Dear Angela,
Firstly, I would like to extend sincere apologies that your experience of Camp Hwange did not match up to your expectations and that you felt we did not deliver. Having met you personally whilst you were in camp, you confirmed that you are well travelled in Africa and that you do your best to come to Africa most years. I was surprised to read your review on Tripadvisor as when I met you in camp you did not highlight any of these issues to me or the Management staff and had you raised an issue with regards to any of the points mentioned, we would have certainly gone out of our way to make the necessary changes to your guide or meals to ensure your experience was improved. We do pride ourselves on the experience we offer to our guests and it is rare for us to receive this kind of feedback. I do understand however that every guest has different expectations and so if an issue is ever highlighted we would take the necessary steps to resolve it. Unfortunately, in this case we were not aware of any issue whilst you were in camp.
As a well-seasoned traveller, I would anticipate that you have an understanding that particular wildlife sightings are never guaranteed and that wildlife encounters are very much a case of “luck of the draw”, particularly during the rainy season when the vegetation is thicker and the wildlife is more dispersed. This year has seen Zimbabwe experience above average rainfall and very late rains, all of which we are grateful for as it was needed to avoid another drought. During the week you were with us, we did experience overcast and windy weather, which does impact sightings, and I am sure you can appreciate was beyond our control.
In terms of the food, I would like to sincerely apologise that you did not like our food in camp and that when you mentioned you did not eat what was being served an alternative was not offered. This is not acceptable and I will address this with my staff. We generally receive guest’s dietary requirements in advance of their arrival which helps us to try to cater to the different tastes. I am however doubtful any member of staff would tell a guest that “it was end of month and supplies were down so options were limited”. This is not how we operate and our supply orders for the camp are done in advance and according to guest numbers to ensure we always have adequate supplies.
In terms of the guiding, Camp Hwange is renowned for its quality of guides, both learner and fully qualified professional guides, all of whom are interviewed and employed by me and the selection process is based on their passion, experience and knowledge as well as their abilities to interact with guests. There are different levels of guides based on the activities that they conduct for guests. Learner / Driver Guides conduct game drives only whereas fully qualified professional guides conduct walking safaris and game drives. As you had confirmed you would not do a walking safari, we had arranged for our driver guide Mckenzie to look after you. Mckenzie has three years of experience as a driver guide and the feedback on his guiding since joining us has been positive. Had you however requested an alternative guide we would have happily made changes.
As for the vehicle, many of our guests love the experience of conducting a game drive in a land rover, which generally is viewed as the “ultimate authentic safari vehicle”. If I recall correctly, after your return to camp that day we did change your vehicle to one of our Toyota 4 x 4 game drive vehicle. Having said that however, again I would like to apologise that this impacted your experience.
In closing I would like to reiterate that our guest experience is our priority and had we been informed your experience was not going well, we would have taken the necessary steps to improve on it. I would like to recommend that in future whilst you are on safari, if you are not happy with the guide, food or services, that you approach the Management or staff in camp to discuss it with them. This will not only allow for your expectations to be delivered on and thus enhance your experience, but will also allow for the Camp or Staff where you are staying to adapt or improve on their delivery.
We hope you will be able to return to Zimbabwe in the future to improve on your experience with us.
