Hotel berhampiran Kilimanjaro Balloon Safaris, Amboseli

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.

We stayed recently for two nights when visiting Amboseli. Great location in the park, lots of animals nearby to see. Overall a good hotel. We had a double room with extra bed, which had its own terrace, shower with good water pressure, good condition. Cleaning good - done in the early morning when out for a game drive and then turn down service in the evening when on a game driver or at dinner. Stayed on a full board basis, food was pretty good. Breakfast especially very nice, cooking station doing pancakes and eggs to order. Drinks which were chargeable were a reasonable price. Free WiFi good speed generally for emails and light internet browsing. Staff friendly throughout. Only improvements, which is why I would mark as a 4 star and not 5: - some staff could do with more training and generally just working quicker eg takes a long time by pool and in some parts of restaurants to get drinks. Had to ask three members of staff to get new towels for pool - this was when the pool barely had any people in so there wasn’t huge demand. Some staff are great however. - when we reported a maintenance issue in the room, reception staff apologised and said someone would attend, alas no one ever did. - water in restaurants, please have a larger still bottle available - you have large ones in the rooms but seemingly none available in restaurant, doesn’t make sense when you have families and large groups?

Ol Tukai Resort is a wonderful launching pad for Amboseli National Park. The grounds and service are both A+. The hotel is inside the park, and wildlife is everywhere, both on and outside the grounds. Our safari included four different resorts, and this was by far the poorest food. Our room, while well-apportioned, was incredibly hot, and we found it difficult to sleep. It was about 29 degrees outside during the day, but the room had poor ventilation, and the ceiling fan did not affect the bed. We had a great stay, but there is room for improvement.