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Siwandu
Siwandu
Siwandu
Siwandu
Siwandu
Siwandu
Siwandu
Siwandu
Siwandu
Siwandu

Reviews of Siwandu

Wildlife sightings and reviews

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

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in Jul-2018, 18 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Siwandu.
Lion

83% success

Leopard

12% success

Wild dog

44% success

Elephant

100% success

Giraffe

100% success

Hippo

100% success

Wildebeest

100% success

Zebra

100% success

Buffalo

94% success

Spotted Hyena

78% success

Eland

56% success

Aardvark

0% success

Black Rhino

0% success

Pangolin

0% success

Striped Hyena

0% success

Showing 11-20 of 82
Duration
Arrival date
Family G
Newbury

"Fantastic safari"

4 nights Arrived 31 Aug 2019
"Staff were fantastic. Lovely people, couldn’t do more for you. Everything went extremely smoothly.

Premises all clean, tents/ rooms had lovely decor. Safari also good, with fun guides. Walking safari a bit tame, and felt a little staged.

We all enjoyed the delicious food, and the stories around the bush tv, as they called the camp fire.

Highly recommended." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Sightings Report

Buffalo

1 sighting

Eland

1 sighting

Elephant

1 sighting

Giraffe

1 sighting

Hippo

1 sighting

Lion

1 sighting

Wildebeest

1 sighting

Zebra

1 sighting

Mrs L.
London

"Excellent stay at Siwandu"

3 nights Arrived 5 Aug 2019
"Fantastic location, extremely comfortable tents, great food and outstanding service from the staff at the camp - management team, guides (thank you Allan!), all the other staff and the chefs." See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania; 6n in Zanzibar; 1n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

2 sightings

Elephant

4 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Lion

2 sightings

Spotted Hyena

4 sightings

Wildebeest

6 sightings

Zebra

4 sightings

Mr & Mrs D
Worcs

"Great hospitality"

4 nights Arrived 4 Aug 2019
"The hospitality and the set up at the camp was great. It was really good that we had separate tables at mealtimes because we do not like forced 'getting to know people'. However, the camp did try to force us to get to know other people which was a bit irritating.

The wildlife was not brilliant here. Everything else - the service, the camp, the food etc was great. However, I am not sure we would recommend it because there were long drives without seeing anything." See all these reviews: 13n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Average
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Lion

5 sightings

Spotted Hyena

2 sightings

Wild dog

2 sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mr & Mrs M
Devon

"Wonderful lakeside camp"

4 nights Arrived 3 Jul 2019
"A lovely welcoming camp. Helen was so helpful and accommodated our wishes even when we changed our minds.
We loved the views at lunchtime, sitting around the fire before dinner, eating out under the stars and chatting with our fellow guests in the bar afterwards.

A lovely, cool, spacious tent but not overly keen on the arrangement whereby the flaps tied back afforded a view of the toilet but we did like the outside shower.

Heard interesting and sometimes scary animal noises in the night!
Great boat trips on the lake (including a surprise lunch on the boat)" See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania; 4n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

10 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Lion

1 sighting

Spotted Hyena

2 sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Dalys
London

"Luxurious and restful"

4 nights Arrived 2 Jul 2019
"Siwandu was a haven of luxury and rest after the long drives of the Northern safari. The rooms with views of the lake - elephants, hippos and crocodiles was wonderful and showering under the stars so memerable. The pool and lounge area was very nice and the food was London restaurant quality - imaginative and delicious.

We appreciated having lunch on the boat and adored the fly fishing with the crocodiles keeping an eye on us. The walking safari with Allan was magical - I loved all the details of the tracks, birds and animals.

There is not as much big five wildlife as on the northern circuit - but plenty of hippos, crocodiles, lions and hyenas and birds of course. The game drives - two a day always with a sundowner at the end were interesting.

The service - especially from our amazing butler Matthew was superb and so much fun.

If you want a more luxurious time and not be in a jeep all day then this is the perfect place. We were lucky enough to have both experiences and I loved the northern circuit which we did in 8 days and see different parts of Tanzania - which is such a beautiful country with happy, positive and fun people." See all these reviews: 13n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Cheetah

Multiple sightings

Eland

1 sighting

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wildebeest

Multiple sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mr S.
Abergavenny

"Siwandu review"

4 nights Arrived 5 Feb 2019
"The staff and the activities organised at Siwandu were excellent. The rooms were comfortable and well appointed.

