Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs E from Warks
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
1
Lodges stayed in
2
Excursions taken
0
My Sep 2013 trip to Selous /Ruaha
Tanzania between 24 Sep 2013 and 4 Oct 2013
"We flew via Nairobi where the in-transit facilities on the outward flight were very poor. However, on the return journey we were taken to much better facilities for the time spent in in-transit at the airport. We flew by Kenya Airways which were very good.
They were on-time and the facilities and service on the planes were good. However, the check-in desk at Dar-es-Salaam airport only opened two and a half hours before the flight so we had a couple of hours sitting in a not very nice area before the desks opened. However, after checking in and going through passport control you are then in a very modern area.
However, besides the downside of long-haul travel, our time within Tanzania was wonderful. All the arrangements went smoothly, and the camps and wildlife lived up to expectation. We are extremely happy with our choice of camps and all our experiences.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
None that I can think of."
They were on-time and the facilities and service on the planes were good. However, the check-in desk at Dar-es-Salaam airport only opened two and a half hours before the flight so we had a couple of hours sitting in a not very nice area before the desks opened. However, after checking in and going through passport control you are then in a very modern area.
However, besides the downside of long-haul travel, our time within Tanzania was wonderful. All the arrangements went smoothly, and the camps and wildlife lived up to expectation. We are extremely happy with our choice of camps and all our experiences.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
None that I can think of."
Lake Manze Adventure Camp
"Lake Manze feedback"
4 nights
Arrived
25 Sep 2013
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Mdonya Old River Camp
"Mdonya Old River Camp review"
4 nights
Arrived
29 Sep 2013
"Our entire stay at Mdonya was wonderful. The accommodation was very good, the staff and fellow visitors very helpful and nice, and we saw a lot of game including very interesting animal behaviour.
The location is good and the added bonus over Lake Manze camp is that there is more areas to walk in the camp.
We had an excellent guide and driver for most of our game drives and they took a lot of trouble in looking for interesting animal sightings. We went on one full day drive, which included breakfast and lunch in the bush, and 3 morning and 2 evening drives. We saw large numbers of lions and elephants - on the complete trip to Lake Manze and Mdonya we saw 30 different mammal species and over 100 bird species. We saw at least 70 lions, 2 cheetah, and a leopard. A highlight was seeing a pride of 24 lions drinking at a spring.
The tents look over a dry river bed and we saw giraffe, impalas and monkeys near the tent. (and monkeys in the en-suite bathroom!). A couple of nights we had lions roaring near the camp. The tents have just the right level of comfort. We also enjoyed very much at both Mdonya and Lake Manze having dinner outside at a long table with all the other visitors. This is much nicer than having separate tables. The quality of food was good, and appropriate to the level of accommodation.
The tsetse flies were an occasional irritant on drives (not in the camp) and the staff burn elephant dung on the back of the vehicles to deter the flies. The flies did not detract from our enjoyment."
The location is good and the added bonus over Lake Manze camp is that there is more areas to walk in the camp.
We had an excellent guide and driver for most of our game drives and they took a lot of trouble in looking for interesting animal sightings. We went on one full day drive, which included breakfast and lunch in the bush, and 3 morning and 2 evening drives. We saw large numbers of lions and elephants - on the complete trip to Lake Manze and Mdonya we saw 30 different mammal species and over 100 bird species. We saw at least 70 lions, 2 cheetah, and a leopard. A highlight was seeing a pride of 24 lions drinking at a spring.
The tents look over a dry river bed and we saw giraffe, impalas and monkeys near the tent. (and monkeys in the en-suite bathroom!). A couple of nights we had lions roaring near the camp. The tents have just the right level of comfort. We also enjoyed very much at both Mdonya and Lake Manze having dinner outside at a long table with all the other visitors. This is much nicer than having separate tables. The quality of food was good, and appropriate to the level of accommodation.
The tsetse flies were an occasional irritant on drives (not in the camp) and the staff burn elephant dung on the back of the vehicles to deter the flies. The flies did not detract from our enjoyment."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
We had a very good guide and driver during the stay who tried hard to find the various animals over the 4 game drives we took. The added bonus is the lake. We did 2 boat trips (one in the lake and one up the river channel) as well as a fishing trip where we caught 5 catfish (and later ate them). We also went on a walk and looked at spoor, dung, trees etc.
The managers Phil and Tricia were very helpful and took a lot of trouble in planning each evening everyone's individual programme for the following day.
The only minor disappointment was the lack of elephants but this may have been due to the time of year. We only saw a few by the lake. However, we saw a lot of lions and other mammals (including my first ever side-striped jackal) and lots of interesting birds. The lake and channels are teeming with water birds."