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Impala Camp
Impala Camp
Impala Camp
Impala Camp
Impala Camp
Impala Camp
Impala Camp
Impala Camp
Impala Camp

Reviews of Impala Camp

Wildlife sightings and reviews

278 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Impala Camp and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in Jun-2018, 16 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Impala Camp.
Lion

100% success

Leopard

7% success

Wild dog

57% success

Giraffe

100% success

Hippo

100% success

Wildebeest

94% success

Zebra

94% success

Elephant

93% success

Spotted Hyena

93% success

Buffalo

88% success

Eland

67% success

Aardvark

0% success

Black Rhino

0% success

Pangolin

0% success

Striped Hyena

0% success

Showing 71-80 of 278
Duration
Arrival date
Mrs G
Herts

"More like a good lodge with tents"

4 nights Arrived 12 Sep 2014
"Very nice position giving the opportunity for water activities as well as drives. Very good accommodation and also very good guiding with a young and fairly inexperienced guide, Andrew, but who definitely knew his stuff and was very enthusiastic.

Excellent food and very well managed and organised. Pool excellent and very welcome after drives.

The meals served 'restaurant style' did definitely detract from a camp atmosphere but we still enjoyed it." See all these reviews: 12n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
C Plowdog
Sydney

"Luxury and wildlife next to the Rufiji"

3 nights Arrived 8 Sep 2014
"Just so terrific. Having not been to remote Africa before we didn't know what to expect from Tanzania and Impala Lodge. Suffice to say both were extraordinary. We loved Selous, and Impala Lodge was exceptional.

The staff and service was brilliant, the game drives excellent (our first sight was giraffes a plenty, and then we saw lions, a leopard, wildebeest, with Zebras, kudu, hippos, Goliath herons, bee eaters, hippos, and 2 resident giraffes-including Brian-and many many more animals). We loved the walk, the river landscape and we were looked after so well by Evans, our waiter, Hassan, Simon any all the staff. Dennis the guide put in huge effort to ensure we saw many animals and enjoyed the landscape.

We had no great expectations about the food but it was really good: the tomato tart and crime caramel were brilliant. Go there.

The only suggestion I have is to have combined, not separate, dining." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania; 1n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs T
Staffs

"Incredible safari at Selous Impala Camp"

4 nights Arrived 8 Sep 2014
"Where do we start.......... everything about our stay was superb. Starting from the moment we flew in with a giraffe on the airstrip through the multitude of wildlife seen on our drives, the brilliant food and wonderful accommodation.

The service we received was excellent, everyone was very friendly and everything was done with a smile! In particular we want to mention our guide, Andrew, whose encyclopedic knowledge of the wildlife and vegetation made every drive a wonderful lesson.

We were amazed by the range and quantity of animals seen during our stay - from the giraffe around the camp, the hippo that visited at night and the elephants which passed only yards from our tent to herds of wildebeest, impala, zebra, lion, buffalo and more

The walking safaris were outstanding - seeing both large animals (elephants) and small animals (ants) while on foot was very special.

The range and quality of the food was stunning. We had breakfast in the bush each day, two-courses at lunch and then four-course evening meal under the stars. It was impossible to go hungry at this camp! There was almost too much food!

We would highly recommend this camp and would love to visit it again ourselves (the sooner the better)" See all these reviews: 7n in Zanzibar; 5n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs W
Croydon

"Great variety of safaris at Impala"

4 nights Arrived 30 Aug 2014
"Excellent stay at Impala and plenty of different wildlife. It was good to have the opportunity for river trips (did two) and a bush walk, and to be able to go off road. When we went, there were not as many elephants as we expected, however, we were lucky to see one of the packs of wild dogs and to get very close to lions. The river trips were very interesting with the bank of bee-eaters' holes being a highlight. Dennis was an excellent and knowledgeable guide. The vehicle was open with a shade and comfortable. It was rare to come across other vehicles and there were a couple of occasions when we watching animals in the company of another vehicle.

