Reviews of Stanley's Camp
(92%) From 10 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Stanley's Camp review
A very friendly and welcoming camp which was ideal for our first 2 nights. We enjoyed the choir at the camp. We also liked the attention to detail in particularly the decoration of the beds by our housekeeper.
The elephant experience was wonderful and we learnt a lot about elephant behaviour.
It was especially nice to see a pack of wild dogs on one of our game drives.
A reasonable start to our trip.
The elephant experience was very good, though it became a bit gimmicky towards the end.
Read more about the whole safariStanley's Camp review
The Stanley's Choir greeted us in song upon arrival. The first afternoon we heard crunching sounds outside and discovered a warthog foraging right off our deck. We were enchanted. Our family couldn't decide if this was our favorite camp or the next one, Sandibe -- they both stand out in terms of luxury. Our guide, Kot, was so knowledgeable and mostly self-taught!! about all the surrounds, animal habits and even the night sky. The night game drive allowed us to see the glowing eyes of a bushbaby.
The Elephant Experience with Doug & Sandi Groves is a must for elephant lovers. We learned so much about the ellies, and this added to our enjoyment in subsequent elephant viewings at other camps. Our daughters (ages 13 & 11) treasure their photos with Jabu, Marula and Thembi.
Stanley's Camp review
Great camp - nice layout and rooms, and amazing food. Woken up by a large bull elephant right outside our tent on the first morning.
The Grey Matters elephant experience was slighly disappointing. The animals were graet, but the whole experience was a bit of a cross between a circus act and a well-meaning lecture.
Stanley's Camp review
At home again in this luxury camp. From the moment I arrived my every need was catered for. Being a single traveller I felt extra care was provided, especially by Lebo who treated me like a special friend. It was a perfect end to my trip to spend time here. Again the food is second to none and every single member of staff afforded the highest possible service, friendly, courteous and professional at all times.
The game drives were very good but compared to Meno A Kwena and the Northern Botswana mobile safari there was less game to see. The vehicle was the least comfortable and the terrain extremely bumpy! None the less my guide Ike (who even though suffering with a really bad cold) did his best to seek out the game.
The best part of this stay was the Grey Matter, Elephant Experience. Whatever my expectations of this were they were multipled 1000 fold. Doug Groves is one of the most incredible people I have ever met, he is the fourth elephant. His knowledge and love for these beautiful creatures is breath taking. If like me you feel an affinity with these astounding animals then make sure you include the experience when you book.
Stanley's Camp review
Overall an excellent camp especially the hospitality, rooms and foot.
The elephant experience was very worthwhile if you want to get up close and personal and learn more about elephants but they are humanised so do undertake "tricks".
Not a huge amount of game on our visit.
Stanley's Camp review
Stanley's Camp is a luxurious camp in the Okavango Delta, which seems to be aimed at honeymooners and well-to-do families. The food was the best we had during our trip, the accommodations were beautiful, and the camp staff was very helpful. However, our game drives at Stanley's did not hold a candle to the game drives at other camps. We encountered mostly elephant, antelope, and giraffe, which we had not seen much of at our prior camp. We thought this would be a good time to learn more about these animals and various behaviors they were exhibiting, but our guide did little more than point at the animal, say its name, and impatiently say "done?" after hearing a few shutter clicks on our cameras. We found this to be terribly disheartening, especially considering the premium we paid to stay at Stanley's and our wonderful experiences at other, less expensive, camps.
We tried to ask questions of the guide to encourage more dialogue during the game drives, but received short answers and no further discussion unless prompted by us. Based on our limited interactions with other guides at Stanley's, we believe that our experience was limited to our guide, but it nonetheless put a damper on our overall experience.
The saving grace of Stanley's, for the purposes of our trip, was the Elephant Experience, which we really enjoyed. In fact, the Elephant Experience was the reason we requested Stanley's in the first place. However, knowing what we know now, we would have requested to stay a single night at Stanley's, just long enough to do the Elephant Experience.
We would recommend Stanley's for people looking for luxurious accommodations who are not concerned about the quality of guiding, or for those very interested in the Elephant Experience (but just for one night).
Expert Africa comments
We were disappointed to hear that these travellers did not have a good guiding experience at Stanley’s Camp.
We passed on these travellers comments to the management of Stanley’s Camp, who were very concerned and responded speedily:
“We take feedback of this nature very seriously, as we pride ourselves in our standard of guiding at all our camps. We believe it is an integral part of a safari experience and because of this we invest a great deal of time training and developing our guides. We have a dedicated training officer and over and above this run a guide training programme annually for all our guides. As you can imagine this is a substantial investment on our part.
This feedback has been dealt with at the highest level within Sanctuary Retreats and our Operations director in Botswana will be addressing this directly with the guide concerned and the necessary steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again.”
We are pleased that this has been dealt with at such a high level – and feel confident that they are acting swiftly to rectify this issue.
In addition, the camp wanted us to convey their apologies for a disappointing stay, and have made a kind gesture to these travellers to try to make up for their disappointment.
Stanley's Camp review
Lovely staff (Carter was a great guide).
Delicious food.
Comfortable room.
Wonderful safaris at Stanleys
We enjoyed early morning tea being brought to our tent
Harry the chef was excellent
Carter our guide was superb His knowledge was amazing
Our wildlife viewings were the best here seeing both lion and leopard cubs Carter 's reaction when 2 female elephants charged us was instantanious I lost my fleece in the panic but Alan went out later and found it for me
Stanley's Camp review
I found all the staff to be very friendly, helpful, and extremely welcoming.
I would like to thank Carter, my guide for my stay, in particular, for everything he did, for his instruction, and knowledge.
And as an experience, The walk with the Elephants, is some which will be with me for always. All the drives gave good game viewing.
I had a wonderful time.
We have always believed that acting responsibly is the only way to approach tourism and we're one of
the few companies to hold AITO's original coveted 5-star status for responsible tourism. It's a lead
that others are now following.
