Reviews of Selous Impala Camp
(96%) From 176 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Great time at Impala
The camp is well situated on the banks of the river. Tents on platforms all face the water and are screened from each other. Inside very luxurious bedroom & en suite bathroom.
Meals were of a high standard, of the quality of a hotel in many cases. All meals but 2 evenings were at seperate tables, personally I prefer to dine and discuss the day around the table with fellow guests.
Activities started as we came off the plane at 9:30 with a game drive that lasted till ~ 12:00 when we arrived at the camp. By that time following an overnight flight we were fairly tired.
Game drives were good seeing a lot of animals on each occasion. Drivers & Guides were knowledgable and there seemed to be many vehicles available. we had a half day and full day drive by ourselves. Some of the animals (zebras/wildebeast, were a bit skittish, possibly due to hunting that is ongoing in the south part of the park.
Also available were boat trips down the river seeing many birds and animals coming down to drink. Or an afternoon fishing, with in 15 minutes I hooked a tree, and then 2 tiger fish with a very patient guide. Some guests went on bush walks/fly camping trips and said how much they had enjoyed these.
Selous Impala Camp review
We flew in on BA arriving on Friday morning having slept a little on the flight (World Traveller Plus is definitely worth it). Apprehensive about the small plane flight (I hate turbulence) but needn't have been. The 35 minute flight was great and our first real sight of Africa. Arrived at the airstrip and left in Landrover on our first game drive on our way to the Impala camp.
Arrived at camp late lunchtime and greated by smiling faces and cool drinks. One of us would have preferred less of a drive time and to arrive pre-lunch in time to have a shower and then eat. The camp is clean, spacious, relaxed and staffed by the most friendly people, all eager to make our stay as enjoyable as possible. We were guided to our tent (number 8, the last one at the end) and wow; it had superb views of the great Rufiji River, and there at the bottom of the 15ft high river bank was a lone elephant right below our tent. Shortly after, Mum and two calves appeared on the far bank and we spent half an hour watching them playing and rolling in the river. Needless to say,the experiences continued like this throughout our stay.
We chose Impala as it was a short flight and it had the pool and a little more luxury than our next stop at Ruaha,Old Mdonya Camp, plus it had the variety of the river trips and walking as well as normal game drives. We didn't see a great number of animals on the walking trip but our guide was excellent and really made us 'see' what you can't see from a landrover. Wonderful.
Back at camp the pool was a real bonus. On one return from a river trip we walked up the bank from the boat and straight within 10ft of a young tusker. I don't know who was more surprised, him or us. Eventually after both recovered from the shock, elephant and human both turned tail and fled (slowly, as directed by our guide,of course!). This is safari. You never know what will happen, and it's great.
Our biggest bonus more than made up for the lack of leopard (my particular wish), as we got to see a pack of wild/hunting dogs right up close and lazing around just meters from the landrover. This is so rare and we were so lucky to see them. Great driving by our guide to allow us this rare viewing. We stayed 5 nights;- an expensive way to be lazy, but it worked for us. 4 nights would be more economical and you could still have all the experiences on offer.
The food was simple, healthy and never disappointed. Mosquitoes were pleasantly absent, although we took malaria tablets (a must) and did spray the tent once each night just in case. Overall, and excellent camp and highly recommended.
Fantastic camp for our first time on safari
We loved Selous - the layout of the camp along the River was spectacular, the staff were all lovely and made a real effort to chat to every guest at the end of each day. Food was fantastic. The guides / rangers were very knowledgeable and made the days out in the Jeep really fascinating, and we met some lovely people who we've stayed in touch with.
We loved the walking safari and the boat safaris. The highlight was probably waking up at 3am to the sounds of an elephant crashing through the bush next to our tent, before he emerged in front of the veranda and proceeded to eat right outside the tent for the next 1/2 hour.
Fantastic experience at Selous Impala camp
The luxury tents were excellent - very comfortable and clean with all the facilitiies necessary.
The whole camp was inkeeping with the surroundings and used wherever possible local materials etc.
The staff were very friendly and helpful and gave everyone personal attention.
The guides were enthusiastic and knowlegeable.
The quality of the food and the varied menu was excellent.
Unfortunately when it came to paying our drinks bill the waiters had added on drinks after we had signed the respective bill each night. It was very obvious on one occasion because they had used a different pen! The management have to ensure that the waiters put a line to the bottom of the bill for us to sign. The waiter didn't argue when we complained about the final total. He just made the necessary changes.
Superb - and leopard too
Our transfer from Rufiji via boat was definitely the way to travel - only mared by a nagging worry that we had covered all the bases alreadt at Rufiji and we were concerned that we should have chosen a more different environment for our second camp.
We need not have worried - as soon as we arrived we had a briefing from the camp team - assessing exactly what we had already done and what we wanted to concentrate on during our stay. They made a real effort to take us to new places and experience new things.
Impala hit the spot with us on virtually every level. From the food, accommodation to the guiding - everything has been thought about and was of fantastic quality without being laboured or overdone.
Highlights were many - catching tiger fish, getting a wee bit close to elephants on our walking safari, finding the same elephants that evening scratching themselves on the poles of our tent base, and finally the last day jeep drive where Peter even managed to pull a leopard out of the hat.
It really was a magical experience.
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.
