Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs S from Devon

"this was our first experience of Africa and Siwandu set an exceptionally high standard for the other camps to follow,our guide Allen was superb, with a detailed knowledge of bird life as well as the larger animals, and he coped with the rather difficult driving conditions ( deep mud) very very well, at no time did he say "I cannot get there"

The condition of our tent, the food, and the service were of the highest standard."

"From the moment of our arrival, when we were greeted by Brian and all the staff singing what we presume was an African greeting, and having cool face towels and an drink to wash away the dust, was a great start.

Our "tent" was exceptional, with the veranda overlooking the dry river bed, exceeded our expectations.

Kim, who was our guide and driver during our stay was excellent, gentle, with a deep knowledge of birds animals and plants.

Everything about the camp was great, including the unexpected presentation of a cake to celebrate our golden wedding."

"After the two previous camps, we did feel that the facilities were showing some slight signs of their age, and the bush seemed to us to have been trashed by the elephants, perhaps to its long term detriment.

Connie and her staff were excellent, and all very concerned about my health after suffering a very nasty attack of "bush belly".

For those particularly interested in big cats, this was without doubt the best camp we visited,but it also enabled us to see a range of antelopes and smaller animals that we had not seen at the other camps.

Again I suspect that the bush telegraph had been working, as we were again delighted to have the staff bring us a golden wedding cake, whilst they danced and sang, thank you."

"Unfortunately our visit did not get of to the best of starts, when I put my hand in my rucksack to get my bins out, as we were being rowed across the lagoon, I was horrified to find that the bins in my hand were not mine, and my expensive bins and telescope, plus field guide and medicines was missing. It turned out that the pilot who brought us into Dar had taken my rucksack, and I had the rucksack of a birder who had gone to Zanzibar. All was sorted out twenty-four hours later, but I missed a days birding.

However our main gripe was that having arrived at the camp at around 16.00 hours we read that we had to vacate our rooms by 10.00 on the second day, although we had paid for two nights full board, we did not consider that 36 hours equated to two days and I made my point quite forcibly to Dave the manager, who said we should have paid extra if we wanted to keep our room until 17.30 when were due to leave. Eventually we were allowed to have another tent for the day, but I think this is something that Expert Africa needs to address, either by ensuring that your clients have a secure tent where their luggage can be kept, and where they can shower and change before departing, or offering this as an extra."