticipated (or undulating inclines as our guide described them) and although we used back roads they are still very busy with traffic. Our group was small (8 people) and ranged from good club cyclists to occasional/recreational cyclists. We stayed together as a group most of the time and had numerous snack water breaks

Discover Costa Rica

In my opinion, this tour is the perfect blend of wildlife, nature, activities and perfect introduction to Costa Rica. They say a guide makes the trip and in this case Andres did, but everything ran perfectly from meals to accommodation, and activities to free time. I was surprised just how much wildlife we saw including sea turtles hatching and making their way towards the Pacific Ocean, hiked in cloud forests and watched the forest below from canopy bridges. Exodus did a fantastic job in selecting eco-lodges which worked with the environment, as opposed to leaving a carbon footprint. I couldn’t have asked for a better Costa Rica experience.

Galapagos Wildlife Cruise

I thought long and hard about booking a this trip as it is not cheap! However it proved to be the best holiday that I have ever taken and well worth the money. We snorkelled twice a day on most days, with the turtles, sea lions, penguins, marine iguanas and great shoals of multicoloured fish. Every island that we visited was different and the naturalist guide that accompanied us was a fount of information. On land we saw the giant Galapagos tortoises, land iguanas and a myriad of different birds. The boat that we were based on was first class with excellent food and attentive and friendly crew

Trekking Borneo and Beyond

Although aged 80 I was probably at least 15 years older than anyone else, however this in no way spoiled my experience of this holiday. The group was fantastic, the best I have experienced over the last 20 years of trekking. It was certainly added to by the local ‘guides’ who were excellent and very friendly to all the group. I and 2 others were not able to get to the summit of Mount Kinabalu as we ran out of time although we had passed the last checkpoint. We should have left the Laban Resthouse earlier. We did not sleep anyway!
The whole holiday experience was far better than I expected although I did need to buy a new camera in Kuala Lumpur (a waterproof one). The humidity and going through the ‘rapids’ on the river was too much for my old camera!

cycling through Rajestan

This was a good trip, seeing the classic UNESCO sites of Jaipur, Agra & Taj Mahal, wildlife reserves, train rides, moderate cycling as well as some really off the beat village life.

The hotels were mainly of a good standard with pools & the staff were excellent.