Travel reviews by Family from Surrey

"Due to our late departure from the UK, we arrived in the early hours of the morning, after a 45 minute drive from the airport. The owner and two other members of staff were waiting for us to offer us a warm welcome and show us to our room. The room was very clean and spacious, as was the bathroom. The beds were extremely comfortable and the shower functioned adequately. Bottled water was provided in the room.

In the morning, tea was brought to our room and then a good cooked breakfast was served to order in the lovely dining room, where free wifi was available. We learned that we were the only guests there and it really felt as if we were special guests in a family home. The very personal service continued, even when other guests arrived later that day. For dinner, we ordered a simple meal of spaghetti and tomato sauce which was plentiful and served with the same good service.

We did not have chance to use the pool, but we had a quick look at the well kept gardens which we would have enjoyed relaxing in if we had had the time.

We were very close to the Giraffe centre and the location was ideal for all the places we wanted to visit. We felt very safe as there were security gates at the entrance. We had passed many large, impersonal hotels on the way from the airport, so we were glad to be staying at a place with so much character.

Every member of staff treated us with great courtesy at all times. It was an excellent start to our holiday.

We left at 7.30am and it took us about an hour to get to Wilson airport, but it was a particularly busy time of day."

"We loved it here, but we know why you describe it as having a "circus" feel about it. Lots of people around, but never feeling overcrowded. We always had our own table at meal times with our tent number on it. We had the same waiter, Dominic, throughout. He wasn't the best waiter we've ever had, probably due to inexperience, but he tried to do his best, was always polite and was such a great character that we didn't mind. We were surprised at the quality of the food available at what is essentially a camp site, but it certainly exceeded our expectations, especially the fine dining in the evening under candlelight.

The tent was spacious and we like that it faced the plains. It did mean that we had a lot of noise from elephants and hippos during the night, but that added to our enjoyment of the experience. We did have a walk around to see the tents by the river which looked more secluded and might suit people without children better.

Other things we enjoyed at the camp: having hot water bottles brought to us in the evening, tea brought to us in the very early morning, flashing our torch to get the guards attention so he could escort us at night, the chefs singing Jambo Jambo at the end of the evening meal.

The game drives were more than we could have wished for. We shared a Land Cruiser with another couple who were great company. Six seats, three down each side so we all had a good view. Lots of space inside to stand up and move around. We saw lots of other guests squashed into Land Rovers so we felt lucky. More importantly we had a fantastic guide, the very humble Moses, who had 15 years experience and had the patience to wait a little longer than some of the other drivers. Because of this we managed to witness the wildebeest crossing when all the others had given up and left. On another occasion we were almost back to the camp at the end of our drive, when he heard that a cheetah was in the area. Moses turned back so that we could see it, extending the length of our game drive by another half an hour.

Colin, the manger personally introduced himself evtoery guest and was always about the camp. We did hear one woman complaining about the quality of a driver, but we didn't have any complaints. We have never stayed at a place like this before so it is difficult to make comparisons but it suited us well."

"The staff were waiting to welcome us with a drink and a short talk about Diani Blue. We were shown our room, which was spacious with plenty of storage space. Very comfortable beds. Bottled water was provided (I had been a bit concerned about there being filtered water as per your description as I don't trust anything not in a sealed bottle). There was no cell phone in the room, but free wifi was available in our room and around the pool so we didn't need a phone.

Complimentary afternoon tea and biscuits/cake is available on the terrace between 4 and 5pm, but since we had just arrived they brought it our room. They like you to order dinner in advance from the menu which is put up on the noticeboard each afternoon. It was quite windy during our first evening, so they set us a table by the pool. There were only three other guests there, so we received a very personal service. Breakfast was served on the terrace, the normal buffet style items which we helped ourselves to from inside the sideboard cabinet, then a cooked breakfast. We loved the pancakes. For our lunches and other evening meals, we sat on the The Edge (I think you call it the Ledge in your description, so maybe they have changed the name). Non-residents can also eat here, but it was never busy and the service always good. Friday night is BBQ night where they carry the grill out onto The Edge, you pay 950 ksh for a huge plate of food - chicken, steak, prawns, calamari. A great atmosphere. We always took a torch out at meal times as it's quite difficult to see what you are eating.

The beach was always deserted - mainly because there are hardly any tourists and also because you need to have your wits about you to deal with the beach boys. We swam in the sea a few times and walked quickly back to the hotel, so they didn't bother us too much. We did get into a few conversations with them, but it was always on a friendly basis and they didn't pose a threat at all. We explained that we can't buy from all of them and they accepted it.

We attempted a walk along the main road, but again the sellers were there. We quite enjoyed bargaining for some animal wood carvings with our names on them They said we had to go back to collect them the next day and allowed us to take anything we wanted from there stall as security, so they obviously trusted us more than we trusted them. Sure to their word, the carvings were waiting for us the next day, with no more hard sell to buy anything else although they did ask if we had any clothes, magazines, suntan lotion we wanted to trade. I don't think people should worry too much about the sellers, since they are all friendly and good humoured and I think its all part of the experience.

We enjoyed using the pool which we had to ourselves most of the time. Everywhere was clean and well -looked after

On our last day, we had to vacate our room at 11am so they could get it ready for the next guests, but they let us use the room with the sea view until it was time to depart.

All members of staff offered excellent service, so I wouldn't like to single any of them out.

We managed to escape travellers' diarrhoea until our last day when Lucy and I succumbed. We didn't eat anywhere other than the hotel but we were tempted by their salads which we had previously avoided, which could have been the cause. To be honest I did expect to get it much sooner than we did, so I'm not blaming the hotel in particular. I know it can be contracted from swimming pools but they did clean and treat it every morning.

We didn't do any activities as I think we just wanted to rest after the safari, but Captain Rama did offer take us snorkelling. We just couldn't face another very early start.

A lovely, friendly little place, So glad we stayed here rather than the huge Diani Sea Resort which was the original plan."