Travel reviews by Dr & Dr L from Cheshire

"A very good camp but a bit weird as we were the only guests there (more were soon arriving).

Our Masai guide, Raphael, was excellent and he took us on two walks to Lake Natron to see the flamingoes and other wildlife. He also showed us the 117,000 year old hominid footprints.

In the afternoon Raphael took us to the waterfalls. Most enjoyable but you needed sandals that are OK in water and we got wet up to our waists when traversing the river many times on the way up to the waterfalls. It would have been good to know all this before we started!! Raphael's only comment was that many people turned back at the first river crossing and he'd expected us to do the same. The waterfalls weren't particularly spectacular but the route to them was and we saw lots of baboons on the cliffs above us.

The river/stream by the camp going into Lake Natron had small tilapia fish in which loved eating the dead skin off our feet and legs - you pay a fortune for tilapia to do this to you in the UK.

Only criticism - the camp staff tried to charge us for activities - it took some prsuading to say that they were included in what we'd already paid."

"Very luxurious, excellent service, lovely location.

Had very imteresting daytime safari in Lake Manyara National Park followed by a night safari iun the park. At US$120 per person the night time safari was expensive and was fascinating in that the spotter wanted to show us he smallest creatures (difficult to see) and tended to rush past the big ones!!

We did a 1.5hr guided walk from Kirurumu Tented Lodge with a naturalist which was very interesting to see the farms and fields in the area."

"The lodge could do with a makeover. It has a new manager so if he raises the profits he may be able to improve the lodge.
Reception area poor, rooms OK but furniture could be better.

The time in the Ngorongoro Crater both days was excellent and most enjoyable.

The trip to Empakai Crater was very interesting for the countryside en rouite and the Masai villages. The crater itself and the soda lake in it were good to see. The walk down to the lake and back was through interesting woodland - but it was quite a hike back up in the heat of the day."

"The service, food and standard of the tents was excellent.

The camp manager was very good in ensuring that he knew everything you wanted to do and then made sure that you could do everything.

The Dunia Camp safari guide, Thompson, was good on birds but not experienced enough (as had been our Asilia driver guifde, Vincent Matari) to ensure that we had a fulfilling day in terms of the animals we saw."

"Tents, service, food and location were all excellent.

At night in your tent you could hear the lions roar, hyenas cry and wildebeests migrating through the camp. Fascinating but not scary.

Days on safari with our Nomad guide, Khalifa, were excellent. We saw the wildebeest and zebra in their tens of thousands moving inexorably north towards the Mara and Sand Rivers and then, somtimes, crossing. It rained a bit 2 days we were there which freshened the grass and made the animals less desperate to cross the Mara or Sand River. The crossings, when they occurred, were exciting and not without their peril for the wildebeests from broken legs on the rocks or crocodiles or lions.

We also sawe a leopard kill, cheetahs consuming a kill, many prides of lions and a lion kill as well as giraffes, elephants, hyenas, jackals, etc. The days were full of interest."

"We were surprised by the very high standard of the hotel with excellent swimming pool, restaurants, etc which we sampled and thoroughly enjoyed.

The only drawback was no air conditioning as the fly screens were damaged so you couldn't leave the windows open at night."

"The lodge was lovely with bungalows for each couple. A fire was lit in your bungalow every evening and hot water bottles were brought after dinner (but often not before you'd gone to sleep).

The service of the bungalow was poor and not up to the standard we expected (glasses not washed, bottled water not provided, etc)

The Lodge was well located for golden monkey and gorilla trekking from the National Park Centre being only 20 minutes distant by car.
The days trekking were excellent and we had great encounters with the gorillas. Each day we went to a different group of gorillas. One day they were moving around and feeding and the second day they were resting and playing. Each day was highly memorable.

Our driver/guide, Augustine, was excellent in ensuring that we got on good treks and then finding interesting activities for us to do in the afternoons, eg travelling north to see the Burera and Ruhondo Lakes, visiting the Iby' Iwacu Cultural Village and the local daily market."