Travel reviews by Family G from Newbury
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
2
Lodges stayed in
4
Excursions taken
0
The safari/ beach holiday
Zanzibar and 1 other country between 29 Aug 2019 and 14 Sep 2019
"All went to clockwork, thank you.
One small comment was the times on our itinerary were different to Fisherman’s Tours. As such I thought they were late so rang the number on the itinerary for them to check someone was coming. They did arrive 5-10 minutes later, which was just before 6.30am, the time they had down. We were expecting them at 6am.
They did give us their itinerary with the times, down, but I hadn’t read it prior to the pick up.
The driver informed me I had phoned the general manager of Fisherman’s Tours, not the local office! Perhaps it would be worth checking the numbers on your itinerary which is where I got the number from.
Similarly the pick up from Qambani, was at 5am, not 5.30am as on our itinerary.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip, thank you for the organisation and recommendations. The service was excellent, and everything went fine.
Our only struggle, was with tipping, who and how much ! and not having local currency when we arrived. The porters at Zanzibar are quick to strike on the poor inexperienced traveller!!
We took advice from the Siwandu manager, (who was overall excellent) re tipping the staff, but I probably hadn’t read your comments carefully enough. I think we ended up tipping $4-500 dollars over the trip, which I hadn’t really been expecting, so I guess it would help to give a ball park figure to the client initially.
Thank you Chris for spending so long on the phone with me and Lyndsey for putting it all together."
One small comment was the times on our itinerary were different to Fisherman’s Tours. As such I thought they were late so rang the number on the itinerary for them to check someone was coming. They did arrive 5-10 minutes later, which was just before 6.30am, the time they had down. We were expecting them at 6am.
They did give us their itinerary with the times, down, but I hadn’t read it prior to the pick up.
The driver informed me I had phoned the general manager of Fisherman’s Tours, not the local office! Perhaps it would be worth checking the numbers on your itinerary which is where I got the number from.
Similarly the pick up from Qambani, was at 5am, not 5.30am as on our itinerary.
Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip, thank you for the organisation and recommendations. The service was excellent, and everything went fine.
Our only struggle, was with tipping, who and how much ! and not having local currency when we arrived. The porters at Zanzibar are quick to strike on the poor inexperienced traveller!!
We took advice from the Siwandu manager, (who was overall excellent) re tipping the staff, but I probably hadn’t read your comments carefully enough. I think we ended up tipping $4-500 dollars over the trip, which I hadn’t really been expecting, so I guess it would help to give a ball park figure to the client initially.
Thank you Chris for spending so long on the phone with me and Lyndsey for putting it all together."
Arranged By Lyndsey Marris
Jafferji House
"Jafferji House review"
1 night
Arrived
30 Aug 2019
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average
Location
Good
Service
Average
Rooms
Good
Food
Average
Siwandu
"Fantastic safari"
4 nights
Arrived
31 Aug 2019
"Staff were fantastic. Lovely people, couldn’t do more for you. Everything went extremely smoothly.
Premises all clean, tents/ rooms had lovely decor. Safari also good, with fun guides. Walking safari a bit tame, and felt a little staged.
We all enjoyed the delicious food, and the stories around the bush tv, as they called the camp fire.
Highly recommended."
Premises all clean, tents/ rooms had lovely decor. Safari also good, with fun guides. Walking safari a bit tame, and felt a little staged.
We all enjoyed the delicious food, and the stories around the bush tv, as they called the camp fire.
Highly recommended."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Sightings report
Buffalo
1 sighting
Eland
1 sighting
Elephant
1 sighting
Giraffe
1 sighting
Hippo
1 sighting
Lion
1 sighting
Wildebeest
1 sighting
Zebra
1 sighting
Jongomero Camp
"Amazing safari at Jongomero"
4 nights
Arrived
4 Sep 2019
"Staff were very good, but not quite as good as the staff at Siwandu.
Similarly, the food, although very good, was not quite as good as that at Siwandu.
The safari was different to Siwandu, but together made a good combination. The guides were very good, and a lot of fun."
Similarly, the food, although very good, was not quite as good as that at Siwandu.
The safari was different to Siwandu, but together made a good combination. The guides were very good, and a lot of fun."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Good
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Facilities
Good
Sightings report
Buffalo
1 sighting
Eland
1 sighting
Elephant
1 sighting
Giraffe
1 sighting
Hippo
1 sighting
Lion
1 sighting
Zebra
1 sighting
Qambani
"Beautiful hotel with fantastic chief "
4 nights
Arrived
8 Sep 2019
"Although the unmade road to the hotel, lack of signage, and poor entrance/gates didn’t give great first impressions, it really didn’t matter as the hotel itself is delightful. The decor is wonderful, with fantastic rooms, the staff willing, and the position great overlooking the beautiful blue sea. There is a lovely infinity pool too.
The South African chef, Philip, made us all extremely welcome, and went out of his way to accommodate our tastes. His cooking is excellent. You can alter the menu, decide when you want to take meals, and have snacks during the day. The local Swahili dishes on the menu one night were fun."
The South African chef, Philip, made us all extremely welcome, and went out of his way to accommodate our tastes. His cooking is excellent. You can alter the menu, decide when you want to take meals, and have snacks during the day. The local Swahili dishes on the menu one night were fun."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Good
Service
Excellent
Activities
Good
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Good
Breakfast average to poor."