Travel reviews by Lesser kudus from UK

"We couldn't have asked for a better start to our honeymoon - we arrived after an exciting car transfer and ferry crossing from Dar, to an oasis of calm! Everything about this place was heavenly - the beach, rooms, dining area, food.... we couldn't have asked for a more fitting opportunity to unwind.

Despite being so chilled out there were things to do if you so wished - we had a mini kayak adventure on the lake and also visited the school in nearby Gomve village. Our guide, Baltizary, was excellent at pointing things out along the walk to get there, such as cashew nut trees, and gave us our first valuable introduction into speaking Swahili! Seeing the kids at school was a great experience and didn't feel at all touristy.

We particularly liked the way all the staff were treated as equals, the tipping method Ras use obviously works really well as we found everyone to be genuinely happy in going about their work, which was fantastic.

We loved Ras Kutani, and would definitely go back for longer!"

"Impala Camp had a great setting, food and tents, however what made this camp stand out were our guide, Ezra, and driver, Raja, who gave us memories we'll never forget. We were lucky enough to drop straight in on a lion kill fresh off the aeroplane, and from then the excitement never really stopped! From Raja's hawk eyes spotting leopard kill up in a tree who we then caught a glimpse of, to running back to the vehicle from bush toilet when wild dogs turned up unexpectedly!

But the smaller things we experienced with these both were really special too, such as hopping out the vehicle to eat marula fruit, watching the lion ant take his prey and learning all about the whistling acacia, we had such fun, and a really personal experience.

It was also really good to get a different perspective on boat safari, seeing all the hippo and crocs, and birdlfe around the lakes.

Overall Impala was an amazing first experience to safari."

"Mwagusi has an organic, natural feel that just lets you know you're in Africa. Words failed us when we were shown to our banda - the tents were unlike anything we'd imagined - in a good way! Dinners were magical - shown to a different spot every night with oil lamps twinkling and a camp fire burning. Food was so good which made you wonder how they could do it - serving up piping hot, tasty food in a dry river bed some way away from the camp!

We had both our scariest and most amazing experience at Mwagusi - scariest was being charged by an irate bull elephant one morning on the way to breakfast - however big thanks to Rhiann for standing his ground - we don't know how he did it! This just reminds you however you are in Africa, and the animals are wild, so after our hearts had stopped pumping we had a great tale to tell!!

Most amazing was seeing an actual leopard kill - which as Chris Fox and our guides kept reminding us, is a very rare experience indeed, and we felt very privileged to see it. We stayed with the leopard until sundown afterwards, which gave us chance to get some brilliant photos in that perfect light, so lucky! As we both wanted to see leopard after our glimpse at Impala, this whole experience was quite an emotional one, there were a few high fives between us and our guide, Sansom, and driver, and a Kili or two to celebrate afterwards!!

Overall this was the icing on the cake to our safari, we left this amazing place full of sadness but also just not believing our luck at what we'd seen - most likely once in a lifetime experiences."

"Pongwe has good management and is in a great location with fab pool, but was probably always going to be a bit of an anti-climax after all our experiences on safari! However, we did have a good time just doing nothing - food was really tasty and varied, and there was a friendly, if somewhat unatmostpheric feel.

We did a spice tour en-route to Stowntown with Fisherman tours, and although it was interesting, we couldn't help but feel this tour didn't take place in a 'proper' spice farm, and we were unsure where our money had actually gone. We bought spices as had been told it was the best and cheapest place to get them, but found we'd had the wool pulled over our eyes a little when we found the same spices in Stowntown for about a quarter of the price! Although this is probably all part of the experience, we felt a little disappointed as also found when we got home our 'ginger' tea was not ginger, just tea!!

I suppose it's important to remember that Zanzibar is much more geared up to tourists than the remote camps we stayed in on the mainland, so just doesn't feel as authentic an experience."

"We found the owner of the Zanzibar Palace really helpful, by providing us with a map of Stowntown with some points of interest and nice places to eat. We also really liked the hotel - it was quirky, and our suite had great views across the rooftops.

We were recommended to eat at the Beyt Al Chai, which was a great call as the food there was fantastic - to a level you would expect to find at a high class restaurant in the UK - and really reasonable. It was also a lot quieter than what seemed to be the usual place to eat - Emerson and Green, so was a really nice end to our honeymoon."