Travel reviews by Mr T from Mosborough

"Mdonya is in set a lovely location alongside a dry river bed. The camp itself is well laid out and the the food more than adequate. The guiding was also very good, with the spotting of a leopard 200 metres from the road in a tree in particularly noteworthy. This led to a fantastic sighting of a surprisingly relaxed leopard.

One downside to Mdonya's location is the distance from the main game viewing areas making all day trips a necessity. No particular problem with this but if you are into photography there is the feeling that the best times - early morning and late evening - are spent travelling to and from the camp along the same road."

"Kwihla is is located right in the prime game viewing area of Ruaha. My guide Lorenzo was excellent and the camp and the game viewing was prolific and varied - apart from the usual lion, leopard and cheetah etc there were also two serval and two honey badger sightings thrown in for good measure.

The camp was pretty flexible with the game drive times which was good to see within park rules - you could head out as early as you liked and come back for brunch, lunch or whenever was convenient depending on what was seen. There was no heading back for set meal times as can often be the case in some camps. The food was also excellent.

The camp has a very relaxed atmosphere and is superbly run by Sara, the camp manageress, who was a very charming host and a great deal of fun. Out of the 30+ camps I've been to in Africa over the years, Kwilhala is up there in the top three."

"Lake Manze camp is ideallly positioned for water activities and the boat trips at Lake Manze were a highlight, the channel trip with Elton in particular being very memorable. The made a welcome change to the standard game drives. On the drives the guiding quality varied from good to okay - depending on requirements you have may have different guides per drive.

The camp can seem a bit busy not just a result of its size but also because it seems to be popular for late bookings from Dar of one and two nights. Due to the flexibilty of activities it also means you aren't always with the same guide or guests. Together with the 'guest turnover' this can make the camp can seem less intimate than smaller camps."

"Beho Beho is in a striking location with the bandas blended into the hillside. The bandas themselves are very large and open fronted. The food was excellent and the camp has a friendly atmosphere.

The guides are all excellent whether on walks or drives. Although there is resident game around the camp, the main concentrations at this time of year which in the Lake Manze area which is only reachable on the morning games drives.

Perhaps the only minor negative is the activities and timings aren't quite as flexible as you may want them to be - for example, given the time to get to Lake Manze it would have been beneficial to leave maybe half an hour or more earlier if you're really into photography."

"An perfectly adequate hotel for a stop over."