Reviews

Your Words – We tell it like it is! Holiday Reviews by previous Exodus travellers

Here at Exodus we thrive on feedback from our customers. It’s the only way we can ensure our trips continue to be the best they can be. So, for the real tales, twists and turns of the trip you’re interested in, look no further than the reviews from our previous travellers.

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14462 Reviews

4.7 out of 5

Joanne Offer

Reviewed September 2017

Fabulous wildlife

I thoroughly enjoyed this trip. The amount of wildlife that we saw was simply unbelievable – from sloths and whales, to scarlet macaws, toucans and 4 types of monkeys. We even saw animals that I’d never even heard of before. (Agouti and coati.)
Tortuguero is simply magical – waking up to the sounds of the rainforest and then seeing turtles on the beach at the other end of the day.
I couldn’t believe the number of beautifully colourful birds we saw in the cloud forest. By the end of it, we were saying, “Oh, it’s just another hummingbird.”
And our time on the peninsula was just spectacular. Plodging through a stream in the rainforest and swimming near a mini-waterfall were great experiences. Never mind being able to spot humpback whales while standing on the beach having a picnic lunch!

Most Inspirational Moment

Spending my birthday whale-watching: we had 4 different sightings in just that 1 day. The guides were as excited as we were when a baby humpback pretty much swam under the boat!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Andreas was extremely patient and highly knowledgeable about Costa Rica's wildlife. He spotted animals that we would have walked straight past, and always made sure we had all the information we needed.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Bring water shoes - something you can wear snorkelling or getting on/off a boat. My cheap ponchos bought from Poundland were the best bargain of the trip - they kept me and my rucksack (largely) dry. It really does chuck it down in the rainforest. Yes, the accommodation in Cahuita isn't up to the same standard as everywhere else, but it was clean and situated right on the beach. Did the job. And the cocktails in town more than made up for any shortcomings. When flying in hurricane season, it might be worth trying to fly direct to San Jose so you reduce the risk of flight disruption - our connecting flight via Houston was cancelled, although Exodus helped us to sort alternatives.

Dave Renvoize

Reviewed September 2017

Hectic but very rewarding trip

This trip fits a lot in to the two weeks but delivers some very special experiences with both the orangutans and the komodo dragons so it is well worth the hardship of some early starts and long travel days. The accommodation is generally good although the boat is rather basic, but this is a small price to pay for the excellent snorkelling and komodo dragon sightings that the boat makes possible. The food on the boat is both tasty and plentiful and the crew very obliging.
Overall this is an excellent trip and a rare opportunity to see both orangutans and komodo dragons as well as experiencing life in three areas of Indonesia.

Most Inspirational Moment

The first sighting of the orangutans was soon after we started our first jungle trek and was a special moment, especially as they seemed so comfortable with us being so close. This was just the beginning of our trek and was followed by many more sightings including some very playful infants and an impressive mature male. The komodo dragons were no less impressive and watching a female dragon who was guarding her nest full of eggs erupt in to action to chase off another dragon who was looking to eat the eggs is a moment that I will not forget.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Elly was an excellent leader. Good company, very professional and a capable problem solver as well as being around when ever she was needed, including some late nights when the group went on from the evening meal for some music and beers and Elly made sure we all got home safely!

Advice for Potential Travellers

Its generally hot and humid and we had nightly heavy rain when in the Sumatra jungle so a light weight waterproof jacket/poncho is useful. Pack light and get laundry done half way through the trip in Sanur, the Swastika bungalows did a good job with our laundry (24 hour turn around) for very small cost. Take a t shirt or rash vest for the snorkelling to avoid sun burnt shoulders and a torch or head lamp for the boat at night (generator off at night by group decision to enjoy the silence) and in case of power cuts in the other hotels.

Kevin Grewcock

Reviewed September 2017

Canadian Rockies Wilderness Walks

Generally a nice holiday, in spectacular scenery. The food was varied and very plentiful (although having 10 females in the party of 12, plus 2 male guides might have had a bearing on this). Assorted dietary restrictions were catered for.

