Holiday review by Mr. Alan Barber
Name: Mr. Alan Barber
Date of trip: 02/11/2017
Number of people: 2
There are really so many. From the numbers & proximity of the animals in the parks.conservation areas to the vistas, sunsets & the overall vastness of the areas we were travelling in to the compactness of our bolt hole facing the Indian Ocean on Zanzibar, everyday seemed to bring fresh delights. Everywhere we went, without exception, the people around the hotels were exceptionally friendly & welcoming.
Tribes Overall:
The programme that Christine put together for us was exactly what we wanted & we have already sent some thoughts to her so there may be some duplication of messages within Tribes!
Tribes Service:
See above - impossible to fault Christine's organisation & suggestions.
Guides:
It is difficult to think of anything that occurred during our trip which reflected poorly on Aaron who was our driver/guide throughout our safari. He was knowledgeable, polite & efficient without ever being over familiar.
Social & Environmental Responsibility:
You are right, it is difficult to always see where & when local benefits accrue. All we can say is that whenever we came into contact with local people we were met with smiles & it is clear that tourism now rates highly in improving economic activity within Tanzania. From what little we learned about Tanzania (relatively) there was no intimation that the environment was suffering through our presence.
The places you stayed
Maramboi Tented Camp
Tanzania
We really enjoyed Maramboi. The 'tented' element unlike anything with tents we had experienced. Building work going on which never affected us & what we assumed were the temporary restaurant facilities around the pool suited us well. We loved having animals - zebra, wildebeest & impala - trotting past our lodge from time to time. Charming & very helpful staff.
Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge
Tanzania
Rather than say everything was excellent, perhaps let's say good but absolutely nothing wrong. The lunchtime picnic boxes not very imaginative but breakfast & dinner.were excellent & the allocation of 'our own' waiter for our stay is quite a nice touch. This applied to Serengeti as well. as do the remarks re picnic boxes. We liked having hot water bottles in our bed at night - it was chilly!
Serengeti Sopa Lodge
Serengeti National Park
Much the same as Ngorongoro .but no (need for) hot water bottles!
Great views across the park from our window.
Pongwe Beach Hotel
Tanzania
Again, just what we needed, lovely staff, excellent food & what a view out over the Indian Ocean. We did become lazy, & quickly gave up any idea of seeing more of Zanzibar. A truly delightful hotel.
