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What travelers are saying

"When I signed up for the Wonders of Costa Rica at a slower pace. The hotel listed in the itinerary for day 8&9 was a 4 star hotel on the beach called the Punta Leona. I'm not sure when but Road Scholar changed the Punta Leona hotel for the 3 star Villa Lapis Jungle hotel. I was shocked when we drove up to this dump. Others in the group wanted to leave and find another hotel. I had black bugs under that shower mat and the shower did not drain, Spiders on the wall and roaches coming out of the cracked in the bathroom. The bed was a thin mattress on a board and was hard as a rock. The food they put out was covered with a wrap but 15 minutes after the plastic wrap was removed it was covered with fruit flies. I passed on the open food bowls. The walls were real thin and the neighbors were real noisy until 11:30 pm. Others in the group complained about the late night noise, spiders and toilet seat being broken. I'm not sure where this place gets 3 stars. After I saw the roaches, I give it a 1 star. Road Scholar put us up in beautiful hotels and then they take us here. You can do better than this Road Scholar. The end the story, Road Scholar customer service called me about my concern and said they have never used the Punta Leona, (I sent her my itinerary that said PUNTA LEONA). She also said they haven't had any complaints about this Villa Lapis dump. After her call, I'm not sure if I'll ever travel with Road Scholar again. Enough said...."

What travelers are saying

"When I signed up for the Wonders of Costa Rica at a slower pace. The hotel listed in the itinerary for day 8&9 was a 4 star hotel on the beach called the Punta Leona. I'm not sure when but Road Scholar changed the Punta Leona hotel for the 3 star Villa Lapis Jungle hotel. I was shocked when we drove up to this dump. Others in the group wanted to leave and find another hotel. I had black bugs under that shower mat and the shower did not drain, Spiders on the wall and roaches coming out of the cracked in the bathroom. The bed was a thin mattress on a board and was hard as a rock. The food they put out was covered with a wrap but 15 minutes after the plastic wrap was removed it was covered with fruit flies. I passed on the open food bowls. The walls were real thin and the neighbors were real noisy until 11:30 pm. Others in the group complained about the late night noise, spiders and toilet seat being broken. I'm not sure where this place gets 3 stars. After I saw the roaches, I give it a 1 star. Road Scholar put us up in beautiful hotels and then they take us here. You can do better than this Road Scholar. The end the story, Road Scholar customer service called me about my concern and said they have never used the Punta Leona, (I sent her my itinerary that said PUNTA LEONA). She also said they haven't had any complaints about this Villa Lapis dump. After her call, I'm not sure if I'll ever travel with Road Scholar again. Enough said...."

What travelers are saying

"When I signed up for the Wonders of Costa Rica at a slower pace. The hotel listed in the itinerary for day 8&9 was a 4 star hotel on the beach called the Punta Leona. I'm not sure when but Road Scholar changed the Punta Leona hotel for the 3 star Villa Lapis Jungle hotel. I was shocked when we drove up to this dump. Others in the group wanted to leave and find another hotel. I had black bugs under that shower mat and the shower did not drain, Spiders on the wall and roaches coming out of the cracked in the bathroom. The bed was a thin mattress on a board and was hard as a rock. The food they put out was covered with a wrap but 15 minutes after the plastic wrap was removed it was covered with fruit flies. I passed on the open food bowls. The walls were real thin and the neighbors were real noisy until 11:30 pm. Others in the group complained about the late night noise, spiders and toilet seat being broken. I'm not sure where this place gets 3 stars. After I saw the roaches, I give it a 1 star. Road Scholar put us up in beautiful hotels and then they take us here. You can do better than this Road Scholar. The end the story, Road Scholar customer service called me about my concern and said they have never used the Punta Leona, (I sent her my itinerary that said PUNTA LEONA). She also said they haven't had any complaints about this Villa Lapis dump. After her call, I'm not sure if I'll ever travel with Road Scholar again. Enough said...."

