Home > Travelers Guide > Where to stay.
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HOTELS |
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Naturally, at the Kenyan Coastline there are hotels of any kind, but if you travel in an organized safari you will probably stay at one of the large international hotels, all of them with high quality standards. The hotels, surrounded by lush gardens, are usually decorated with natural materials and ethnic motifs.
The coastal resorts are normally located right at the beach, with a large swimming pool and private grounds for sunbathing. Some of them, reproduce the Swahili towns' style, with small and white two-storey buildings surrounded by tropical shaded gardens. |
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| LODGES AND CLUBS |
Lodges are the most frequent places for accommodation in parks and reserves. They usually comprise one or several common buildings that host the front desk, restaurant, shop, etc., and a series of huts or bungalows that correspond to the guests' rooms. Most of them have a swimming pool and wide gardens. Normally they are located at magnificent spots, inside or next to the parks, or near places of interest, and many of them are close to a waterhole that attracts wildlife. Of course, lodges offer full hotel service, including laundry.
The clubs are halfway between hotels and lodges. They are former private clubs from the Colony days, that are now open to the public. They are usually located in large estates and offer golf course, putting green, tennis courts, swimming pools, horse riding and vast gardens. Some of them have private wildlife reserves.
More settlers' estates are gradually opening to the public. They are private wildlife reserves in which the owners have built lodging facilities. There is a range of prices, but they are normally expensive and offering world quality service
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| TENTED CAMPS |
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Tented camps and tented lodges are closer to the lodge concept than to what their "camp" name suggests. Actually they are lodges, with full hotel services. The difference is that the walls are made of canvas instead of wood or concrete.
They are big fixed tents over wooden poles stuck into the basement. Tents are divided in bedroom and bathroom. These places try to recreate the charming atmosphere of the old safaris in the days of the great hunters, when tents were portable chalets. |
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| CAMP SITES |
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Camp sites are normally located inside or near the parks and reserves. In general, services offered range from few to none, reason why you should better seek some information to know what you should bring. Basically there are two types of camp sites. The public camp sites work in a similar way to the European camps, the space is shared with other campers.
Conversely, the so-called special camp sites must be booked in an exclusive basis, the whole site for your party.
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There are organised camping safaris, in which all the material is usually included in the price, except the sleeping bag. The agency provides the tents and the camping gear.
The groups normally travel in military type vehicles. A cook travels with the expedition, but the whole group cooperates in food preparation and dish washing.
Of course, outside the parks it is possible to camp freely, but in populated areas you should better ask for permission and warn the locals about your presence, besides enquiring about the security situation in the area.
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