Kenya safari - a traveller's review
With the return of tourism to Kenya we have seen many Kuoni clients returning from their holidays with great enthusiasm for the country and having had an incredible experience. Below is the story and photos of a family who recently took a tailor made safari to Kenya with Kuoni:
"..the whole holiday was wonderful and we are already mentally planning our next visit to Kenya. "
"We would like to thank you so much for your help in arranging our safari - everything ran very smoothly and was faultless. Our driver, Gimo, was wonderful - probably the best yet - and as you know we had concerns after having two very good drivers before. He was very friendly, accommodating, considerate and patient (having to sit for hours while we watched lion cubs playing, taking numerous photos etc!). He was also a very careful and skilled driver, not only having to contend with the Kenyan roads which is no mean feat, but also having to drive in some appalling weather conditions as the wet season decided to arrive early. If we are fortunate enough to have another safari holiday we shall certainly request him again. We also didn't realise we were getting a 4 x 4 instead of the normal safari bus so that was a nice surprise and it enabled us to go off road in the Mara in various boggy and difficult conditions, even towing out 2 of the Serena vehicles!
"Samburu Lodge was as usual fantastic... The staff there are so friendly and helpful. "
"We were treated extremely well at all the Lodges - at Mountain Lodge we were the only guests in the dining room for dinner and breakfast but even so, they laid on a fantastic buffet. Ruth and Colin were the only two on the naturalist's walk in the forest and really enjoyed that, still finishing with tea and biscuits at the end even though the staff outnumbered the guests!
"Samburu Lodge was as usual fantastic - we were made very welcome and were given a cake on the last night to say "Kwaheri" and 'visit us again'. The staff there are so friendly and helpful. Apart from our table of 5, the maximum number of guests was two other tables of 4! There was no buffet there - even breakfast was waiter served because of the lack of guests and I have to admit the food can't compare to the Serena but the Lodge and grounds make up for that. When we were there the river was bone dry (before the rains arrived!) but this was actually good for game viewing because we saw elephants, giraffes, baboons, various antelopes and buffalo on the dry river bed at the Lodge. They weren't feeding the crocodiles because of the lack of water but we were still able to see the crocs sitting in the shade outside their shelters on the other side of the river bed.
"Sweetwaters was busy, especially with 'locals' at it was coming up to Easter weekend and there were various activities going on but it was still lovely and most meals were served buffet style outside. That's where we encountered our first rainstorm but it didn't prevent us from doing any game drives or visiting Morani, the tame black rhino or his new 'friend', the white rhino, or the chimps. As usual the food was superb and the staff helpful and attentive.
"Lake Nakuru Lodge we would probably skip next time (but where else, apart from Naivasha, do you break the journey?) The room was lovely but there were not many flamingoes as they had migrated to Lake Natron for the breeding season (although we have seen them there in March previously). Again, the weather was not good but we saw plenty of rhinos. The food not brilliant after having just stayed at a Serena! It was unfortunate for us (but not for the Lodge) that the place was packed full, including a 'convention' of Chinese television delegates and it was quite a mammoth task to simply get crackers to go with cheese at evening dinner.
"Our driver, Gimo, was wonderful - probably the best yet"
"After that, the Mara Serena. What can we say? Amazing. We were treated like old friends on our 4th visit to this lodge. The staff again were so helpful and friendly and it amazes us that from the waiters to the room attendants, they can remember all our names. Even Charles, the barman, remembered us from previous visits. They provided a birthday cake on Rose's birthday accompanied by Michael on the guitar and the full complement of waiting and kitchen staff singing. We unfortunately missed out on the hippo pool breakfast because it coincided with our hot air balloon trip but the breakfast following the balloon trip made up for that. The Lodge was busy with locals again on Easter Sunday when we arrived but was quiet on the remaining days of our visit. It was lovely to see the hyraxes in the rocks around the hotel grounds as well as 2 warthogs in the bushes and on the last day, a bush buck that decided to appear by the cottages just before we left. This lodge is one of our favourite places, the views are spectacular, the game drives better than anywhere (despite the rain) and the food wonderful, most memorable being the ginger and the orange sponge puddings!
"Keekorok was a nice Lodge, despite the rain, and the staff very friendly, but the game drive not comparable to those in the Mara Conservancy because the vehicles can't go off road so if you are lucky enough to spot anything, it is only from a distance.
"The room at the Holiday Inn was most welcome although we didn't get there until late afternoon, having visited the giraffe centre which was great. Never expected to finish our holiday kissing a Rothschild giraffe! Had a lovely meal in the adjoining restaurant and were pleasantly surprised when a man came up to us and said he recognised us from Samburu Lodge at the beginning of the holiday. We think he must have been a driver from one of the other vans - expect the cake drew attention to us - and he asked us to spread the word when we got back to England and encourage people to come to Kenya . The Kuoni driver arrived promptly to take us to the airport in the evening and the journey was slightly tense as the heavy rain caused a gridlock in the town traffic so we were panicking a bit about making our plane. However, they assured us it would be fine (Hakuna Matata!) and we arrived in plenty of time, just to find that our flight was delayed from 11.20 to 2.30am. A lesson to us to ring the airport in future to check whether the flight is on time!
"Never expected to finish our holiday kissing a Rothschild giraffe!"
"Anyway, the whole holiday was wonderful and we are already mentally planning our next visit to Kenya. Gimo, our driver, has told us that Meru and Lewa are lovely places to visit and that they would be in the brochure but we can't actually find them. Will have to look into this a bit more! Have also decided to fly Virgin next time as the flight times are more convenient - that wait at Nairobi Airport in the middle of the night is very tiring after a day's travelling.
"We will write to the Lodges individually to thank them and post reviews on tripadvisor but we would especially like to thank you again for your invaluable help throughout and your assurances during the period of uncertainty and we will not hesitate to use Kuoni again. A few photos are attached - the food ones are Mountain Lodge and Sweetwaters!"
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Tailor made safaris
At Kuoni we specialise in tailor making holidays for our clients, and safari holidays are no exception. Our expert travel consultants will help create a personal itinerary combining safari lodges, transfers, extensions and international flights to build your dream holiday. To speak to a travel consultant, please call 01306 747002.
