Travel reviews by Mr R & Ms D from NL
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
2
Lodges stayed in
3
Excursions taken
0
My Oct 2021 trip
Zanzibar and 1 other country between 21 Oct 2021 and 4 Nov 2021
"We were very happy with our trip as a whole and the help we got from Lyndsey.
Of course there are always some details. We didn't receive our pre-travel package in time, probably because of Brexit. When we returned we saw that there was only a guide of Zanzibar and not of Tanzania in the package. The covid rules were even easier than you told us. There is a list of countries that should do an extra antigene test when arriving. UK is on that list, the Netherlands not. We found out ourselves but we think in this case Expert Africa is just a bit too UK-minded because we were told that we probably should do that test when arriving. The list is on the Tanzanian government website.
Fisherman Travel did a good job but one driver had a bottle of water for us the other didn't. When arriving on Zanzibar from Dar the driver was too late. So I had to fight off dozens of "helpful" taxi drivers, some became a bit too intrusive so i had to act angry and aggressive to get rid of them. After ten minutes our driver arrived. No big deal but sometimes details are important.
But as we said, this is our second journey with Expert, and we are still very happy with the service and the overall experience."
Of course there are always some details. We didn't receive our pre-travel package in time, probably because of Brexit. When we returned we saw that there was only a guide of Zanzibar and not of Tanzania in the package. The covid rules were even easier than you told us. There is a list of countries that should do an extra antigene test when arriving. UK is on that list, the Netherlands not. We found out ourselves but we think in this case Expert Africa is just a bit too UK-minded because we were told that we probably should do that test when arriving. The list is on the Tanzanian government website.
Fisherman Travel did a good job but one driver had a bottle of water for us the other didn't. When arriving on Zanzibar from Dar the driver was too late. So I had to fight off dozens of "helpful" taxi drivers, some became a bit too intrusive so i had to act angry and aggressive to get rid of them. After ten minutes our driver arrived. No big deal but sometimes details are important.
But as we said, this is our second journey with Expert, and we are still very happy with the service and the overall experience."
Arranged By Lyndsey Marris
Roho ya Selous
"Roho ya Selous review"
3 nights
Arrived
22 Oct 2021
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Sightings report
Buffalo
Many sightings
Eland
Many sightings
Elephant
Many sightings
Giraffe
Many sightings
Hippo
Many sightings
Leopard
1 sighting
Lion
Many sightings
Spotted Hyena
Many sightings
Striped Hyena
Many sightings
Wildebeest
Many sightings
Zebra
Many sightings
Ikuka Safari Camp
"Ikuka review"
4 nights
Arrived
25 Oct 2021
"Ikuka is located at a hilltop in the vast national park of Ruaha. The views are breathtaking and all the staff do really give you the feeling you are more than welcome.
We were very lucky to have the whole camp available for ourselves during our stay of four nights, a private safari experience for free! Thanks to Covid, but actually we didn't understand because going to Tanzania and filling in the forms, complying to a PCR-test and all the rest turned out to be very easy! So go now before the rest of the world finds out...
Anyway, life in the camp and the safari drives turned out to be more than excellent. We were very very lucky to be the first in almost a year to spot a whole pack of around 30 wild dogs! Including very young ones. It is estimated that only 2500 wild dogs may still exist in the world so everybody was really excited about this. But also the leopard we saw from close distance lying in the tree and the many other big and small animals we will not easy forget!"
We were very lucky to have the whole camp available for ourselves during our stay of four nights, a private safari experience for free! Thanks to Covid, but actually we didn't understand because going to Tanzania and filling in the forms, complying to a PCR-test and all the rest turned out to be very easy! So go now before the rest of the world finds out...
Anyway, life in the camp and the safari drives turned out to be more than excellent. We were very very lucky to be the first in almost a year to spot a whole pack of around 30 wild dogs! Including very young ones. It is estimated that only 2500 wild dogs may still exist in the world so everybody was really excited about this. But also the leopard we saw from close distance lying in the tree and the many other big and small animals we will not easy forget!"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Sightings report
Buffalo
Many sightings
Eland
Many sightings
Elephant
Many sightings
Giraffe
Many sightings
Hippo
Many sightings
Leopard
1 sighting
Lion
Many sightings
Sable antelope
1 sighting
Spotted Hyena
Many sightings
Striped Hyena
Many sightings
Wild dog
1 sighting
Zebra
Many sightings
Matemwe Retreat
"Matemwe Retreat review"
5 nights
Arrived
29 Oct 2021
"The combination of a bush safari week and the beach at Zanzibar turned out to be an excellent decision.
At Matemwe we just relaxed, read some books, drank a cocktail, had a wonderful private dining at our rooftop or at the beach, took a dip in our private pool and let Jems, our wonderful butler, take care of us! He even learned us to play Bao. So thanks to Jems and the rest of the staff (especially the chef for the wonderful food!) we felt really spoiled. Only thing is of course to turn back to normal when you are at home again... Maybe we should return more often...
By the way, you can go diving, kayaking, snorkeling, visiting the village and more. We were most of the time just happy relaxing in our home and twice took an excellent massage in the spa, but more active travellers also will not be bored."
At Matemwe we just relaxed, read some books, drank a cocktail, had a wonderful private dining at our rooftop or at the beach, took a dip in our private pool and let Jems, our wonderful butler, take care of us! He even learned us to play Bao. So thanks to Jems and the rest of the staff (especially the chef for the wonderful food!) we felt really spoiled. Only thing is of course to turn back to normal when you are at home again... Maybe we should return more often...
By the way, you can go diving, kayaking, snorkeling, visiting the village and more. We were most of the time just happy relaxing in our home and twice took an excellent massage in the spa, but more active travellers also will not be bored."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Felix was a very skilful guide, we saw every animal we could imagine. There were magnificent sunsets and a nice pool to cool down in the afternoon. One morning on our way from our tent to the main area we encountered an elephant. He of course was just eating and didnt mind us walking by. At night we once woke to see the huge silhouettes of three elephants eating one meter from our tent! Later that night the same happened with a giraffe..
In anticipation of the rains almost all the animals had babies. Small playful lions, hippos, elephants and all the other animals were abundant. Only thing is to select the nicest pictures when you are at home!"