Thanks Cher. Did you feel safe when you went out at night?

When we were there, we never went on the beach at night.
The only time we went out of the Hotel, was to the reserve across the road, the safari to Tsavo and into Mombassa with an English guy that lived in Kenya a few years ago.
We were troubled by kiddies after money in Mombassa, we used a taxi to buy some lovely gold there of the big 5. The taxi driver stayed with us when we went to Mombassa to keep the locals way from us.
If you want to buy souvenirs, go to Mombassa, they were cheaper there than on the beach etc.
Anything else just ask.
Cher

Hi Cher,

When you booked Hilton on Stilts with Somak did you do it at the resort or before you went. How much did it cost per person roughly. Reason for asking is I am looking at Bamburi through Eclipse Direct (in November) and they are offering a Safari for 3nights for about £300.00pp. Does anyone know where this would be staying? Whether it is any good?

What else is there to do in and around Bamburi?

Sorry for the long list of questions.

Thanks, Shaun

Hi. Were going there in november too. I read on trip advisor that there is a go-kart track by the severin sea lodge hotel. I dont think it is that far from the BB hotel. Also I read in a brochure that there are no sun loungers at all on the beaches there. Dont know why that is.

Hi Cher, did you feel safe when you went out to the nearby restaurant at night? I think we might feel a bit claustrophobic if we spend every night at the restaurant/bars in the hotel.

Hi Micky, after reading about all the local hawkers who pester so much to sell their wares on the beach I guess that's why there isn't any sunbeds there... no-one would use them for fear of being pestered I have seen photo's somewhere on the web (sorry, can't remember where now) of a nice wooden platform at the Bamburi Beach Hotel that looks out onto the beach where there are sunbeds for guests to use so you can sort of be on the beach but not on it, if you know what I mean. At least it keeps you away from the local hawkers, hopefully

Hi
There was about 12 of us that got together the last night of our holiday so we all felt safe.
The trip to Tsavo, we paid for in the hotel, I believe it cost about £120 each. There was 4 of us in a 4 wheel drive vehicle taken to Salt Lick Lodge, very nice with pool, had a lovely meal there, I remember they had bread and butter pudding. Then on to Hilton, stayed the night and in the morning went for safari, saw lions, giraffe, monkeys and deer. The roads were very poor and the 4 hour drive was very bumpy.
Hope that helps.
Cher

Hi Kom.

Just back from Kenya at the weekend and I passed Mpata - as you are probably already aware, it is Japanese owned. The only thing I would be a little concerned by is that I passed 2-3 of their jeeps out on game drives and they were all full of Japanese people - may be worth seeing if you can check this out as if it really is just geared to the japanese and this is the main language, food etc they use then it may or may not bother you....

Hi Safaristar - am so glad to hear that David Livingstone is back up to scratch again. I went there 4 years ago (it was then called Voyager Mara). Was going to book again for this year but then read really bad reviews and heard it had closed down whilst it sorted itself out. Glad it's back going again as it's in such a good location too and lgad you enjoyed!!

Hello. Here I go again with another question..... I have some visa application forms for the family for when we go to kenya in november. They seem very complicated and asks for your passport and extra passport photo. I was wondering if anyone knew how long this process takes as I need my passport for middle of september. Is it easier to get the visas before you go or when you get there.
The price is about the same once you have bought your postal orders and special delivery envelopes to send.
What are other people experiences with the visas?
Thanks

Hi. Found a site called http://www.mombasacoast.com It tells you about some things around (yes you guessed it).. mombasa, from shopping to resaurants etc.

Edit to activate link. luci HT Mod

Hi Micky. It took just over a week to get our passports back from the Kenyan High Commission (last September); the price IS about the same, but the queues at Mombasa airport were horrendous, as they only had one desk to deal with everyone who needed a visa.

