A letter from Dick and Heidi who traveled in Sept 2007:

Heidi and I would like to thank you for providing us with such a unique and enjoyable experience of walking on the wild side with you for five days in the Mupamadzi River Area of the South Luangwa National Park. It was a real priviledge to be with you in such a remote part of Zambia.

Although we have been to Africa many times, we have never before had the opportunity of learning so much about the various eco-systems, flora and fauna and the inter-reliance between man, beast, plant, bird and insect that is so crucial to the ultimate survival of wildlife and which you explained so well.

We shall never forget the sight of Lion and Waterbuck crossing the river in the early morning light or the carmine bee-eaters flocking and roosting in the river bank in the glow of the setting sun. We also enjoyed the excellent sightings of Roan Antelope and Eland. But more than anything for us, it will be your descriptions of the Honeyguide and its interaction with man, the behaviour of the Elephant Shrew and its similarity with that of a German Hausfrau (putting Heidi to shame!) and your detailed descriptions of the curative properties of many Trees Plants and Shrubs, that left us in abiding wonderment at the beauty and complexity of nature and creation itself.

We also thoroughly enjoyed our first two days at Nkwali - what an introduction on the way from Mfuwe to see a pack of Wild Dog patiently waiting while the Alpha Male started to hunt by attempting to divert a herd of Impala towards the waiting ambush! Excellent sightings of Leopard were also experienced during the night drives. It was also most interesting to observe for the first time two animals peculiar to Zambia which we had not seen before - The Thorneycrof't's Giraffe and the Crawshay's Zebra mutations.

Tena Tena provided superb viewings of large Buffalo and Elephant herds crossing the lake supplemented  by prides of Lion on the prowl. On our last night we had the priviledge of a very clear observation of a Pel's Fishing Owl caught in the spotlight of our vehicle on the way back to camp. After a few minutes the owl flew into a tree to join its mate on the same branch and we were able to watch the two Fishing Owls together for some time in the spotlight. We were told that this was an experience that Professional Twitchers would die for! What a wonderful finale to our first visit to your stunningly located camps.

Our stay with you would not be complete without mentioning how extremely grateful Heidi and I are to all your Staff, Guides, Supervisors and Management who helped to make our stay with Robin Pope Safaris such a unique, memorable and enjoyable experience. On the Mobile Safari we marvelled at the way Jennifer and her team managed to conjure up deliciously cooked meals literally from a hole in the ground with apparently little effort. It was hugely impressive to see the speed with which Camp was struck barely an hour after departing on our morning walk, leaving no trace of ever having been there. Our grateful thanks to all the staff on the Mobile Safari from the guys who dug out the drop toilets to the Chef and his staff for providing food of superb quality in such a wild and remote area. Please also thank our guides on the walking safari who looked after us so well.

We were also very well looked after by all your staff and guides at both Nkwali and Tena Tena and it was great to meet Kerry whose parents looked after us so well at Kusini Camp in Tanzania.

It was also very rewarding to meet so many well travelled and interesting people and we thoroughly enjoyed the companionship and new friendships made with you, Robin, on the walking safari. Thanks to your leadership and guidance we obtained a unique insight into a very beautiful and wild part of Zambia. It has certainly been one of our very best and one of the most memorable of our African experiences. We would love to return again soon, if you could put up with us again!

Great credit is due to you, Jo and all your many staff and management who have worked so hard over many years to create such a unique operation, which is clearly making a huge contribution to the conservation and preservation of Zambian Wildlife.

With many thanks and very best wishes for the future,

Dick and Heidi

And another letter, this one from Susan and Chris who visited us in August 2007:

As I think Chris mentioned before we arrived, whilst we are not scratching up 34 safaris yet like some of your guests, we have spent a little time in the bush, over the past 5 years since our honeymoon, in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Gabon and Madhya Pradesh in India. We rank our time with RPS in Zambia's South Luangwa National Park (and with the Tethers at Kutandala in North Luangwa National Park) as one of our best experiences to date.

Things that particularly impressed us include the:

1. Deep professionalism of everyone we encountered - RPS staff were all friendly, of course, but also very committed and sensitive, but without a level of professionalism, this is not enough. This was unfortunately brought home to us during the 2 nights we spent at another camp prior to coming to RPS where the show was just a bit too slapdash, even though friendly;

2. Breadth of variety of experiences available is unsurpassed in our prior experience in the bush in Africa - the flexibility to walk extensively, take night drives, day drives, early morning breakfast picnics for sunrise and probably a dozen other things we didn't get time to try is truly unique, especially within the confines of a gazetted national park;

3. Safety - 1 and 2 above are linked in this third point, in so far as we had no qualms about taking up any of the opportunities we were presented with, as a consequence of our faith in the guides. At no point did we feel uncomfortable or that safety was an issue (bearing in mind of course that our own behaviour was relevant as well as the guides'!). Kerri, Rocky, Nyombe and Simon all super-performed, to say nothing of The Boss, but more importantly, were a pleasure to spend time with;

4. Precise grasp of logistics and organisation - particularly evident to us on the Mupamadzi mobiles (a little more transparent there), but no doubt underpinning all that you do;

5. Seamless service from first point of contact by email, to being met by your representatives at Lusaka International airport, briefings prior to mobiles, handovers between camps, to the final easing through immigration on the return leg - we were cosseted the entire way; and

6. Gastronomy - special mention must be made of the real talents in all your various kitchens, and in particular Alfred and team on the mobiles, as their food was a very impressive feat under the prevailing conditions. I remarked on sitting down to the first dinner at Camp 1 on the Mupamadzi that I felt like I was dining again at the Savoy Grill - French Onion Soup with freshly made bread, Fillet of (very tender) Beef with potatoes dauphinoise, cauliflower cheese and greens, followed by an exemplary Creme Brulee. From those rudimentary ovens came amazing menus, consistently.

Grace, tact, in-depth bush knowledge and patience under pressure - this is a real "people" job and you people at RPS know how to do it. Congratulations.

And yes, we definitely want to return.

Kind regards

Susan and Chris