Travel reviews by Mrs S from Vienna

"Qambani is really a wonderful place. It is a beautiful, stylish place with wonderful staff and great food."

"the hotel is a very new, beautiful place in really stunning location right at the beach. In the morning You can watch people making morning sports, fisherman landing etc. Also the restaurant is very good."

"We stayed in Kimondo for 4 nights. It was fabulous - the staff is friendly, food very good and - most important - we saw a lot of river crossings !! The location of the camp is quite close to the Mara river, allthough You can't actually see the river from the tent. There were huge herds of wildebeest around the camp every day, so You sit right in the middle of them. During the night we heard them eating (they were 1 meter from our tent)!

As You usually share a safari vehicle with other guests it seems to be important to make clear what You would like to see. We had a group in our car that where on safari for the first time - so they expected to go for lions, cheetah, rhino etc. Of course You can see these animals here, but that is usually not what You came for. If You go for these animals, You will be driving away from the river. But there is only one place in the word where You can see the migration of wildebeest and the dramatic river crossings! As there was an other couple from US in our car sharing our point of view, it was easy to "persuade" the others (especially as they didn't really know what to expect because they booked last minute). So in the end in our car everybody was very happy."

"First: There is a long, long drive from the Manyara airstrip to the camp (3 hours - most of them sand roads). But, it is also very beautiful as You see the jungle around, You can look into the Ngorongoro Crater and You drive trough the Masai Highland, which is impressive.

The Lodge looks very futuristic but beautiful. When You walk to Your tent, You pass a lot of wild flowers and birds. Each tent has a magnificent view (You have Your own small veranda), it is very clean, a huge bed with lots of cosy blankets (You will need them) and a fireplace, so the tent is nice and warm once You return from dinner. There are large showers (for two!) and also two beds upstairs, which we didn't need. There is somehow a chalet-atmosphere in the tent.

To get to the Ngorongoro Crater ground it will take about 45 minutes from the lodge. There are no cars waiting at the entry point as almost everybody uses the other entrance. It is good to get there really early, the Crater gets very busy during the day and there is really a lot of dust.

We also did the Empakai Carter Walk - which we found was the highlight of our stay in the lodge. There is a one hour drive to the Crater - then You hike down (45 minutes) accompanied By Your guide and a ranger, it is sometimes a little steep but You see lots of flowers and You have magnificent views. On the Crater ground is a lake with flamingos. Hiking up take about an hour or longer if needed. It is not really hard but we felt the altitude (the Carter rim is on 3000 m).

The last day we visited a Masai Boma very close to the lodge which was extremely impressing as well, so we would strongly recommend this as well."