Dear Nick,
A big thanks for arranging our recent holiday, the whole trip ran exactly as your schedule described, everyone was ready and waiting for us at each transfer and we were made to feel that we were getting the VIP treatment throughout the whole trip. Our sons had just spent many months working hard towards and taking their GCSE’s and A levels, your brief was to plan and deliver the holiday of a lifetime that my wife and I had promised them as a reward, the trip gave us everything we asked for, a complete success. As you were aware, during our initial conversations, my wife and I had some reservations when contemplating booking such a big trip with a company that we discovered online, your advice, reassurance, references as well as the financial safeguards you offered convinced us to proceed, you delivered everything that you promised and our amazing experiences on the trip will be remembered for the rest of our lives.
Mivumo River Lodge was a taste of paradise on all fronts, to run a lodge in a remote location offering the comprehensive experiences that they do is remarkable. Nixon and his staff offer a level of service that I have rarely experienced in some very well known 5 star hotels, his chef does an amazing job, the quality and selection of food that we were offered was outstanding. Syed, our guide for the 5 days, met us at the airstrip when we arrived and was with us every time we ventured out of the lodge, he managed our daily adventures in an un-intrusive manner but made sure that we experienced all that was on offer. River, walking and all day safaris were arranged and conducted in a casual but professional manner, one of the highlights of my sons holiday was catching a large catfish from a sandbank which 20 minutes earlier had been a sunbathing spot for a number of large crocodiles. The vigilance and attention to our wellbeing by the staff and especially Syed ensured that we felt safe at all times, we were always eager to go along with his suggestions and it was difficult to say goodbye when he waved us off at the airstrip on our final day.
The Ocean Paradise resort in Zanzibar proved to be an equally good recommendation, the level of service from the staff was excellent, the food great and the ethos of the resort was calm and relaxing. The hotel offered our sons a range of facilities and activities that they enjoyed and they developed a good rapour with the staff who managed those areas. On 2 occasions we hired the hotels catamaran and it was the best sailing I had experienced in the past 20 years, the conditions were perfect and the equipment well maintained, albeit that my sailing skills were initially a little rusty. We managed to fit in 2 scuba dives on the reef face at Mnemba Island which rounded off a brilliant week. The hotel management made the effort several times during our stay to enquire if we were happy & all levels of staff were courteous and quietly determined to make our stay a positive experience, it’s a very pleasurable experience when all you encounter all day are smiling faces.
We would be more than happy to be used as a reference in the future and again a big thanks for the work that you put in to make our trip so special. I think my wife has even forgiven me for being a little economical on the information she was given on the flights to and from Mivumo, she finally asked the questions I had been avoiding for some weeks during breakfast in Dubai after the first leg of our journey, a colourful response is probably the best description of her reaction, I’m glad I was sitting out of reach, but everything tuned out just fine.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can offer any perspective customer any reassurance of your professionalism and ability to deliver on your promises, and even more importantly, please forward on my comments to Mivumo & the Ocean Paradise Resort with our grateful thanks, I just hope that one day we can do it all again.
Best regards
Steve, Rosie, Sam & Jack Bryanton
