Travel reviews by Mr F. from Spain

"We spent 3 nights at Siwandu last November .
This is a very nice camp in a great location . Accommodation is fantastic , with huge tents and bathroom . The best part is the veranda with a view to the lake. We saw lots of animals around our tent during siesta time like giraffes , elephants, hippos , waterbucks , impalas , bushbucks , baboons , monkeys and of course lots of birds. At night we also had company with elephants , hippos and hyenas !!

Service and attention was excellent . Food quality was always good , even it was not our style .

The area where Siwandu let as down a bit were activities . Morning drives starts at 8 a. m. and this is not what we are use to after 10 safaris , everywhere we have been in Africa activities start early after sunrise , something that increase your chance to see some animals that don´t like to move during the heat of the day and also to take advantage of the best light for photography .

Also guiding level was not on par with other places we have stayed before , and for us quality of guiding can enhance hugely your experience .

If your priority in Selous is to have an amazing and beautiful tent , a personal butler looking after you and special food then Siwandu is for you . If you are after hardcore activities with great guiding i will try some other camp.

Yet ,we did see plenty of animals and birding was excellent around the lakes areas . Almost in every drive we saw , giraffes , buffalo , grater kudu , zebras , gnu and lions. We did see elephants but not as many as we were hoping , maybe the poaching problem in Selous area has something to do with it ? This is the time when impalas drop their baby so it was great to see impala babies everywhere !
The boat safari is great for birding and also you will see lots of hippos and crocs but we saw also buffalos , giraffes and elephants from the boat .

Overall we enjoyed very much our stay in Selous Reserve , the landscape is fantastic , very green and with lots of water , a great contrast and combination with Ruaha if you are doing the southern circuit ."

"Great camp with fantastic atmosphere and excellent service .

The camp is quite special and with somehow unusual design but the tents are very well lay out along the river with incredible views of the dry river bed and many animals coming to drink in the last small waterholes left.Tents are huge and very confortable , but also perfectly blended with the surrounding .

The best part of Mwagusi are the activities.They are very serious about the safaris and also flexible to accommodate your needs and preferences . You can be out driving all day if you wish .

We had and excellent guide that tried hard to find all the animals we wanted to see . Elephants are all over , as well as giraffes,zebras and buffalos . Predators are also plentiful , specially lions . We got to see them all five days we spent in Ruaha , one day we saw 23 of five different prides !! We had great leopard viewing also but we did not have luck with cheetah , a good reason to go back soon.

Ruaha is probably one of the best places we have visited for variety and quantity of antelopes .During our stay we had the chance to see impala , grant gazelle , kirk dik dik , waterbuck , bushbuck , greater and lesser kudu , klipspringer , eland , sable and roan !!!

Overall a camp that you should consider if you are a serious about activities and good guiding !!!"

"Not that long drive from the Airport , probably we were lucky with traffic .

Room very simple but clean and spacious. The only downside was the rather small bed .
The location is excellent , inside a complex with plenty stores to do some late minute shopping and nice restaurants overlooking the Indian Ocean. We had a very good dinner right at the water with a great sunset !!

Again very simple but good for a night stop if you arrive late or have to catch an early flight."

"The only bad point about our stay at Lebala was that we only had 2 days, i will recommend at list 3.

The camp was perfect for us with a big and well maintain tent and very very comfortable beds which is great after 30 hours travelling. Maybe a little more light would be nice but this is similar in most camps we had stay.

The common areas where also very nice and we did not need anything else of what they had.

The food was plenty and better than average. It is not a gourmet restaurant but was more than in of for us. The people at Lebala where fantastic, very warm and attentive, always with a natural smile and good humor which is very nice.

We had a private vehicle that was in a very good condition and our private guide was perfect in all aspects.

Finally and most important, the wildlife and landscape where excellent. A big pride of lions kill a buffalo 2 minutes from camp so we visit them in every game drive. Eles, zebras, impalas, giraffs, tsessebe, red lewche, warthogs where all over plus we had some kudus, sable and even wild dog and leopard. Birdlife was very good as well.

Overall i will say our stay at Lebala was great."

"This is a lovely and intimate camp, with very nice and friendly people, excellent service and food and beautiful location.

In spite of this introduction our experience was not great. Our main reason to visit this camp was because we wanted to visit the famous Selinda concession for the wildlife experience. The landscape is beautiful and driving around Zibadianja lagoon, The Selinda spillway and the Savuti channel is very very nice.

But the 3 days we where there we found an unexpected lack of general game, apart from predators that we all know are sometimes difficult to find. There where 2 big storms during our stay and this could be the reason but we really where expecting more from the wildlife side. Birdlife was excellent so we concentrate basically on that side."

"Very nice and intimate camp with great location (we could see the hippos from our veranda, plus eles, giraff, impalas, zebras, red lewche and kudus), very good service and food and a very nice atmosphere from sunrise to sunset.

We found all the people very nice and attentive, always trying to make you feel as better as possible.

Then it was the wildlife experience. Apart from what we saw at Lebala (except for wild dog and sable) we also saw a family of 4 cheetah, a leopard eating an impala killed the night before, another leopard moving the carcass next morning, 2 hyenas stealing a tsessebe carcass from six lioness and thousands of storks, herons and ibises at their nest... among other magnificent sightings.

We spend 4 wonderful days at LKwara and will recommend this camp to anyone."