Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs S from Waco, TX
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
2
Lodges stayed in
4
Excursions taken
0
would have been 5 Paws without Selous/Manze
Tanzania and 1 other country between 14 Aug 2015 and 24 Aug 2015
"Selous should not be marketed as having meaningful elephant populations
everyone in the country seems to know it but it was not indicated to me
Lake Manze is overpriced by at least double
should be sold as a budget camp for families going to cheap beach hotels in Zanzibar
because we are very experienced travelers we don't let any single issue spoil a trip but--
We usually do our own bookings but made an exception for this trip due to the number of domestic flights
and our preferred tight flying schedule .Iwas impressed by the service from both Richard and initially, Clare and
the details such as flights,transfers hotels,time usage were well done
I have never paid the pricing of Lake Manze/Selous and received as little
I rate the camp and game experience below modestly priced South African Private reserves near Kruger
eg: Nkorho or Gomo Gomo which are 50% lower
Kwihala was an excellent recommendation and Kicheche was as advertised
I do not think the location of the camp can compare to Karen Blixen tents on the River
where i have stayed previously but they have a different manager from my last visit there
and Kicheche was very satisfying."
everyone in the country seems to know it but it was not indicated to me
Lake Manze is overpriced by at least double
should be sold as a budget camp for families going to cheap beach hotels in Zanzibar
because we are very experienced travelers we don't let any single issue spoil a trip but--
We usually do our own bookings but made an exception for this trip due to the number of domestic flights
and our preferred tight flying schedule .Iwas impressed by the service from both Richard and initially, Clare and
the details such as flights,transfers hotels,time usage were well done
I have never paid the pricing of Lake Manze/Selous and received as little
I rate the camp and game experience below modestly priced South African Private reserves near Kruger
eg: Nkorho or Gomo Gomo which are 50% lower
Kwihala was an excellent recommendation and Kicheche was as advertised
I do not think the location of the camp can compare to Karen Blixen tents on the River
where i have stayed previously but they have a different manager from my last visit there
and Kicheche was very satisfying."
Feedback response
We’re delighted that these experienced safari travellers enjoyed their stays at Kwihala and Kicheche Mara camps. However, we are sorry they felt unaware of the tragic decline in the elephant population in the Selous. It’s an issue that has received widespread media coverage and that we are only too conscious of. We frequently talk to our travellers about it and can only apologise if these travellers felt uninformed. Lake Manze is a very popular and successful mid-priced camp that we thought would ideally suit them, particularly as they were looking to use their budget carefully.
Arranged By Richard Trillo
Lake Manze Adventure Camp
"should never be recommended unless cheap!"
3 nights
Arrived
14 Aug 2015
Poor
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Poor
Location
Poor
Service
Average
Facilities
Average
Rooms
Average
Food
Poor
Feedback response
We’ve heard back from the camp owners on these comments and while they are very pleased these travellers were very happy with their guide and had some good sightings, they are surprised and very disappointed that so much of their experience was not up to the standards they were expecting, and that the vast majority of guests experience.
The camp has explained that these guests got off the plane at Mtemere airstrip, rather than Siwandu (the airstrip that the camp routinely uses), which explains the confusion they experienced on arrival. This may have been poor organisation by the airline, as they were indeed booked and ticketed to fly to Siwandu.
This is certainly a busy time of year, and the camp was full, with two families from the UK. The staff deliberately seated these travellers away from the children, but they sincerely apologise for any shortfall in the meals, which certainly should have been mentioned at the time.
We are pleased to hear that the camp’s owners have instructed managers not to smoke in view of the guests. Smoking is only allowed by the firepit or at the bar, but this policy is constantly under review as habits change.
Bar charges over several days can be fiddly to check, both for guests and staff, but where there is no all-inclusive drinks policy, that is unfortunately inevitable.
The loss of elephants to poaching in Selous has been widely documented, but they do visit the camp – though these guests did not see any at camp during their stay. Tents 1 to 7 have better views, but fewer elephants while tents 8 to 12 are shadier, with more elephants, but can also be less breezy. Guests are always welcome to ask for specific tents, or to request to be moved if possible.
This camp does not have permanent access to the Rufiji River, only to Lake Manze itself, and unfortunately the water was very low at this time of year.
Once again, we apologise that these guests felt this was not the camp for them. We think some of their negative experience was down to the busy time of year, and some could have been improved by speaking immediately to the mangers. With hindsight, though, we accept that we may have suggested the wrong camp to these travellers.
The camp has explained that these guests got off the plane at Mtemere airstrip, rather than Siwandu (the airstrip that the camp routinely uses), which explains the confusion they experienced on arrival. This may have been poor organisation by the airline, as they were indeed booked and ticketed to fly to Siwandu.
