Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs R from Manchester

"This could be a great little bohemian style eco lodge as the location, the staff and the guides are great. However, Richard the camp manager is a little bit sergeant major. We found him to be very unaccomoadting and condesending. He offered us no advice as to what was on offer from manze other than that we could go on a drive, a walk or a boat.

Being safari virgins it would have been nice to have been told the best time for a walk is the morning when it's quiet and cooler, a good time to go on the boat would be the evening so you can watch the sunset, and also offer the chance of fishing. None of this information was passed onto to us by Richard and was retrieved off other guests who had been offered bush breakfasts and lunches along with trips to the natural springs. I'm not saying we would have taken him up on the offer but it would have been nice to be offered the options. Because of this it wasn't the most relaxing of places and when you are paying that sort of money to stay there you want to be treated well.

The camp should also come with a serious mosquito warning and have spray and additional nets provided over the beds. Whilst I found it amazing showering under the stars and watching the wildlife go past, it's not everyone's cup of tea and you can leave yourself open to a good old stinging.

The camp is also a little bit too communal, whilst it's nice to get to know people, not so sure it's that great a suggestion for honeymooners. A few seperate tables could offer some flexibility, rather than being told where you had to sit by said sergeant major and then if you were lucky enough you got to dine next to him at the top of the table (thank god we were spared that experience). That said we did meet some interesting and nice people over dinner and had a good laugh.

I'm painting a pretty bad picture here and that does the camp an injustice. Although fairly basic the camp is in a great location with all sorts of animals wandering through and the lack of electricity and the use of storm lanterns and camp fires at night creates a speacial atmosphere and adds to its charm. Furthermore the game in this location was amazing and the best we saw on the safari.

I have graded the service as poor, not because of the bar staff and guides etc but because of the camp manager."

"This is an amazing place. Not sure if it's because we found Manze to be not the most relaxing of places, but from the moment we got to Impala we were like 'wow, the honeyoon starts now'. On arrival we were greeted with cooling towels, fresh juice and a very friendly if not a little bit cheesy Italian called Mateo, he sat us down explained everything about the camp, what was on offer and was very accomodating to our needs.

We went on game drives, caught fish in the mighty Rufigi and had morning bush walks and breakfasts. Everything was very well organised, tailored to your needs and nothing was too much trouble. You even got a morning wake up call with tea and fruit brought to your tent.

The food was great both at the camp and on the bush drives.

The staff were excellent, good banter was had with all the lads. The place has a really good atmosphere and alot of that is down to all the staff getting along. Our guide Macomba was excellent, very friendly, spoke perfect English, taught us Swahali and was very knowledgeable. We can't speak highly enough about him.

The perfect honeymoon location with a beautiful and peaceful setting on the mighty Rufigi river which we did not want to leave."

"Great little place in a stunning setting (even when the sea goes out). What better way to spend a few hours every day than lazing on a hammock under massive palm trees.

The staff were great and Heidi and Chrissy (I think) were very friendly and helpful offering good advice on what's good and not so good to do, especially in Stone Town.

Trips were a bit pricey so we didn't bother with any of those. There's plenty to do anyway to amble away the day with snorkelling, fishing, cycling chatting to the staff, playing games etc.

Food wasn't amazing but it was always fresh and you got loads, proper fat feeders at Pongwe.

The rooms were very nice and clean if not a little basic."

"Really nice old colonial type manor house, with great period feature and some funky old bits of furniture.

Not really got a problem with the place, but our room faced onto the street which was pretty noisy especially because Ramadam had just started. Also the room was well hot at night and the air con unit sounded like one of the safari jeeps, which I suppose drowned out the noise from street level.

The rooms were quite quirky and had some funky antiques in there. Mosquito net had a few holes in though.

Top location right in the middle of Stone Town. But didn't really stay there long enough to use all the facilites etc. Staff seemed very friendly though.

Breakfast wasn't much cop, but I suppose we had been spoilt at Pongwe where they were top drawer."