Reviews of Olakira
(96%) From 55 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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A lovely tented camp in the right place
We only stayed one night but thoroughly enjoyed our short stay
Read more about the whole safariAuthentic safari experience
We loved our stay at Olakira.
The tent was spacious and hot bucket showers were never an issue because the entire staff was top notch. Delicious food, and drinks were spent with the other guests which made socializing about the days adventures a blast.
Guides were wonderful and extremely educated. Keep in mind that a safari jeep is normally shared with other travelers so cross your fingers your mesh well, if not, open a beer and enjoy the drive.
Fascinating migration at Olakira, S Serengeti
Friendly and attentive Asilia staff with good food. Tent was not as clean as with the two Lemala camps we had been to previously and the lack of wooden flooring made this more noticeable. Some bathroom glitches were quickly sorted out by the staff. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, we had a great experience in the heart of the bush here. We enjoyed our community dining in the evening and banter with other guests.
The main reason to come at this time of year is for the migration which was fascinating, although most of the wildebeest were males and birthing was taking place elsewhere in the Serengeti which we did not witness, which was a shame. Plenty of predators in evidence - 42 lion, 13 cheetah and an unusual sighting of 7 African wild dog. We were amazed at the variation of habitats in this area of the Southern Serengeti which made for a great safari.
Ayoub, our superb guide for the previous 4 nights as well, continued to work hard at making sure we saw everything we could have wished for and enhanced the whole experience. We were so sorry to waive him goodbye at the airstrip for our onward travel - he had become a friend over the course of the week.
Lovely situation, but tents tired and old.
On arrival we were made very welcome by the staff. Our tent was spacious and had all the basic requirements.
Unfortunately the bucket shower did not work properly and the water barely dribbled out of the shower head. The staff tried to fix it and said to try the shower again. Sadly on trying to turn on the water the whole shower head and pipes fell down just missing my head. It took 48 hours for the staff to get the shower fixed and then was only sorted because my husband told them what was wrong! The staff then managed to replace the hose and shower head and finally we could shower on our 3rd day.
On our second night it poured with rain and the next morning everything was very damp, including our clothes and bedding. Fortunately the sun shone and things dried out.
Over all we feel, that although it was a mobile camp, the tents need replacing, and showers improved and in general an upgrade to all facilities.
The food was good and drinks plentiful.
Our game drives were excellent and we enjoyed a couple of bush breakfasts and our guide, Ebenezer, was knowledgeable and found the thousands of wildebeests that we had wanted to see. We also saw lots of hyenas, vultures, plains animal and lions. I was going to mark Ndutu Camp as poor, however the food was good, and the service at breakfast and dinner was great.
Olakira Mara - Ndutu Camp review
We compared with Dunia and noticed not quite so well run. Food was good and staff were friendly.
Guide here was provided by the camp and was a bit disappointing. He could have been a lot more communicative and paid a bit more attention to our interests.
Why did we always share truck with 3 others? (No problems with them personally). Others seemed to have truck/guide to themselves. We did however see 3 river crossings - 2 in front of the camp (see below).
Olakira Mara - Ndutu Camp review
Great fun - best tent I've ever slept in. The communal dinners in the mess tent and the drinks round the fire are a great way to meet other travellers. This differentiated this camp from the &Beyond lodges. It's amazing what the cooks can do in the middle of the bush, you don't get much better in downtown Melbourne!
And again, our guide Nathan deserves special mention - polite, educated and fun. Nothing was too much trouble for him.
Excellent
The game drives were fasntastic and we saw far more than our expectations, especially crossings of the Mara river and cat life.
Read more about the whole safariOlakira Mara - Ndutu Camp review
Our hostess Anna was wonderful. Late one afternoon we had a torrential downpour lasting about 30 minutes as we returned to camp. Anna and her staff were very solicitous for the comfort and well being of the guests. She could not have done better. A bit of humor was the repeated efforts to keep our shower buckets ready for us even when we did not need them. Our guide Mesenga was great. Of our three guides his English was perhaps not as good, but this only provided more opportunity to converse. Nevertheless, his knowledge and patience with us was superb. We did establish, while waiting for the wildebeest to cross the Mara River, that the correct name for a gathering of many Land Cruisers/Range Rovers is a"clutch" as in a pride of lions or herd of wlildebeest.
Read more about the whole safariOlakira Mara - Ndutu Camp review
The staff were very helpful, courteous and friendly. The food was very good and the chef worked miracles for me in terms of my allergies
The tents were very spacious although the piece of furniture for putting your clothes was minimal and much smaller than we had in tents everywhere else
The communal dining area and the camp fire were great. The coffee/tea station was adequate but the easy seating/relax area was not very inviting
