Travel reviews by Mr S & Ms J from Sweden

"We had a very short stay at the hotel, arrived late evening and left at 8 am the next morning. Overall a nice hotel with pleasant staff and very good breakfast, but it was a bit noisy. We had trouble sleeping because of loud talking late at night from one of the other rooms."

"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."

"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 Lake Manze Adventure camp and the safari experience.

Lake Manze Adventure Camp

The camp was excellent. It may be a bit rough for some people, with no electricity in the tent and shower and toilet outside, but for us it was just perfect. We had a really nice tent at the far end of the camp, with elephants, giraffes, impalas and buffalos very close to the tent .The common area was also very cosy with nice atmosphere, friendly staff and pretty much dialy visits by a herd of elephants. One thing we did miss was sitting by the fire before dinner (simply because there was none).

The Lake Manze Adventure camp is for people who like a somewhat rougher stay out in the wild, but still with everything you need. We enjoyed our stay very much. Highly recommended!

The safari experience

The game viewing and the scenery was much better at the Lake Manze area than around the Impala camp. We saw lions, elephants and a lot of hyenas every day, and there were a lot more wildebeest, zebra and impalas who were also more relaxed than at the Impala camp. We had a really nice guide and good drivers at Lake Manze, and it felt like they tried hard to show us as much as possible.

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

We would recommend both new and experienced safari-goers to stay at the Lake Manze camp and that part of Selous, ideally in combination with some other reserve or park, like the Serengeti.

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."