Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs J from Sutton

"Mana Pools is beautiful: it was a pleasure just to be there. We liked that we could drive until we found something interesting and then investigate on foot, rather than having to decide in advance whether we wanted to drive or walk, as in some other places. It made wildlife viewing feel spontaneous and exciting.

Nick Murray is up there with the best of the guides we have had on several safaris. He took care to find out about our interests and experience, and then to repeat activities we'd enjoyed or find new ones we'd asked for. We couldn't believe how close we could get to lions and elephants on foot and yet feel completely safe.

We found Vundu to be a very friendly and sociable camp and this added to our overall enjoyment of our stay. We spent our time in camp with guides, guests and staff-everyone just mixed together.

Best afternoon cakes of the trip!

Negatives about Vundu-having to leave!"

"Relaxing, well laid out room with veranda and plunge pool (we were given a honeymoon suite). Pretty public areas. Friendly, helpful staff-the barman and waiter.

However, we were surprised when we arrived to find there is an electric fence around the camp. This was not mentioned on the Musango website, and in Expert Africa's information only under 'Children' which we would have no reason to read (since amended). We were at Musango at high water and so saw no animals on the island, or from the island. Though we understand that the fence is there for safety reasons, we prefer a more wilderness experience, rather than being shut away from the animals. Hence the low rating for location.

Breakfast and afternoon tea were laid out on the upper deck for guests to help themselves. There were no guides or staff apart from in passing. In other camps we have been used to these being gathering times with the guides where we chat about the next activity. This creates a sense of anticipation and excitement which we missed here.

We did feel at times that Wendy and Steve's focus was distracted by other things, such as camp matters and local visitors with whom they had friends in common."

"What we most enjoyed about The Hide was the feeling of being in the wild. Elephants just outside our tent at 2am, buffalo watching us having dinner, bushbuck nearly on our veranda.

There are plenty of activities to choose from but we missed some of these because it was so peaceful and relaxing on the veranda watching animals come to the waterhole. Except for ostriches we saw all the animals at the waterhole that we saw on our drives.

We enjoyed the cup of coffee with the wake-up call-why don't more camps do this? Excellent cooked breakfast eaten outside."