Reviews of Lake Manze Camp

"We absolutely loved our time at Lake Manze, from the food to the staff to the animal to the camp itself.

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

"As before we were looked after very well in the camp and on our jeep and boat safaris and we had a wonderful time.

Amazing wildlife and hospitality.The dining arrangements are extremely sociable and Sara runs the camp very well. Thanks to everyone for making our stay so enjoyable again.

Rashidi's knowledge and boatmanship deserve a special mention as do Emmanuel and Samuel who make a great jeep team" See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania

"The whole camp is very informal and pleasant. Reading the reviews I expected just filtered water. But we were offered bottled water instead.

Sarah took good care of all of our wishes for activities. She matched us carefully with other guests in case we had to share a vehicle or boat. The guides Giovanny and Ali as well as Elton in the boat, were knowledgeable and eager to tell. It was a miracle how Ali managed to drive on the bumpy and winding roads and could spot animals and birds in the meanwhile.

The walks were short and we went very, very slowly, carefully watching the buffalo on the left hand side and the elephants on the right hand side.

Our tent was large, comfortable and excellently situated on the border of the lake. In the late afternoon we had our private game-experience, when giraffes, impala´s, buffalo and baboons passed our veranda on a short distance.

Lake Manze was an excellent start of our safari." See all these reviews: 14n in Tanzania

"Really enjoyed our Lake Manze time, a great way to start our trip. Good, friendly guiding, great management(Sarah) & food. Liked the communal atmosphere, very relaxed & friendly - our kind of place.

Think the Safari boats would benefit with 4 stroke outboards - quieter & cleaner. By the way our boat guide, think it was Mbao, he was very good.

The guys went out of their way on the transfer to Impala to give us a great drive Safari.
Also would like the option of prepaying for drinks." See all these reviews: 17n in Tanzania

"For safari first timers our 2 days at Lake Manze seemed much longer as we saw so much and had so many new experiences. We had a wonderful time and the management (Sara), staff and guides were all very friendly and helpful. The guides were fantastic and extremely knowledgeble. It was nice to have our own guide as he got to know our interests, and knew what we had already seen and what we would like to see. We were able to choose which sort of safari (game drive, boat or walking) we would prefer and when to do it, and did 2-3 activities each day. We saw plenty of game and the birdlife on the lake was wonderful.

The tents were comfortable but torches were essential at night. The fact that the tents were surrounded by trees and bushes made it seem very wild and we were glad to be escorted everywhere by the Maasai guards. Seeing elephant pass right by the tent was wonderful, though hearing the hippo grunting close by at night was a little disturbing the first time!

Eating dinner all together outside with candles,campfires and Maasai guards seemed very authentic and it was nice meeting others and chatting about our experiences. The food was all freshly prepared, tasty and wholesome.

The lack of electricity was not really a problem (since we could still charge our cameras), in fact it helped to create a more natural and old-fashioned experience and the whole atmosphere was very relaxed and informal, while still running very efficiently." See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania; 1n in Zanzibar

"The food in this camp is very good" See all these reviews: 14n in Tanzania

"The variety in terrain and habitat made this a very interesting area to visit although game drives were of long duration and mainly in off road conditions. Guides and drivers were excellent.

We enjoyed the communal spirit created by the staff which made for a true bush camp experience." See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania

"We very much enjoyed our stay,very friendly staff,our guide and driver that we had to ourselfs for the four days were very good,we saw most of the game that one would hope to see,including a lioness with 3 very young cubs hidden in very dense bush.Also we saw wild dogs,and lots of elephant.We also had two boat trips.

Lake Manze is very good value camp, the food was the best I have ever had at a safari camp. The tent was clean and comfortable although I was not so keen on the outside toilet when it was pouring with rain during the night, we were glad to have a fan, it enabled us to sleep well. Our tent no5 over looked the lake we were able to sit and watch animals and birds which was great.

A enjoyable 4 days." See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania

"Friendly staff, good food, great location and definitely the best of the 3 camps for amount and variety of wildlife. Good range of activities with walking, boats and drives and a good variety of habitats so each day was different and interesting. Nice to be able to go out all day and not just early and late gain drives as in many camps / areas. Night drives would have been a nice option.

Our guide was friendly and keen, but in hindsight was not of the standard of the professional guide (Steve Roskelly) we had at Ruaha. Our guide new the animal and local ecology well, but some of the facts we were told were later proved incorrect. He could identify the common birds but was not good with their calls or the less obvious ones." See all these reviews: 15n in Tanzania; 6n in Zanzibar

"We enjoyed our stay here very much. The whole camp is very informal with very friendly staff, from the manager Phil, who turned out to be a fellow Bristolian!, to the guides, drivers and camp staff.

Although advertised as a fairly basic camp, it was very comfortable and certainly adequately equipped. No electricity does mean no cooling fans, therefore in hot weather the tents stay very warm at night, and it was very hot during our stay.
Meals were very well prepared and we dined under the stars with everyone at one big table so we could exchange anecdotes and talk about our different backgrounds.

Although only here for 2 nights ,we had game drives, a boat trip on the lake and adjoining channels and an early morning walk.
Our guide Giovanni was excellent and knowledgable. We saw plenty of Elephants, Giraffes ( seemed at times to be one under every tree! ) Zebra, wildebeest, scores of Impala, baboons , two Lion prides , one of which had cubs of varying ages, and Kudu. We saw many Buffalo, particularly groups of males. In the camp we saw a genet at night. which came near to where we were dining. This being the start of the rainy season ( although we had no rain ) Insects were abundant including enormous wasps, bugs of all shapes , beetles, and moths at night. Also ,enormous millipedes!

We also saw several monitor lizards, both nile monitors and savannah monitors. and there were smaller lizards in camp.
On the boat trip we saw cranes, pelicans, geese,kingfishers, storks of all kinds, spoonbills and ibis. And of course large nos. of hippos and crocs. for me the highlight was a very good sighting of a Martial Eagle in a tree, which allowed us to get surprisingly close.

Overall a very good experience of this part of the Selous game reserve, and Manze is an excellent understated camp." See all these reviews: 10n in Tanzania; 6n in Zanzibar