Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs F from W Sussex

"After a detour to watch lions & jackal feeding on a giraffe carcass on the way from the airstrip, we were welcomed by Alex, our host who was really friendly & made us feel at home instantly. We were impressed at the standard of the tents which were very comfortable & we loved the bush-bathroom (good hot shower but I kept dropping the soap through the wooden floor slats!!) We both agreed that this was our favourite camp due to the intimacy created by gathering together to share stories with a drink around the fire before moving to dine together under the stars - amazing.

The food was plentiful & very homely & tasty, served by quietly efficient staff who were always on hand to topup an empty glass!The lounge tent area was comfortable,shaded & well stocked with books & photo albums (not that we seemed to have any spare time to relax in there!) The guides were extremely knowledgeable on animals & their behaviour, birds, vegetation & habitat as well as tracking etc. We felt safe, having the Masai as our eyes & ears, but excitingly close to nature, waking up in the night to see an elephant next to our tent on one side & a pair of dik-dik on the other!

The whole set up was flexable to any requests (eg if we were late arriving back or needed an earlier breakfast, & Alex managed to produce a toothbrush as David had forgotton his!) & we felt we learned such a lot & became 'part of the family' even though we were only there for 3 nights (sadly!). We loved the vastness of the area around & the fact that we only once encountered a group of vehicles (at a cheetah sighting!) We covered huge areas in the jeep, stopping for a tasty bush lunch by the river - very well appointed table & cool box to boot!

Our driver was very competent & that meant that we had the sole attention of our guide, Khahimba(?) who impressed us so much with his knowledge & also his passion for the principles of educating the local people who had been moved to outside the National Park area & did not always accept that poaching should not be permitted. Would highly recommend this camp to those with a love of nature, away from hustle & bustle & can honestly not think of any negative points. Just remembered the lovely home-made breakfast muffins!mmmm!"

"Selous Impala Camp is slightly more up-market than Mdonya (we actually preferred the intimacy & informality of Mdonya!) with a beautifully laid out dining area (crisp linen & very attentive waiters). The rooms were very comfortable & furnished to a high standard & we enjoyed being able to take a swim in the delicious pool after the mornings activites. It was great to see different habitat as Selous is based more around the large lakes and waters of the Rufiji River, so we saw different types of game & birdlife etc.

Once again, the guides & drivers were of a very high standard & extrememly knowledgeable & friendly. We found them very easy to get along with & Mpogo was like a magician - if we happened to mention something, he seemed able to whisk us off to the exact place were said animal was then spotted! Amazing! We did a couple of boat safari's with Abdula, which we combined with fishing. This was particularly enjoyable on the second one whereby we both managed a really good catch & the chef prepared samples of our tiger fish & cat fish & served us on our own personal table with our own fire, tucked away under the stars.

We also did a couple of walking safaris which gave us a different kind of perspective to the habitat and area we were in. We were able to get very close to a family of warthogs, who appear much larger when you are on the ground rather than in a jeep! The only negative point we can think of & it's hardly worth noting, is that the fishing equipment on the boat was somewhat lacking! Didn't stop us from catching things though (but David was getting a bit grumpy at one point as there wasn't enough line on the reel & he lost a big bite!)"

"We arrived around 7pm to a really warm welcome from Kara. We were shown to our room (Vals room) which had such a perfect outlook & was just a few steps away from the Indian Ocean. The room had a fantastic outlook & was well equipped. The shower was a little weak but hey, who cares when you're in such beautiful surroundings! We liked the idea of complementary gowns & kangas & to have fresh coffee delivered in the morning was also a great touch (even though we were forgotton 1 day & only got 1 cup the next - the thought was there!!)

The dining & lounge areas were furnished in bright prints & every evening we took advantage of the various games available (dominoes, bao, scrabble etc) whilst enjoying olives, nuts & popcorn prior to our evening meal. The food was always very well presented, plentiful & served by smiling staff. They were happy to meet any request for variations in a meal (eg I used to ask for chilli omelette in the mornings!) We would possibly have enjoyed a little more 'spice' (Zanzibar - Spice Island??!) but appreciate that not everyone else shares our passion for this!!

It was great having a private beach as we rarely encountered more than a handful of other people during the day & even though once the tide had retreated the water was too shallow to swim, there were all sorts of interesting things to look at in the water such as urchins, sea slugs(!) & of course some beautiful shells to collect! We used this time to take advantage of the lovely infinity pool - again, this area was never crowded.

We took a trip on the dhow out to the reef & tried a bit of snorkeling & hand-line fishing - great fun, several different species caught! It was a perfect winding down place - everything we needed amongst the most fabulous setting. We only went out one day, up to Nungwi for some game fishing. There seemed to be a stark difference in the two places & we're so glad we chose Pongwe! No negatives - only the coffee blanking blip!!"

"Apart from a misunderstanding on arrival (Coffee House made error on date!) we were happy with this hotel. It was well situated for exploring Stone Town & as the name suggests, the coffee was superb. The room was very clean, comfortable & well furnished & the landings cool & airy. The roof-top terrace made for an interesting view point & there was a good variety of choice for breakfast. The owner also presented us with a tub of Zanzibar coffee as a gesture of goodwill, which is delicious & was appreciated.

(The only reason I'm not waxing lyriclally is that we didn't particularly like Stone Town! It was even more run down than we expected - I think we had envisaged a few more "Merchant Houses" & a bit more exoticism but it looks as though nothing has been painted or touched since Livingstones' day! However, we did enjoy wandering through the local market area away from the tourist centre, which was more interesting & had 2 superb meals at the House of Spice!)"