Travel reviews by The Hoopoes from London

"From the moment we were met at the landing strip and taken on a boat safari to arrive at our camp, the camp did their utmost to provide us with the sort of experience we wanted. We were given the opportunity to choose which activity we wanted to do, with excellent advice and suggestions from Nicole and Chloe. It was so exciting to see a giraffe right outside our tent when we arrived and we quickly got used to seeing animals around the camp.

Comfortable tented accommodation (with a great view) and friendly, efficient staff and excellent food! On our first night there was a buffet dinner, with everybody eating together on one table. It was nice to be able to talk about the day experiences and also other camps that had been visited and I think it would be nice to offer this every night rather than reverting to individual tables.

Excellent guiding and I liked the fact that we kept the same guide throughout. All in all a very professional camp and a great experience."

"Lake Manze Camp gave us the chance to feel we were really having a wilderness experience. The lack of electricity took some getting used to at first but after the first night we were loving it. There was an abundance of animals around the area and great viewing opportunities of lions, water buffalo and elephants in particular.

Numerous animals around the camp itself - it became quite normal to meet an elephant on the way back to our tent! Excellent food and I loved the communal meals around the table in the evenings.

I have a magical memory of sitting eating dinner under the African night sky as a group of giraffes bounded along by the lake very close to us, picked up by a spotlight!"

"Breezes is a well designed attractive resort on a beautiful white sand beach. A great place to relax after our safaris."

"We were lucky enough to have a beautiful suite for most of our stay here. Wonderful room with a hammock, rooftop terrace and its own private sunbeds and beach area at the bottom of the steps. It was a friendly lodge with excellent personal service.

Edwin and Annemarie made a point of being around and chatting with the guests, which definitely added to the experience. I loved the Dhow Bar where everybody congregated before dinner and gave it a 'beach safari' feel. The staff were very friendly and encouraged me to learn a little Swahili.

Lots of little touches which made it special - especially a table laid on the beach for dinner on our last night - a lovely experience! Nothing was too much trouble. The beach is not so white as the east coast, but we were warned about this, but it is still nice and the seclusion of the location more than makes up for it."

"Sebastiaan and Marion have done an excellent job restoring this hotel and have managed to offer something very unique and special. We had one night each in the Dunia and Sherali suites and each was very special in its own way.

Sebastiaan and Marion went out of their way to make things run smoothly for us and made some excellent suggestions for places to eat. We had a lovely meal in the rooftop restaurant of Emerson & Green hotel on our last night, which was very atmospheric and good fun - particularly as Stonetown were celebrating the end of Ramadam.

I would recommend this hotel for individuality, quality and service. However, I did feel that the location was a little out of it. It was quite a lonely walk back in the evenings and most of the activity seemed to be going on around the waterfront - not far away but you had to go down a number of small, quiet alleyways."