Travel reviews by Jenny from Faversham

A very detailed and thorough introduction to Stone Town.

Answered all my questions and more besides.

I would recommend a guide to give insight and humour beyond the written word.

I had already done a city tour by the time I met Safari, so we went straight to the genocide museum. The museum is very well done; the content is harrowing. The gardens are peaceful and encourage reflection.

It was interesting to hear from Safari, and to have him answer my questions.

The walk to 'find' the monkeys was really enjoyable. We were a big group, but that didn't negatively impact either the walk or the monkey experience. The guides are informative and fun. I'm pleased I understood that hiring a porter is a good way of contributing to the local economy.

There's a lot of dashing about, early starts and fitting everything in. This was a wonderful moment of calm, cruising down the river with yet another wonderful and very professional guide. It's interesting seeing life on the riverbank - men fishing, women washing clothes and working in the fields, and small boys having fun. I also spotted pied kingfishers, malachite kingfishers, sacred ibis and other birds. I would recommend this excursion.

It's hard to describe just how wonderful an experience this was. I did two one hour visits and would recommend doing two. The walk to my first group was gentle, the second was rather more strenuous. There are plenty of helping hands though, including your porter, so most people of reasonable fitness will be fine. The guides are very knowledgable and experienced and although there were some 'naughty' adolescent gorillas who got too close, I never felt at risk. The guides also understand the magical moment for us tourists and offer help with photos and suggest the best places to stand. Sabyinyo silverback lodge provided gaiters and gloves, and you are offered a stick to help with the hike - take it. When you see the gorillas, don't spend all the time behind your camera lens! It really is worth concentrating on a few good photos and then simply enjoy the experience. An hour goes quickly, but is enough - for both the gorilla and us.

It was hard to get a good understanding as to how challenging this hike might be as accounts are so varied. It wasn't especially muddy and there were no red ants (that I saw). But it's not the easy hike that some describe. The main thing to bear in mind is the altitude and how tough the last 30 minutes or so is - and I think Expert Africa should mention this when suggesting the trek. I'm a fit 59 year old and I thoroughly enjoyed the trek and would recommend it, but the last 15/30 minutes were very hard. My porter and the 'military' were great at helping and encouraging, and the guide was accurate in gauging how much longer it would take me to reach the top. As it happened, I managed to get up and down within the suggested 3 hours, including time at the top for lunch. I was the only hiker, and I think that made it easier for me as I wasn't having to keep up with fitter young things. It was a relatively cool day, which helped with the hike/altitude. The crater was shrouded in mist, but the wind ensured I got some good views of the crater lake.

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