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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

*KENYA* in summer. Can anyone recommend a nice place to stay?

40 replies

SSSandy2 · 22/06/2007 09:52

Still trying to bring dh round to this, so I need some good websites.

Can anyone recommend a nice play to stay in Kenya for the summer holidays?

OP posts:
LIZS · 22/06/2007 10:53

Do you mean Safari or beach ? tbh with all the vaccinations and malaria prevention and general hassle I'd not relaly recommend it for young kids.

Original poster
SSSandy2 · 22/06/2007 10:55

dd is 6 now LIZ and has all the vaccinations already, it's only Malaria we'd need to worry about. Yes, thinking beach near Mombassa and then a safari stay. Dh not to keen

Have you been there with d`c?

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LIZS · 22/06/2007 10:57

Went before dc's but did it all from Nairobi , no beach. It is a lot of travelling and long days to go on safari , distances that look short on paper take forever over unmade roads.

Original poster
SSSandy2 · 22/06/2007 10:57

hmm that's a good point. Would be a shame to go and not see the wildlife though

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Whoooosh · 22/06/2007 10:58

Serena Beach in Mombassa is lovely-although not been for a few years.
There are some lovely hotels on Malindi.
AS for safari-the best camp we stayed at was
here

Whoooosh · 22/06/2007 10:59

Depends on budget-if you can afford it it is perfectly feasible to fly into the safari camps-have done it several times in South Africa and Kenya.

Personally feel the game is better (and indeed beaches) in South Africa-alos no malaria.I know it's their WInter but have you considered SA?

Original poster
SSSandy2 · 22/06/2007 11:00

Oh thanks whoosh that place looks just amazing. Will send it on to dh.

How did you find the Serena Beach? Read differing reports on it, some good, some not so. Do you think it's a nice place for a 6 year old?

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Original poster
SSSandy2 · 22/06/2007 11:02

Haven't really considered SA which is strange. Not sure why not. Maybe dh would be more amenable to that

Would you recommend anywhere in particular in SA?

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Whoooosh · 22/06/2007 11:03

I don't personally think any of the Kenya hotels are great for children and I havn't been to the Serena for about 6yrs so a lot could have changed...would hate to give duff info.

South Africa really is a better option-lots more to do too..

Whoooosh · 22/06/2007 11:08

Oooh blimey-there is loads!

Definitely a couple of days in the Cape Town area-this place is great.
You can visit the colony of penguins at Simonstown here.
You can visit some wonderful wineries,many of which have great accomodation and food.
Then you have an amazing choice of Safari lodges-depends what you want from a holiday.

You can do as much lazing by a pool or on a beach as you want or go out and about.

Original poster
SSSandy2 · 22/06/2007 11:10

We're more the out and about crowd but I like a few days relaxing around the pool too. I had heard about those penguins, will look into it. Thanks for the links and the tips!

Did you feel relatively safe when you were travelling around? I suppose you must have since you've been back several times. This is one thing dh is concerned about

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Original poster
SSSandy2 · 22/06/2007 11:11

THat's a good site thanks. Have to go out now , I'll have a good look at it tonight

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Whoooosh · 22/06/2007 11:12

I have always felt safe when driving outside of CapeTown-no worse than say Miami...

Grrrr · 22/06/2007 11:14

Turtle Bay Beach hotel at Watamu (near Malindi) is nice and has a whopping 40%+ of guests at any time who are actually there for the 2nd/3rd or more time.

They have a kids club and are very involved with local school/orphanage etc.

Major drawback is that it takes much longer to get to by road than the Mombassa area hotels and this may not be good if you've got small children.

Original poster
SSSandy2 · 22/06/2007 11:19

Thanks Grrr, I'll have a google for it when I get back.

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PestoMonster · 28/06/2007 10:28

We stayed at the Indian Ocean Beach Club for our honeymoon and it was lovely.

Hulababy · 28/06/2007 10:31

Pesto - we stayed very close to that hotel back in 1996. Loved it, although have to say that I wouldn't return to the Kenyan coast for any length of time - would rather just do a much longer safari.

I got married on safari on that trip to Kenya. Has special memories

Can't wait to take DD on safari. How old do they need to be to go on a decent safari?

Original poster
SSSandy2 · 28/06/2007 10:32

thanks pesto that looks nice.

