September 2011

Hello Julian,

Sorry for the delay in writing… Monica and I just wanted to thank you for a fantastic trip.  We absolutely loved both Mwagusi and Beho Beho, and Ras Kutani and Nungwi were also excellent.

Chris Fox at Mwagusi, what a facinating person. I loved hearing of his experiences – he seems to be a local legend. The camp was very nice and the game was excellent.

Beho Beho – beautiful place, couldn’t ask for nicer.  The game wasn’t quite as good, but that was no one’s fault of course… Personally I think the combination of these two places is perfect. Beho Beho is a bit more plush, which Monica loved, while Mwagusi is a bit more rustic, a bit more no nonsense safari which I thought was great… Additionally, the guides were excellent – very knowledgable and patient, and also passionate and protective of the land and the wildlife.

And Ras Nungwi – a beautiful place with unbelievable location – perfect way to finish up.

We may be referring someone to you shortly…

Many thanks,

N Ansari 2007

Dear Marc and Julian

I am just writing to report our impressions of our Tanzania trip 19 August/4 September.

It was magic – not just up to our expectations but well beyond.  Each camp and park complemented the others, becoming more specialised, always with lots of game and without the distraction of other tourists.  Everywhere the standards of guiding, accommodation, food and service were absolutely first class.

Ras Kutani was idyllic.  A honeymooner’s paradise – we were treated like honeymooners after 42 years of marriage!  Either TO has considerable influence or they really thought we were honeymooners because we had one of two new beautiful secluded suites high up overlooking the tree canopy and the sea, with a ten foot bed, two verandahs and our own pool.  Charming service and good food – altogether an absolute delight.

Mwagusi in Ruaha was an ideal introduction to safari.  The camp is very comfortable, the guiding superb, the countryside very varied, and a huge quantity and variety of game.  Our only minor grumble relating to the whole trip is that they seemed a little disorganised.  As our plane from RK was delayed 4 hours, it was almost dark when we arrived for our first safari ever.  We were met on arrival by an assistant manager, taken to our banda, five minutes walk from the central area, and simply told that someone would fetch us at 7.30 for drinks and dinner and that we must not leave on our own
– no other explanation whatsoever about anything.  As a result we were totally disorientated until the next morning.  From then on however we had a marvellous time.

Katavi was quite different.  The drying up flood plain had huge herds of buffalo (one of over 3,000) and lots of hippo, crocs, zebra, giraffe, lions, etc.  We discovered that after the first night we would be the only guests.
This might have been a little awkward but it was in fact quite the opposite.
Manie the young Afrikaner manager’s bushcraft was unparalleled, and he was a great host.  He, Apollo, and the other six staff catered to our every whim with great cheerfulness – no need to fit in with other guests’ plans.  We will never forget our surprise sundowners way out in the bush at the end of a walking safari!  The only problem at Katavi was some particularly determined tsetse flies!

As everyone told us we would, we loved Mahale.  Chimps galore, many of whom did not understand the 10 metre rule!  The place was beautiful and laid back, with very entertaining and imaginative young hosts in Edward and Donna.  I shall long remember snorkelling in Lake Tanganyika – thousands of cichlids in crystal clear water – and diving for giant freshwater mussels for supper, to be greeted with champagne on our return.  And there was no bar bill whatsoever!

All in all, we had the time of our lives.  This was to a large part due to your advice, organisation, and I suspect, influence.  It appears that out there Tanzania Odyssey is a highly thought of name.  Everything ran like clockwork apart from the one plane delay, and all without any tickets!  In hindsght it is difficult to see how it could have been improved, and it met exactly our criteria of abundant game in natural surroundings without crowds, with real variation in terrain and camps.  The surprise was that the birdlife was almost as fascinating as the big game.

As you will probably gather, we enjoyed ourselves!  This was very largely due to your advice and organisation, which we appreciate greatly.  It was worth every penny.

Very many thanks from both of us.

Regards and best wishes

P Bullick 2006