Travel reviews by Mrs C from Devon

"Stayed one very short night at this hotel not arriving until 4am as the BA flight from London was 5 hours late.

From the short time I was there I thought everything seemed very nice, clean spacious room, very quiet and with an excellent buffet breakfast."

"I stayed here for 4 nights and loved everything about it.

It has a wonderful setting and my tent overlooked the natural salt lick and a bend in the Mara river. Many animals were to be seen just sitting out on the verandah - including lions.

Jackson was not there but his partner, Dominic, was an attentive and interesting host.

Lovely food and my guide, Benjamin, was full of information and showed me the best possible sightings.

Lots of fairly rustic type furniture very much in keeping with the camp."

"Very smart camp in pretty setting with animals roaming freely throughout.

I stayed for 4 nights and Simon was my guide. Had some wonderful sightings the highlight being a mother leopard with her cub which I saw every day.

My tent was very spacious and comfortable and quite up market.

Food was very good. Lunch, whilst I was there, was served in a little grove of trees about 20 yards from the main reception area whilst dinner was indoors.

All the staff were very helpful especially Bob, the manager."

"My one night at the Crowne Plaza Nairobi Airport was fine.

Very clean, comfortable bed and excellent buffet breakfast. Very near the main airport so was convenient after the tiring flight to Nairobi.

Did not stay long enough to view the hotel's facilities."

"Olivia had recommended that I have a private guide during my 3 days here and I struck lucky. My guide was almost as enthusiastic as I was and made my stay at Laikipia memorable. We had to cross over a river onto the neighbour's ranch as the dogs were denning there at a cost of $50 a day but it was well worth it. The first morning I only saw 1 dog just outside the den but in the afternoon saw around 5 dogs just leaving the den to hunt.

The next day we arrived at the den around 7.30am and the tracker device told us the dogs were out hunting. After much crashing around in the undergrowth we came upon the dogs eating their breakfast - an impala. We stayed watching around 9 dogs eating and playing for around an hour. Magic! Unfortunately on the way home the river level had risen by about 6feet due to rain in the mountains and we had to take a very long and bumpy detour to get back to camp.

Otherwise game is quite hard to spot because the vegetation is pretty dense but I came here chiefly to see the dogs and I was not disappointed.

The camp managers were away on holiday but things seemed to be running smoothly. The food was very good especially as the kitchen was tiny.

I noted that other guests - some with fairly young children - seem to have come to this camp because they wanted to walk (sometimes all day) or because you could swim in the river.

I did not partake in any of the activities so can't comment."

"I have been to this camp once before and it was even better than I remembered. Stacey, the managress, (husband was away) was the perfect hostess and looked after everyone beautifully.
Lunch, if you were not out with a picnic, was a buffet which meant you could have as little or as much as you wanted. Dinner was a 3 course meal and very good.

It being migration time everyone wanted to see a river crossing and my guide Francis seemed able to get us into a very good position at the Mara river in spite of there being at least 50 - 60 other vehicles present. One day we saw a crossing of around 20000 wildebeest and the next day 3000. As we had quite a long wait at the river the camp even brought us out our picnic lunch! Even saw a mini crossing of the Talek river with a lion kill whilst having a meal!

Great camp - nothing too much trouble for anyone."

"Quite a posh camp - even more so than Rekero - but very friendly. Brunch or lunch was laid out on a table plus chairs to sit on.
Lovely tent, very comfortable. Again a buffet lunch and then a 3 course dinner, all delicious.

My guide, Sam, was terrific and very informative and managed to show us a good selection of animals - several cheetahs, hunting lions, a leopard and, on the way home one night, an aardwolf and an African wild cat."

"When I arrived at this hotel at approximately 12.30 pm I was told my day room was not ready and would not be for around 20 mins. Actually, it was about 1 hour and as I was at the hotel for only a few hours before my evening flight with BA I consider this very poor value for the (I think) £300 I was paying.

Otherwise the room was nice enough (when I got it) but I think I would probably have been better off at the Crowne Plaza."

"Very enjoyable 3 night stay from where we visited the Crater and Lake Manyara Park. In hindsight 1 visit either full or half day would probably have been enough in this park. Our guide told us there were hardly any predators and tree climbing lions had not been seen for some time. We drove for what seemed a very long time in order to visit a hot spring which was not very exciting.

The farmbouse was very comfortable with lovely setting and views but did not seem very "safari" like. (This is not a criticism just an observation)

I felt we were staying at a very nice place but not necessarily in Africa."

"This was just as I had imagined a safari would be - great setting, wonderful wildlife viewings (although the migration had mostly moved on)

Altogether just my cup of tie. i don't know if this is where you'd like me to mention our guide but Harry absolutely made the holiday and I'm sure we saw more than most people. He drove miles to catch up with the migrating wildebeest and I think we only had breakfast once at the lodge. Otherwise we were on the go all day taking out a picnic breakfast or lunch every day. He was also very knowledgeable about everything and told us many fascinating stories."