Camps International Reviews

Name: Camps International
Address: Unit 10 Kingfisher Park Headlands Business ParkSalisbury Road, Ringwood
Rating: 4.11

4.1 Rating 620 Reviews

78 %

of reviewers recommend Camps International

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About Camps International:

Camps International are experts in sustainable student travel, offering life-changing school expeditions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

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Phone:

01425 485390

Email:

info@campsinternational.com

Location:

Unit 10 Kingfisher Park Headlands Business ParkSalisbury Road
Ringwood
BH24 3NX

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Camps International 5 star review on 16th March 2025

Camps International 5 star review on 25th February 2025

James Spence

Camps International 5 star review on 7th January 2025

Joshua Rowlands

Charlotte Thompson

125

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 3 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Had very good views, but some of the staff seemed sick and tired of all the students which is bad.”

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Posted 3 months ago

“The trip was lovely, I loved the work, the communities and the places”

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Posted 4 months ago

Dear Emily, Thank you so much for your kind words about your experience with Camps. We’re thrilled to hear that you loved the project work the welcoming communities and the incredible locations you visited. All the best, The Camps Crew

Posted 4 months ago

“Had a good time, camps were overcrowded so not much project work was done by our group. Got Ill/injured a few times and reports sent home to parents were wrong, so parents aren’t fully aware of what’s happened and may not be able to get in touch with children. Didn’t actually meet many or any children in most camps, even though we were told we would and get to talk and play with them. We were told it would be cold at certain points but no one told us it would be winter or that it would be around -10 degrees at night and there weren’t enough blankets for us all because the camps were overcrowded. My group was put straight into the highest camp without any acclimatisation so no one felt brilliant and a few of us even had to leave the camp. Food was lovely for the most part, and so were the few project days we did do.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 months ago

Hello, Thank you for sharing your feedback about your expedition. We are pleased to hear you enjoyed the food and the project work you were able to take part in, but we’re sorry some aspects of the trip didn’t meet your expectations. Our teams work hard to provide a balanced itinerary, but some activities, like project work or meeting local children, may vary depending on circumstances at the time. We aim to give students meaningful experiences, even if specific activities differ from initial plans due to unforeseen circumstances. Regarding the cold weather, we do highlight the need for layers and suitable sleeping bags in the kit list and pre-departure session. However, we’ll always aim to provide extra blankets if needed. We strive to ensure clear communication with parents and appreciate how important this is. Our Travel Support Team, in country staff and expedition leaders follow a specific line of communication to ensure all information is directed through the correct channels. Thank you for your feedback - it helps us to continually improve. We’re glad you took away some positives from your experience. All the best, The Camps Crew

Posted 4 months ago

“I did not agree with prizes being given to those who paid their trip off early!! My son said one of the 'helpers' spent alot of time on her phone (not sure why this was needed). The trip itself was awesome and well-organised. Vaccination costs should be highlighted as opposed to just needing vaccinations.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 months ago

Thank you for your feedback and we’re glad to hear your son enjoyed his school expedition and found it well-organised! We value all insights, especially regarding the competition and expedition experience, as they help us improve future offerings. We’ll be sure to pass your comments on for review. Regarding vaccinations, requirements can vary by destination and we encourage all travellers to consult their travel clinic or healthcare professional for the most accurate and up-to-date information, as we are not trained medical professionals. Due to these variations, it's challenging for us to outline costs in advance. If you have any further suggestions, please feel free to share them with us. Thanks again for your valuable input. The Camps Crew

Posted 6 months ago

“The trip was great and well organised. It was an amazing experience. What I didn't like was the lack of support to fundraising, I was sold an idea that there would be a lot of support from my school and camps international, unfortunately that was not the case and there was 0 support especially from our school.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. We are delighted to hear that you had an amazing experience and felt the trip was well organised. Regarding your concerns about the lack of fundraising support, we are committed to offering ongoing fundraising assistance. We provide various avenues for support, including our Traveller Gateway, Facebook Fundraising Advice Group, informative blog posts, newsletters, and a team on hand to answer any questions or share ideas over the phone. It's disheartening to hear that we didn't meet your expectations in this regard. We also understand your disappointment with your school's lack of involvement in your fundraising efforts. We would encourage you to also communicate your frustrations with them. If you have any further suggestions on how we could have enhanced your fundraising experience, please do not hesitate to contact us at operations@campsinternational.co.uk. Your feedback is invaluable to us. All the best The Camps Crew

Posted 1 year ago

“A good experience for our child. However, poor communication from the company from the group she was in. This was compared to other groups with more frequent updates. An urgent medical issue was not noted which we would have liked to have prepared for.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

Dear Parent Thank you for taking time to share your feedback. We're delighted to hear that it was a good experience for your child, we hope they have come back with lots of wonderful memories and stories to share. We are disappointed to hear that communication updates did not meet your expectations while your child was on expedition. We are aware that our Travel Support team has been in contact to discuss your concerns. In addition, although social media posts are not always guaranteed while out on expedition, our marketing team are exploring ways on how we can improve consistency of posts for all teams for future expeditions. All the best The Camps Crew

