Travel reviews by MZ and family from London

"We really enjoyed our trip overall.

We were paired with an excellent guide, very knowledgeable and who went above and beyond to ensure we had great mammal and bird sightings. Especially in the Ngorongoro crater and Ndutu area, the abundance of wildlife was mesmerizing.

We stayed mostly in the parks and we could really feel the proximity of the wildlife during our stay. Especially, one member of our party had a very close encounter with a lion one morning when going to breakfast (it was after sunrise and the night guards seemed to have finished their shift). We found out later that lions liked to use the path near our cabin very frequently.

More information on how to react and deal with this sort of encounter could have been helpful (not just saying there could be 'wildlife' passing by). Luckily, they managed to make it back to the cabin unharmed and live to tell the tale! Had something bad happened, our trip would have turned out very differently."

Feedback response

We were delighted to hear that these travellers had such a fantastic trip and thoroughly enjoyed the variety of parks they visited. Following these comments, we took the matter up directly with Ndutu Safari Lodge. The camp sincerely apologised that the night watchman was not available that morning to escort guests. They confirmed that this was a one-off incident; under their standard camp protocols, a night watchman is normally present throughout the evening, night, and early morning to accompany guests safely between their rooms and the main areas.

As Ndutu Safari Lodge is an unfenced property, the natural movement of wildlife through the camp is carefully monitored by the team. However, they acknowledged that better communication regarding potential wildlife encounters would have been helpful and have taken steps to reinforce this with their staff.

We took this incident very seriously and included a note in our lodge write-up to remind guests that they must never move around the camp grounds unaccompanied during the hours when the camp has briefed them that they must have an escort.

We were pleased to hear that, despite this experience, the travellers had an overall wonderful stay.