The only thing that let the camp experience down was the food served in the evenings....the Chef tried too hard to serve fusion local/Western food and failed spectacularly...suggest he simplifies his menus to serve straighforward meat and vegetables." See all these reviews: 12n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Poor
Facilities:
Good
R & J
Richmond Hill

"Siwandu Camp"

3 nights Arrived 11 Sep 2018
"Siwandu is a well run professional operation with very good rooms and meals. The managers take great pride in supporting ecological endeavours and making the camp a part of the environment. The meals were very good and it was wonderful having a pool available during the day. We saw a great variety of wildlife which often required some off-road exploration." See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania; 4n in Zanzibar
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Eland

1 sighting

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Lion

2 sightings

Spotted Hyena

2 sightings

Wildebeest

1 sighting

Zebra

4 sightings

Polybin
Stubbington

"Good but not the best"

4 nights Arrived 7 Sep 2018
"Siwandu was our 4th safari lodge in mainland Africa starting in the Masai Mara, then more recently Botswana and Kruger. We chose Selous because of its reputation as a less touristy reserve as was the case. The welcome was very good from the airstrip and to the lodge. The tents (really?) were excellent. Lovely views to the lake with wildlife wandering through regularly. Facilities were very good with good protection from bugs and mosquitoes. We can't fault the accommodation.

We are not fussy and fully understand wildlife can be fickle and unpredictable but viewing was not as good as Botswana or Kruger (Kenya was 32 years ago so not a fair comparison). Surprised leopards were rare and we expected more buffalo (we saw one lone bull). If you want to see a giraffe, then go here! We got the impression that the wildlife on the other side of the lake was better during our trip over there. We were very surprised that safari's normally started at 8am. Everywhere else we've visited started at dawn and we wonder if that may account for it. We were invited to an early start on one morning which, co-incidentally, was a boat trip across the lake to meet up with the land rover and the best viewing. By no means was it bad but, on our visit, not the best.

The food quality and quantity was very good. The service generally was excellent and any specific requests (tea in the tent) were no bother. The breakfasts in the bush, lunch on the lake and dinner under the stars were great.

We had one trip where the guides forgot to offer a coffee/rest break so we spent some four hours in the vehicle. We feel sure this was due to our guides trying to find some wildlife and just forgetting the sensitivities of tourists. We mentioned this to Conrad and he dealt with it for future trips.

We certainly enjoyed the safari experience here and would thoroughly recommend it for location, accommodation and food. The variety of wildlife may deter some visitors (if ours was typical)." See all these reviews: 12n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Good
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Good
Facilities:
Good
Sightings Report

Buffalo

1 sighting

Eland

1 sighting

Elephant

4 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Lion

3 sightings

Spotted Hyena

2 sightings

Wildebeest

2 sightings

Zebra

3 sightings

DS family
E Sussex

"Excellent Service at Siwandu."

3 nights Arrived 11 Jul 2018
"Siwandu is beautiful and your photos on your website do not do it justice. Your advice on rooms was spot on and we had the two that we requested.

The service that we received was outstanding, being allocated our own 'Bush Butler' , room cleaner and guide. It felt as if there was a fabulous culture at the camp, with all enjoying their jobs. Max and Mohamed did a fabulous job of looking after us and we were sad to leave them.

It was nice to have a range of activities, along with the flexibility of being able to choice what we did and when. A highlight of the stay was to be told that we were having lunch on the boat on the lake one day. There we were as a family of four with Max, a chef and boat driver being served a beautiful lunch amongst the hippos and crocodiles. Very special.

We specifically enjoyed drinks around the 'Bush TV' (the fire) with all, before being able to eat as a family under the stars, watching the elephants stroll past and the bush babies in the tree." See all these reviews: 10n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

2 sightings

Eland

Multiple sightings

Elephant

5 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Lion

2 sightings

Wildebeest

3 sightings

Zebra

3 sightings

Mrs T
Andover

"Fantastic bush experience"

5 nights Arrived 6 Feb 2018
"This was our first safari in Tanzania having been to South Africa, Namibia and Botswana previously.

The selous was so different in terms of the diversity of the terrain and it didn't disappoint. We had some great sighting aided by the passionate and knowledgable guides. Siwandu camp was superb and every member of staff seemed genuinely pleased to have us there. The food was great with plenty of choice.

Our luxury tent style accomodation was also very good although I think the lavatory needs to have a bit of a screen around it for a little bit of privacy.

Would definitely recommend Siwandu to anyone." See all these reviews: 18n in Tanzania
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Showing 11-20 of 82
97%
82 reviews of Siwandu by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
72
9
1
0
0
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