Posted 1 year ago

“nice trip, friends were the highlights but i think the value for money wasnt good i believe it should be cheaper compared to other trips that ive went to”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

Thank you for your feedback on your expedition to Kenya. We are pleased that you had a good trip with your friends but would like to understand more about the value aspect of the trip if you can please send us more details to the team on uae-operations@campsinternational.co.uk. Thank you for joining us on a Camps expedition and making a positive impact to our partner communities. All the best The Camps Crew

Posted 1 year ago

“I am a parent of a kid that missed the Nepal journey. It is sad what the Terms and Conditions you have along the project. My son ended up missing the excursion and a relevant note was provided 6 days before the trip. However, this project should have a wait list to replace the dropouts and minimize the parents' fee costs. I appreciate the complimentary (minimum) refund given a month after.”

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Posted 2 years ago

“Ella went to Borneo and had a nice time however the food was poor and sleeping conditions weren’t very good.”

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Posted 2 years ago

Dear Ella It is great that you had a good time on your school’s Borneo expedition with Camps International. We try and give our travellers an authentic experience when staying at Camp and we realise that traditional longhouses and hammocks might not be for everyone. We are disappointed to hear that it did not meet your expectations. Thank you for travelling with us and for helping with all the project work to help support the local community in Camp Borneo. All the best The Camps Team

Posted 2 years ago

“We have mixed reviews. The concept is absolutely fantastic and we appreciate the challenges involved with coordinating such a large number of groups and people, especially when unexpected things crop up like Covid, extreme weather or political unrest. On this occasion the tour was changed very last minute. We were grateful it was still going ahead, but disappointed by the reality of the back up plan. Ie, overcrowded camps with really not many jobs to do. Pretty sure Camps were aware of this as we mistakenly received an email advising leaders of the numbers doubling, the strain on toilet and wash facilities, and the need to pull together to make the trip successful. There seemed to be very little interaction with the community itself, only camps people, so the sold ideal of having community impact in the real world with real local people wasn’t felt. Possibly due to the revolving door of students with not enough availability or opportunity. That said, the leader was great, there were several inspiring local staff with great stories. It was still a good experience of basic backpacking travel, making friends, but not for the premium price paid and the community project we were sold on. We have a feeling circumstances were not on our side and we were just unlucky. Would we do it again, probably but we would look at similar options as a comparison first.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

Thank you for your feedback. We are disappointed the expedition did not meet your expectations with regards to community interaction and project work. In all our destinations we are part of the communities we work with, with our camps built and staffed by the local community - many of whom have incredibly moving life stories. We are pleased to hear you were inspired by our local crew. We will be passing on your constructive feedback to our in-country team. Kind regards The Camps Crew

Posted 2 years ago

“An overall good trip with great opportunities. However, there was lots of miscommunication leading up to the expedition. Due to covid there was no certainty that any trips would run but camps continuously sent unhelpful emails as if everything was going ahead. The expedition didn’t go ahead in 2021 but if you did not choose to defer a year there was no garante of getting all your money back. When my daughter finally did get to go, her group were older than normal due to deferrals. Yet they were all treated as children throughout the whole trip. The leader ensured that there was a lack of independence and gave no consideration that the majority of students in the group were adults and no longer at school/college.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

Thank you for your feedback. We are pleased to hear that the trip brought great opportunities but disappointed to hear that we did not meet your expectations with regards to communication during the pandemic. As with all our school expeditions, we comply with the British Standard Specification (BS8848) and take the management of risk and safety very seriously. This allows us to deliver school expeditions to all groups (often sharing communal areas) within our Camps in a safe and consistent manner. We are sorry to hear that your daughter felt this curbed her independence as the vast majority of our travelling students come away with a sense of accomplishment and personal growth. Kind regards The Camps Team

Posted 2 years ago

“Flights could have been better organised if with Emirates Airlines,. Accomodation and food could have been better. Experience provided was good and educational”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

We are sorry to hear that the flights were not suitable for you. We will take your comments on board and look to improve on this in the future. Providing an educational and life-changing experience is very important to us, so we are glad to hear you took this away from the trip. Kind regards The Camps Team

