Reviews of Lake Manze Camp

"Carlson and Abbu mad ethe visit absolutely unforgettable.... their determination to find the unfindable was infectious, and other passing Land Rovers were stopping us for information.... they were the best...

From an Elephant in the middle of the camp, to a Puff Adder in the bar.... how much wilder could you expect to be?" See all these reviews: 12n in Tanzania

"Set amongst the wilderness and resting on the shores of Lake Manze, the camp here is a must for those who enjoy the outdoors and who love being amongst nature. The variety of wildlife here is incredible and much of it can be seen in and around the camp (including elephants who frequently walk amongst the compound), whilst more can be heard at night as many of the animals come to the lake to drink.

Being in a tent you get a real sense of living and sleeping in the very world which the animals inhabit whilst having the opportunity to travel further afield during the day to witness the diversity of animal and bird life in the surrounding areas. This can be done either in a jeep, by boat along the river or simply by walking into the bush, all accompanied by very helpful guides who are only too happy to teach you about the animals and their behavior as you watch them in their natural habitat. (Safari on foot is superb as it gives you a chance to stop and see details that you would perhaps miss whilst driving.)

The food here is both simple and familiar, a lovely mix of fresh salads, meat dishes, rice, pasta and desserts. Cooked breakfast is available every morning, lunch is often in the company of passing elephants whilst dinner is usually held with all visitors to the camp under the stars. (Be sure to check your plate before each mouthful here as the insect life is abundant!) After dinner a Masaai guard will guide you back to your tent and once there you will rely on candle and torchlight as there is no electricity. There are torches in the tent but we recommend you bring your own! (There are some power points in the bar area if you need to charge camera batteries etc.)

All the staff here are very friendly and incredibly helpful, whilst eager to talk to you about your day and what you have experienced. We spent four days here and saw more than we could have hoped for, but a shorter stay would be just as rewarding.

Overall an amazing and memorable experience and we would thoroughly recommend it." See all these reviews: 8n in Zanzibar; 4n in Tanzania

"A great place to get close to wildlife. The boat safaris are probably the higlight of this camp and if time permits it is well worth doing one both morning and evening as the experience can be quite different. The truck safaris were good, but given time of year (Dec) when game has dispersed there were long periods of driving to locate the animals - however the scenery is great so no real hardship. We were lucky enough to see Wild Dog 3 times during our stay including on a walking safari.

The camp itself is well run and the standards very good given the logisitics of supporting a camp in this remote location. Food was at times an interesting mix of dishes but all very good. We both thoroughly enjoyed the communal aspect of dining, and it was a great opportunity to share the days adventures. We had regular appearances of a Genet Cat and a beautiful Skops Owl to entertain us at dinner.

The regular appearance of Elephant, Cape Buffalo and Hippo in the camp added to the experience, but the highlight was the 4 pairs of lions eyes 30 metres away picked out by the torch of the Masai guard one evening as we walked to dinner." See all these reviews: 7n in Zanzibar; 5n in Tanzania

"This was our first safari and the experience lived up to our expectations. The camp is in a beautiful setting. The big attraction for us was the easy access - only a 40 minute flight from Dar Es Salaam.

All the staff were friendly and welcoming and the guides were very knowledgable.

The camp was very quiet when we were there so we were fortunate enough to have a guide exclusively for us most of the time - an added bonus.

Overall the food was good and there was plenty of it. Tea and coffee was available all day/evening which was a nice touch. Drinks were very reasonably priced." See all these reviews: 6n in Zanzibar; 3n in Tanzania

"The setting for Lake Manze Tented Camp is beautiful. The tents have all that you need for a stay in the bush. We loved the varied terrain and variety of game (large and small)

Our original guide had to leave us on the last day, for a hospital appointment, and our replacement was unfortunately not of the same standard. We did discuss this with Richard, so he is aware of it.

The boat safari with Elton was extremely interesting and rewarding because he was so enthusiastic about the birds.

All the staff were friendly and very welcoming. With Richard being a wonderful host.

The game drives were very good, with so much to see and watch. The highlight being the Wild Dogs trotting up the track in front of our vehicle and the 6 pups having a "game" with a warthog !!" See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania

"Overall very good." See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania

"We had an eagle-eyed young guide at the camp, who turned our stay here into an amazing wildlife adventure. He was quite determined we should see a leopard - and he delivered big time, showing us not only a leopard but also a leopard cub. To cap it all, on our return to the camp we came across a pack of wild dogs out hunting.

Set out along a route used by elephants, the camp itself offered good wildlife viewing - lots of the great grey creatures lumbered past our tents, while woodpeckers, squirrels and genet cats inhabited the trees. The tented accommodation was comfortable and well laid out to take in lake and game views." See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania

"The camp has considerable potential but we felt they were cutting costs in some areas, for example food quantity and quality were not highest standards.

The walks were a bit repetitive about animal droppings." See all these reviews: 5n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar

"The camp is located in a very good game viewing area. Plenty of animals wandered through the camp during our stay including elephant and giraffe. One evening on our way back to camp we passed four lions who were lying a few hundred yards away from the camp entrance!!!

The rooms were just as we expected from the brochure description - comfortable with everything we needed for our stay. They could get quite hot during the day and remained very warm at night, but we have experienced this in alot of other camps which we have stayed in so were expecting it.

Although the food was well cooked and tasty we did find it a bit repetitve and unimaginative. We are both vegetarian and found that for most dinners we were given the potatos and vegetables that the other guests were having with their meat or fish and nothing else. We have been to similar camps and have been served more complete vegetarian meals so we know that it is possible to be more favorably catered for. Also, we found that having aubergine all 4 evenings was very repetitive and disappointing particularly as we are not overly fond of aubergine!!!

The activities were extremely flexible with a choice of walking, boat trips, full day game drives, half day game drives and shorter game drives. The driver who took us out for all of our game drives - Ally - was very competent and was very good at tracking and finding animals. We were very lucky to see Wild Dogs on two separate occasions and also a leopard who started off in a tree before getting down the tree, walking right past our vehicle and then started stalking an impala!!! The guides who accompanied Ally on our game drives - Samuel and Ian - were both very informative and knew alot about various animals and birds but it did seem that they had memorised the text book and were telling us everything they could remember about a certain subject.

The only negative point to mention is the fact that we had to pay for water on the game drives. This should really be inclusive in the daily rate as it was at all of the other camps we have stayed at.

Overall we had a very enjoyable stay at Lake Manze, which was made particularly special by our great game viewing encounters. Thank you to all of the staff at Lake Manze, particularly Ally our driver." See all these reviews: 12n in Tanzania

"Once again we were driven from Mikumi to Selous GR by Mr. Ezequiel , and it was a very enjoyable and different drive through minor routes. Lake Manze Tented Camp is very well situated and we were able to enjoy both aquatic and terrestrial activities. The stuff were as always very helpful and attentive.

Although they offer the chance of a very early morning drive, we were not able to do one on our three days there, mainly because other guests were not so kin in getting up early to see the wildlife! Probably they should reconsider how to offer early drives to guests.
Unfortunately we did not take the full day drive, because of our former experience at Mikumi, but by the reaction of other guests, and our posterior experiences at Selous and Ruaha, it is probably worthwhile to take it.

The boat drives (lake and channels) are indeed a "must to do", specially the afternoon drive.

Although the quality of food was very good, we think that they should offer more "africanized / traditional" biased menus, rather than Italian/ Continental." See all these reviews: 14n in Tanzania