Safari in Kenya honeymoon help

UKJubilee_2

We are starting to think about booking our honeymoon and we would like to combine a beach and safari trip in Kenya. Ideally a minimum of 3 nights and max of 6 on safari and the rest in a nice all-inclusive hotel on the beach. Obviously it would be for just the 2 of us and we want to stay somewhere nice/special. The catch, I am a school teacher so have to go in the school holidays so the dates we are looking to travel are fly out 4th April and back on 18th April 09.

We have considered Mombasa and I have checked Trip Adviser's top hotels (Voyager Beach Resort, Mombasa Serena Beach Hotel and the Travellers Club are top) but what are the safari's like from here?

Can anyone recommend companies to book through? (I have £145.50 in clubcard vouchers that I could change into £582 of Virgin travel vouchers if that would make it the best option.) I don't want to take any risks with this holiday, it has to be perfect!

Thankyou all so much in advance!

Incapuppy

There is a wealth of information on the Trip Advisor forums for you to plough through ;0)

Stageshoot

We used Tesco Vouchers with Cosmos and then booked the safari privatley thru a local tour operator, the Safari came in at £900 for 2 Adults and 2 Kids for 4 days in a private van with driver. That way did not have to share and could dictate our own times

We stayed at Voi, Ol Tukai, and Ngulia Lodges (Ol Tukai is something special, 5* Silver Service in the shadows of Mount Kilimanjaro), I would recommend that one for a Honeymoon.

Photos can be found here.

http://flashyphotos.spaces.live.com/

We stayed at Neptune Paradise on Dinai Beach near Mombasa, well out of the way and very nice hotel if a little German! We used tripadvisor to find a local who arranged the safari, didnt pay for the safari till the day we left to go, the guy who runs the company phoned us everyday to make sure we were happy, could not have asked for more, if you want any more info PM me I am here till Monday then back to work in the US.

Cheers

Lucie_2

We stayed at the Travellers Beach Hotel last year for two weeks (all inclusive booked with First Choice) and just booked our safari trip locally once we were there.
We did a 3 day Tsavo east/west safari in the middle of our holiday which was great, but there are loads of different options. It was by road, if you want to go to the Masai Mara you need to fly. The hotels we stayed in on safari were lovely, especially the Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge.

The other people on our safari (only 6 to a vehicle) were staying at the Voyager Beach Resort which sounded really nice - better than where we stayed but you never know how much other people exaggerate!

We upgraded to Star Class Premier for the flights which was pretty good, but be warned that sitting together does not always mean 2 seats side by side. There were couples sat one infront of the other creating merry hell. I believe they allocate seats according to how early you book, so get in early if that is what you choose to do.

Pooky23

I went to Kenya in 1996 so it is going back a bit! We stayed in Malindi at an all inclusive hotel. the Turtle Beach Hotel, although I believe it has been renamed or closed down now. From there we went on a 3 night safari into Tsavo East and Tsavo West. We were lucky to see the "Big 5". We stayed at Voi, Ngulia and Kilaguni lodges. They were basic but we weren't expecting luxury accommodation (though they may have been upgraded since we went). Ngulia was my favourite lodge. We were woken in the night to see a leopard who visits most nights. Everyone came out of their rooms in their pyjamas! (Don't worry, you are asked if you want to be woken). Also, I will never forget sitting on the hillside of Voi lodge watching the elephants approaching the watering hotel - fantastic!

We went with Kuoni, only because I worked for them at the time and got it almost for free! We flew Kenya Airways, changing planes in Nairobi.

Tsavo East and West are the closest parks to the coast. If you want to go to the Masai Mara or other parks you'd need to go by road or air from Nairobi.

Kenya is an amazing country. Extreme poverty outside of the big cities so be prepared for that, but it's a beautiful place and the wildlife it out of this world.

Have a great honeymoon!

Joannekerry

www.somak.co.uk

www.africansafariclub.co.uk

or it could be .com

Sheel

VickyHurn wrote: »

We stayed at Voi, Ol Tukai, and Ngulia Lodges (Ol Tukai is something special, 5* Silver Service in the shadows of Mount Kilimanjaro), I would recommend that one for a Honeymoon.

Photos can be found here.

http://flashyphotos.spaces.live.com/

Sorry to be OT , but just had to say what fantastic pics Vicky :T

We went in 1997 and have a few pics , but nowhere near as many as good as yours. One of the films got ruined though (pre digital camera) which was very disappointing and my OH would love to go again sometime now that he has a decent camera.

We stayed at Voi and your pics brought back some memories. That curio shop looks familiar too. I'm sure it's where I bought my lovely safai hat! :rolleyes:

Stageshoot

Sorry to be OT , but just had to say what fantastic pics Vicky :T

Cheers

The photos were all taken with a £150 Panasonic FZ8,

Although we have access to cameras in the £10k range through work we wanted to prove decent safari photos could be taken on a handbag portable camera. (The FZ8 is a bridge camera - little bit bigger than a pocket snapper but not as big as a SLR)

I was shocked there though how many people who paid good money for a safari were using a camera phone or one of the little 3* Zoom Pocket camera, I really think if you are going to put up the cash for a trip like that then you need a decent camera to record it, The FZ8 is 7mp but more important has a 12* Zoom Lens and Image Stabiliser. You really do need both.

mrs_moneyspinner

it is many years since we visited but would recommend you stay at mombassa and take the overnight train from there to Nairobi - you could stay at voi lodge in the safari park which has a one way glass wall and enables you to watch animals drinking at the watering hole without disturbing them. We found it cheaper to book our train/Nairobi trip internally and most hotels have a desk for local tour firms so you could try emailing some of the hotels in your brochures to find out which specialists have a desk in their hotel and approach them direct to get availability and local prices.

BillScarab

We went in 1998 and stayed at the Mobassa Serena Hotel. A very nice hotel, the only problem being you couldn't go on the beach without being hassled by people trying to sell things. We went in June and the sea was full of seaweed, so you couldn't really swim in the sea.

However we did a long Safari first and then just a few nights in Mobassa. I would recommend going to the Ngorongoro crater if you can. It's the remains of an old volcano and all of the Safari lodges are perched on top of the crater walls, you then go down into the crater to se the wildlife.

The other thing you must do is go on a balloon flight, you get up before dawn and fly over the game reserve (Serengetti in our case) and see the wildlife, then land and have a champagne breakfast in the bush.

UKJubilee_2

thankyou to everyone who posted a few interesting links - Somak seemed pretty good and the Pongwe Beach they offer with the Kili safari (current 1st choice) seems nice although not all inclusive. I wouldn't mind staying at the Voyager Beach Resort in Mombasa (sounds amazing) but Somak don't do it. Virgin offered £5101 for the 2 of us for a safari followed by Voyager Beach (OUCH!).

Also people seem to suggest not going for combined safari and hotel holidays but instead just booking beach and then when you get there arranging safari locally - is this wise?

Got the dates sorted - leave on Sat 4th April 09 and have to be back in UK by Sun 19th April at latest