Hula why wouldn't you go back to the coast at all. Did you find it boring?

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bellabelly · 28/06/2007 10:44

Aberdare Country Club is wonderful - they have a special safari lodge called The Ark - google "aberdare" and "ark" and lots of sites will come up with details. Basically, there are loads of viewing decks (you're right by a waterhole, so lots of wildlife to see) and during the night, if any of the "Big 5" are spotted, a buzze4r in your room will wake you up so you can go and see. (You can turn the buzzer off if you'd rather just sleep .

The next day we had a jeep safari around the national park which was also wonderful.

I only had a v short stay there but would REALLY recommend -it was one of the best experiences of my whole life!

If you're going to Kenya, please check out Lavenda Springs (lavendasprings.com) which is a wonderful school/community project run on charitable donations - you can even stay there, although it's v basic and might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Hulababy · 28/06/2007 10:50

Just think if I am going to go back to somewhere like Kenya I would prefer to be on safari.

The coast hotels were great. But me and Dh aren't really all inclusive, stay in your hotel, type holiday makers. Even getting to the sea could be a trial depending on how many people were on the sand trying to gte you to but stuff. Once in the sea it was wonderful however.

We did do a couple of excellent excursions which were really worthwhile - one to a local village and primary school which was very interesting and worthwhile, and another to a special tourist museum type thing (outdoors, depicting each of the tribes in kenya, all had their own section and showed us how they lived,, etc) followed by an African meal. I personally didn't find Mombassa worth the excursion though.

We just prefer a holiday where we can go out and about on our own all the time, and in Kenya we couldn't.

Safari, however, was amazing.

PestoMonster · 28/06/2007 13:39

Our holiday included a one-night overnight safari. I think it was at Tsavo National Park. We stayed in a lodge and did a sundowner safari in the evening (even saw a leopard about 3 metres away), and the following morning another safari at sunrise. The lodge itself was right by a watering hole and we saw elephants really close and bush babies came & joined us for breakfast! It was really special. But, both dh & I felt that was sufficient safari-ing for us as we had seen all the main animals on those 2 trips and we were quite ready to return to our idyllic beach for the rest of the honeymoon.

The whole thing was arranged through Tropical Places

charlieandlola · 29/06/2007 09:06

I wouldn't take the children necessarily to kenya - completely second Whoosh's idea of RSA - much more child friendly. I never felt completely safe on the mombassa coast, although up country on safari felt ok. If I was looking for an exotic beach holiday with kids, I would take them to Thailand. If I wanted to take them on safari, would take them to RSA.

Original poster
SSSandy2 · 29/06/2007 09:18

Thanks everyone for all the tips, links and comments. I am working on dh but he is proving resistant

The reason I want to go to Africa is that I was born there and I spend most of my childhood there (but not actually in Kenya), so you see it isn't just about going somewhere exotic for me. I would like dd to see what Africa is like and have an idea of what my childhood was like. She knows where we lived in the UK but has no real experience of Africa.

Yes I can well imagine being hassled along the beach in Mombassa. Wouldn't appeal to me either. I am thinking of the beach bit for dh really. Imagine the tide might be a bit too strong for dd.

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PestoMonster · 29/06/2007 22:05

Ah, where we went the surf was quite rough and the beach was quite steep at the water's edge. I am a strong swimmer, but I got tossed about a few times in the surf and one time I struggled underwater for a bit before coming up on the beach, so maybe not what you were looking for.

cameroonmama · 02/07/2007 19:40

SSandy2, as you know we are moving back to Africa in particularly to Kenya in December, I can recommend a fabulous beach house, south of mombasa where we have stayed several times, the dc 5 and 3, loved it and newborn ds2 was made there . I can send you the details? Comes with a cook, cleaner and costs next to nothing. Beach is unspoilt, no hassle, fabulous rock pools on the coral when the tide is out.. Tide is not too strong either, great watersports down the road at the more touristy place. I can't recommend it enough. Certainly not touristy, very Africa and unspoilt. At the same time you can go into the nearby Shimba hills and go and see elephants in the national park there, which is about an hour/hour and half away. Also you can go on a traditional dhow to a marine reserve and go snorkeling on a coral reef to die for. Oh I could go on and on.. let me know if you need any more info