Reviews of Lake Manze Camp

"Made to feel very welcome from the moment of pick up from the airstrip. Our safari certainly started almost immediately we were through the gate of the National Park. We were thrilled to see so many animals just on the way to camp.

Warm welcome from the hosts Sean and Milly at the camp and our adventure began. Very comfortable tent accommodation - plenty of room for our belongings and everything was spotless. We loved the lakeside location. There was always something happening and just watching across the lake with the binos from the comfort of the chairs in our tent awning was fab!

Our dedicated guides for the 4 days, Roger and Abu were friendly and so knowledgeable about the terrain and animals, birds and plantlife - every day was just a wonderful experience. Roger and Abu took us close to the animals spotted but in such a way that we were rewarded with the animals always remaining calm and relaxed around us.

Difficult to pick a highlight ... elephants in the camp, a hyena in front of the tent and the Masai gently persuading a huge hippo to move so we could get to bed!

The giraffes walking to a favourite pasture in front of the tents every morning and then coming back in the late afternoon... the sound of hippos snacking around the tent at night and the lovely genet who visited every night whilst we were having dinner ...and who knew bushbaby's could shout so loudly? Spotting wild dogs and watching them wake up from their afternoon nap, greet each other - then trot off presumably to look for dinner.. sleepy lions ...up close to hippo families from our boat trips .. That's just to mention a few..

The food was exceptional and plentiful.

Such a wonderful trip." See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania; 4n in Zanzibar

"From the very moment we arrived at the small air strip and were greeted by James Joseph and Kamkumba alis JJ & KK we knew we were in for the holiday of our life times. Both of these young men are a credit to the camp, their freindlyness, knowledge and experience was unexpected but very much appriciated because we had chosen a more rustic approach to the trip but at the same time we wanted a knowledgable experience.

The camp was run by Sean and Millie who personally met us upon our arrival. Again the same genuinely experienced and passionate approach by them both towards the animals the camp and their role as our hosts for the duration of our stay.

The tents were immaculate and comfortable. The food was excellent and underplayed and could be talked up more.

The activities we went on such as breakfast safari were very good and were a surprising addition to our expectations. Eating breakfast on a hill under a tarmerind tree looking out across the savannah was what it was all about for us.

As we involved ourselves in many activities such as walking out to experience tracking and the ability to spot animal prints and their dung, we were then able to use this knowledge with ours guides to spot animals ourselves.
The most exhilirating memories that we will take away from our experience would be when we spotted the animals ourselves. for example on our first morning out on sarfai Trudie and I spyed three lions laying several hundred metres away however went we got in close to them the pride was 14 strong and we were thrilled to spend twenty minutes of our lifes with them going about their normal business. The herd of giraffes crossing the lake at sunset and Elephants coming into camp in the evening either visting your tent or turning up for dinner would be just some of the highlights.

Overall Sean, Millie and their team's friendly approach made us feel part of their family for the few magical days we spent with them." See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar

"Millie and Sean offer the warmest of welcomes. It was really like being in someone's home - they made me feel so welcome and comfortable. At this camp I enjoyed both land based and boat safari's with fabulous guides. Ali and Chombo were such fun to be with, so incredibly knowledgeable and worked non-stop throughout our safari's to bring me wonderful experiences. At this camp I saw lots of hippo, giraffe, crocs, the inevitable impala, water buck, buffalo, and an amazing sighting of a leopard in a bush - how did those guys find that leopard? I remember the guides and the managers at this camp with huge fondness." See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania

"Ok. No hot water which would have been welcome.

Awesome guides and good service. Nice tent." See all these reviews: 21n in Tanzania; 7n in Zanzibar

"Immersed in the wilderness

The team of driver and guide was very friendly and professional. They took care of us whether on game drives, boat safaris or waking safaris.

We enjoyed the quietness - the only thing you hear is the wind and the animals

We enjoyed the service - efficient and friendly staff

We enjoyed the remoteness - no reception or wifi, some electricity (just enough to charge the cameras, but no more is needed)

And the animals were there.

We enjoyed traveling there during this “low season” imposed by COVID: Selous il already quite exclusive compared to the Serengeti but there are barely any other cars touring around. More difficile to locate the animals but a real sensation of being alone in the wild. And we could enjoy “private” game drives as so few guests were present.

Note on the food: while it was always good and the dinners under the stars was fantastic, we would have enjoyed a bit more “Swahili” in our plates" See all these reviews: 3n in Tanzania

"Lake Manze camp was fabulous.

Very intimate, remote and wild feel about it. We had a Hyaena walk right past our tent on the first night, almost dark, and we were sitting outside on the front patio of our tent at the time. My wife and I just froze and sat very still without making a sound and only watched. He passed our tent using the path no more than 3 meters away from us. I'll never forget it.

The guiding was superb. Thank you to Zach, JJ and Abu. The boat safaris were a lot of fun. Great birding for Kingfishers and Bee Eaters. Excellent sunsets.

