Hi Nadine,
The booking process was excellent. There was the right balance between your suggestions and our input so we feel we had a perfect trip.
Favourites: Ubuntu and Sayari. These were both amazing.
The Melia was amazing. We are not sure if you knew but we ended up in the Presidential Suite as VIPs and all  inclusive with our butler! It had a private pool about 25m long. The rooms were amazing and huge. The President of Tanzania normally stays there.
I cannot stress enough how great it was; thanks to you and your colleagues. There was nothing really to improve.
We would definitely use you again and have already put up great reviews on the camps.
Best wishes
Victor from London, UK - travelled in December 2011and stayed at Alexanders Hotel, Plantation Lodge, Ubuntu Camp, Sayari Camp, Melia Zanzibar

*****

Hi Tom, 

Thanks for the welcome home...it has taken us about a week to recover from the jet lag, but we are still savoring the highs of the trip. As you know, we covered a lot of ground and thus are very tired, although we would still have chosen to do as much as we did, and in fact, can't wait to go back one day and see some more of Africa. We also loved the portion of our trip in Uganda and Rwanda planned with Tim Ellis, so thank you for recommending him. 

The arrangements that I made with you were perfect---incredible as it is that we did it all by email. Your organization and timely responses made it a pleasure to work with True Africa, and we did not encounter a single problem along the way with any of the scheduling or booking. Also your suggestions for resorts and safari camps were very special and we enjoyed them all, especially because they were very different experiences and in very different places. 

Favorite and least favorite? I can't specify a least favorite. Beyt al Chai in Stonestown, Zanzibar was comfortable and had a real flavor of the area---great ambiance. Upon arrival, after a timely pick-up at the airport, the management upgraded us to two beautiful rooms instead of the one Sultan suite. I am certainly happy about that arrangement as I think the one room may have been a little close for the four of us. The management there was excellent and we loved the restaurant. Thanks for booking us in for New Year's Eve---we had a festive time dining on Coconut Crab Soup and all the broiled seafood. Had we known about it, we may have made our way to the center of town around midnight for the parade of locals. On New Year's Day, we hired a guide through the hotel and he drove us all over the island which we found very interesting and beautiful.

The Tides was also a great resort---perfect for resting up mid-way through our trip and also satisfying for the scuba divers. The padi-certified operators were very careful and patient and my family all had a wonderful time diving in the marine preserve.Graeme and Candy, Tides managers, were most gracious and accommodating hosts. We asked one of the hotel staff to be our guide through a little fishing village down the beach---a highlight for me, especially when we got to visit with a lot of the local elementary students who were resting near the little "library" (a shack with some books and newspapers.) We discovered that they are pretty well educated through elementary school, which is free to them. However, the cost of going on is about $50 year, which is an enormous amount for them.

Our air service to The Tides and to the Selous was great---a new plane (small) and a great pilot--and on time. He even flew us around the Rufiji River so that we could spot some animal life from the air.

And the Selous Impala Camp!!! In the first place, we were very happy that we chose to go to the Selous Game Preserve for our safari experience, both for the beauty at this time of the year and for the feeling that we had the largest and oldest game preserve in Africa almost to ourselves. Very occasionally we would see another car, often driving through on the way to another destination, but for the most part, we had the experience all to ourselves, with an outstanding, well-educated guide. I don't know if it's the case in other parks, but I liked the fact that we could go off-roading anywhere in order to get better looks or to find more elusive animals. 

On our first afternoon there, they had organized a boat ride for us where we saw dozens and dozens of hippos in the river, and even more crocodiles, not to mention giraffes, baboons, brilliant birds, large salamanders and elephants on the banks. And as a surprise, the boat pulled up to shore at sunset and we found a beautiful table laid for us with champagne and snacks and giraffes grazing in the background. What fun!

One the second day, we started early, had a picnic breakfast (wonderful) in the wilds, and saw all these animals: herds of elephants, impala, waterbuck, hippos, a gazillion giraffes, multitudes of beautiful birds and water fowl, troops and troops of baboons, lions, hyena, wildebeast, warthogs, African wild dogs, zebras, monkeys and actually, much more. We were exhausted and thrilled by this most amazing ride.  We then gathered at the fire pit for a little social and drinks with the few other guests and then enjoyed a candlelit dinner by the river. Excellent food and dining to the sounds of bush babies playing in the trees capped the day. 

Selous Impala Camp tents are beautiful and entirely comfortable. I awoke at 5 am the first night to the sound of hippos snorting along the path under our elevated tent and then splashing into the water. Incredible! So yes, I would call this a "true africa" experience.

By the way, the management met our every expectation and then some. They worked out an issue with electricity so that my husband could sleep with a C-Pap breathing machine by rigging up an extra battery or something. And they even all gathered to wish us good bye and wave as we reluctantly left the camp.

Thanks again for everything. I would highly recommend you and your agency to friends or give feedback on any internet site that you could suggest. I will look through our photos and see if I can upload a few favorites to your Flickr account.

Please let me know if you have any other questions. 

Best wishes,

Jolene & family from San Antonio, TX, USA travelled in January 2012 and stayed at Beyt Al Chai, The Tides Lodge and Selous Impala Camp