Hi Micky

I agree with Doonhammer. Just back from kenya at the weekend. We got ours in advance back in May/June and they came back within a week - very quick! We flew into nairobi before connecting on to Mombasa and although we arrived in Nairobi very late at night the queues were still horrendous. There was only one queue for those needing visas and one queue for those who didn't. Obviously there were far more people in the queue that required visas and on top of that, that queue was much more slow moving so we were through in about 5-10 minutes but others were still coming through well over half an hour later.

Im one of the negative people regarding ASC and i wouldnt book a general holiday with them let alone a wedding!

Have you considered booking it independently? Kenyan airways are reasonable for flights, and there is a great hotel in kilifi where my friend was married (and i subsequently stayed when i had had enough of the ASC hotels) you can see it at http://www.madahotels.com its called the kilifi bay beach resort.

sorry if thats not what you wanted to hear, but ive spoken to other people and theyve had bad experiences too ranging from

food poisoning
monkey trouble
staff problems
problems with bills
transfer problems
vehicles in poor condition
hotels run down, dirty
lack of food (to the point of potatoes being rationed around guests as all other food had run out)
cleanliness
safety issues on jetty's and pool areas
no first aid, or anyone trained in first aid
inadequate fire extinguishers
staff being treated badly

the list goes on, and oh i forgot to mention that in one case the plane actually was on fire once on take off from mombasa airport! Many of the people i have been in contact with since my trip last year are sueing the company and have yet to recieve apologies more than a year later!

Bear this in mind!

Caroline & Kirsten :Wave

Hi all,
Well what can i say. African safari club have finally got it right for us. After 12 years, many complaints and still having faith in them they finally did the unthinkable and we ended up having one of the best holidays of our lives. The flight was excellent (but we upgraded anyway).The rooms were fantastic air conditioned and on the bluff. The food we couldn`t fault,friendly staff and superbly clean rooms and hotel. We did our own safari with a private company and went to 5 and 6 star lodges and camps.We went in two landcruisers and only paid £350 for the four day privelege.We were treated like royalty. One of the camps we were the only ones there and elephants joined us for dinner. Should be ten star never mind seven.
sue

We stayed in Bamburi Beach hotel in June this year, firstly there is a very good resturant next door called Jonos I think, unfortunately it was closed when we were there but has now reopended. The lobster is great, also there is a very good Italian resturant near the shooping centre. It is very cheap & good. There is also a pizza parlour about two minutes walk from the hotel. We walked to it but the hotel taxis will drop you off & pick you up. There are two large Chinese resturants in the area also. As Bamburi Beach Hotel is compact but friendly you do need to go out as we found the food very limited. Some people staying there had been nine times over the past few years but never ventured out. The hotel taxi drivers are trustworthy and will take you out & about in Mombasa and wait for you if your ask them to. There are no sun loungers on the beach as it has been elevated. The only problem we found was the excessive number of beach boys who whilst not intimidating, prove to be pests when you try to go for a walk along the beach.
Don't be too guarded, Mombasa is a beautiful place with great people but you have to remember it is a 3rd world country with poverty.

I am thinking of booking a safari with DM tours can anyone give me any reviews of them, they seem very professional

Hi,
I would reccomend D.M tours to anyone. Denis was Brilliant for us and we will use him everytime. We have infact just booked with him again for next year. The safari we did this time was for two landcruisers that we requested, for nine adults and one child. We went to all the camps we asked for. We were quoted £1,350 p.p by more than one company and did the same safari with Denis for £350 p.p. We stayed at five and six star camps and had the best time yet. This was the third time we had use D.M tours. We have reccomended them to many people and no one has been dissapointed. If you mention the Hartley family to him you will get the best quote. Have a wonderful holiday.
Sue.

Hi Harry. I second the above. Have a look at my earlier posting at http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=46656 as this gives a review of both my safaris booked through DM. The company I arranged my wedding through also arrange safaris and they admitted that they often use Denis at DM as he gets such good prices, particularly on air safaris.

Would someone give me the web site for DM safaris in English? Thanks.