What travelers are saying

"When I signed up for the Wonders of Costa Rica at a slower pace. The hotel listed in the itinerary for day 8&9 was a 4 star hotel on the beach called the Punta Leona. I'm not sure when but Road Scholar changed the Punta Leona hotel for the 3 star Villa Lapis Jungle hotel. I was shocked when we drove up to this dump. Others in the group wanted to leave and find another hotel. I had black bugs under that shower mat and the shower did not drain, Spiders on the wall and roaches coming out of the cracked in the bathroom. The bed was a thin mattress on a board and was hard as a rock. The food they put out was covered with a wrap but 15 minutes after the plastic wrap was removed it was covered with fruit flies. I passed on the open food bowls. The walls were real thin and the neighbors were real noisy until 11:30 pm. Others in the group complained about the late night noise, spiders and toilet seat being broken. I'm not sure where this place gets 3 stars. After I saw the roaches, I give it a 1 star. Road Scholar put us up in beautiful hotels and then they take us here. You can do better than this Road Scholar. The end the story, Road Scholar customer service called me about my concern and said they have never used the Punta Leona, (I sent her my itinerary that said PUNTA LEONA). She also said they haven't had any complaints about this Villa Lapis dump. After her call, I'm not sure if I'll ever travel with Road Scholar again. Enough said...."

What travelers are saying

"Lora-Leigh Huskisson was our travel agent representing Siyabona Africa out of Cape Town. I started communicating with Lora-Leigh in Aug 2022. I wanted a comprehensive tour for around 4 weeks in April 2023 that had 6 adults and 2 children under 6. I had done a lot of internet research and almost knew what I wanted. Lora-Leigh augmented that by suggesting the best places to stay and recommended a great safari camp. We started our tour with Siyabona in Sun City but just prior to that we stayed at Ekuthuleni Lodge in the Welgevonden Private Game Reserve which friends of ours had already organized. Great private Safari Lodge, excellent day drives, wonderful food and fabulous staff. We had our grandchildren with us and thought before going to Victoria Falls we would break up the trip with a kids weekend at Sun City. They had a wonderful time with the pools/waterpark and the adults played golf. They also did a self-drive in the nearby game reserve. If you want to see the wildlife in SA with young children you need to break up the various safaris that you sign up for. We then went to Victoria falls via air organized by Lora-Leigh as were all the remaining tour flights. I should mention that all flights (and there were a few) went off without any difficulties other than the Tambo airport baggage handlers who seem to access your luggage without any recriminations. Victoria Falls was nice to see and the children enjoyed the mist, getting wet and the sound of the falls. Lora-Leigh booked the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge. It was a great choice. Its location is in viewing distance of a watering hole and everyday there were animals there. They also have a vulture feeding station. Once again the children enjoyed the staff, the food (especially the Dinner and Drum show at the Boma) the swimming pool and watching the animals. A good choice by Lora-Leigh. This was about enough for the young ones and that family of four left to return home but four of us continued on with the itinerary. Our next stop was on the Chobe Princess Safariboat in Namibia. I can't give Lora-Leigh all the credit for this choice as it was really my suggestion. However, the transportation to get to the boat was all down to her organization. The boat is literally across and upstream from the falls but you need to go through three border crossings to get there. Normally, this would appear to be difficult, and I think it generally is, but we had drivers who got us through it all, waiting on each side, waiting at the small boat to get us across the river, the walk up a long dirt road to Namibia immigration and eventually to the Safariboat. Was it worth it? You bet. The Safariboat doesn't really go that far up the river but it doesn't matter. This is a fabulous way to see wildlife in the morning, in the evening, and in most cases all day via the tenders that the Safariboat provides. The food was good, the refreshments were good, the staff and guides were great. The Chobe river is pretty pristine and provides a water related habitat to everyone - human and animal. It was hard to leave the Safariboat but we did, went to yet another airport for our flight to Kadizora Camp in the Okavango Delta. This should be easy, right. Not all planes in Botswana go to where they say they are going. Our flight stopped at another camp and we got off and got on another plane to Kadizora airstrip. Did we have to wait - no - the second plane was there waiting for us, ready to go. Walk 30 meters from one plane to the next. Luggage just walked to the next plane by the pilot. How good is that service? Kadizora Camp was exactly like Lora-Leigh said it would be like. We went out every day looking for animals and TwoBoy our guide found them every day. Not just the easy ones to find but lions, hyenas, crocodiles, hippos, wild dogs, etc. but no leopard although we kept trying but to no avail. Kadizora camp is in a great location on the delta and the delta is a must see in Botswana. So our group would like to say thank you to Lora-Leigh and Siyabona Africa for their service and their guidance. It was a great adventure."

What travelers are saying

"Excellent service from start to finish. Probably the most memorable trip I've ever been on and can't fault Wayfairer or the ground handlers in Vietnam."