Any advice on our Honeymoon.
 

Dear all,

We are planning our honeymoon to kenya for next july.
Could you please give your tought's on the following itinerary.

17 July House of Waine for 1 night
18 July Main Shompole for 2 nights
20 July Elsa's Kopje for 2 nights - Honeymoon tent
22 July Joy's Camp for 2 nights
24 July Mara Explorer for 2nights
26 July Funzi Keys for 5 nights - Honeymoon package
31 July Depart

Thank you

A gal after my own heart... which is going thumpa-thumpa right now. You did good. If all this space is confirmed, you're going to have a wonderful honeymoon. Each camp is more romantic than the next.

Congrats and best wishes!

i've only stayed at Elsa's this past dec for 2 nights and my only regret was it was not longer. This looks like an all flying itineray so maybe 2 nights will be enough.
oh and Elsa's isn't tents it's cottages.

joyce

Thank you,

Rooms are confirmed by tour operator. Just need to take a quick decision. I was wondering about the weather in july? Will it be ok in mombassa?

@joeyi: Yes it is a fly in

Sorry,

I have another question. Our touroperator is Cheli & Peacock, are they reliable?

Thank you so much.

Cheli & Peacock are most reliable. Family owned and operated. You're in good hands.

We also thought 2 nights was not enought at Elsa's and I think you may find that you'll want another night in the Mara when you get there. Is it possible to squeeze in a couple of extra nights? If not, it's still a fabulous honeymoon itinerary.

I haven't used Cheli & Peacock as a tour operator, only stayed at their camps (Joy's & Elsa's) but wouldn't have any concerns about their reliability.

Will you post a report when you get back? I'm very curious about game viewing in Shaba in the dry season.

Elsa's has space if you want to add another day, but don't know if that's the honeymoon cottage. Also don't know how adding a day here would impact the other properties. I believe it would work with Joy's... moving Joy's forward by a day.

Can't say what's doing at Shompole or Explorer on availability.

If I had to (wanted to) add time, it definitely would be in the Masai Mara - Explorer - which always deserves at minimum 3/days.

Very nice itinerary. Great camps,and Cheli are great operators.

House of Waine is a great stay, but when I have dined there, the food was average.

Mara Explorer does deserve 3 nights. Ask for tent number 4 or 5. There is a deep pool on the river bend, usually with a resident hippo (or two).

I would add an extra night at Elsa's and Explorer and omit Joy's Camp. You really get a great feel for a place over 3 nights. I have found 2 nights as being just a tad too short.

In July, the weather in Mombasa is cooler. Day temperatures of around 26-28 degrees celcius. The evenings are mild. Still good swimming weather.

Happy Honeymoon.

Flying to Elsa's from Shompole, do check to see what time for your flight and when due to arrive at Meru. Reason, as if you were flying from Nairobi, you'd have an early flight to Meru, affording you 2-full days here.

Joy's Camp at Samburu provides the elephant experience and species not found elsewhere (though more of these unique species are appearing in Meru and Lewa). Tortilis at Amboseli would be the other option for ellees. A somewhat larger camp, but wonderful service and outstanding food.

Too many choices.

Would Joy's Camp take their guests to Samburu on game drives? I didn't inquire because we'd just come from 2 days at Samburu. The camp is located about an hour from the gate that you'd exit to go toward Samburu, so theoretically it can be done on an extended or full day drive.

The scenery is gorgeous in Shaba, but we only saw one elephant that came to camp while we were having our dessert one evening. We saw similar northern species in both Shaba and Meru, but
Meru had a much greater variety overall.

That's why I'm curious if there's a big seasonal difference in game viewing in Shaba.

Thank you very much for all the kind replies.
The problem is that both mara en shompole only had two night's availiable. That's why we are doing shaba also.
Is there anyone with any experiences of the Funzi keys. All the pictures i have seen don't look that nice.

@ Sandy : the flight from Shompole to Meru is a privat charter so i suppose we can choose the exact hour.

Greetings

The flight from NBO to Meru departs 7:45am, and less than 1/hr later you're landing, so have a full day at Meru/Elsa's. Considering that private charters normally pickup between 9-10am, if you can arrange an earlier time, you can have a full day at Meru (flight time from Shompole should be about 1.5/hrs.) Ask.

In the Mara, it's not unusual for visitors to split their time between 2/camps - 2x2 days each. Something to consider. While Explorer is located inside the reserve, where night game drives aren't done, the 2nd camp can be on one of the surrounding private conservation lands (night drives), wih either a road or puddle-hopper flight.

Consider Serian, Elephant Pepper, Governor's Il Moran, maybe Richard's or Saruni. Serian and Il Moran are probably the closest, but also the most expensive. Richard's and Saruni are a bit farther away, but the areas are wonderful, private, few other vehicles and very very private - Saruni more lux; Richards a bit higher in price than Saruni. Elephant Pepper probably has the best price, where tents have all been refurbished and if the honeymoon tent available... it's lovely.

I'm sure the extra day or two in/around the Mara won't have much impact on availability at Funzi Key. Again, inquire.

Hey all,

Itinerary is confirmed by travelagent, can't wait to go!!

One more question, as in all hotels some rooms are better than others.
So can you please tell me what roomnumber i have to ask in each lodge, privacy is important but the vieuws even more.

Thank you very much

Is your itinerary the same as posted before?

We had tent 3 at Joy's Camp which had the most unobstructed view. Otherwise, the tents are identical (except for bed configurations), 5 to one side and 5 to the other. It goes 1-5, dining/common area, 6-10. Tents 6-10 had more woodsy views. I have photos of the views from tent 3 and tent 9 for comparison in this album http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-cbpxy0

The Joy's camp photos start with #253, tent 3 view is #271 and tent 9 view is #285.

The cottages at Elsa's Kopje are all very different and I believe they all have good privacy and views. We were in cottage 2 (Bisanadi) which along with cottage 1 (Ura) is located across a swing bridge from the dining/common area. Joyce was in cottage 7 (Kinna) which is a short walk downhill from reception and we got to see the interior and view from that cottage as well. To be honest, I'd be quite happy in either one. I have photos of 2 and 7 (including the views from each) further down in the same album.

Kristina has even more photos of the individual cottages at Elsa's. Look under the Kenya May 2006 photos http://www.ultimateafricansafaris.com/Albums/africa.htm

Elsa's is going through refurbing, so things may well change by the time you arrive in July.

sandi,
Do you have any idea what they'll be doing? I'm assuming soft goods but not serious modifications to the cottages? I hope they don't try to make the place too "slick". It's great the way it is!