Travel reviews by M & T Hastings from USA

"We stayed at Tamarind Tree as part of a group,10 day safari package. We chose to arrive early to avoid issues with airlines. Upon arrival your luggage is put through a security system and you have to walk through a metal detector. It was 50/50 on having to walk through it each time we returned to the hotel.

Since we were with a tour group check in was very easy. We had no paperwork to fill out.

Our room was very nice, big comfy bed, nice view out onto the pool area. The only drawback to us was zero privacy in the bath area, even the toilet. The toilet had a glass door but no solid walls to the ceiling for privacy. However, this would not prevent us from staying in future.

The breakfast buffet is amazing!!!! Way better than any "breakfast included" hotel in the United States!

We did the lunch buffet once and about fell over when we signed the bill. Almost $80/usd! Didn't do that again. Ate off the menu for lunch and dinner after that. Off the menu food was ok. We had burgers for one meal and the meat was very....loose. Didn't appeal to us.

Our last night there 6 of us from our tour group decided to eat dinner at the Carnivore Restaurant. Nice walking path connecting the hotel and restaurant. At night they have security walk you back to Tamarind. Highly recommend eating here. We tried so many different types of meat, including alligator and ostrich. The cost is all inclusive BTW.

We had 3 birthday cards we wanted to mail (daughter, grandson, great granddaughter). I was surprised the front desk didn't have stamps and mail pickup. They did, however, have someone go to a post office and mail them for us. Our grandson got his in 21 days. Haven't heard about the others.

The hotel made arrangements for a private driver to take us around a bit, $60usd plus we tipped him. We went to an outdoor market, Kazuri Beads, and an artists coop. He was very knowledgeable about Nairobi, of course, and answered all our questions about life there. He purposely did not take us into Nairobi proper as there were riots happening at the time. The riots were about government taxation of wages. So many residents are unemployed, or don't make much, hence the riots against it.

As for grading the aspects of the hotel, I didn't grade Location because, well, we really had no clue where we were in relation to anything. Others did all the driving."

"Beautiful camp, excellent food, excellent staff, the tents quite spacious and comfortable with incredible views. The sunrises...oh my! Wifi in our tents was never an issue.

Sarara is on a hillside with many steps to climb from where the jeeps stop. I have arthritis which makes climbing very difficult. I saw all those stairs and about cried. I made it to the top but wondered if I'd even be able to go on drives if I had to keep climbing them afterwards. Luckily they have a non stair location they used for a few us with "stair issues". The road in and out of that area was incredibly bumpy (I mean really, really bumpy), but much preferable to all the stairs. There are also some stairs to navigate to the tents. If you have mobility issues, you may want to think twice. I was not told about the stairs even though I made it clear in my paperwork for the tour that I have arthritis and walking issues.

We were amazed on our arrival that the staff greeted each of us by name, as if, I don't know, someone had shared our photos (wink, wink). It was the same at all 3 of the camps we stayed at.

The common/dining areas are beautiful with amazing views of the valley. A gorgeous infinity pool to cool off in. Watering holes below camp that were visited by Elephants, Giraffe, Baboons, Water Buffalo, monkeys, birds....so many animals. We even had a troop of monkeys entertain us one day right in camp.

The staff were very attentive to all of us in our group. Me feet got very swollen and Robert, who I believe is the manager, made sure I had ice water to soak them. Really, anything any of us needed the staff did their best to accommodate. We couldn't have asked for better hosts for our 3 nights.

Our tent was the closest to the common area, but private. I believe the bed was a king size, very comy, chairs, a desk, a patio with furniture and an amazing view. The sunrises were incredible. The bath area is not very private as far as in the tent, including the toilet (a curtain on a rod to pull shut would be nice). An outdoor shower!!! That took a bit to get used to, but not long. Sometimes we had small lizards sitting on the rock wall to keep us company. You do have complete privacy from prying human eyes.

Pack light.....laundry service is incredibly efficient!!! 2 pair of pants, 3 shirts, a jacket. That's really all you need. Fyi, they don't wash "womens smalls", but they do provide powder and a line to dry on.

The food was extraordinary! My husband can't have anything citrus/acidic. The chef and staff did a great job making sure Mark's meals were the same as ours, but safe for him. We appreciated that.

Nice gift shop with reasonable prices.