The camp tented accommodation was very good and comfortable with an electric socket (UK 3 pin) - useful for charging equipment and for a hairdrier - and a powerful fan which was much appreciated. It was hot but pleasant at this time of year.

The camp was well run by Fausto and the friendly and attentive staff, inlcuding the Masai who were always around to escort us to and from our tent. On the whole the food was good, especially breakfasts and lunches, though one or two of the evening meal options were not up to the generally high standard. All meals were at separate tables and evening meals rotated between the decked areas or candle lit tables on the river edge (requiring vigilance for bread stealing bush babies) which we thought was a good idea." See all these reviews: 12n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Good
Facilities:
Good
Mr & Mrs T
Nuneaton

"Great boat safaris at selous impala camp"

3 nights Arrived 10 Aug 2014
"An excellent camp with great facilities and excellent service, the river trip and sundowners a must.
Gerard was a great guide." See all these reviews: 16n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
safari lovers
UK

"Superb Selous Impala camp"

4 nights Arrived 19 Jul 2014
"A magical camp , efficiently run by delightful staff who make the whole experience very personal. Our guide Ezra and his driver Kharida were superb. We had asked for a senior guide and we were not disappointed. Everyday we chose to have our breakfast in the bush so our morning drives were at least 6 hrs. This was obviously a fantastic advantage enabling us to cover large distances to see game and giving us time to sit and watch animal behaviour. We learned a tremendous amount from Ezra and he was a delightful enthusiastic person to spend 8 plus hours a day. We found being on the river a great treat and loved the two boat trips we did. They gave a different perspective and a change from the drives.

The camp staff were so attentive and made such a special effort to help us celebrate our daughters graduations ( reason for trip !) . They arranged surprise sundowners (gave us a bottle of bubbly) at a magical location that we reached by boat. At dinner one evening the waiters sang a traditional Swahili welcome song and brought a cake to the table.

That evening our table location was away from the restaurant down near the water and we were kept company by bush babies and civet cats. It's hard to describe the atmosphere on paper. It was magical." See all these reviews: 5n in Zanzibar; 4n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr S
Maidstone

"Selous Impala Camp Review July 14"

3 nights Arrived 17 Jul 2014
"We stayed for 3 nights in July 14. We were both impressed by everything at Impala camp - the rooms were great, food wonderful, staff exceptionally helpful and guides keen and knowledgeable. We went on walking, boat and vehicle trips - all good - saw huge variety of wildlife, the highlight being tracking down a pack of wild dogs and spending some time viewing them.

I can honestly think of no 'negatives' about this camp and would highly recommend it." See all these reviews: 12n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr S & Ms J
Sweden

"Selous Impala Camp review"

4 nights Arrived 13 Jul 2014
"Some background before we go into the details:

We are experienced safari travellers who have been on safari in South Africa, Tanzania, Botswana and Kenya before visiting Selous, and we have stayed at 20 different lodges and camps while travelling. Because of this we had high expectations and quite a lot to compare with. We'll divide our comments into 2 parts: The Impala camp and the safari experience.

The Impala Camp

The camp was very nice. Very friendly staff, excellent service, very comfortable tents with electricity and hot water and beautiful location by the river. Excellent view with palm trees, hippos, crocs and birds. Lunch and dinner was always very good, and nice pool area to spend the afternoon at. It was a nice surprise with a private dinner for two one of the evenings!

We would say that the Impala camp is for anyone who wants a very convenient stay while out on safari. Highly recommended for families with children, older people or anyone who enjoys a premium and effortless stay. It's probably not for people who enjoy roughing it a bit more.

