Reviews of Mdonya Old River Camp
(92%) From 126 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Elephants on the doorstep
An excellent bush camp - clean, comfortable, and friendly staff to tend for your needs. It had a real feeling of being right in the bush with elephants and other wildlife coming right up to your tent night and day.
As our stay at Mdonya Old River Camp was 6 nights it was good to have the same guide for the duration of our stay as he knew where we had been and what we had seen. We enjoyed the flexibility of the game drives, being able to choose how long we were out and where we should go. Many thanks to our guide Emmanuel for our constant requests for full day drives!
Wildlife right on your door step
Very much like its sister camp - Lake Manze - is a very comfortable and well ran camp. All the activities at the camp are well organised with very good drivers and guides. Where there is a slight difference between the two camps is in the animals at the two parks.
At Mdonya, the animals are much more likely to come in / near the camp and on the drives are much less likely to be spoked by the Jeeps due to the nature of this being a national park rather than a game reserve.
superb setting Mdonya old river camp
The camp manager Mary was an excellent host making sure all our needs were met,and a big thankyou to Kahimba our guide and Emmanuel our driver.
Read more about the whole safariMdonya Old River Camp July 14
We stayed 3 nights in Mdonya in July 14.
Whilst we were there a rep from a tour company (not Expert Africa) was there assessing the place. One of the criteria she had to give it a good rating was whether they provided free cotton earbuds. Mdonya don't. But seriously - if you want to see animals and have free cotton earbuds, book in to a hotel in Park Lane and go to London zoo. Alternatively, if you want to see African wildlife in as natural surroundings as you are ever likley to find in Africa now then go to Mdonya.
The rooms are fine - its actually fun to shower with no roof over your head! The beds were large and comfortable. The food was exceptionally good with a wide variety of choice- we had the best vegetable curry we have ever tasted there.
The game viewing was good and guides knowledgeable - it was all done by safari vehicle - there were no walking trips available - but we had been warned in advance that was likely to be the case because of anti-poaching measures in Ruaha.
Fantastic, rustic safari experience
Mdonya provided a perfect start to our holiday, by way of a very authentic feeling safari experience. There was tonnes of game around the camp - and sometimes in the camp - with elephants, giraffe and impala all making an appearance around our tent during our stay. The standard of guiding was very good, so we got to see and experience a lot in our three days here.
The food and service was also very good and the tented accommodation comfortable. All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and would recommend Mdonya to anyone looking for a very real safari experience with lots of animal sightings.
Mdonya Old River Camp: beautiful Ruaha
We really liked the camp - the layout, the tents and the wildlife in camp itself. The food was good and plentiful but the highlights were the pancakes for breakfast (including on the bush breakfasts!) and the bread (up there with the best we've ever tasted). And the provision of a packed lunch (with Cornish pasty!) on the day we flew out was very welcome.
The scenery in Ruaha was simply stunning and it was a pleasure to go out on a full day game drive around the river and the hills. Game was plentiful with many elephants and lions plus kudu, dikdik, eland & gazelle.
Unfortunately in the area close to camp we had a problem with the tsetse flies - we knew that they would be around at this time of year but we weren't prepared for how uncomfortable it would be stopping the vehicle in the 'tsetse zone'. It takes around 1 hour to 1.5 hours from Mdonya to get away from the tsetse flies and the only way to protect yourself is to be covered in thick clothing or a blanket from head to toe. As soon as the vehicle stops squadrons move in so the beginning and end of every game drive involved just trying to get through the tsetse zone only stopping for something really unusual.
Our guide (Djamani) and driver (Tom) worked hard to find some of the more unusual birds in the area for us and were very happy to go at our pace. It's a shame that they aren't encouraged to sit with us during bush meals (as happened at the other camps). The vehicles at Mdonya have, generally, seen better days and could do with an upgrade - our first vehicle had a problem and we broke down less than 10 minutes out of camp. The replacement had a problem with the alternator which meant that the engine couldn't be switched off. The first vehicle was fixed for our second day but then had the same problem on the third day. None of the tyres had any tread so there was little traction in difficult terrain.
The lions in camp after dinner just metres from our tent was something that we'll never forget!
Expert Africa comments
Expert Africa forwarded these travellers' comments to Mdonya's owners Adventure Camps, who thanked the clients for their helpful feedback. They asked us to point out that its unusual for the driver and guide not to eat with the guests, as in their other camps. They are not sure why they did not in this case and offer their apologies because its most unusual.
