Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs P from Norfolk
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
2
Countries visited
3
Lodges stayed in
9
Excursions taken
0
My Jan 2024 trip
Kenya between 17 Jan 2024 and 2 Feb 2024
"Jessica put the perfect itinerary together and met all our expectations"
Arranged By Jessica Plumb
Four Points Nairobi Airport
"Four Points Nairobi Airport review"
1 night
Arrived
17 Jan 2024
"No problems but only there for a short period overnight"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Good
Food
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Laikipia Wilderness
"Laikipia Wilderness review"
6 nights
Arrived
18 Jan 2024
"Staff were exceptional, very welcoming, couldn't do enough for us around the camp.
Food was good quality and very flexible with varying arrival times, often changing at very short notice as wildlife was spotted near the end of game drives.
Our guide was training for his exams but was extremely knowledgable and put 100% in to finding wildlife and ensuring we had good views without disturbing the animals unduly."
Food was good quality and very flexible with varying arrival times, often changing at very short notice as wildlife was spotted near the end of game drives.
Our guide was training for his exams but was extremely knowledgable and put 100% in to finding wildlife and ensuring we had good views without disturbing the animals unduly."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Sightings report
Kicheche Valley
"Kicheche Valley review"
5 nights
Arrived
24 Jan 2024
"Very welcoming and friendly staff.
One of our main reasons for choosing this camp was for night drives and this could not be organised for 2 of the 4 nights that weather permitted outings. It also took a discussion with the manager to rearrange meal times as required for these drives.
Food quality was excellent but very much targetted to fixed times rather than totally flexible around wildlife.
The guide was excellent, very knowledgable and very keen to educate us on the detail of all the ecology and animal life."
One of our main reasons for choosing this camp was for night drives and this could not be organised for 2 of the 4 nights that weather permitted outings. It also took a discussion with the manager to rearrange meal times as required for these drives.
Food quality was excellent but very much targetted to fixed times rather than totally flexible around wildlife.
The guide was excellent, very knowledgable and very keen to educate us on the detail of all the ecology and animal life."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Feedback response
We forwarded these comments about meal times and night drives to the team at Kicheche. While unusual heavy rains prevented their first night drive, Kicheche apologised for poor coordination between the relief manager and the guide on their second night, both regarding spot lights needed for night driving, and flexible meal times. Fortunately, these travellers were able to do night drives on their third and fourth nights. The Kicheche team were very apologetic, and assured Expert Africa that they would be better prepared in future. We are confident this was a hiccup in their normally very efficient operations, due to the permanent camp manager being on leave.
Sightings report
Water Lovers Beach Resort
"Water Lovers Beach Resort review"
4 nights
Arrived
29 Jan 2024
"Lovely location and rooms, and the staff could not have been more helpful and friendly.
Perfect location for a peaceful break by the sea.
The food was good but the menu was fixed and some "daily specials" would have been nice to add some variety. We would not have wanted to stay for longer than our 4 nights on half board. Menu was also the same at lunchtime."
Perfect location for a peaceful break by the sea.
The food was good but the menu was fixed and some "daily specials" would have been nice to add some variety. We would not have wanted to stay for longer than our 4 nights on half board. Menu was also the same at lunchtime."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Excellent
Excellent
Tanzania and 1 other country between 5 Jan 2012 and 27 Jan 2012
"Very good safari and nice break afterwards."
Arranged By Elizabeth Chapman
Lake Manze Adventure Camp
"Great location and best wildlife"
5 nights
Arrived
6 Jan 2012
"Friendly staff, good food, great location and definitely the best of the 3 camps for amount and variety of wildlife. Good range of activities with walking, boats and drives and a good variety of habitats so each day was different and interesting. Nice to be able to go out all day and not just early and late gain drives as in many camps / areas. Night drives would have been a nice option.
Our guide was friendly and keen, but in hindsight was not of the standard of the professional guide (Steve Roskelly) we had at Ruaha. Our guide new the animal and local ecology well, but some of the facts we were told were later proved incorrect. He could identify the common birds but was not good with their calls or the less obvious ones."
Our guide was friendly and keen, but in hindsight was not of the standard of the professional guide (Steve Roskelly) we had at Ruaha. Our guide new the animal and local ecology well, but some of the facts we were told were later proved incorrect. He could identify the common birds but was not good with their calls or the less obvious ones."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Impala Camp
"Selous Impala Camp review"
5 nights
Arrived
11 Jan 2012
"Although the camp rates higher the wildlife was not so good. Our guide was more experienced but still was not in the league of Steve Roskelly. The staff were all very friendly and the service excellent, if possibly over the top for a safari camp. Again the range of activities were very good and were tailored to our desires as much as possible."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Kwihala Camp
"Truly outstanding Guide in Steve Roskelly"
5 nights
Arrived
16 Jan 2012
"Steve's knowledge of the wildlife and ability to approach them without disturbing them was outstanding. His complete all-round knowledge of animals, birds, plants, photography and geology were exceptional and made the 5 days really interesting. He also showed a high level of regard for everybody's needs and desires whatever the level of their interest or knowledge. He could not have done more to make the time better.
The wildlife was very good, but the limit on game drives only and some of the roads were impassable to some areas meant we tended to revisit several areas over the 5 days. However, Steve's wonderful sense of humour and keenness made it a wonderful time, even if the weather wasn't as good as Selous!"
The wildlife was very good, but the limit on game drives only and some of the roads were impassable to some areas meant we tended to revisit several areas over the 5 days. However, Steve's wonderful sense of humour and keenness made it a wonderful time, even if the weather wasn't as good as Selous!"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Chumbe Island Lodge
"Great huts & snorkelling"
4 nights
Arrived
21 Jan 2012
"Very friendly staff, great location and fabulous Robinson Crusoe huts. It would have been nice to have had more activities, e.g. longer walks around the island, bird watching etc. The activities were also at set times so not all could be done as they sometimes overlapped.
I think you should warn people more clearly regarding the possibility of a wet crossing and definite wet landings. We were luckily wearing shorts but otherwise you would get very wet!"
I think you should warn people more clearly regarding the possibility of a wet crossing and definite wet landings. We were luckily wearing shorts but otherwise you would get very wet!"
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Mbweni Ruins Hotel
"Nice gardens and bar area"
2 nights
Arrived
25 Jan 2012
"The location was good for the beach, Stone Town & the airport but you could not leave the hotel and walk anywhere, although it was fine for one and a half days. It was perfect for what we wanted.
The gardens were beautiful to walk around and explore and the bush babies provided good entertainment at dinner."
The gardens were beautiful to walk around and explore and the bush babies provided good entertainment at dinner."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Good
Service
Good
Facilities
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Good