The safari experience

While the camp was very nice we weren't as happy with the safari. The landscape was quite bushy and for periods of time pretty empty of wildlife, especially around the Impala Camp, and we spent a lot of time in these bushy areas going out and back to the camp. It felt that you had to just drive for at least one hour out from the camp to get to the areas with more wildlife. We knew going out there that game viewing can be more challenging in Selous compared to other reserves and parks (since the animals aren't that used to vehicles), but the wildlife was a bit more skittish and prone to running away than we had anticipated. This is important to have in mind if you have been on safari before with more relaxed wildlife.

That being said, we still saw a lot of exciting wildlife, like wild dogs, colobus monkeys, lions and elephants. These encounters were however pretty far apart, so you did have a few hours here and there where there were very little to look at. You can definitely get some nice encounters while staying at the Impala camp, but if you want to experience more wildlife we would recommend staying at the Lake Manze camp in Selous instead, since that area felt more populated and was more enjoyable to drive around in.

We had nice guide and driver, but we felt they weren't really as dedicated as some other guides and drivers we've had at other camps. The driving especially was a bit frustrating at times, since it was very slow. This may be a very good thing for families with kids or people that don't really want a single bump, but for us it felt like we were at times missing some good things because the driving was so slow. We did miss our only chance at seeing a leopard because of this. Priority for the guide and driver should be wildlife sightings first, bump free driving second.

The boat safari was really beautiful with lots of hippos, crocodiles, kingfishers, bee-eaters and other birds, highly recommended!

Important note about cheetahs

There is one major error on the Expert Africa webpage. It clearly states that there are ´huge populations of cheetah´ in Selous. There are however NONE. This is major issue for people who book safaris based on wildlife to experience and photograph. It's very important that facts about the wildlife is correct, since it at least for us is of big importance when choosing where to go." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

Location:
Average
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Average
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr S
Accra

"Selous Impala Camp review"

3 nights Arrived 3 Jul 2014
"The staff where very friendly and it was easy to spend time and do the games with our child (4yrs).

Excellent food and super service. Also good guides." See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania; 4n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Ms R
Connecticut

"Glamping on the Rufiji River"

4 nights Arrived 1 Jul 2014
"Interesting experience. Excellent guide (Girard), comfortable tents w/solid wooden floors and great verandah overlooking the river, good food. Incongruities: hoses and sprinklers watering the grass daily (!), swimming pool, Poland Spring water cooler in dining area. My first thought was, hmmm, this doesn't sync up with eco-tourism but by the end of my 4 days, I had succumbed to the luxury.

Tent (#6) was very nice; particularly liked the writing desk and chair; large porch that wasn't buggy; full-size bed net as requested; large table in sink area was handy for organizing clothing, etc. I liked the location since the hippos had a river exit/entry area literally five feet from my porch, so was able to hear & see them grazing and snuffling their way back into the river. Food quality and variety was good to excellend (still remember an amazing chocolate creme caramel dessert and pieces of fruit stuck onto acacia thorns). I liked the individual tables (versus communal) since I'm quite happy on my own. When I mentioned that I don't eat fish, the kitchen provided tasty alternatives.

Bar area was nice for pre-dinner gatherings; the lounge section was a great spot to while away a few hours between lunch and the game drives since it got a very nice breeze. Pool was also a treat during those hours (or a quick pre-lunch dip).

Drives: I liked the 6 hour boat safaris since the length provided enough time to go further afield and having a bush breakfast on a beach was a novelty! Girard did a super job tracking animals, including hyena tracks that led us to their den & cubs; a civet midden; not to mention numerous elephants and lions. He provided just the right amount of information. He arranged a special trip to a local village which was a highlight for me.

Not as much sense of camp management & employees & guests all being "in it together", as in the other 2 camps (hard to define, but in the other two places the camp managers were around at all meals and had real conversations with each person where topics touched on animals, other experiences, and were a two-way sharing of opinions.)

I think I would return since the location and the physical camp itself was hard to beat, and I did like the fine dining aspects, plus the guiding was superb." See all these reviews: 12n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Good
Facilities:
Excellent
Showing 71-80 of 278
96%
278 reviews of Impala Camp by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
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