Travel reviews by Deb & J-M from Australia
Review Distribution
Total number of trips
1
Countries visited
1
Lodges stayed in
2
Excursions taken
0
My Sep 2019 trip
Kenya between 4 Sep 2019 and 8 Sep 2019
"I had been planning this trip for well over a year, done a lot of personal research and held high expectations, which is not always a good thing before departure.
To my delight, all my expectations were surpassed and my husband and I agree it was the best trip we've been on thus far.
A big thank you to Richard Trillo.
Richard's advice and connections made it possible for us to have the best possible experience. For example at The Giraffe Manor we had a back room booked initially, then Richard was contacted by the property about a cancellation for Jocks room and he secured that for us straight away! What a treat.
All of Richard's planning was thorough and everything ran smoothly. I particularly loved the travel wallet which i am still using, the bag tags that others commented on and the 'Guide to Kenya', authored by Richard.
We fell in love with the African bush over the month we visited Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. We think it was a combination of the warm, friendly and proud (in a good way!) people we met and the animals we were honoured to be close to, together with 5 star accommodation, which made our trip so special.
One word of advice for potential first time visitors to Africa- if you are going to be visiting larger cities or towns do that first because once you go into the beautiful lodges within the National Parks you won't want to go back to the towns."
To my delight, all my expectations were surpassed and my husband and I agree it was the best trip we've been on thus far.
A big thank you to Richard Trillo.
Richard's advice and connections made it possible for us to have the best possible experience. For example at The Giraffe Manor we had a back room booked initially, then Richard was contacted by the property about a cancellation for Jocks room and he secured that for us straight away! What a treat.
All of Richard's planning was thorough and everything ran smoothly. I particularly loved the travel wallet which i am still using, the bag tags that others commented on and the 'Guide to Kenya', authored by Richard.
We fell in love with the African bush over the month we visited Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. We think it was a combination of the warm, friendly and proud (in a good way!) people we met and the animals we were honoured to be close to, together with 5 star accommodation, which made our trip so special.
One word of advice for potential first time visitors to Africa- if you are going to be visiting larger cities or towns do that first because once you go into the beautiful lodges within the National Parks you won't want to go back to the towns."
Arranged By Richard Trillo
The Emakoko
"The Emakoko - Our special place"
1 night
Arrived
4 Sep 2019
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Feedback response
We were delighted these clients enjoyed the Emakoko so much. However, we were surprised and disappointed to hear about the shortfalls in their room on their second visit. The Emakoko responded to pass on their apologies again, having discussed these issues with these travellers when they were staying. The bath was indeed damaged and was fixed shortly afterwards and the room steward was reminded about the need to always check that the safe is working and there are fresh batteries in the walkie-talkies.
East Africa Manager
Sightings report
Black Rhino
4 sightings
Buffalo
10+ sightings
Eland
10+ sightings
Giraffe
10+ sightings
Lion
2 sightings
Spotted Hyena
2 sightings
White Rhino
5 sightings
Wild dog
5 sightings
Wildebeest
10+ sightings
Zebra
10+ sightings
Giraffe Manor
"Giraffe Manor review"
2 nights
Arrived
5 Sep 2019
"The Giraffe Manor was a very special experience with many hands on, up close and personal experiences with the Giraffes in combination with a fantastically warm, professional team of personnel.
Room: Jocks Room 10/10
Getting up at dawn each day to feed the up to 3 giraffes that visited our bedroom window was spectacular.
The room itself was nicely presented and of good size for our needs. The bed was very large (2x queen beds pushed together) and very comfortable. The bathroom was also nicely presented. A negative if nit picking- it was a little cold. On one rainy night in particular, we asked for a small fire to be lit in the lovely old fireplace in the room after our wonderful private dining experience. This was arranged with a team member during lunch. Unfortunately the message must not have gotten through during shift change over and no fire was made. The water pressure in the shower was a little challenging when it came to washing my hair, water was wasted as it took a while to rinse.
Personnel: Warm, friendly, professional and so quick to offer any assistance or advice. The team at the Giraffe Manor, together with the Giraffes, make this such a special experience.
Food/Beverages: 10/10 Fresh, fine dining experiences. Delicious food served with care and attention. Being invited to make use of the private dining room in the outdoor Orchid House was an honour and a very special experience. It was raining cats and dogs on that evening & as such made the service to that outdoor facility so much harder, but our wonderful waiter, although drenched by the end of dinner, was never without a smile, took photos for us and was a step ahead of us topping up wine and taking care of the courses expertly. We felt very special."
