Travel reviews by Ms J from Woking

"The Gorilla Mountain Lodge is in a great location with amazing views of the mountains where the monkeys and gorillas live. The lodge is quite quirky, with rooms spread out over the site. The food was great; three courses at lunch and dinner with plenty of options. The evenings were quite chilly so we had a real fire in our rooms, which were very welcome. Also, hot water bottles in our beds; very nice!!

We had a great time here, the only negative points we would say is on the point of tipping. We decided to leave a tip at the end of our stay, to be shared amongst all the staff. Whenever any of the staff did anything for us they would linger, obviously waiting for a tip. We actually found this quite embarrassing and it made us feel uncomfortable. I would suggest that the hotel is made aware of this, as I am sure other people felt the same.

Whilst in Rwanda, we organised a private driver-guide and 4WD for these travellers. They commented:

Theo picked us up from the airport and was very professional at all times. He was a very careful and safe driver and made us feel very confident, even when we were in busy traffic. He was very knowledgeable and told us a lot about Rwanda and the genocide that happened. He recommended a visit to the local market which we found very interested. We didn't really do a lot with him as we were only in Rwanda 4 days; one day travelling to the gorillas and three days seeing the monkeys and gorillas.

On our return to the airport my daughter left her passport in the hotel. Fortunately Theo hadn't left the airport and was waiting to make sure we got on the plane OK. He quickly took my husband back to the hotel to pick up the passport; I don't know what we would have done if he had gone."

"We only stayed at this hotel one night on our way to Tanzania but were very impressed with it. It was very much like any international hotel; very chic.

We were very tired and decided to have a massage. It was one of the best massages I've had."

"We had the most AMAIZING time here. Yes, it's a tent, and is quite basic, but it was fabulous.

We had lovely clean comfy beds and a sink and flush toilet. The 'shower' was a man behind the tent with a bucket of hot water hoisting it up shouting 'shower no. 1 ready'. It was great. The food was great, especially considering we were in the middle of know where in a tent. All the staff were really friendly and helpful. Each evening they would make a camp fire and we would sit round it listening to all the animals.

One evening, the animals were making a lot of noise and we couldn't get to sleep. All of a sudden we heard a huge 'crack' outside our tent. We had a peek out and right next to our tent was a huge elephant that had knocked down a tree and was ripping the bark off. Incredible.

It was really the best experience we had in Tanzania."

"Nice stay here, the rooms were basic but nice and there was a welcome swimming pool.

Throughout their time in Tanzania, we organised a private driver-guide and 4WD for these travellers. They commented:

What can I say about Fazo? He was the most amazing guide I think anyone could have had. He was patient, pleasant and kind and his driving was extremely safe and sensible. He seemed to know everything about every animal in Tanzania, without exception. He also seemed to know where all the animals were and within 2 hours of arriving in Tanzania we had seen 4 of the big 5.

We saw 4 leopards, three cheetahs, dozens of lions and cubs and we even saw a pack of wild dogs, twice, which hadn't been seen in the Serengetti for 10 years. I don't know whether we were just lucky or not, but Fazo just seemed to know where to go to see the animals we wanted to see.

One day he took us to a remote part of the Serengetti where there were few other tourists. It was great to be out on the planes and we saw lots of different animals there which we didn't see around the touristy areas.

Fazo was genuinely superb and we would definitely like to use him again if we ever went back to the Serengetti."

"The Kiruruma Manyara Lodge is in a great location and we had a great view over Lake Manyara. The tents are basic but well equipped with flushing toilet and shower.

The food wasn't great here, probably the worst food we had during our trip. The breakfast was particularly poor, very little choice with birds pecking at all the fruit which was left uncovered.

Evening meal wasn't too good either, again with very little choice as a vegetarian."

"The Tarangire Safari Lodge has the most amazing view overlooking the valley with baobab trees, river and animals.

The tents themselves were a little tired and could do with some TLC. There was no electricity in the tent until 6.00 pm which wasn't a problem, but if we wanted a shower before that time, it was almost in the dark.

We had some great cocktails here and probably had the best food here. Lots of choice, especially for vegetarians, and had a great packed lunch.

There were animals all around the tents, dikdiks, antelopes and vervet monkeys. Great experience."