The staff were very attentive and made us feel very much at home. The food was fine and there was a lot of it." See all these reviews: 20n in Tanzania

"As we were the only 2 guests for the first few nights, we were thoroughly spoilt!

Malcolm was very accommodating and welcoming, but also incredibly knowledgable about all aspects of African life and his passion for carbon neutrality was infectious!" See all these reviews: 4n in Tanzania

"A very nice camp with good food, comfy setup and welcoming hosts who were a constant presence. General game was plentiful, especially Impala, Zebra, Kudu, Wildebeest and delightfully many Giraffe. Surprising lack of Elephants though - just one single young bull (who gave us a good show in the river).Saw a coalition of five lions and a pack of Wild Dogs three times! Also Hyena and two short but exciting leopard sightings. Really loved the boat activities, wonderful photo opportunities for Kingfishers and Bee-eaters espesically.

Our guide was just ok (had far better ones) though a nice enough guy. The driver had impressive skills, got stuck more than once in the black cotton soil. One evening we had torrential rainfall and I was unsure if we'd actually make it back to camp - every little crevice had become a stream, and we had quite a lot of hairy crossings. But Driver Abuu really was champ, and made it.

Tanzania had had unusually much rain, so much of Selous was flooded. Our camp was starting to be more and more in the lake rather than at the lake, so we were transferred to Impala Camp for our last night because they were afraid the water might reach our tent in the middle of the night. The water level was not an issue for us during our stay at Lake Manze, our tent remained a few cm above the water line, only the path started to resemble a creek more and more." See all these reviews: 14n in Tanzania

"This was our third stay at Lake Manze camp so I think that speaks for itself. This time we stayed for 4 nights and were accompanied by some friends.

When we arrived Ali our driver from our previous trips welcomed us at the airstrip and introduced us to Hamedi who would be our guide. On arrival at Lake Manze Camp, Shaun and Milli, the managers welcomed us like old friends.

We had a fantastic 4 days game viewing with Ali and Hamedi. We enjoyed their company and their combination of experience and youthful enthusiasm. They both worked really hard to show us everything including wild dogs and lions. We spent a magical morning with a group of 17 elephants watching them eat, drink, play in the water, roll in the mud and generally just interact. We spent about 2.5 hours with these wonderful creatures, the majority of the time on our own.

We also enjoyed 2 boat trips with our boat guide Ayoub, which I would highly recommend. On the second trip we arranged to do some fishing as well as watching the wildlife which was fun. We caught 4 fish which the chef then cooked for us that evening.

Shaun and Milli are excellent managers and work really hard to make sure everyone has a great time. During our stay the camp was full with a large tour group (which I think is quite unusual). During this time Milli and Shaun made sure that the large group had virtually no impact on our stay and were dealt with separately to the rest of the guests.

As previously, our stay at Lake Manze exceeded our expectations and we look forward to a return visit soon." See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania; 7n in Zanzibar

"We haven´t had a good experience at Lake Manze.

Good aspects:
The 2 camp manager (Malcom and after Sean) were very nice to us, the location of the camp is great and we enjoyed the experience to be in a camp with no electricity. The game drive itself (animals, landscape) was nice, the cars that they´ve offered are great.
We reccomend Sealous as a place to visit in Tanzania, for sure.

Bad aspects:
Our guide was terrbile. First of all, we had one guide at the first day and the campus has changed or guide for the second day (it was our first time safari so we didn´t know that normally we should have the same guide every day). Nobody told us that we should expect the same guide from the day 2 (we thought that we would have one guide each day, mainly because of the situation that we will explain on next paragraph)
This change would be a minor problem, if the second guide was a good one.
We felt unsafe all the time with the second guide. To summarize the problem: in our second day of game driving, when we saw for the first time a lion in our entire life, he stopped the car and asked "Malcom has explained how the things work here?". "You asked to see Lion and Elephant, we showed the two animals. If you are happy, you should pay USD15 dollars (or more, you can choose) for me and USD15 for the driver. If you are not happy, you don´t need to pay, but if you are, you need to pay". It was almost an exthorsion (I only realize that once I have arrived to Ikuka and talked to camp manger there).
Just to try to explain how we felt bad, once we come back to the camp I was asking to someone from staff go with me to the tent to take money (I hadn´t any money with me).
We don´t remember the guide name (it was Arns or something like that) and to demonstrate how we were unhappy we haven´t done the last game drive at Lake Manze - we stayed on camp in our last day.
The food at Lake Manze is poor - the menu an lunch in only vegetarian one.
The places that the guide chose for breakfast and lunch (cold rice with pumpkin) on bushes were terrible. For the breakfast it was a 30 metres from the main road.

We would reccomend Selaous as a place to go in contrast to Ruaha, but, unfortunately, we can´t reccomend Lake Manze as a camp. We have talked during the trip and for sure the only reason for that is the guide." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar