Hi Paul. Overall we had a great holiday. Thank you and Albatros for the arrangements, which worked impeccably. The accommodation provided a good range, with three of the five safari properties we stayed in being exceptional. The motoring on safari was fine, and we saw all the main animals plus a large wildebeest crossing of the Mara, so job done in that respect. We felt that the package, though expensive, did represent value for money. In more detail... Kenyan Airways was fine. Seat pitch was an inch or two better than BA, a big plus for my 6'2". In flight food and service were good. All our flights were on time. Nairobi airport ain't great, but heigh-ho! Mount Meru hotel was an ideal recovery stop, and that free day before we started in earnest worked well for us. I loved the feel of Tarangire Safari Lodge, and the view over the valley is breathtaking. The bungalow room was OK; ours had a large double bed and a single, which left no room for any chairs or other furniture; it would have made dressing easier if the single bed hadn't been there, allowing a bit more space elsewhere in the room. the buffet was adequate. 3.5 stars is about right. Plantation Lodge was gorgeous. We were given an upgrade to a suite, which helped, but anyway, this was a 5 star experience - in its post-colonial feeling way right up there with the luxury lodges we visited later. Serengeti Sopa Lodge was our least favourite, being much larger and more impersonal than than the other accommodation. Having said that the food was good and the room large albeit rather dark. We found the service indifferent, and overall it was 3 stars from us rather than 4. I realize that this booking came in part due to unavailability of other options in the same location, and no worries, it added to our range of safari accommodation experience. Sayari Camp and Escarpment Luxury Lodge both offered the 5 star comfort and service promised on the tin. Both excellent. Escarpment had, as you mentioned before we travelled, recently been taken over. The new manager had only been in situ for a month, so he said he had not yet made any material changes to something that clearly wasn't broken in the first place. The accommodation delivered for us on all fronts - important, because it had been a prerequisite for Catherine in humouring me with a safari holiday that there was to be no roughing it! As for the safari itself, again an excellent experience. Gaudence, our driver / guide, was extremely knowledgeable and consistently good humoured. He knew where to look for stuff, and was responsive to the few specific requests we made along the way. Personally I'd have liked a little more involvement in the daily route planning - not because I'd have had any useful input, but because I like to visualize where we might be going and to understand if there were any alternatives to consider. So a five minute daily brief / debrief might be an idea. And we both would have preferred if the lodges had consistently provided reasonable accommodation for Gaudence. I know this isn't in the gift of Real Africa or Albatros, but it's something you might have opportunity to influence. These driver guides are highly skilled people, and they shouldn't have to be scrambling around a local village for what's likely to be pretty dire sleeping arrangements as Gaudence did on at east one occasion (Escarpment). On the road, most of the days worked really well. The days we had travelling between south and north Serengeti were quite long, but not unmanageable, and with plenty to take in on the way. Catherine chose to skip the second day in Ngorongoro crater, and also an evening game drive in north Serengeti. On both these occasions, big cats eluded Gaudence and me, several extra sightings of hippos being the main fruit of our labours. We did get bitten extensively while driving in north Serengeti by what were described as Tsetse flies (no sleeping sickness though). Heavy duty Deet repellant seemed to make no difference at all. Most importantly of course, the animals were magnificent! And we were glad we were able to see the contrasts in all four parks we visited. We visited the Masai village. While obviously a bit contrived, I guess this did give some genuine insight into the primitivity of the conditions that this particular tribe still seems to choose. We would have been interested in a little more, less structured insight into the local peoples and customs, though I understand that that might be hard to engineer. Socially we met up with David and Anne, two of your other clients on on a parallel trip, at Tarangire and Lake Manyara. It was good to be able to exchange war stories with a like minded couple. I think that about covers it. Once again, overall a great holiday. We would not hesitate to use Real Africa again, or to recommend you to any friends who were seeking a similar experience. I hope this helps! Best wishes, Gordon