Reviews

Transylvanian experience and hospitality at its finest

I booked this trip primarily to see the bears and enjoy some leisurely walks through the meadows and forests. It exceeded my expectations, mainly due to our guide Thomas, the lovely hosts Herman and Katerina at Villa Hermani and the variety of local experiences from the ride in a horse cart, tea at a hilltop monastery, dinner at a restaurant specialising in game meats, harvesting mushrooms after the rain, and schnapps and cake at a fortified church with an intriguing priest! Transylvania is a beautiful part of the world, still in a time when we were closer to nature where animals are respected and in proximity, shepherds tend the flocks, and the landscape provides a bounty of wildflowers, fruit, hay and mushrooms.

"Why do you want to go there?"

When I told people I was going to three of the ‘Stans’, their question was always why ?
To be honest, I wasn’t sure myself until I’d been, but they are very different countries, not subject to mass tourism, with different cultures, lovely people and a joy to explore.

Perfect holiday!

Wow, what can I say? This holiday exceeded my expectations in every way – the walks were varied and interesting, the weather was amazing and our hosts Sarah and Rich at Chalet Chamonix were brilliant, providing us with gourmet international cuisine every evening and gorgeous cakes in the afternoons after our walks. The scenery and views were stunning – I was in awe of the scale of everything compared to our English Lake District mountains. The days weren’t as long as I was expecting – we had plenty of stops for refreshments and time to go into the lovely town of Chamonix.

Cycling Dolmites,Lake Garda and Venice

The trip was excellent.
Brilliant changing scenery.
Our guide on the July trip was very knowledgeable, fun and paid attention to detail. With our Driver making a great pair.
A memorable time had by all.

Brilliant Trip

This was a trek that was harder than I expected for the walking, but there are no altitude issues at all. It was professionally led by John Briggs and coked for by a lovely Lithuanian lady we all called Ads. Most days we walked up to a col with fantastic views and then back down to the next camp site or other hut style accommodation.

There was a fair bit of walking on snow and ice, but the presence of the snow really added to the scenery and I was not uneasy about it at any time.

I lost 7lbs which was slightly disappointing (I lost 21 lb on last year’s 3 week trek in Pakistan) but the food was irresistible, and wine and beer were available at modest prices.

Ups and Downs

I wasn’t bothered about only having breakfasts included as assumed there would be places to explore and eat out most nights. Very wrong to assume!! However nice the food in the hotels is, for me I can eat hotel food in the UK. For me Sri Lanka lacks something that I have experienced in other places and that is SOUL. I’m still not sure what Sri Lanka is all about on a day to day basis. I was quite disappointed with the rubbish all over the beaches, it is not the ‘Paradise Island’ Sri Lanka states it is. The trip itself is fine (somewhat underwhelming) but for me too many temples and too many hotel restaurants. Most of the group seemed happy with the hotel in the evenings but for me the holiday could have been way richer with more of the ‘real Sri Lanka’ being shown. Elephant and normal Safari are fine if you like lining up with MASSES of other trucks to see one illusive Leopard or family of elephants. Personally I like one off experiences with limited people… More of a bespoke feel…which is exactly what I got when I did Namibia with Exodus. For me the trip felt commercialised and over crowded which is not for me.

A world apart

The nothingness of the desert was full of life. We just needed to be shown it. Talking with three ladies in their own gir was such a good explanation of a lifestyle we couldn’t fathom before this. The gir camp sites were well run and 12/14 days we had excellent meals tho I would take some bottle of my choice of sauce next time. The driving distances were very long on 2 days. In 11 hours you can’t have a bad back or any hint of travel sickness. I am on my 19 th exodus trip and at 70 found these really hard work even tho it was unimaginably interesting. My respect for the huge Mongolian empire grew and all I wanted to see was a dinosaur…we saw bones and eggs!
The guide was of vital importance at the Naadam festival He showed how centuries of skills were being displayed to a slowly modernising country. A real time-warp holiday!

Walking in Tuscany

What a fantastic trip,the weather,the acomadation,the scenery,Trek Leader & her Dog ( Elvis ) only one word to describe it.

BEAUTIFUL !!

Best Ever Wildlife Safari!

Ivan Pinto has given an excellent account of our trip so I have little to add.

Botswana & Zimbabwe Lodge Safari

This was a fantastic trip, helped by a great group of people. Both the guide and driver were very knowledable and we all learnt a lot. The long drives were helped by Rowan our guide reading out who wants to be a millionaire from his phone and after several attempts we beat the odds!
Some of the group were nervous about camping in the Okovango delta but it was glamping rather than camping and this proved to be one of the most enjoyable 2 days the trip. Mornings were chilly but we all layered up and with the help of blankets on the game vehicals managed to keep warm. The trip notes were inaccurate in the meals we had provided by the guide which worked out in our favour. Most of us felt that all evening meals with the exception of Victoria falls should be included.
Rowan provided good meals and there was plenty to eat.
We missed out on seeing lions and leopards but did see the most difficult cat to spot the cheeteh so that more than made up for it and as it is wildlife there are never any guarntees. When I booked this trip it was the animals I was most interested in but this has lit in me an interest in birds that I never knew I had and I hope to continue spotting and photographing bird in future.
Victoria falls were amazing and I would recommend both the sunset dinner cruise and the helicopter flight over the falls both were superb.

Most Inspirational Moment

Coming face to face with a white Rhino whist walking with our knowledgeable guide, John. The evening cruise on the Chobe river was truely amazing with a wealth of animals and birds at close quaters.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Rowan was fabulous as was Safiso our driver. My only critisism would be that he did not ask far enough in advance if anyone wanted to fly in a helicopter over the Okovango Delta, this could also have been arranged by exodus in advance back in England. This meant we missed out on this but we did manage a plane flight.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Yes take a warm hat in winter months, this should be added to the kit list. Long jonhs or legging were useful too and a pair of gloves would have been welcome first thing in the mornings.

Reply from Exodus

We would like to thank Sue for her review. We are delighted to read that she found her trip to be fantastic and that she found our local team to be very knowledgeable. It is also great to learn that Sue found the camping in the Okovango Delta to be a much more enjoyable and glamorous than she had anticipated. It transpires that during her group’s stay in Botswana, staff at the lodge offered the group complimentary dinners – we trust the group enjoyed this unexpected gesture! We can, however, confirm that the trip notes accurately described the number of included meals on the tour, but we would like to thank Sue for suggesting that all meals should be included in the itinerary; this feedback has been taken on board. We would like to apologies that certain aspects of Sue’s stay in Maun fell below her expectations. Staff at the property have confirmed that the maintenance crew have addressed the points Sue has mentioned and we hope that going forward future clients will find their stay to be comfortable – John Penge, Product Manager.