Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs B from E Susx

"We were a little underwhelmed by the Crater Lodge. Our expectations were high and we thought that this would be the highlight of the holiday, but it was probably our least favourite of the safari lodges. Partly this was due to the room we were given (room 12), which wasn't overlooking the crater directly, but did over look most of the other rooms - given the rooms are designed so that they are very open to the views on one side and some windows have no curtains this left the room feeling quite exposed to others seeing in (particularly in the loo!). Inside the accommodation was very impressive.

The game viewing was comprehensive, but lacked the excitement of other locations and felt like we were following a standard schedule on the drive.

Service was generally very good although felt a lot less personal than other lodges."

"The Manyara tree lodge was a fantastic start to our safari. One minor point was that we could have done with a clear warning that as soon as we got to Manyara airport we would be going into a 4 hr game drive through the park. We weren't quite prepared in terms of clothing and sunscreen, but the drive was a brilliant start to the holiday. After all the flights and the game drive in, the bath and bubbles that were waiting for us were thoroughly appreciated! (it felt like they had read our minds)

The staff at Manyara were really welcoming and helpful, and gelled together well - they really seemed to enjoy us being there.

The game drives were amazing, and our guide (Emme) was very enthusiastic, knowledgeable and took account of what we wanted to see. He seemed as thrilled as we were about all the wildlife we saw.

The accommodation at Manyara was very comfortable and probably our favourite of the lodges. The room (room 1) seemed completely secluded and the outside shower is a great feature. We also enjoyed watching the monkeys from our veranda while drinking our morning coffee."

"Our stay at Kleins Camp was the highlight of the holiday. It was good that we went there third otherwise we would have found the other locations less exciting given the game viewing at Kleins was exceptional. Our stay here was perfect.

Our guides (Malley and Gwando) were exceptional and knew exactly what they were doing. They were very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and had a great sense of humour. We really enjoyed the way they tracked the animals and led us to an amazing number of exciting experiences, from the tracking of a beautiful leopard and her cubs to a few yards to getting us to the right place to watch a pride of lions catch and kill a buffalo. The ability to track off-road at Kleins gives it such an advantage over the other lodges. The early mornings with breakfast in the bush and night drives are another great aspect of Kleins and we would have seen much less without that flexibility.

The accommodation was excellent and very comfortable - we particularly liked the hot water bottles we found in the bed on the colder nights. The views from our room were very good, but from the bar & restaurant are totally stunning.

The service at Kleins was as good as anywhere and felt very personal. This extended to every member of the team that we met, from the Masai camp security up to the lodge manager. Our butler was very friendly and somehow always there before we realised we needed them ourselves.

The food at Kleins was also the best we had. What set it apart from the other safari lodges was that the food was not as heavy as others could be and always very tasty."

"This was a fantastic location for relaxing after our safari. The room (room 11) was nice and large, although didn't have the finish of a top-class resort (e.g. showers and bathroom), but we may have been spoiled after the &beyond lodges! They were a bit hot at times, even with the fan going. We particularly enjoyed the veranda area where we

We liked the snorkelling in easy reach on the Mnemba reef and felt as though the guides enjoyed it as much as we did. The snorkelling was made even better by a lucky encounter with a group of dolphins.

We would have liked more advance indication of the cost of activities - some of these seemed quite high, and it felt like we were a captive audience. We were also a little unfortunate in the timing of our visit, as due to the neap tides, some of the activities were unavailable for that week.

We thought the communal areas felt like they belong to a bigger resort, so it never felt crowded. The gardens were really beautiful and well maintained.

We would have liked a fridge in the room or the option to have drinks delivered as we found that the large bottles of water that were left for us did not stay cool for long, and it was a long walk to the bar.

The food always good, although there was an odd mix of buffet and waiter service. It wasn't always clear what the service would be each night. We really enjoyed the freshly made fruit juices from fruits we had never heard of before!

On our last night, the staff arranged a honeymoon dinner for the two of us, which was absolutely magical. This was a perfect end to our time at Matemwe."

"When we arrived we were told that our room would not be available until 5 or 6pm, however to make up for this, we were upgraded to a suite (room 40) for our stay, which was a very nice set of rooms.

One down point to the hotel was that we were surprised a couple of times by hotel staff entering the room without seeming to knock first. Although since it was a suite they didn't walk uninvited into the bedroom.

On one of the evenings the area around the pool was booked for a private cocktail evening and, given this was the main outdoor restaurant area we felt we had to go outside the hotel for dinner. The hotel did warn us about this earlier in the day and the party did finish when promised."