Game Drives: unfortunately at Sarara we didn't see a lot of big game animals on drives. We saw a lot of Giraffe, and Elephants and Water Buffalo did visit the camp watering hole, but we still had a great time and completely enjoyed the scenery and camp itself. We also got to meet the very charming owners of Sarara and their 3 beautiful children."

"Beautiful camp, no stairs (unlike Sarara). As with Sarara, the staff greeted us all by name as we exited the jeeps. Our tent was huge! Very comfy king bed, day couch, chairs, desk, patio area. Very nice bath area. Small gift shop with reasonable prices.

Staff was impeccable, food amazing, game drives awesome! We saw so many animals: Elephants, Lion, Giraffe, Wildebeest, Cheetah, Leopard, Hippos, Zebra. So many! We even saw a Mama Elie and baby, plus some Giraffe, from our tent.

Watched a Lioness hunt and kill a Thompson Gazelle. The Gazelle was laying in the tall grass. All we could see were the tops of its horns. The Gazelle never even saw the Lioness coming. Took her about 15 minutes to sneak up on it.

The first male Lion we saw had no tail. He apparently has 2 brothers. They tell them apart as such: one is missing his tail, one is missing an eye, and one is missing a testicle.

Also saw a Leopard protecting her kill, another Thompson Gazelle. She had dragged it up a tree. She had cubs hidden away near the kill site, but we didn't see them.

Days were hot, early mornings and nights were cool. When our tent steward came to do turn down and close all the window flaps, he put hot water bottles in our bed. The bedding was light but kept us warm during the night.

Laundry service was quick. How they do it when washing by hand and line drying, I don't know, but they return your clothes dry and folded by evening. Because of this efficiency, pack very light! You don't need a lot. And truthfully, no one pays attention if you wear the same thing 2 days in a row. Really! They don't do "womens smalls" but there is powder and an indoor line to dry on.

The meals were incredible. Not sure what else to say. The food was so good.

Kicheche Mara would def be on our list were we to do another safari.

***Please note: when grading the aspects of the camp, I gave activities an average rating as there aren't a lot of activities per se."

"Beautiful camp, no stairs, large tents, impeccable staff, incredible food!

Bush Camp is run by the same people as Mara Camp so the setup is very similar at both camps.

At Bush we were greeted with singing and dancing by the staff. And as with Sarara and Mara Camps, the staff all new us by name as we exited our jeeps.

Our tent was very large, king bed, chairs, desk, patio area was tented in but had a huge window. And as with Mara, they put hot water bottles in our bed at night.

Engaging staff. Meals were amazing. Laundry very efficient. Gift shop with reasonable prices.

Game drives: Cheetah and cub, Elies, Lions, Zebra, Eland, Toki, Spotted Hyena, Vultures. We got word of a Lion kill one morning so we headed out a bit early. We had to wait in line to get up to where the kill was. 2 pride of Lioness had taken down a Zebra, and they and their cubs (of varying ages but not wee, little ones) were eating their fill. Waiting in the wings for their chance to eat were many spotted Hyena, Vultures, and way up on a hillside, a male Lion who was NOT part of either pride. He eventually was able to come down and eat on what was left. We also witnessed the same 2 pride of Lioness and their cubs watering at a stream a few hours later.

Kicheche Bush would def be our list to visit, again, should we take another safari trip."

"I gave Emakoko a "good" rating due to all the stairs, so many stairs. No one warned us there would be so very many stairs, and they (travel agent and our host for the trip) knew about my arthritis. It wouldn't have changed anything, it's where they booked us for the day, but it would have been nice to know ahead of time what I had to deal with.

Our group was day staying at Emakoko awaiting our flights home. We ate lunch and dinner there, and had rooms to stay in between meals. The rooms were absolutely amazing.

To their credit, the staff saw my struggles and moved us from our room up to the The House, which can also be rented to vacation in. Absolutely beautiful!! And when dinner time came, I only had to traverse down stairs, none going up. From there we left for the airport after our meal.

The Emakoko is gorgeous, and I recommend staying, but only if you are not mobility challenged.

However, we were not impressed with the National Park. We saw 2 Ostrich, probably 6 very skinny Lioness, a few Giraffe, and one Black Rhino that looked absolutely sickly. I would not pay to go, but it was part of our tour."