Travel reviews by Miss W from Sheffield

"We loved Selous - the layout of the camp along the River was spectacular, the staff were all lovely and made a real effort to chat to every guest at the end of each day. Food was fantastic. The guides / rangers were very knowledgeable and made the days out in the Jeep really fascinating, and we met some lovely people who we've stayed in touch with.

We loved the walking safari and the boat safaris. The highlight was probably waking up at 3am to the sounds of an elephant crashing through the bush next to our tent, before he emerged in front of the veranda and proceeded to eat right outside the tent for the next 1/2 hour."

"We absolutely loved Mdonya - it was exactly what we were after when we booked. I spoke at length to Penny Hooper at Expert Africa who recommended this camp, based on our conversation.

We had the end tent, so the animals came right past; we were blockaded in the tent one morning by 4 water buffalo, we heard lions roaring nearby at night, and had a hyena hunting an Impala run straight towards us at dusk, whilst we were sitting outside with a beer!

The round the campfire bar was amazing and it was great to chat to the other guests about the days exploits. I wasn't sure at first whether communal dining would be our cup of tea (we were on honeymoon!), but in the end it proved to be one of the best aspects of the camp. We met some great people who we've stayed in touch with.

Malcolm who runs Adventurecamps was a great host and it was fascinating to hear his stories of life in the bush. (So fascinating in fact that we stayed up til 4am drinking whiskey with him round the fire listening to hyenas nearby - truly magical!). I absolutely couldn't find fault with this camp, though it's definitely for people who want to be close to nature.

During our stay in Ruaha we saw so many animals - including leopard which was a real highlight. The guides / drivers were fantastic - we're convinced they've all got super-human powers of sight. We can't wait to go back - especially if the camps plans to do trekking and fly-camping come to fruition."

"We'd had a pretty stressful day by the time we arrived late at Pemba Beach. We'd almost missed our flight after being told it was full, and when we finally arrived in Pemba, our luggage was still in Dar, so we weren't in the best of moods!

The hotel seemed fine though really we were only there for 12 hours, so probably not the best judges. Not many of the staff spoke english which proved tricky at first when trying to speak to someone about our luggage.

The room was clean and the view was beautiful from the balcony. The food wasn't amazing but it was perfectly fine."

"We arrived at Quilalea minus our luggage (which was still in Dar es Salaam), so it wasn't the best start to our paradise honeymoon! However the staff at Quilalea bent over backwards to help - we were taken shopping in Pemba on our way to the transfer and so had managed to buy a few essentials. Once on the island some other guests lent us clothes and our bags arrived after 3 days.

The island itself is beautiful - and our villa was spectacular. It was nice to meet in the bar each evening to discuss if we wanted to do any activities the following day. We did a Discover Scuba course and enjoyed it so much that we went on to dive nearly every day (accompanied by the Divemaster Janine).

The marine life and corals were beautiful and we also had the most amazing experience of snorkelling with dolphins.

Mark was also the first ever guest to do the 4 1/2 hour kayak to Ibo island (with Nathan, one of the staff.) We also chartered the Islands' catamaran for half a day which we really enjoyed as a change from diving and snorkelling.

The food on the island was superb and the restaurant staff very friendly and chatty. It's a pretty laid back place with a very relaxed atmosphere. As with the other lodges we stayed at, we couldn't find fault."

"We didn't really have much time in the Royal Palm, so difficult to comment.

The room was large and clean and the service good. We didn't eat at the hotel, so can't comment on that.

It was fine for a last night stop-off and very handy for the proximity to the airport (15 minutes in a taxi)"