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Traveller reviews

Travel reviews by Mr J from Hants

Review Distribution

Excellent
Good
Average
Poor
Terrible

Total number of trips

1

Countries visited

2

Lodges stayed in

5

Excursions taken

0

Our magical trip to Tanzania and Zanzibar

Tanzania and 1 other country between 14 Jan 2008 and 25 Jan 2008

Trip rating: Excellent
"Totally amazing. Thanks Claire for the great advice for our safari - the only disappointment (which at the time was quite considerable) was our stay at Matemwe.

We really feel that it is not an overreaction to say to you NOT to recommend Matermwe Bungalows until the new management have found their feet and sorted a few of the issues out (staff, stocks of drink etc). - otherwise it will only resort in more dissatisfied customers and the place getting a bad name.

Great brochure and website. Claire was most helpful. Fantastic advise given regarding the Selous Impala camp - it way exceeded our expectations, so much so that my parents and relations may be considering going out to that very camp in the autumn this year!

We were unfortunate with our stay at Matemwe Bungalows - presumably you didn't know of any plans for a change of management when we booked last November ??

Thanks though - on the whole a totally fab holiday"

Arranged By Claire Scott


Impala Camp

Impala Camp

"A MAGICAL TIME AT SELOUS IMPALA CAMP"

2 nights Arrived 15 Jan 2008
"Absolutely AMAZING!! The camp is exceptional right from the welcome drink and cool menthol flannel to the tearful au-revour. The location is superb and the tented camp with it's incredible facilities is terrific. A super team run the camp and all the staff were very obliging and hospitable. From the bar staff to the fantastic guides/drivers - nothing it seemed was too much trouble. The food was varied and very palatable and it was a huge bonus for us to have a fresh coffee machine on site!! There was always plenty of icecold beers and wines (reasonable prices too) along with flaskfuls of cold drinking water in the extreme heats - well done! The variation of walking, boating and jeep safari meant we had variety and fulfillment at all times."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Impala fly-camp

Impala fly-camp

"Selous Impala fly-camp review"

1 night Arrived 17 Jan 2008
"A great experience but we slept very poorly on the camp beds. Glad we did it - and also definitely glad we only did it for one night!!! Fantastic attention to detail - food, team, facilities (loo and shower) etc"
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Impala Camp

Impala Camp

"Selous Impala Camp review"

2 nights Arrived 18 Jan 2008
"Comments as before - 15/17 Jan."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Matemwe Lodge

Matemwe Lodge

"Matemwe Bungalows review"

3 nights Arrived 20 Jan 2008
"Huge huge potential! - but what a huge huge disappointment it all turned out to be.
Wonderful bungalows and all seemed so ideallic - however, we were to discover quite the contrary.

The food was average on the whole - our first evening bbq meal consisted of my husband being fed RAW and cold chicken - thankfully nothing came of it. We were appalled at how this was handled with our waiter simply scraping off the raw drumstick and giving my husband back the very same plate.

The bar refused to serve us one evening after dinner when we went with another couple for a quick drink. It was 10.15pm and the grumpy barman told us it was closed!

There was no dry white wine AT ALL at the place - some problem with deliveries due to the crisis in Kenya ??? was what we were told. Keeping wine cold was a problem in the heat as they had no ice or sufficient wine coolers. We decided then to forget the warm sweet wine (!) and settle for G & Ts - but no tonic waters on site. No mint (for cocktails) on site! How disappointing.

Our shower didn't drain away properly (bungalow 9) and the lovely huge bath that was in our bungalow
would not hold any water at all as the plug didn't seal.

One was not able to go directly down to the beach or sea from the main bit of the the complex nor the bungalows, which for us was a huge shame. We usually enjoy lying on the beach and swimming in the sea - but if we did this there were no facilities (beach bar, towels, music etc) nearby.
Also, the sea is quite precarious as the floor of it is swimming with sea urchins - which even through sea-shoes stung my toe on our first swim!!
The 2 pools are lovely but are really very small, and it would have been nice to have a pool shower for rinsing off by the pool.

In addition to this, Maternwe village is right along side. Although we both enjoyed seeing the villagers and how they go out fishing every morning in their 'dhows' and how the women do the seaweed farming, the HUGE downside of them being so nearby was that it was like a 'poo minefield' walking along the beach. I know this sounds quite amusing - but it really wasn't too nice!! And as if the sea urchins weren't off-putting enough - the village poo put us off considerably from even going into the sea at all.

New management took over only 3 weeks before our visit. They are a really nice couple running it but they are clearly still finding their feet, and it would be fair to say that there are some management issues and staff issues that need sorting quickly. We spoke to three other couples who had the same gripes as us and although they liked the place and the whole concept of Maternwe Bungalows, they were very much disappointed, as indeed we were."
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

Location
Average
Service
Good
Activities
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Average
Facilities
Average
Serena Inn

Serena Inn

"Fantastic stay in Stone Town at Serena Inn"

2 nights Arrived 23 Jan 2008
"We thoroughly enjoyed our 2 nights stay here. We finally had air-con and so slept really well!!! (We found the humidity quite hard work!) Great staff, wonderful and varied food and brilliant facilities. We thoroughly enjoyed the large cool pool. What a great way to finish up our holiday!!"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent

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