Mdonya Old River Camp

2nd August 2011

We met a car from Mdonya at the Airstrip on our last day at Kwihala. Chombo and Naiti took us on a nice game drive to Mdonya. They were extremely pleasant and friendly, and knowledgeable.

The tsetse seem much better – maybe it is partly the season – also Micol is using tins filled with burning elephant dung on the back of the vehicle, and this really helps and is a good eco friendly solution.
I did not get bitten once!

We drove to camp and were greeted at the car park by Micol, Alex and Sarah, with cold juice as usual. (Micol Farinha was manager last year, Italian. Alex Stewart was there last year too, she is Australian and is now the manager – Micol will be roving maager of both Manze and Mdonya.  Sara Ilum, Danish, is a new assistant who speaks Danish, Swedish, English, Arabic, German and Swahili).
We felt very welcomed, and the whole atmosphere of the camp, with three nice ladies, is very good. The site is as always very shady and beautiful, and the chief asset of Mdonya is the lovely situation, on an old sand river used by game as a corridor.

We had lunch, in the dining tent, very nice and cool – and really the food is the best in Adventure Camps, except Mbweni (which is very good, because of the huge range of fish, fruit and veg there as well as the good chefs) – at Mdonya the food was light, very varied, beautifully presented. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables stylishly used. Perfect cakes and bread and puddings. Wow!

The tents are well equipped, when my zip broke, it was immediately fixed perfectly – I think the whole section was replaced, as the panels are zipped in. The feminine touch is obvious – many nice little details.

An afternoon game drive was offered, so we went for a sunset sundowner which was extremely pleasant and nicely arranged.
Dinner under the stars was superb, after a campfire meeting of guests with drinks; some guests were dining apart in nice situations, Micol is very good at arranging this and making people feel special.

Morning tea was not offered, but Micol told me it can be done on request, you only have to ask.
Breakfast was very pleasant, in the dining tent, and the lounge is nearby offering a shady location with books etc and comfortable chairs.