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Traveller reviews

Travel reviews by J&JP from Oxfordshire

Review Distribution

Excellent
Good
Average
Poor
Terrible

Total number of trips

1

Countries visited

1

Lodges stayed in

4

Excursions taken

0

My Jan 2025 trip

Tanzania between 12 Jan 2025 and 28 Jan 2025

Trip rating: Excellent
"We had a great trip, particularly the wildlife parts and our visit to Kichaka and Beho Beho.

Fundu Lagoon was disappointing."

Arranged By Jessica Plumb


Serena Hotel Dar

Serena Hotel Dar

"Serena Hotel Dar review"

1 night Arrived 12 Jan 2025
"It was fine, particularly for a one-night stay, and the modest distance from the airport was very convenient.

With little experience to make an informed comparison, I suspect that it’s about as good as it gets in Dar es Salaam. It was comfortable, the staff was efficient, and we had a good evening meal - a particularly good curry!

We were told we had to leave for the airport very early (perhaps too early?) and the hotel gave us an enormous breakfast box to take with us. Regrettably, the quality of the contents was in inverse proportion to the size of the box."
Good
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location
Good
Service
Good
Rooms
Good
Food
Good
Kichaka Zumbua

Kichaka Zumbua

"Kichaka Zumbua review"

4 nights Arrived 13 Jan 2025
"Very special and wonderful

It’s unusual to start a review of a safari camp by mentioning the food, but I do so for two reasons. First, it was excellent. Second, the quality and enjoyment of the food is a reflection of the high standard of everything at Kichaka. Moli and his team make everything special: the walking safaris, the game drives, the comfort of the accommodation, and the overall “experience”. It’s all wonderful. The fact that the camp is so very remote not only makes the achievement a massive credit to Moli, Noelle, and the team, but added hugely to our enjoyment. It’s rare to be somewhere so remote, far from other people and dwellings. We loved both the feeling of being somewhere special and the fact that we never saw another vehicle or other “wildlife hunters”.

Particular highlights are, of course, the walks with Moli. He has wide and deep knowledge of the animals, the territory and everything within. He is a force of nature who imparts information with turbo-charged enthusiasm (and never a hint that he’s doing it for the umpteenth time!) He’s also a first class host. We thoroughly enjoyed sitting and talking to him and Noelle, also a delightful and excellent host. They have built a superb camp. Its small size was both a great pleasure for us, and is in inverse proportion to the enjoyment it gave us.

We loved the style, decor and (for want of a better word) ambience. It’s modern, chic and elegant, but not fancy-schmancy, with an African twist. It’s also very comfortable indeed. Remarkably so given its remote bush location.

Oh yes, the wildlife viewing - I almost forgot to mention it! It was terrific. We saw lions, elephants, giraffes, zebra, impala, hippos, and (on the way from and to the Msembe airstrip), a leopard and a jackal. Lots of bird life, too. The terrain is beautiful, with massive and wonderful Baobabs the stand-out trees.

To finish where I began - the food. It was all very delicious, beautifully attractive, and a great tribute to Moli, Noelle, and the team. That it was provided in a small and remote camp was a joyful surprise."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Beho Beho

Beho Beho

"Beho Beho review"

4 nights Arrived 17 Jan 2025
"Elegant, comfortable, good wildlife viewing

Beho Beho is a wonderful oasis in an equally wonderful wilderness. It provides elegant and comfortable accommodation, good food, and great staff. The guides are terrific - knowledgeable, keen-eyed, and great to be with. They enabled us to see a large variety of wildlife, beasts and birds, and gave us lots of information. We enjoyed both walking safaris and game drives; also a wonderful boat trip at Lake Tagalaga.

