I wanted to love the star bed and the setting is undeniably special, but for the price I expected more. Check-in was disorganised and nobody was expecting me, the star bed wasn't made up on the first night, and it was freezing with no extra blankets until I asked twice. The staff were apologetic and the second night was much better, but at this rate I can't call it good value.

The bush and the game drives were fantastic and the kids loved the waterhole. Three stars because the value felt stretched: the road in from the gate is genuinely rough and nobody warned us to book the transfer, the wifi barely worked, and one of the game drives was cut short by a vehicle problem. Beautiful place, but a few small things kept it from being the trip we paid for.

We have done a lot of safaris and Mana is the one we keep talking about. Three nights in the Leadwood Suite and we saw four of the Big Five from the vehicle plus a leopard with two cubs on the last morning. Our guide Petrus could read the bush like a book, the suite was beautiful, and waking up to sunrise over the riverbed without leaving the bed is something else. The food was ridiculous. We'll be back.