Reviews of Lake Manze Camp
Wildlife sightings and reviews
221 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Lake Manze Camp and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
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"Lake Manze Tented Camp review"
People need to be warned that they need to sort out their unpacking/organisation as soon as they arrive, after you come back from safari it is dark and, in our case, the hurricane lamp inside the tent had not been lit (it should have been lit) and the batteries in the torch were low, this made our first night difficult. Unpacking and showering by 2 candles was not easy. The staff need to be sure to light the lamps and/or check they are lit before they leave you. Laundry was not included, nor drinks.
The communal dining was good but needed more illumination." See all these reviews: 11n in Tanzania
"Lake Manze Tented Camp review"
"great start that got better and at Lake Manze"
The camp had very friendly staff, a great location for our tent and good food.
The guides both on land and water were very good and made sure our activities were great fun." See all these reviews: 13n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar
"Great time at Lake Manze"
The tent was small but comfortable although with no electricity it was very dark. We had candles but relied heavily on the torches we brought with us.
The shower and toilet are open air which was interesting particularly when it rained!
The food was good but it was very irritating to have to remind the staff at every mealtime, that we were vegetarian. Apparently the message regarding our dietary requirements had not reached the camp, but as they were told on our arrival we feel this should have been noted down somewhere.
Dinner was eaten at a communal table in the dry river bed, there were lots of candles but a torch was needed to see what was on your plate, this was quite irritating and something we never got used to.
There were plenty of animals passing through the camp, particularly at night and at times it got quite noisy especially when the elephant that hangs around the camp, decides to uproot a tree just outside the tent!
The highlight has to be the wonderful guide, Samuel. He was our guide everyday and was incredibly knowledgeable about everything. We found it a real bonus to have him every day as he knew what we had seen and so didn't waste time going back to the same places.
Another highlight was seeing the wild dogs, perfect!" See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania
It is worth re-emphasising to travellers that Manze is a real bush camp - which is part of it's rustic charm. It is quite dark in the evenings without electricity, although there are plenty of lanterns and candles lit. They're working on getting brighter torches, however, it's proving a challenge to find a good solution without using a lot of environmentally unsound and expensive batteries. Watch this space!
"Lake Manze Tented Camp review"
The staff were all very friendly and helpful and the food was good. As it was our birthdays we had a private meal on our verandah one night and a birthday cake on the other. The tents had everything you needed.
We saw all the wildlife we wanted to see including wild dogs, which was one of the reasons we choose to come here, and the elusive leopard." See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania
"Lake Manze Tented Camp"
It felt rather less confidently run than Impala - it is a rather big camp to manage with only basic facilities and the relatively new manager and his 18-year-old assistant, though very friendly and helpful, did seem less experienced in running such a facility. Food was plentiful though not to the standard of Impala.
One practical point - why use polluting and potentially dangerous kerosene lamps, rather than the individual solar powered lights which are now being used as best practice by development agencies across Africa?" See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania; 6n in Zanzibar
"Brilliant game viewing, lovely rustic camp"
The food was excellent - both lunches and dinners, relatively simple fare but absolutely fresh and delicious.
We were blessed with a charming and very knowledgeable guide, Emmanuel, who was terrific with Adam and his many questions.
On our way to camp from the airstrip we were taken to see some lions that had made a kill the day before and I have to say that I was rather alarmed at the number of vehicles that were clustered around them - our main reason for choosing the South had been the reputed lack of traffic compared with the North - but fears were unfounded and we didn't experience anything like that in any of the game drives thereafter.
We were extraordinarily lucky with Wild Dog sightings - one of our favourites - as a pack of ten was rearing four pups and not straying too far. We found them on four drives and spent an aggregated few hours in their company and very close. Fantastic.
Lions were seen on every drive bar one. General game was prolific especially Giraffe but compared with the Ruaha and places where we've beein in Zambia and Botswana relatively skittish. The lakeside setting brought the gamut of beautiful bird sightings and the Manze boat trip is especially good for approaching herons. storks, fish eagles, bee eaters, kingfishers and pods of hippo of course.
I would recommend Lake Manze camp to anyone - whether it was a first time in Africa or seasoned pros." See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania; 7n in Zanzibar
"Well organised despite being busy"
"Good, not great"
However, guiding was clearly the weakest of the 4 locations that I visited, with a personable guide but one that was clearly less skilled than desirable. Again, this may have been just luck of the draw, as our driver clearly emerged as a very skilled (but less communicative) guide. Facilities are fine, and the location seems good, but we say very little of interest on the boat safari, which was VERY different from the second location I visited in the Selous." See all these reviews: 14n in Tanzania
That this guest saw more of interest on the boat excursion from Impala Camp than from Lake Manze is down to the luck of the draw. Seeing big land mammals can never be guaranteed from a boat, its focus is more about the waterways, scenery and birdlife. Having said that, it is the experience of the camp team, and those of us from Expert Africa that have visited Lake Manze, that the lake and its tributary channels are often a better environment for seeing a range of mammals than the main Rufiji River is. It was good to read that the guest wasnt put off by a quiet wildlife experience on the boat trip at Lake Manze, and went on to have such a good boat trip from Impala Camp.
"Great times at Lake Manze"
Our highlight was the fishing on the lake, not only did we catch cat fish, but we also got to eat them for dinner!" See all these reviews: 6n in Zanzibar; 5n in Tanzania
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