This is certainly a busy time of year, and the camp was full, with two families from the UK. The staff deliberately seated these travellers away from the children, but they sincerely apologise for any shortfall in the meals, which certainly should have been mentioned at the time.
We are pleased to hear that the camp’s owners have instructed managers not to smoke in view of the guests. Smoking is only allowed by the firepit or at the bar, but this policy is constantly under review as habits change.
Bar charges over several days can be fiddly to check, both for guests and staff, but where there is no all-inclusive drinks policy, that is unfortunately inevitable.
The loss of elephants to poaching in Selous has been widely documented, but they do visit the camp – though these guests did not see any at camp during their stay. Tents 1 to 7 have better views, but fewer elephants while tents 8 to 12 are shadier, with more elephants, but can also be less breezy. Guests are always welcome to ask for specific tents, or to request to be moved if possible.
This camp does not have permanent access to the Rufiji River, only to Lake Manze itself, and unfortunately the water was very low at this time of year.
Once again, we apologise that these guests felt this was not the camp for them. We think some of their negative experience was down to the busy time of year, and some could have been improved by speaking immediately to the mangers. With hindsight, though, we accept that we may have suggested the wrong camp to these travellers.
East Africa Manager
Kwihala Camp
"Ruaha is hard to get to, but worth it"
3 nights
Arrived
17 Aug 2015
"Arrived the week of manager transition and was impressed with both the old and new.
Great elephant sightings of large groups with lots of juveniles in dry river beds
saw reasonable amounts of many game species.
Lion kill on baboon from large troop
hyena family out of den in early Am was special
excellent guiding
outstanding service and 5 star food
amazing landscape
very comfortable vehicles
excellent large predator bird sightings
guide spotted huge python coiled in tree(something we were looking for)
would say 5 stars based on everything except camp itself which is very good"
Great elephant sightings of large groups with lots of juveniles in dry river beds
saw reasonable amounts of many game species.
Lion kill on baboon from large troop
hyena family out of den in early Am was special
excellent guiding
outstanding service and 5 star food
amazing landscape
very comfortable vehicles
excellent large predator bird sightings
guide spotted huge python coiled in tree(something we were looking for)
would say 5 stars based on everything except camp itself which is very good"
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Eka Hotel
"hard to beat"
1 night
Arrived
20 Aug 2015
"Excellent location between airports
very clean
great staff
a solid slightly upmarket business type hotel"
very clean
great staff
a solid slightly upmarket business type hotel"
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Kicheche Mara
"As advertised"
3 nights
Arrived
21 Aug 2015
"The star here is the beautiful Mara North Conservancy
anyone who loves the land will appreciate it
excellent guiding
abundant game as the southern herds were mostly here
Lions in huge numbers
Kicheche is very service oriented and responsive
A negative is there are a lot of vehicles from other camps in the general area
the tents and camp itself are quite nice but the camp facilities bar is high in this area"
anyone who loves the land will appreciate it
excellent guiding
abundant game as the southern herds were mostly here
Lions in huge numbers
Kicheche is very service oriented and responsive
A negative is there are a lot of vehicles from other camps in the general area
the tents and camp itself are quite nice but the camp facilities bar is high in this area"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
12 tents 33 guests
Kids running everywhere
ordinary(at best) food carefully portioned out
ridiculous small extra charges(33 charges total of $48USD) errors in bill had to wait for corrections of less than $3
rigid schedule with seating assignments for dinner table
tents ok but minimal by comparison
elephants are just about all gone(poached out according to guides and managers)
saw a total of 6 elephants (including same 2 twice,so actually only 4) in 6 game drives
had to wait 45 minutes after flight landed for pick up by camp(confusion regarding arrival time?)
location of tent caught no breeze
boat safari was almost pathetic,small traverse area, seemed a way for camp to save fuel in vehicles
managers were visible and (very) involved but smoked a lot and seemed harassed while
micro managing
Next the OK parts:
Fortunately we were able to meet 2 other guests on arrival who joined us to take charge of our schedule
somewhat :Same guide,early departures(camp tried to get everyone to wait until an hour after sunrise to leave)
on game drive,come back one hour before lunch which was not until 13;00
we left at 06:30 and returned on time to eat.Also declined "all day" drives which camp promoted for some reason
we were told as long as we had 4 people or more on identical schedule for all 3 days they would allow it
Staff was OK ,some good but lack of procedural training was evident
Finally the good:
Vehicle was maintained
guide was good/very good, responded to our requests,and was friendly
lots of giraffes in the area,a couple of good eagle sightings
a very good lion pride in feeding mode gave some good photo ops"