Room: Jocks Room 10/10
Getting up at dawn each day to feed the up to 3 giraffes that visited our bedroom window was spectacular.
The room itself was nicely presented and of good size for our needs. The bed was very large (2x queen beds pushed together) and very comfortable. The bathroom was also nicely presented. A negative if nit picking- it was a little cold. On one rainy night in particular, we asked for a small fire to be lit in the lovely old fireplace in the room after our wonderful private dining experience. This was arranged with a team member during lunch. Unfortunately the message must not have gotten through during shift change over and no fire was made. The water pressure in the shower was a little challenging when it came to washing my hair, water was wasted as it took a while to rinse.
Personnel: Warm, friendly, professional and so quick to offer any assistance or advice. The team at the Giraffe Manor, together with the Giraffes, make this such a special experience.
Food/Beverages: 10/10 Fresh, fine dining experiences. Delicious food served with care and attention. Being invited to make use of the private dining room in the outdoor Orchid House was an honour and a very special experience. It was raining cats and dogs on that evening & as such made the service to that outdoor facility so much harder, but our wonderful waiter, although drenched by the end of dinner, was never without a smile, took photos for us and was a step ahead of us topping up wine and taking care of the courses expertly. We felt very special."
Excellent
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location
Excellent
Service
Excellent
Activities
Excellent
Rooms
Excellent
Food
Excellent
Facilities
Excellent
Feedback response
We were very pleased to hear these travellers enjoyed their stay so much. However, Giraffe Manor got back to us quickly to explain that because their firewood was wet after so much rain, they decided against making what would have been a smoky fire, and apologised for not explaining to these guests at the time. On the question of the low water pressure, as the manor dates back to the 1930s, and some of the plumbing is from the same era, while they have renewed the plumbing in certain rooms, unfortunately for the plumbing to be renewed throughout, a number of rooms would require walls to be knocked down, which is structurally not feasible. Consequently, water pressure is occasionally low when multiple rooms are filling baths and having showers at the same time and the manor apologised that this was the case for these guests.
East Africa Manager
Both visits were wonderful.
The Emakoko was our favourite place to visit from all the places we stayed across Africa in the month we were there.
We think it was the very special people who work there that made the difference, as we stayed in many beautiful lodges and accommodation types across Africa.
Rooms: The accommodation for our first visit (Room #10) was superb. Very clean (& i am very particular), special touches galore, view, layout, 'wow factor' all there in spades. I would not change a thing nor was there anything to fault.
During our second visit the room was low & close to the lodge... can't remember number? 3 perhaps? and was not as special.
A bit dark. Couldn't use bath as it was so badly damaged, safe didn't work, no battery in walkie talkie, view not as spectacular. However, the cleanliness, attention to detail with the special touches ie flowers, 'welcome back' message and the care taken to keep the fire going so it was always warm whenever we arrived at our room, made this visit very special also.
Food: Fresh, innovative, tasty, plentiful and the wonderful, warm & friendly, professional service team made it all the better for eating. 5 star.
Lawrence & Patrick and their teams seemed to be able to predict and be one step ahead of us in respect to anything we may wish for ie more bread, a wine top up etc. J-M's dietary needs were very well addressed and he enjoyed all the alternate dishes made with care just for him. Some Swahili lessons (we asked for some tips) were very much welcomed and enjoyed by us both also.
Personnel: 11/10
Everyone made us feel at home and so welcome. Nothing was a problem. Any slight request or inquiry was acted on straight away, even when we didn't expect it. The team at the Emakoko are proud of what they do and how they do it and it shows. They are warm, genuine and very friendly people and seemed as happy as we were to see us again when we arrived for our second visit. it was like 'coming home'. Very professional, organised and always a step ahead. The team are always looking for ways to do that little bit extra to make you feel special and surprise you & it works. It was very sad to leave.
Game drives:
10/10
The knowledge of our game drivers and sightings we saw were amazing.
Both had a wicked sense of humour. Elizban particularly had a perfect sense of timing and knew just when to stop and for how long... his sense of timing was almost as good as his sense of humour!
We were very fortunate with each drive to see something very special eg 2 lionesses and 5 cubs, family of hippo (mum, dad & baby) 'water dancing' just on sunset, white rhinos etc."