Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs G from Kent
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
3
Countries visited
2
Lodges stayed in
13
Excursions taken
0
Tanzania Sept 2011
Tanzania between 29 Sep 2011 and 14 Oct 2011
"Ruaha a very lovely park with lots of birds & animals & very few people.
The camps we used were excellent & everybody tried very hard to please."
The camps we used were excellent & everybody tried very hard to please."
Echo Beach Hotel, Zanzibar (this camp has since closed)
"Echo Beach Hotel review"
7 nights
Arrived
30 Sep 2011
"Nice chalets, fabulous quiet beach, excellent food, fresh fish every day, & nice staff."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Mdonya Old River Camp
"Mdonya Old River Camp review"
3 nights
Arrived
7 Oct 2011
"Lovely widely spaced tents in a great spot.
Marvelous game viewing from the camp with varied game using the old river bed. Guiding good.
Some tetse fly bother on the game drives, & some of the food not entirely to my taste."
Marvelous game viewing from the camp with varied game using the old river bed. Guiding good.
Some tetse fly bother on the game drives, & some of the food not entirely to my taste."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Average
Facilities
Good
Mwagusi Safari Camp
"Mwagusi Safari Camp review"
3 nights
Arrived
10 Oct 2011
"Very nice accomodation & excellent food, evening meal at a different spot on the dry river bed every night.
Excellent guiding."
Excellent guiding."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Good
Facilities
Excellent
Serena Hotel Dar
"Royal Palm Hotel review"
1 night
Arrived
13 Oct 2011
"Only spent the night there & everything perfectly adequate.
The locals take over the bar & the terrace which makes getting a drink & a snack less than ideal."
The locals take over the bar & the terrace which makes getting a drink & a snack less than ideal."
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average
Location
Good
Service
Average
Rooms
Average
Food
Average
Tanz & Zam
Tanzania between 18 Sep 2010 and 1 Oct 2010
"Very good"
Echo Beach Hotel, Zanzibar (this camp has since closed)
"Echo Beach Hotel review"
6 nights
Arrived
19 Sep 2010
"Beautiful location with an almost deserted beach & ten or twelve cottages with a secluded feel.
Very well appointed. Nice pool & excellent food with fresh fish every day. Snorkelling quite near by.
Friendly staff."
Very well appointed. Nice pool & excellent food with fresh fish every day. Snorkelling quite near by.
Friendly staff."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Facilities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Rufiji River Camp
"Rufiji River Camp review"
5 nights
Arrived
25 Sep 2010
"Great location high above a bend in the river with fabulous sunsets. Undergoing a refurbishment while we were there so the restaurant was a building site. We had a fancy new tent. Very nice to be able to choose river trip, walk or game drive with a full day option. Very amenable guides.
The game is a bit skittish & tends to run off & in September was mainly a long way from the camp. Over 5 days saw elephants, lion. wild dogs, good herds of zebra, wildebeeste & impala. Some lovely kudu plus warthogs with babies & giraffe . Also a baboon eating a baby impala. (yuk)
Very good selection of birds especially along lake shores. The airstrip which is two minutes drive away was closed but they coped well with the longer pick ups.
The catering manager has worked in Zurich & we found the menus a bit rich (foreign) but thats a matter of taste. Certainly trying hard. Also they ran out of cold tusker one night!!!"
The game is a bit skittish & tends to run off & in September was mainly a long way from the camp. Over 5 days saw elephants, lion. wild dogs, good herds of zebra, wildebeeste & impala. Some lovely kudu plus warthogs with babies & giraffe . Also a baboon eating a baby impala. (yuk)
Very good selection of birds especially along lake shores. The airstrip which is two minutes drive away was closed but they coped well with the longer pick ups.
The catering manager has worked in Zurich & we found the menus a bit rich (foreign) but thats a matter of taste. Certainly trying hard. Also they ran out of cold tusker one night!!!"
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Average
Facilities
Average
Southern Sun Dar
"Southern Sun (formerly the Holiday Inn) review"
1 night
Arrived
30 Sep 2010
"Fine for one night. Very busy in bar & restaurant, with lots of locals presumably due to keen pricing."
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average
Location
Average
Service
Good
Rooms
Average
Food
Average
Si' s feedback
Tanzania and 1 other country between 11 Oct 2008 and 29 Oct 2008
"I'm a terrible winge. Thea thought it was all fantastic & is now depressed. I got a couple of bluebottles off Echo which was educational. So did Andy which cheered me up, except mine wouldn't go down. Off Unguja it was like swimming through clouds of used condoms which were also a bit pricky, so I got spots on my spots. Elies gave me some anti histomine which calmed them down a bit. Also my guts gave out. Luckily everybody else was on honeymoon so mozzies were no problem. Up in Selous we copped some bad patches of tetse which came up very nicely & set off my jelly stings to perfection. Luckily these have all lasted quite well & Ive been able to show the girls in the office. By chance I read the blurb on Rufigi so we shot round Stone town pillaging the cash machines. A suitcase of Tshillings just about covered our bill at Rufigi but we were not prepared for Madze to be back in the 50s too & we just scraped by with a mottly mix of currencies. Richard was not happy. & neither was I. I hate paying real money. Not that Tshillings is real money. When I was a lad you could get a tusker for 3 bob, at Madze its 8124."
