Hotel berhampiran Amboseli National Park, Amboseli

It's all about location and this hotel has it as it is located inside the park. The grounds are fenced so the most animals stay out. The exception are the vervet monkeys. There are lots of the on the grounds. They are looking for hand outs, but don't do it as the may carry disease. There are no door knobs on the door so to keep the door closed and the monkeys out, use the deadbolt lock. I had one look through the window one day. The bed was comfortable and equipped with mosquito netting. The room has a ceiling fan, but it was to the side of the mosquito netting of the bed. Some reported it to be not very effective. Bottomless bottled water was supplied with the room at no charge. It was recommended not to drink the water. Large shower, but mine had a cracked window. Plenty of hot water. Above average room condition. Buffet restaurant on site se only option. Wide selection, but it was labeled by one of the group as ”survival food” and just ok. Tip: either bring your own knife or ask for a steak knife as the standard table knives were not effective. Ok, that also means the meats were tough. Which leads back to the ”survival food” label. Choose wisely the food especially the desserts. Many good great but the gelatin ones could be used as super balls. Friendly staff, fully stocked bar and quiet location. Oh yes, there is an out door open fire ring and pool. In December, we did not encounter any mosquitos but this really depends on the weather. It takes 20 minutes to get out to where the elephants cross the roads. The parks opens at 6a and closes at 6p. No one can leave outside of there hours. For the elephant crossing the road, which are dirt and bumpy and dusty, expect numerous vehicles. We encountered a lion passing the elephants one day and that was really a great experience to hear the elephants trumpeting and surrounding the young ones. The lion was not interested in them, just passing by.

I stayed here in July for the first two nights of my Safari adventures and what a start! As soon as my jeep arrived at the front door, I was met with such a warm, friendly welcome, a towel to freshen up & a lovely cold drink. Very easy check in & then shown to my room with all the lodge’s amenities & meal times explained en route. My room was perhaps the furthest from Reception & that really didn’t matter as I strolled through lovely planted gardens & palm trees, occupied by lots of monkeys! My room was on the ground floor with views of the waterhole & I could just step off my terrace on to the garden in front. The room is well appointed with everything you’ll need & very comfy bed. A nice surprise was the turndown each evening. On my first visit to the restaurant I was impressed with being given a lovely table to the side of the open air veranda which as a solo traveler, meant a great deal so I wasn’t overwhelmed & overlooked by other parties & I could actually enjoy a great view of the garden & all the restaurant’s activities. I was given the same table for all my meals & was served by a lovely young lady for them all. The buffet offerings at all meals were very well presented & very tasty. Amboseli, by comparison, is a smaller park yet still huge but means the concentration of animals are spread out over shorter distances but still incredibly abundant so you won’t be disappointed. A wonderful stay & would definitely recommend here. Thanks to all the Team for making my stay so memorable.

I honestly don’t know where to start in describing our experience of staying the first two nights of our safari holiday at this awful lodge. In the weeks leading up to our trip we were in contact with our tour company concerning the awful reviews about this place, and were reassured that the local rep’s were making sure there were improvements and that we would be staying in an upgraded Cottage. We were put in a Cottage, No. FC6, and it was dreadful. No way is this the upgraded accommodation! See the photos - curtain hanging off rail ( we fixed it ourselves and it still didn’t cover the whole window), holes in the window mesh so nothing to stop lizards getting in, no mat for the slippery shower floor (I took the pillow case from the extra bed to use as a mat - wished I hadn’t because the pillow unearth it was absolutely disgustingly stained and dirty), mould growing on bedroom furniture, very poor light - just one very dim bulb in a very tatty and dirty lampshade, rotting wood around the wash basin, I could go on and on. And then there was the electrics - a couple of plug sockets simply didn’t work, but there was a trailing socket coming from under the bed which did. So there was no where safe to plug in the electric kettle - not that I would have risked using it, and the nicest item in the room, a large table lamp had a type of plug that didn’t match any socket! Also, the hairdryer was on a broken socket with exposed wires - needless to say I didn’t use it. Outside there were a couple of chairs - they were very old, dirty and falling apart. The dining experience- mediocre at best, with some of the food really not very nice at all and possibly carried over from the previous meal. There was never enough cutlery etc on the tables and the staff would take them from nearby tables if you asked for anything. On our second morning there weren’t enough bowls available to use for cereal/fruit and the urn for making tea was completely cold! Before my holiday I remember reading reviews concerning Chinese guests at AA Amboseli getting preferential treatment over everyone else. No way of knowing if this is the case, but on our second evening there was a large group of people who appeared to be Chinese at a nearby table and the buffet dinner was, in my opinion, considerably better quality than the previous evening. We can only speculate. So, this lodge is popular because of its location, but it’s very run down and needs a considerable amount of investment to bring it to an acceptable standard. At the moment it does not deserve paying customers! Please note- I had to put one Star rating to enable this review to be uploaded - it deserves Zero Rating in my opinion.