Posted 2 years ago

“I have mixed reviews about camps international. The first talk was so exciting. My daughter and I and her father loved the ethical side of the expedition, helping out whilst experiencing another culture sounded amazing. We signed up immediately. The Kenya trip is expensive. I think it would be a good idea for the organisers to mention that this will not be the only expense other then pocket money. Visas,vaccinations, malaria tablets, the health consultation to get the afore mentioned medicines and health cover excess are all expenses that need to be covered. I understand that camps international cannot advise on what vaccinations will be required however a brief overview that most going do get vaccinations and that the area visited is a yellow fever area would have softened the surprise when we attended the doctors and found out. In the last meeting, one of the topics that was spoken about was timings to take the malaria meds. It would have been helpful to know that taking malaria tablets would be the norm at the beginning of the process. We received a kit list that stated sleeping bag, anti fungal footpowder and a myriad of other things which we duly purchased only to receive another list that omitted such items. This lack of continuity was irritating and needlessly expensive. When my daughter's arrival was iminant I contacted the center to find out collection timings. I was given a phone number of someone to call and get the information. No one replied. I messaged and got no reply. I visited the camps international site and called the number, it was out of order. I was panicking. No one answered my calls, emails. My husband also tried and got a similar response. This was a dreadful lack of care on the part of camps international. We were consistently told in the meetings ' any worries just get in touch. Call is , someone is there to answer 24/7. This was obviously not the case. Luckily my daughter called me to let me know she had arrived. On the plus side she had a wonderful time. The leaders were great and the activities exciting and rewarding. Prior to her departure, correspondence was swift and any information I requested readily supplied. However I would still think twice though about sending her on a camps international trip again and would make sure I get the full story in the first meeting, not the exciting highlights the speaker supplies, before I sign my children up to any further camps international expeditions.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hi Eirene, Thank you for your review. We are grateful that you having taken the time to provide us with your feedback and are pleased to hear that your daughter had a wonderful time whilst on expedition with us. We are sorry that you feel as though the information you received before your daughters expedition was inconsistent. We try to make sure that families are aware of the need for vaccinations and visas and I believe a member of our team was in contact with you regarding this throughout the pre-expedition process. We apologise that you were unable to get in contact with us regarding your daughters arrival home. We pride ourselves in our 24/7 availability so will look in to this matter further. All the best, The Camps Crew

Posted 5 years ago

“Trip was brilliant however admin beforehand was not very good.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hi Charlotte, Thanks for sharing your feedback and we're really glad to hear you loved your trip. We understand there were some administration issues within the school before your trip and are pleased to be working together to ensure this is much improved for future trips. Many thanks, The Camps Crew

Posted 5 years ago

“the people who work in the Tanzania Moshi camp, were very supportive and kind. The only thing that could've been improved was the food- it should cater to vegetarians and everyone's individual needs.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Lakshmi, Thank you for sharing your feedback with us. It's great to hear this feedback about our team and will pass it on. All of our camps are prepared to cater for any dietary requirements so we apologise that this was not the case for you. If you could drop us an email at operations@campsinternational.com with more detail we would love to be able to follow this up. Best wishes, The Camps Crew

Posted 6 years ago

“Really great food, fun experience, great trips and amazing memories. But, way too overpriced. Price for one person could have been to pay for the camp and Han’s future house.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. We strive to create the best trips possible through our ethical business model and we will take your feedback into consideration. Best wishes, The Camps Crew

Posted 6 years ago

“Hi Camps International. I really congratulate you and the whole team for all the success and great experiences that you create. Me myself being a mountaineer and explorer feels lot more expedition spirit and experience can be added to the trips. Wishing you all the very best. Thanks”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, We really appreciate your feedback. We always try to take it on board when we create our trips. Best wishes, The Camps Crew

Posted 6 years ago

“Went on the 2015 Peru school expedition with camps, it was an amazing experience that I would definitely recommend to anyone. We were given the opportunity to see some spectacular places with our friends and realise how fortunate we are to be born in such luxurious lifestyles in contrast to life in Peru. The camps international staff from Peru and our group leaders were extremely friendly and helpful. Although, the organisation of project work was poor on camps internationals behalf. There was not a sufficient amount of equipment available for the group to use which meant we weren't able to utilise each member of our team (which was a big size of 40) and this was the same story at each camp we visited; Colca, Titicaca and Moray. More people, more work done? But without the right amount of equipment (spades,pickaxes wheelbarrows etc) the size of our group didn't matter. One of the aspects of the trip that appealed to me was to see that I could make a difference to changing the quality of life for the communities that we visited, however we never got to see the end product of what our hard work had achieved. If the work was more concentrated rather than having numerous different jobs which you would only work on once it may have been different. The feeling from the locals was that they could do it better by themselves and the language barrier was a challenge at times which again limited the success and progress we made. To add to this, the amount of food that camps international gave us was simply not enough. At meals it was rare for there to be second portions which meant energy levels around camp were dangerously low at times regarding the amount of work we were doing on a daily basis. Despite these issues, overall I thoroughly enjoyed my month in Peru the highlight completing the 5 day Salkantay Trail with the reward of seeing Machu Pichhu at the end, an unforgettable experience!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Unfortunately I am not able to attend my trip to South Africa due to operations and other hospital appointments; however certain members of staff have been very useful in helping me get the deposit I paid back. However at the same time, I feel like I have been messed around as i booked the trip with yourselves nearly a year ago. I understand that you need all the proof possible, but when it came to relaying the information back to myself or keeping me up to date with where I stand, always seemed to much trouble.”

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Posted 10 years ago

Camps International is rated 4.1 based on 620 reviews