Echo Beach Hotel, Zanzibar (this camp has since closed)
"Echo Beach Hotel review"
4 nights
Arrived
12 Oct 2008
"Lovely spot, very friendly staff & excellent food. Beer reasonable price, snorkling from Breezes very good.
Room just right although bush babies trashed the cushions."
Room just right although bush babies trashed the cushions."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Not currently featured by Expert Africa
Unguja Lodge
"Unguja Lodge review"
4 nights
Arrived
16 Oct 2008
"The chalets are amazing, over the top really. We were slightly disappointed not to have a sea view.
Quite good snorkelling - water a bit deep - but coral exceptional. Saw a turtle. Also got massacred by jelly fish which left me looking like a measles case. Think thats unusual. Food OK but a bit difficult to find a light option."
Quite good snorkelling - water a bit deep - but coral exceptional. Saw a turtle. Also got massacred by jelly fish which left me looking like a measles case. Think thats unusual. Food OK but a bit difficult to find a light option."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Food
Average
Facilities
Good
Service
Average
Activities
Good
Rufiji River Camp
"Rufiji River Camp review"
3 nights
Arrived
20 Oct 2008
"Rufigi River Camp has a superb location overlooking the river. The sunsets are fabulous. The tents are fine but basic, the bar is in a lovely spot. Nice pool. Food fairly average but much better than our last visit.
The river trips are a fantastic experience, the number & variety of birds quite exceptional. Good guiding. The manager makes a big effort to fix everybody up with the best option for trips. We had some lovely drives. Also some bad tetse fly attacks.
The fly camping was super. All alone in Africa except for the guide, assistant guide, guard, cook & waiter. The food was excellent & he always managed to cook enough for seven. The manager brought emergency cold beers for day two. Grand."
The river trips are a fantastic experience, the number & variety of birds quite exceptional. Good guiding. The manager makes a big effort to fix everybody up with the best option for trips. We had some lovely drives. Also some bad tetse fly attacks.
The fly camping was super. All alone in Africa except for the guide, assistant guide, guard, cook & waiter. The food was excellent & he always managed to cook enough for seven. The manager brought emergency cold beers for day two. Grand."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location
Excellent
Service
Average
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Average
Food
Average
Facilities
Good
Rufiji River fly-camping
"Rufiji River fly-camping review"
2 nights
Arrived
23 Oct 2008
"We were quite relieved to have a proper tent, especially as the rains were looming. We felt quite regal lounging under our pagoda at the waters edge as food came & went. Nice bucket shower, but the long drop had no view. Lovely sunrise over the lake. Could have spent much longer if the beer fairy had kept up the good work.
The game in this part of the Selous is the most nervous I have come accros. Even the giraffe move off at the sight of a vehicle. Whether this is just a reflection of the small number of visitors I don't know, but it makes photos more challenging."
The game in this part of the Selous is the most nervous I have come accros. Even the giraffe move off at the sight of a vehicle. Whether this is just a reflection of the small number of visitors I don't know, but it makes photos more challenging."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Lake Manze Adventure Camp
"Lake Manze Tented Camp review"
3 nights
Arrived
25 Oct 2008
"Located in a large patch of doum palms the tents are large, very well spaced and nicely appointed. The management make an effort to seat compatible groups together and there was a nice communal atmosphere. Lake Manze itself is not spectacular but its a nice place to be.
The camp has a couple of resident male elephants which makes for excellent entertainment and adds a frison to the longish walks to the tents. The masai do an excellent escort job.
Again the manager makes a big effort to get the right trips sorted out & they are very flexible on timeing. Very good walks. Boat trips not as good as Rufigi but more game close to the camp. We caught the start of the short rains and the lads did well to get us back. Friendly green snake in the bar."
The camp has a couple of resident male elephants which makes for excellent entertainment and adds a frison to the longish walks to the tents. The masai do an excellent escort job.
Again the manager makes a big effort to get the right trips sorted out & they are very flexible on timeing. Very good walks. Boat trips not as good as Rufigi but more game close to the camp. We caught the start of the short rains and the lads did well to get us back. Friendly green snake in the bar."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Good
Service
Good
Activities
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Southern Sun Dar
"Holiday Inn review"
1 night
Arrived
28 Oct 2008
"Ok for a night"
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average
Rooms
Average
Food
Good
Service
Good