They are sorry that the tsetse flies were particularly bad when these guests were at Mdonya. They are right, it is a bad time of year for them, with the rains coming. Normally there are measures in place to control them - tsetse "traps" of material sprayed with insecticide are arrayed in the worst areas and regularly re-sprayed by the parks authority, but in the rains this washes off. Adventure Camps normally burn elephant dung at the back of their cars, which is extremely effective at repelling the tsetses, but in the wet season its difficult to collect and store dry dung. They do apologise and hope that this didn't spoil their stay too much.
They are very sorry that these travellers got a couple of unsatisfactory vehicles. Normally the cars are in good order, but there were some unusual breakdowns at this time. They thank these travellers for their patience and would like to assure them that all cars and indeed the whole camp are being refurbished for the new season.
Great safari at Mdonya Old River Camp
Great game drives here - although being in the National Park you're restricted to the roads and are not allowed to go off-road looking for animals. Having said that, we really appreciated that our driver was willing to go off-road a couple of times when we had a good sighting to get closer to.
On arrival at the airstrip, we were surprised (but happy) that we had a full day game drive immediately, and didn't arrive back at the camp until late afternoon.
Both days our driver (Francis) stopped about 10-15 minutes before getting back to camp to ask us what we wanted to do the next day - we felt awkward and uneasy both times.....knowing that at the previous camp (Lake Manze) the manager had made such arrangements with us each evening before supper. We didn't understand why Francis was "pressuring" us to decide before even getting back to camp and giving us all the options - don't know if it was his personal initiative (trying to ensure we stayed with him each day?) or what he'd been told to do.......but we didn't really appreciate it.
Food was exceptional - good choices, and good vegetarian options as well - it probably helped that the managers were eating vegetarian as well! All meals in camp were family-style around a large/long table - sometimes it would be nice to have individual tables for those of us who are more introverted! (Maybe alternate between family-style, and individual??)
On arrival at camp (every time - even from game drives) we were greeted with welcome drinks which was a nice touch. The manager (Marco - Italian) was very friendly and relaxed. He gave a good introduction, but was more informal/relaxed. He didn't have the same 'professional' approach as the managers at Lake Manze; but he was very friendly. Mary (other manager, who we met later) seemed more organised!
Tent and bathroom was very well set-up and equipped. Despite heavy rain most days, the camp continued, meals served, etc. Very impressed.
Again, a good quality torch and bug spray was provided in the tent - so we didn't need to bring our own.
Lots of animals passed through camp while we were there - good close-up sightings.
In your literature, it said all drinks at Mdonya are additional cost and not complimentary - that is not accurate. Bottled water was complimentary on all game drives at Mdonya while we were there, and drinking water was always provided in our tents in a flask. The only time we would have been charged for water is if we had chosen to drink bottled water in the camp rather than the water provided in our tent. At meal times, drinking water was always provided on the table.
Tea and coffee in the morning before game drives was also complimentary.
Mdonya Old River Camp review
Very much the 'older' sister of the 2 camps - in need of a bit of refurbishment and a lick of paint. Mary the manager was a very pleasant person but had no managerial or organisational skills and consequently many things were nothing like as slick as at Lake Manze. They had my allergy information plus a picture form that I took out but I was still given quiche for lunch and nothing in addition (eg second sausage etc) to compensate for the fact that I could not eat the hard boiled egg allocated on the bush breakfast each day.
Carole and I were given a junior guide with a novice driver - not a good combination and consequently not a totally unsatisfactory and disappointing game drive, the guide admitted he did not know the birds but also forgot to take any identification guides with him!! We insisted on an alternative guide, which was provided for subsequent game drives and he was very good.
Hot and dry.
We enjoyed our stay at Mdonya, we particularly loved the animals around the tents at night, it was full moon, so we had some lovely sights.
The concentration of game was at the river, where the elephant herds added up to hundreds. Away from the water you could travel for hours without seeing any animals, but the park is scenic and we enjoyed the rides anyway.
It was exceptionally hot, any breeze was like being blown by a hairdryer.
Lovely camp in Ruaha
We stayed at this camp in Ruaha after having stayed in it's linked camp in Selous. It was very similar so we knew what to expect.
Our tent (number 6) was clean and comfortable and we often saw Impala, monkeys, and elephants strolling past and hear the hippos in the night.
Waiting staff were particularly friendly and attentive and the food was lovely (I needed vegetarian food and this was never seen as a problem). We especially liked the drinks with other guests around the camp fire each evening.
Our guide (Prosper) was very knowledgeable and the experience of seeing all of those animals around us is unforgettable. You have some flexibility each day about when you go out on game drives although we always chose to go early morning as it is so nice to see the animals then.
We were very lucky not to be bothered too much by the tsetse flies although there were quite a few bees each morning.
It was the end of the dry season and it seemed the camp was far away from where the animals were searching for water to drink so we often had to drive quite far before we would see any animals.
We would recommend this camp.
