Travel reviews by SC Traveler from SantaCruz

"Very nice hotel although we only were there about 8 hours. The breakfast was really good and staff very helpful."

"El Karama is a fantastic resort and the staff made us all feel really welcome. The kids fell in love with the drivers/crew and the 2 hour school each day for them , as well as the adults, was fantastic. We all felt very safe and we soon were comfortable allowing the kids to walk around the grounds by themselves. The food was excellent, always tasty and beautifully presented and the kids tried a lot of foods they hadn't eaten before. My daughter even bought Sophie's cookbook. The morning coffee and tea delivered to our houses was a really nice touch too. While the gym was a bit bare bones we did use it and was a nice option. The pool was a bit cool for the adults, the kids went in every day. The safari drives were fantastic and the guides were really knowledgeable so we saw all the animals that were at the conservancy. We all liked the sundowners and breakfast in the bush and really sad to leave the friends we made there."

"The Mara bush houses were also very nice. The setup for our group was probably even better as the houses were closer and it was nice having the pool area in the middle. Once again the staff was wonderful as was the food. As far as the safari drives were concerned they are a larger conservancy so had more types of animals in larger volumes which allowed us to drive into the middle of the groups of animals. On the way to the lodge, we stopped a few minutes from the airport as the guide saw 2 lions working on a zebra carcass. Senior, James, Stella and Biko were excellent driver/guides and we learned a lot from them. While having a larger conservancy to visit was good, some of the drives got a bit long, especially the last two days there as one might expect after the first four days of drives. Once again the sundowners and breakfast in the bush were memorable. The afternoon drives were really nice as the lodge was close. We did go to one of the Maasai villages which was really educational for all of us. They performed dances that we all joined in on and had the jumping contest. We also visited their school getting to see a class in session were given a tour of one of their houses. Finally we were able to shop at their craft store."

"The Pinewood Resort was a perfect way to end our visit. By then we were all happy to no longer have long land rover rides and relaxing with the pool and beach was a perfect way to end our trip. Once again the kids were able to enjoy all the resort had to offer and they even had a sports director, Phillip, who helped entertain them. Their dinners on the beach with different themes every night and was a good way to mix up the meals. We particularly liked the stir fry night. The kids enjoyed the pool every day and got comfortable from the beginning with the swim up bar for ice cream and shakes. We also took a snorkeling trip which was a good experience for the kids although I would recommend looking into another company and spending a bit more as there were not a lot of fish to see where they took us. They also had a night where there was a traditional dancing show. The bar on the beach was another positive and if we hadn't been worn out after dinner time would probably have taken advantage of it more. We found a new drink there, Dawa, and were amazed at the knife skills of bartenders turnng lime slices into works of art.

I'm not sure if EA was responsible for the upgrade but the rooms we stayed in were ocean front and next to the pool which was perfect for our group."