afternoon tea with giraffes and warthogs - this huge warthog gets pretty close to get all the leftovers, but thankfully still retains her skittish instincts and scrambles back over the wall - Nairobi, Kenya.
Tips from my vacation: I booked a 2-week stay in Kenya at The Safari Club's (TSC) 4 lodges and I was very disappointed. TSC describes itself as 'luxury' and charges a lot but gives you very little in return. Staying with them isn't worth their ridiculous price - in 2 of the 4 lodges the food wasn't luxury - not even good. In another 2 of the 4, the locations were awful with long drive times to the action. Their lodge rooms are big and look really posh, but it's just style over substance - there's a lot of issues with the basics -- besides the overcooked, poorly seasoned and/or boring and repetitive food... I encountered: crappy jeeps with stuck windows, $7 bottles of disgusting wine, broken furniture in room... they failed to replace used towels (which are thread-bare and useless), and they couldn't accommodate simple drink preferences and/or dietary requests, and service and amenities overall are horrible.
My suggestions instead:
If you fly into Nairobi, you typically get in early and have to stay overnight for an early AM local flight to one of the many safari parks. Get a nice, but cheap hotel and go to The Giraffe Center - which is a great half day trip 40mins from the city center. You can feed the Rothschild giraffes, get some great information from one of the many professionals there, hang out at the tea house, and take a guided or self-paced hike. Much cheaper than staying at the expensive TSC Giraffe Manor next door.
And I highly recommend Kicheche camps instead of TSC's. See my 2021 videos for more reviews and wildlife, but hands down, Kicheche is the BEST safari company in Kenya! Staying at Kicheche's Laikipia Ol Pejeta and Valley Camp, Naboisho Conservancy Maasai Mara is my favorite safari experience of all time! Other companies (like the horrible TSC and Asilia) claim ‘luxury’ experiences, Kicheche actually delivers! The lodging, food, service, location, and animal diversity and density are all amazing and make Kicheche camps your best investment.
Reviews of each TSC lodge:
The Giraffe Manor in Nairobi: this lodge's shtick is 'feeding the giraffes' at tea and breakfast which draws a lot of people but I was underwhelmed with the company overall. This place is good for 1 night for the Grams but the catch is, in order to stay here you have to book at one of their other lodges. Food was good, but not a lot going for it besides 'feeding the giraffe' which you can do for much less at the 'Giraffe Center' next door. The TSC says they do 'good work', but I'd rather spend my money at lodges that deliver quality like Kicheche, and donate my money directly to causes (not as a ridiculous high fee to stay at TSC's sub-par non-luxury lodges).
Sasaab in Samburu: horrible food, bad location and lodge service. It's beautiful, but it's style over substance. Plus, it's very far, on a very bumpy road from the main attraction, Samburu NR. And unlike other safari companies who offer an AM and PM safari, Sasaab only offers an AM safari because they're too lazy to drive back in the PM and instead push non-safari snooze-fest activities. Staying closer or on Samburu NR is clearly the best choice if you're there for safaris. Even if you're not going for the safaris, Sasaab Lodge is not worth the ridiculous price - the food's not luxury, it's poorly cooked and one note, and all the guests were complaining about it and the horrible service; and the private plunge pool is too cold to ever enjoy. If you still decide to go despite all that, I do recommend their guide Gabriel who spotted all 'Special 5' on one AM drive, he's an elephant whisperer, and cooks the best field breakfast I've ever had. They should make him the Lodge Chef :)
Solio Lodge in Laikipia: food's not luxury, not even good. Just like Sasaab, it's style over substance - the rooms are big and look nice, but a lot of issues with the basics and bad service. And their jeeps are crappy and the windows get stuck. Go for the day with another company, lunch there's okay (vegetarian only, if you want meat you have to special request it-but they screwed up grilled chicken, so don't bother). And go when it's been wet for a while, otherwise the rhinos are sparse.
Sala’s Camp in the Maasai Mara: much better food and service here, but the location's not great - very far (1+ hr) from the wildebeest crossing. Guides didn't like driving all the way out there every day to wait, and told me 'it wasn't going to happen today' on 3 of the 4 days I was there - which per another guest, it did do - so I missed out seeing it when that was my main goal for this location.