The banda was large and comfortable, with a lovely sheltered terrace and a plunge pool. It was all good. The main lodge is also very lovely and has plenty of space and comfort. Meals were taken in a variety of places around the lodge, all excellent and with good views. We enjoyed the company of Goodlisten, the manager, and Elisha and Charles, our great guides. They were wonderful hosts."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Fundu Lagoon

Fundu Lagoon

"Fundu Lagoon review"

6 nights Arrived 21 Jan 2025
"Lovely location, but disappointing in several respects

Opinions about novels, plays and many other things will differ according to taste and expectations, so it’s inevitable that different people will have different views of a place like Fundu Lagoon. Unfortunately, our opinion is less positive than that of others who have left reviews here and elsewhere. We could simply have refrained from expressing our opinion, but that would mean not passing on the reasons for our disappointment and allowing others to be better informed.

To start with the positive. The setting is lovely. A pretty beach, backed by a forest. An attractive design. “Robinson Crusoe” style. Large rooms, our beach suite having the benefit of a good-sized plunge pool and large shaded decking. It also had a good number of electric fans (much needed!) The staff was good, always welcoming and helpful. The Jetty Bar is lovely and we enjoyed cooling drinks and beautiful sunsets.

Less favourable aspects: The whole place looks tired and we felt it was resting on its laurels. This applies to the general ambience and upkeep. It was all rather lacklustre. Breakfast was very ordinary: watery fruit juice, no choice of jams and marmalades (even the remote bush safari camp from which we came had a much better choice and good juices). On several mornings the fresh fruit was well past its best, to the point of being unpleasant to eat, and obviously so. Disappointing. But we had a nice beach barbecue one night and other meals were generally good or very good. We were well looked after at mealtimes by the excellent “Dudu”, who was delightful and efficient. A snorkelling trip to Misali island (30 mins away by speedboat) was well organised by the dive centre, but disappointing. The reef was largely monochrome and the fishes were neither colourful nor plentiful. A pity, and unusual for the Indian Ocean.

On our second day at Fundu Lagoon we made the climb up to the main swimming pool to have a pre-lunch drink at its bar. We got there at about 12:15. The bar was unattended and the drinks fridge padlocked. We turned around and went back to our room. When we mentioned this to a member of staff that evening we were told, nonchalantly, that the barman had gone on his lunch break! It would have been simple for someone else to cover for him - or at least to have put a “Bar closed” sign at the foot of the long steps up. This was perhaps a minor incident, but I believe it’s a reflection of attitudes and the standard of care at Fundu Lagoon. 

One aspect I’ve hesitated to mention is the WiFi and internet access. Perhaps one shouldn’t expect it to work well (or at all) in some holiday locations, but Pemba is a large island and Fundu Lagoon advertises itself as a luxury resort. It makes clear that WiFi is only available in the central area, not in rooms, which is fine, but either or both the WiFi and/or the internet were often unavailable. Staff knew that the hotel’s equipment was unreliable - they spoke of plans to upgrade it - but it was clearly well beyond its serviceable life and the replacement was overdue.

Finally, as I mentioned above, opinions will differ according to individual taste. Prior experiences will also come into play. Fundu Lagoon does not compare well to, for example, Maldives island hotels where we have stayed. Fundu isn’t cheap and its prices are broadly comparable with some of the best Maldives resorts and beach hotels elsewhere. In terms of location, it’s no more remote than most Maldives resorts, which are able to provide better and more varied meals. So price and remoteness don’t explain the lower standards.

The ambience is also very different, Fundu lacking the finesse and attention to detail we have always found in the Maldives and in most other beach hotels. I don’t think it’s simply that Fundu is more Bohemian and its vibe is intentionally “laid back”. I think it’s more than that. A lack of care and perhaps complacency after earlier years of success. It’s sad that we were glad that we only stayed for 6 nights, not 7 as we had contemplated when we booked the trip.

Others may enjoy it more than we did. I hope so. But at least this review may help them make an informed decision before booking."
Average
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

Location
Good
Service
Average
Activities
Average
Rooms
Average
Food
Good
Facilities
Average

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