Reviews of Oliver's Camp

"After landing at the Kuro airstrip, we met our guide, John. John handed us very nice, insulated water bottles filled with delicious cold water – what a nice break from the previous lodge.

John warned us that the roads are bumpy and to put on our seat belts. By the time we got to the lodge, we told John that the roads were more of a gentle massage compared to the teeth rattling rides we had in Ngorongoro – John laughed. On the way to the lodge, we had an impressive game drive to boot! We saw elephants, giraffes, a leopard in a tree, hippos, reedbucks, and a banded mongoose. We were met by the staff (with a nice cold minty scented towel!), Godfrey the GM and our steward Pascal. Godfrey took us upstairs straight away for lunch as we missed the main serving time. The main lodge is an open two-story log frame and thatched roof building. Wow! What an amazing looking lodge! The lodge is totally open with expansive view of the savannah. We could really get used to a place like this!

Our waiter, Saiatoti (Our first Maasi name to learn), served us an excellent family style lunch prepared by chef Bura. Our only question was, where do you get peaches for the sorbet in the middle of Africa? We’ve never had better sorbet than the peach sorbet. All the meals prepared from chef Bura and his team and served up by Saiatoti were top notch, we were quite pampered and spoiled. Pascal took us to our bungalow after lunch, a fair distance from the main lodge. All the walking paths have a thick layer of sand (brought in from the Tarangire River) and raked each morning so that the staff can see what animals are coming through the camp. On one morning, we saw elephant tracks within five feet of our bungalow. There were always some critter’s tracks on the path each time we walked them. Luckily, we didn’t see any lion tracks, although we heard them each night. The safari tent is covered by a thatched roof with a nice roofed outdoor veranda overlooking the savannah and the Minyonyo pools within the Tarangire River. All the expected amenities are there with special emphasis on the bed facing the veranda. There is both a sitting area and a writing desk to catch up on your journal. All that separates you from the great outdoors in an insect screen. There is an outdoor shower that is partially walled, but also facing the savannah giving you an intimate wilderness feel with the great outdoors.

We ate our breakfasts bush style that John laid out for us. We ate at a small park called Elephant’s Paradise near the Silale swamp with a lot of pretty birds – no elephants. There were a couple animal encounters that stood above all the animal dense park critters. One was an encounter with over twenty elephants walking around the truck. You couldn’t reach out to touch them, but they were all around us and were less than ten feet away. The other amazing encounter was when we were under a large tree with a leopard in it that was having impala for lunch. The leopard came down the tree in front of us, and the noise that all the other impalas made was quite remarkable, they we all barking to the extreme danger at hand. The leopard just walked away. We saw a lioness stalk a reedbuck. The lioness determined the exact time to execute the chase and the race was on. They were both flying through the edge of the swamp when the lioness, leaping and gaining ground jumped into a big puddle and was thrown off her chase just enough to allow the reedbuck to escape. The reedbuck had the after burners on and was gone in a blink of the eye. We continued to follow the lioness as she came upon a single buffalo. The buffalo was unconcerned and ignored her as it munched on some grass. You could tell the lioness was doing the math as she sat there contemplating her next move. Decision made, she walked right past the buffalo and continued down a path. No eating buffalo today.

One our last day we saw two adolescent male elephants sparring during lunch. We always ate in a different area of the camp: next to the pool, up in the second story of the main lodge and the last meal was a secluded area next to a balboa tree where we ate under the stars. Afterwards the entire staff came down to our table and sang their farewell song – Jambo Bwana (or the Hakuna Matata) followed with sparkling fruit juice. Our high teatime before the evening drive was the only communal time spent with other guests and guides. Many stories of everyone’s drive were swapped during that time. Great times!

When we left the lodge for the airstrip, Irene took us with some other guests. She checked us in and waited with us for our plane to arrive. Time was passing and the time that the plane was to arrive saw no plane. Irene worked with Maria (assistant GM back at the lodge) and let Safarilink Aviation know what was happening. We were scheduled to fly with Coastal Airline to Kilimanjaro, switch airlines, go through customs and immigration, board our flight and time was running out. Big thanks to Irene and Maria for getting us to Kilimanjaro and with the help of an airport services agent, we ran through the airport with all that needed to be done and caught our flight in forty-five minutes! Big shout out to all that helped!

This is one of the best places we have ever stayed. The views are spectacular. But most of all the staff are all - without exception - extraordinarily friendly, helpful, attentive, and kind. Everyone went out of their way to be sure we felt special. A wonderful experience!

We would definitely return to Olivers camp and highly recommend staying here. Second that with Tarangire National Park!" See all these reviews: 15n in Kenya; 9n in Tanzania

"Where do I start … extraordinary location … so remote past the Tarangire Swamp … beautiful location and accommodation… extraordinary catering" See all these reviews: 10n in Tanzania

"Tarangire was the first leg of our trip and our very first safari experience! We were there for 2 nights and we loved the camp and had such an unforgettable experience.