The sites were fine, with the exception of the “last” one near Waterton Park (Waterton Springs Campground) which, in all honesty, was unacceptable for a holiday costing in excess of £3,000 for 11 days camping. We had a 1km walk to get hot water for anything, the toilet facilities near our tents were basic and only just about acceptable (if you ignore the lack of hot water) and the sinks for washing up in were disgusting. They had a large number (40-50) of RVs on site, all situated next to the office and all facilities. We were put as far away from there as was possible on the site (presumably so that a “noisy” group wouldn’t disturb their main source of income – the RVs). There may have been another 5-6 people in tents while we were there. We were unfortunate in that, due to fires, Waterton Park was closed the day after we arrived and then totally evacuated, so I cannot comment on the walks there. This was a shame as I had visited there for 2 days last year and really loved it – there is what looked to be a reasonable site in Waterton Park itself, beautifully situated next to the village, although I can’t comment on its facilities as I was in a hotel. In fact, returning there was a major factor in me choosing to go on this holiday. On the plus side, we only stayed at the poor site for one night. The tour company arranged a new site, well away from the fires (a 500km drive in fact), in a much nicer site, at very short notice.

Most Inspirational Moment

I didn't find anything "inspirational", but I am generally not one for strong emotions.

Thoughts on Group Leader

On the whole, good. At times he did almost seem to be showing off how good a "walker" he was - fast and very agile - but not to the point of doing anything dangerous. It did seem to take us a long while to have breakfast and out on the walk at times. Due to a combination of circumstances, the group naturally split into a faster and a slower group. The two guides handled this well, I thought. Even suggesting some alternative, shorter, routes for the slower group (which included me) on some days so that we didn't feel that we were holding up the faster group all the time.

Advice for Potential Travellers

To enjoy this holiday to the full, you don't just need a good level of fitness, a good level of experience of exercise (walking, running) in hilly terrain is almost a must. I run 3/4 times a week, up to an hour at a time, but there are not many hills near me. The first 2 days left me with very achy muscles from the amount of continuous, uphill walking - often steep and often more than an hour at a time. I sat out day 3 to recover. Although I could have done the walk, I may well have then had to rest for more than a day. If you do not travel light, you might want to pay to have a tent to yourself. Although there were 2 men in the group, the other one was with his wife, so I got a tent to myself. I found this a benefit, apart from putting up and taking down the tent. However that was pretty straightforward, even for one person. I took a 4 seasons sleeping bag, but was too hot every night. However, others were cold on some nights. The overnight temperature (Aug 28 to Sept 7) didn't drop below 10°C in my tent. Personally I think that a 3 seasons bag plus a light blanket would be a better recommendation than a 4 seasons bag.

Tilly Jensen

Reviewed September 2017

CAUTION: This is a '4' level of difficulty and NOT a '2'; difficulty level grossly misrepresented

We booked this trip to have some cycling time with our son who is a novice cyclist but fit. My husband and I are strong cyclists and have done trips with Exodus that are rated as a ‘4’ and ‘3’; no difficulties with cycling experienced on those trips. However, this Dordogne trip starts off the first cycling day with grades of 5% to 10% and as high as 16%. The second day of cycling has two optional rides with the same thing and even as high as 20% showing on our Garmin. Our son was not here to train for the Tour de France … the goal was to have some relaxing cycling … this is NOT relaxing cycling. I confirmed with an Exodus agent that a trip rated as a ‘2’ should be relatively flat terrain. When you are continuously experiencing elevation grades greater than 6%, it’s a seriously challenging ride. We ride in the Canadian Rockies … some great but tough rides there … this Dordogne trip is as tough as our mountain rides in Canada but not as many kilometres. The difficulty rating of this ride has been totally misrepresented by Exodus. Had we known, we would have booked an ebike. We were unable to get an ebike because we didn’t realize it was necessary until we had done a couple of days of cycling … now they are unable to get us one … so we’re stuck sitting around doing nothing. BEWARE!!!!

Most Inspirational Moment

When we realized that we will never book another trip with Exodus given the misrepresentation experienced on this trip ... and we've done more than 10 to date with them!