KATAVI WILDLIFE TENTED CAMP

Dear Roberto,
We are happy to hear that you enjoyed your stay with us at Ruaha River Lodge. We hope that you can visit again in the future and enjoy some more time with the wonderful wildlife we have on our doorstep.

On behalf of Christiane and the entire team at Ruaha River Lodge,
Asante Sana and Karibu Tena!

Dear Claudia,
We are so glad that you share our appreciation for the sheer beauty that is The Great Ruaha River. It is an honour to be able to call this place home and to welcome visitors to experience true immersion into nature.

On behalf of Christiane and the entire team at Ruaha River Lodge, Asante Sana and Karibu Tena!

Thank you for taking the time to write this review, we are very sorry that Katavi Wildlife Camp was disappointing for you. It is extremely difficult to operate such a remote camp (2 days drive from Dar es Salaam) in the midst of a global pandemic, with, as you point out, an empty camp for much of the time. You arrived at camp without a booking, so no preparations could be made in advance, and no supplies of fresh produce could be obtained. It is highly unusual for guests to arrive without a prior booking at such a remote location, and normally all payments are done with the reservation office and the manager would not be involved in any of this. I have re read the messaging thread pertaining to your stay and refute the claim that you were made to wait 5 hours to find out if you could stay. There is a message logged at 13:55 advising us that you had arrived at camp and wanted to stay, and the reply to confirm that you could stay as you had already arrived and no other camps were open, was sent at 13:58. At 1606 I can see a confirmation that you had already been sent a payment link but were out on a game drive and not waiting in camp. Payment was not made until the following day. The pool is not a shared pool for the camp, but part of the suite, with the lack of bookings the normal pool management is unviable. I apologise if you were given this room to stay in, instead of one the the tents without a pool, bearing in mind its poor state. Unfortunately, there is a global collapse in tourism, which has crippled the ability of operators to maintain camps and keep a full quota of staff without income. We kept the camp open with a skeleton staff, to keep them in work and to honour existing bookings (for which we sent in additional staff and supplies). We accept that it was a mistake to offer you accommodation in the only camp open in Katavi and will certainly learn from our mistakes.