Testimonial

We had the BEST time! I have been struggling to put into words how amazing our honeymoon actually was.

By the time we got to Selous Riverside Safari Camp it was after lunch so we’d missed the afternoon trip but we went on the river safari late afternoon which was brilliant, could only be discribed as breathtaking for our first few sightings. We seen a mamma hippo with her baby on her back, would only have been around two days old. We seen a lot of birds, hippo families and some crocs, was great! The river was definitely a bird lovers paradise! Back at camp we came across baboons and two other types of monkeys, a scorpion in our room, geckos galore and some lemars!

The next morning we went on our full day safari into the reserve and WOW! I am fanatical about giraffes and my first sighting as soon as we got past the landing strip of them in their natural habitat was a little emotional, I did have a tear in my eye. The day just got better and better. We went on to see so many giraffes I lost count and impala. We were then greeted with a lovely smell and some pumbas appeared but quickly scarpered when they spotted us. After having a quick loo stop behind a bush I walked out to find an elephant walking across the field towards us, to say this was unreal would be an understatement! I nearly had to pee again ha!! Following her we seen her family emerge from the trees behind her, I think for a second my heart stopped I was so shocked as the previous day the trips had failed to spot any elephants. We followed them for a while, watching and admiring quite near. We had a lone bull come over to the truck a little later to see what we were up to and pick up some fruit; his trunk was two feet away from us!!! Wow, just WOW!! Abdullah our driver was fantastic, I have left a review on their page mentioning him and our waiter we had, Sultani, he was also great!! Abdullah took us round some thee tracks and we then stumbled across a male lion (omg!!) and his 4 ladies chilling in the shade after clearly eating too much. This was crazy as we were only feet away from them, just awesome as well as a little scary. Following our tabby lunch by a lake and the hippos wallowing in the background we went on to see wildebeest, zebra, BIG crocs, hyena, water buck, more hippos, water buffalo and baboons (which were also very lively in camp haha! We had a few laughs with their behaviour). Safe to say the day was a dream come true!

Our food was good although a choice would have been nice, that’s not a complaint by any means though. Shaun and Elené were great management hosts. They upgraded us to a tent with our own dipping pool!! On our last night we had dinner on the river bank alone with a firepit under the stars. To our surprise all the staff came out singing a local song to us with a cake to wish us all the best in married life and I did cry at this special gesture! It truly was magical. I felt quite sad to be leaving after a day and a half and two nights stay, but we were heading to our (in our opionion) second paradise spot.

The flight was short and sweet so all good there. The journey from Dar seemed to take forever, think it was our excitement getting the better of us! On arrival we were greeted with drinks and nibbles and were given two gifts in envelopes. We were escorted to our room which was lovely and were presented with a large fruit platter and a bottle of fizz! We opened the envelopes and they were a sunset cruise and an Al La Carte meal under the stars. We couldn’t believe how lucky we were. Once settled in we went for lunch and it was lovely followed by heading to the beach for a few hours before the sun was due to set. We watched the perfect sunset and couldn’t stop smiling.

The staff, food and room were all faultless. The hotel was just perfect.

We had a wonderful sunset cruise. We arranged some trips ourselves, we went out on a jet ski, went on a snorkelling trip (out of this world!), swam with turtles in a local sanctuary and, with the help of Francesca at the hotel we spent our final day at Pongwe island lodge. The food here was exceptional, the views outstanding and the staff wonderful. Upon our arrival back as a special treat we were upgraded to a beach front villa, with a butler and a jacuzzi!! What a perfect end to a truly OUTSTANDING holiday.

I can’t thank you enough for helping my dad plan our dream honeymoon. You will and already have come highly recommended from us!

Think I’ve covered everything from our amazing time away