My daughter and I stayed here on the first night of our 3 night safari whilst staying on the North Mombasa Coast in January 2012. Having read the reviews here I wasn’t expecting anything marvellous. However, it was rather better than I expected. On arrival we were given refreshing cold towels and a fruit juice. The porters took our bags to our room, which was absolutely fine with a great view over the waterhole.
Before our evening game drive we had a swim in the pool which was away from the waterhole. There is one near the waterhole too. Very refreshing! Our game drive went really well, and my daughter, who was on her first ever safari day, said that this had been one of the best days of her life! We had seen a great variety of animals and had taken some super photos.
After showering we went down for dinner. We both had some beef which was carved in front of us. Very nice, but not really enough of it. There were plenty of other choices though. The lodge was quite busy, with tourists coming from all over Europe. Quite a few Italians. There were quite a few bugs flying around the bar area after supper. I could feel something in my hair and flicked it out quickly. There was a loud cracking noise as it hit the floor. It must have flown off or escaped rather quickly because I couldn’t see it in the dimly lit bar area, but I’m sure it was some kind of beetle. The view of a herd of elephant at the floodlit waterhole was excellent!
We were pleased to have the mosquito nets around our beds for the night. In the morning we awoke to a wonderful sunrise. However, when I put my first shoe on I felt something inside it which obviously shouldn’t be there. I tipped out a rather large cockroach. Tip: Check your shoes!
I opened the double glass doors to take a photo of the sunrise. A cheeky monkey soon appeared, looking for food I imagine. I ‘shooed’ him away and he then tried to attack me. I was too quick for him though and shut the door on him. The little devil!
If I was asked would I stay here again, the answer would be no. It’s ok, but there are much nicer, smaller, more luxurious places to stay in Tsavo. I’m not a squeamish person generally, but there were too many bugs around for my liking. I know, we were in Africa, but other places where we stayed didn’t have the same amount of bugs that this place did.