Sunset Cruises, Black Cotton Soil and A Broken Prop Shaft…
Being a travel agent I usually like to go and randomly visit areas and hotels to see if there are any changes or improvements to a place or even just the products they offer so that I can be sure that my guests will be happy.
This November took me to the beaches of Watamu and the bushes of Taita Hills.
In Watamu, we stayed at Turtle Bay Beach Resort, where despite the rain we actually did have a lot of fun.
They offer a variety of food on their all inclusive package and there was always something new on the menu, I especially enjoyed their banana chips that they had one night and the fried coconut that was present at the salad bar.
The room size is actually perfect for 2 people although the bathrooms were a bit disappointing-they did however mention that they are planning to refurbish the bathrooms which for the hotel I feel will be a plus point.
Before going there however, please enquire whether there is a conference going on-this is simply because the conference people can cause havoc at the quiet pool (which is supposed to be an adult pool). The property does have 3 pools, a baby pool and a larger pool that children can swim in and the quiet adult pool which is secluded and has a no children policy. Due to the conference we found that the children’s pool was actually more peaceful than the quiet pool.
One of the highlights of this trip was the sunset dhow cruise which was well worth every penny honestly.
it was a beautiful sunset with prawns, beef skewers, chicken skewers, samosas, bruchettas unlimited Dawas ( a famous Kenyan cocktail) and people eventually jumping off the dhow (I wasn’t one of them obviously) and we actually ended up not able to eat dinner that night because we were so stuffed with what we got on the cruise.
The next time we would actually want to try their dinner cruise; based on the sunset cruise I don’t think it can disappoint.
As it was a road trip, after 4 days on the beach we headed to the bush- because what’s a holiday with out both right?
We made our way to Voi after a lovely lunch at Nautilus Kilifi
(Can you believe they gave free oysters as bitings??? – how awesome is that???) and from there to Sarova Salt Lick. A beautiful property with lots of plains game.
I however found the rooms bit small compared to other lodges that we have been to, but then I’m also guessing it may not have been the easiest to build on stilts and to make sure it was rock steady. That architect definitely had his head on the right way.
One thing I don’t think any one can ever fault any Sarova property on is their food and especially their dessert. Anup, went mad over all of their mousse and I went mad over all of their pastries and we met a lady who would eat heaps of watermelon and pineapple only and drink tusker..I don’t know if I am actually ever going to try that combination to be honest and no I didn’t take a picture coz that would be rude.
we went looking for the honeymoon. lions that evening and of course knowing my luck- we just drove around in circles and GOT LOST despite having a map..LOL
The next day we woke up late, ofcourse the weather was beautiful and raining and well that’s awesome sleeping weather right and after breakfast where we had a visitor
armed with our map we set out going to look for the lions once again.
Here’s what we found
OF COURSE NO LION…….because it had rained and they APPARENTLY went in the bush somewhere…
We didn’t even manage to find the 300 or so buffaloes that were apparently around, but we did find ourselves in black cotton soil which with water isn’t the best idea right??? Well we are known for our bright ideas and we ended up with………
To sum it up, we were rescued by the sarova team, broke the prop shaft, walked in the mud but ate good food and drove back to Nairobi with a speed of 60KPH – it was OMG not funny especially for Anup who was driving.
All in all it was a memorable trip and not one we will forget easily.
Stay tuned for the South African Adventure that we had in June of this year.
