Travel reviews by Mr A. from Hardingstone

"A bucket list treat! This was simply a joy for us from start to finish. The staff are super attentive without being overbearing, the food and drink is staggeringly good and our room (Jock) was perfect, overlooking the lawns and beyond with a full view of the giraffes as they padded about in the woods.

The giraffes were divine and the highlight was afternoon tea which was a real treat, hand (and mouth!) feeding the beautiful creatures as they wandered about in front of the manor.

We had Edd come and see us at 0500 for feeding through our bedroom window and a few of the herd joining us in the breakfast room for a chaotic and hilarious breakfast experience.

I cried as I arrived, during the time there and as we left. Truly magical with the photos to remind us of an unbelievable experience."

"We loved this small camp. Louse runs a very tight ship but the atmosphere is super relaxed. The food is fabulous and there are opportunities to relax with other like-minded guests over a drink to swop stores around the fire.

The staff are lovely, nothing is too much trouble and everything is planned very well from the morning wake up tea tray to the escorting in the dark to and from tents to the timings for meals and safari trips from the camp.

We loved our tent - nice and private and spotlessly clean - it had everything we needed.

Our guide Simon was simply brilliant - an incredible knowledge and love of nature and an astonishing eye to spot creatures large and small. Simon was patient with all our many questions and having picnic breakfasts was superb and he found great spots for our sundowners.

Nothing to fault here, a fully 5* experience."

"The camp setting is excellent with the boat trip over the river for arrival and departure a real treat. We received a lovely warm welcome from the staff and our tent was spotless and fully kitted out as we wanted. It was different to our previous camp which was a great contrast but equally welcome.

Lunch was outside on the decking and tremendous, overseeing the various wildlife which entertained us in the water and out - especially the roaming warthogs and elephants who came through the camp, much to everyone's amusement. Dinner was inside the restaurant and a slight downer in that it felt that it could have been anywhere. I guess we were spoilt by lunch being outside with the view.

The staff are great, again, like our previous two stops, very attentive and friendly. They are happy to engage if guests are which is great.

One slight disappointment was that we had a clearly inexperienced guide, Johnson. He was taciturn and didn't explain where we were going and would spend long periods not saying anything. We kept having to ask him what the plan was and what we were looking for. We were clearly spoilt by Simon at Kicheche but I would at least expect to be given some information about animals proactively rather than keep having to ask and receive one or two word answers. He was clearly shy and only occasionally did he come out of himself and this questions whether he is in the right job. He did, like, Simon, have a superb eye for the animals and spotted things from great distances which we would have never seen ourselves.

We have scored this experience as Excellent across all areas as, in summary it was, but there are a couple of things which could have made it even more special. The picnic breakfasts are average and the sundowners caused an issue for us until we spoke to the Camp Manager but this should have been proactively sorted rather than us having to deal with it ourselves. Just a few issues to focus on but there is no doubt the camp is a fine experience."