The room and overall camp design was beautiful, and location was perfect - it was further into the park and close to where most of the animals were. Staff at Oliver's was beyond amazing - they really made sure we felt so welcome.

Above all, our guide, Samuel, truly made sure our first taste of safari unmatched. Sammy was the kind of guide that only wanted his guests to have the best experience and went above and beyond to deliver that. Not only was he so knowledgeable, but what touched us was his his infectious energy and love for wildlife and nature. He was so enthusiastic and made every sighting (big and small) so special. He made sure that we not only saw animals, but understood why they were behaving a certain way as he explained their behavior, habitat preferences, how animals interact with each other. With Sammy, I never felt rushed in observing animals and he made sure that I can take in all the moments while he helped to take photos when needed.

There was never a dull moment with Sammy - when we were on the road driving, he shared so many stories about his past sightings and his Maasai culture and upbringing that made every moment with him so memorable.

I hope Sammy can bring his passion for wildlife and nature to as many travelers as possible - we cannot thank him enough for giving his the best first taste of safari!" See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania; 4n in Rwanda

"We stayed for 3 nights at Oliver’s Camp as part of our 2 week safari holiday. I cannot express how fantastic this place and all the staff are. From the moment we were greeted by our guide Augustino from the plane, to the moment we said goodbye to him, we were made to feel like we were part of the Oliver’s family.

Augustino was an amazing guide, he really listened to what we were interested in and stopped for any animal, no matter how small. He understood that we were excited to see every zebra, no matter how many we had already seen! We got the chance to go on a night drive and with the help of Michael as a spotter they made it a magical experience that we will never forget.

The “tent” (it’s difficult to call something with a huge bed and 2 showers a tent!) was beautiful and spotless (how do that manage that in a tent in the middle of the bush??). The food was always delicious and you will never go hungry. The service was so friendly and everyone always seemed to know our names. Salum our waiter was brilliant.

The atmosphere at the camp was wonderful. When you get back you sit around a campfire and exchange stories from your day. All the managers were so friendly and fantastic company.

We were so sad when we had to leave and I can’t wait until I have the chance to visit again" See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania; 4n in Zanzibar

"what an amazing first camp for our visit to Tanzania. the location was incredible as was our tent. we had a great view of the landscape. our guide, david, was extremely personable and knowledgable, resulting in a wide variety of game viewing. watching 2 cheetahs track and try to take down an impala was an unforgettable experience.

the staff at Oliver's were great as was the food. morning tea service was especially welcome." See all these reviews: 14n in Tanzania

"Wonderful camp.

Very close to the wildlife, elephants came into camp and you could hear them all making their rumbling noises all though the night!

Very good food and service. Very attentive staff.

Good location." See all these reviews: 10n in Tanzania

"Great camp. They need a golf cart to get the less-than-mobile tourists between the cabins and the main building. But what a location! And such nice people." See all these reviews: 11n in Tanzania; 4n in Rwanda

"Only stayed one night. If I was to return, I would at least add one more. Very nice facility." See all these reviews: 10n in Tanzania

"We returned to Olivers after last being there in 2017. A bit has changed with the camp now joined with Little Olivers. We stayed at Little Olivers this time as there was still refurbishment going on at Olivers.

The tent was very much as remembered, very comfortable bed and well set out area with internal and external showers. Excellent wi-fi throughout camp. A pretty pool and bar area has been built in between the two camps and that is being connected to the two camps by a walkway. The sundowner area at Little Olivers didnt quite match the wooden decked area at Olivers from memory, but still afforded great views down to the river bed.

Plenty of wildlife about and our tent was treated to the gentle sound of munching water buffalo and elephants during the night time hours.

As previously the staff were outstanding, and Brian has a great team there. You are assigned a host for the duration of the stay who looks after all your dining/drinking needs. Genaroza was excellent. Food is of good quality and portions are generous.

We did a walking safari as well as our game drives, which was interesting and our guide took time to talk about tracks, signs of animals and bush craft. A nice change from being in the vehicle and well worth the time.

We had two days of game drives and there is a lot more water there than 2017 resulting in a large lake / swamp area which is a magnet to animals and birds. We saw a stunning variety of wildlife and a recent lion kill with the accompanying pride with its cubs.

We also did the night drive which to be honest was a little underwhelming. My thought was that perhaps half the distance at half the pace might have revealed more, but to be fair the guides still picked out a lot of things in the dark, and they do know their job.

We were treated to a great send off on the night before departure, and the staff work hard to ensure everything is just right

In summary we arrived already in love with Tarangire / Olivers and left even more smitten." See all these reviews: 11n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar

"The staff was helpful with everything. We stayed in a lovely room, which was very big.
The first night we were the only guests. They cared very good about us. We had the meals at different places in the camp. Breakfast in the bush, lunch also, an other breakfast at the sundowner place and dinner always near the fire.
We had different activities. We had game drives, an evening drive and a bush walk.
Unfortunatly there are a lot of tsetse flies, so we got a lot of bites. We prepared better for the next camps!" See all these reviews: 21n in Tanzania