Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs H from UK

"A pleasant, international standard hotel.

We were able to get an early check in after our flight arrived first thing in the morning, which was very helpful.

Meals in the restaurant were set up to be a buffet, which made it difficult to get something light.
We ate in the bar in the evening and the bar food was pretty average."

"Very high standard camp with excellent service. Food was very good and plentiful.

An excellent range of safari drives and the trips in the boat on the lake added great variation.

Excellent guides. Got to see the big five, although the lion sightings were brief. Excellent leopard tracking at night.

Fantastic area for birds."

"It was good to have a break between the safari and gorilla trekking parts of the trip.

Unfortunately, the rooms at the hotel were very shabby and in need of renovation.

The net curtains were torn, the carpet in the room was very dirty, and the room safe and toilet cistern broken ( although repaired fairly promptly)."

"Excellent lodge. Great service and very good food.

Very flexible service, adapting to the different times that people arrived or returned from treks. The cleaning of the hiking boots was amazing!

Super rooms and the open fire was a delight."

"International standard hotel.

We only had the evening here to freshen up before leaving for the airport to catch a flight departing at 02:30.

We only wanted to get something light to eat but the restaurant was only catering for a buffet service and couldn't find an a la carte menu.

We ate in the bar but the food was at best average."

"This was a good place to start our trip - service and food was good."

"A very friendly and helpful place, on a very good location."

"A good place for a stop over on our journey"

"Unfortunately the room next to ours was being refurbished - in a very noisy manner with an early start."

"Fantastic location and very friendly welcome"

"Thoroughly enjoyable stop-over. We would have liked to have stayed longer. Really excellent service."

"Nice location for walking into the town and along the cliffs."

"We only had an overnight stop, arriving in the evening and leaving early the next morning. We were tired from the flights and just needed to crash out.

The room was comfortable and we ate in the restaurant which was very good."

"The location was superb overlookingt the river and the mixture of activities was excellent - particularly the river trips which were amongst the best that we have had anywhere.

The guiding was very good and we saw plenty of wildlife, including hippo actually in the camp.

The food was really good - imaginative and interesting and of particular note was the chance to have a genuine cappuccino! The 'fly camping' was a good experience."

"We enjoyed the experience of the fly camp and the chance to be out of the main camp.

The service was great and the location by the lake was good. We had a walking tour in the moring before breaking camp and enjoyed this early morning walk."

"A great location and really felt in the bush - elephant walking through the camp regularly and even a wild dog chasing an impala into the camp first thing one morning. The location was near to a wild dog den with seven cubs and meant that we could get there early morning and actually had the chance to see all the young - a very rare sighting.

The activities were very good and varied - walking, driving to different areas and boat available. Very flexible with the opportunity for an early start to a drive and picnic breakfast in the bush. Very good spot to watch predators on the open savannah."

"Absolutely fantastic - way exceed our expectations! We were the only guests, so the description 'exclusive' was ceartainly true for us!

Although described as a 'temporary' camp, the tents and central mess were beautifully appointed. The location had a real in the bush feel and lying in bed hearing the lions roar in the valley and leopard calling too was magical. We had a minor problem with water to our tent on one evening because of hyena digging out the water pipe and biting through it! Note - this isn't a negative comment but a reflection to give an impression on the proximity of the wildlife and the connection of the camp and the bush.

Ruaha was a magical area - so quiet. We had day drives and saw only a handful of other vehicles.

The guiding was superb - Steve was fantasticly knowledgable and we really felt that we had time to watch and experience the animals. The animals were less skittish than at Selous and it was possible to get much closer to buffalo, wildebeast, zebra etc tthan hat other places we have been. Coasting the vehicle into the middle of a herd of several hundred buffalo was a great experience - we were then able to sit and watch the herd slowly move past, with indidual buffalo taking turns to keep an eye on us as they herd move on through.

The service in the camp was great - friendly and attentive."

"Pole Pole was a nice place to end our trip and unwind.

Unfortuately the wind didn't stop blowing while we were there , making water activities like boat trips and snorkelling difficult if not impossible without a strong stomach for the rolling of the boat and buffeting by the waves while snorkelling. Activities to sail to sand bars for picnics or evening drinks were cancelled while we were there. The wind also made it unsuitable for lying on the beach as well. Wind from this direction is apparently not uncommon in July.

The resort was quiet and relaxed - the service was very good - early morning tea delivered to the room and sundown room service for cocktails were nice touches The food was excellent - varied and interesting meals with excellent freshly made pasta and superb local fruits. We enjoyed the Swahli dinner as well."

"We arrived late at night and left early in the morning, so it is difficult to comment in detail - we went straight to bed on arrival and left after an early breakfast.

Having taken an age to get out of the airport - channelling every car leaving the airport through a single checkpoint to pay for car parking is a terrible idea - we really could have done with accommodation a little nearer."