Sunday, May 29, 2011

Kilifi Kenya Hotels and Lodge - Top Five (5) Star Kilifi Beach Hotels

Baobab Lodge

This is a small and casual lodge is built on top of a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean at Kilifi. Rondavels are scattered around a nicely shaded property. There are 26 attractively decorated rooms with Maasai murals on the walls and spacious verandas. Most rooms do not offer sea views.

There is a lovely pool with a swim-up bar and views over the ocean, but there is not much of a beach. Steps down through the rocks and past baobab lead to a small cove with more coral than sand underfoot. The lodge offers diving, and owns a glass bottomed-boat. You can walk to the reef at low tide. There is a relaxed and low key atmosphere- a dart board hanging on a tree, private shady places to lie and read and a cool, open sided dining area under high thatch.

Kilifi Bay Resort Hotel & Village

This Italian hotel can accommodate 85 and is typically booked in Europe. Designed and decorated with flair, it feels spacious and exotic. There are high thatched roofs, large open verandas, carved Lamu-Style furniture, and lush and colorful tropical vegetation. Public buildings are set well back from the beach and look over the pool and past palm trees to the ocean beyond. Accommodations are in three-roomed bungalows, some close to the beach. Stone steps lead down to a long beach with a thatched shelter for shade. Invigorating music was being played for scuba diving lesson in the pool.

Takaungu House

On a private curve of beach, far from the hotels of Mombasa and Malindi, is Takaungu House. Located south of Kilifi, the house is named after the neighboring small village of Takaungu-supposedly the oldest slave port in Kenya.

Guests stay in a very old slave trader's house with thick whitewashed walls, giant roof beams, and shutters on the windows. It is close to the ocean. The hosts themselves stay nearby on the property in a newly constructed Arab style house.

Takaungu House is special because of the wonderful setting, the atmosphere of tranquility and timelessness, and the delightful hosts. The small bay is edged with dark rocks and has golden sand seldom marred by human foot prints. The big old baobab trees and the hoary stone ruins bear silent witness to history, Africa, and inspired imaging. The house was recorded on a map drawn on the HMS Stork as she passed in 1844.

You eat delicious home-cooked lunch in the cool of the house. An odd horse peers through the door. You can ride horses when you stay at the house. You can also use boats.

There are three guest bedrooms, each with functional bathrooms. The house is comfortable and lived in-lots of books, slip-covered couches. There is a very small swimming pool. The hosts can arrange to pick you up from the airport-Mombasa, or Malindi. The tariff includes all food and activities except deep sea fishing. They close for May.

African Rainbow Sea Safaris

Mirella Riccardi, the accomplished photographer and author, has opened her Kilifi home to paying guests. From October to March Mirella will host guests herself and can arrange for alternate hosting at other times of the year.

There are actually two houses, perched high on the banks of Kilifi Creek. Steps lead down to a small private sandy beach, and massive baobab trees add a timeless feel. Between the two houses Mirella can host up to 10 people.

The newer house has an impressive high-thatched roof with a large opening through which bougainvillea spills. Below is a wide veranda. There are no windows-just big arched openings and metal grillwork. There is an artist's touch everywhere-carvings on wooden pole supports, relief designs in the plaster work. The house has two bedrooms downstairs and sleeping loft up a ladder. Te other house is an older coastal home with a spacious living/dining room with lovely views of trees and water. There are two bedrooms and Mediterranean style pergola over-looking the water.

There is a swimming pool and guests can take to the creek in rubber dinghies. From this base, guests can also arrange to take a sailing and goggling safari in a 50ft catamaran.

Robert is a travel expert to Kenya and the East African region. He is a director to Landmark safaris ltd. At Landmark, we let you tailor your own Kenya water or animal safari-the way you want it! See your Africa safari planner here: http://www.landmarksafaris.com/planner


Sunday, May 15, 2011

Adventures Aloft Balloon Safaris

There is no better way to see the Masai Mara, Kenya’s most precious jewel, or Tarangire National Park, than from the air in one of our fleet of hot air balloons, a unique, unforgettable flight of fancy, a true Adventure Aloft.
Adventures Aloft fly daily from Fig Tree Camp and Siana Springs in the Masai Mara Game Reserve and from Sopa Lodge in Tarangire. Flights take off at 6.30 each morning, in time with the sunrise, and allow one to experience an eagle’s view of the African landscape and all it’s beauty.
To complete your adventure, a celebration champagne breakfast is served on the plains after the flight, complete with butler service and an open bar.
Adventures Aloft organizes pick up services from most Mara and Tarangire camps and lodges.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

This Week we focus in Kilima Safari Camp-Amboseli

The Spetacular new Camp is Shaded by mature black-barked acacia trees whose extended branches cast a welcome shadow in the heat of the Amboseli Day