There’s a fine diversity of accommodation in Kenya, ranging from campsites and local lodging houses for a few hundred shillings a night to luxury lodges and boutique tented camps.

If you’re planning a trip to Kenya using moderate or expensive accommodation, it’s useful to know that a lot of money can be saved by not going in the high season. Most resort hotels and safari lodges and tented camps have separate high, mid- and low-season (sometimes called “green -season”) rates.Theres sometimes a peak-season too, just covering the Christmas and New Year break from December 21 to January 2. Low -season rates can be anything from a third to a half of the high-season tariff.

Many of the smaller camps and lodges close for a couple of months between mid- April and June, and some places also close for the month of November .Closures are not just due to lack of demand or less-than-ideal weather conditions, but to allow for maintenance and refurbishment.

Seasons approximate

High: Dec 21 to Jan2, July 1 to Sept 30.

Mid: Jan 3 to April 14, October 1 to Dec 20

Low: /Green/Closed: April 15 to May 31

Hotels, Lodges & Tented Camps Kenya

The term hotel covers a very broad spectrum in Kenya (the word hoteli means a cheap cafe-restaurant, not a place to sleep). At the top end are the big tourist establishments, many in one of the country’s handful of small chains. In the game parks,they\’re known as lodges. Some establishments are very good value, but others are shabby and overpriced, so check carefully before splurging .Try to reserve the more popular places in advance, especially for the busiest season in December and January.

At the mid-price level, some hotels are old settler’s haunts that were once slightly grand and no longer quite fit in modern Kenya, while others are newer and cater for the Kenyan middle class. A few are fine- charmingly decrepit or fairly smart and semi-efficient -but a fair few are just boozy and uninteresting.

As a rule, expect to pay anything from usd 50 to usd 150 for a decent double or twin room in a town hotel, with bathroom ensuite,known in Kenya as “self-contained” or sometimes just “self” ( and abbreviated as s/c.Breakfast is usually included ,but if you want to have breakfast elsewhere , the price will be deducted. Features such as TVs, room safes, fans and air -conditioning will all put the price up, and are sometimes optional, allowing you to make significant savings at cheaper hotels.

Older safari lodges may show their age with rather unimaginative design and boring little rooms, but those which date back to the 1960s were built when just having a hotel in the bush was considered an achievement .Today, the best of the big lodges have public areas offering spectacular panoramas and game-viewing decks, while the rooms are often comfortable chalets or bandas. The vogue in the most expensive, boutique lodges tends to be Tarzan-like, incorporating deadwood branches and bare rock, and eschewing straight lines wherever possible .Some places have just half a dozen “rooms’, constructed entirely of local materials, ingeniously open-fronted yet secure, with stunning views, and invigorating open-air showers.

If you want something that reminds you of what you’re missing by not camping, then opt for a tented camp, consisting of large, custom-made tents permanently erected over hard floors. The walls flap in the breeze but the toilet and bathroom at the back are plumbed in and all the usual lodge amenities, including electricity and big, comfy beds, are installed. At night, the tents zip up tight to keep the insects out. In the centre of the camp ,the usual public areas will include a dining room and bar, or in smaller camps a luxurious “mess tent” with sofas and waiters proffering drinks ,where you’ll eat together with your hosts and the other guests and share the days experiences in an atmosphere that always has a little “Out of Africa” in it.

Because tented camps are relatively easy to construct and re-configure, they’re at the vanguard of Kenya’s environmentally responsible tourism movement. The most innovative camps limit their use of electricity to what can be generated by solar panels, provide safari showers to order rather than permanent hot water, and take care to limit their environmental footprint in other ways, for example by composing all their organic waste and trucking out non-biodegradable trash rather than burning it. Scavenging marabou storks at camps and lodges are a sure sign of poor waste management, and a bad advert if you were thinking of staying. For more on Kenya’s environment.

Some lodges and camps are surrounded by a discreet, or not so discreet, electric fence. This gives you the freedom of wander at will, but detracts from the sense of being in the wild .Those places which don’t have such security may ask you to sign a disclaimer to limit their liability in the event that a large mammalian intruder should abruptly terminate your holiday. In practice, although elephants, buffaloes and other big animals are always wandering into camps, serious incidents are exceptionally rare and you have nothing to worry about. After dark, unfenced camps employ traditionally dressed, spear-carrying askaris to see you safely to your room.

Meals in the lodges and camps are prepared in fully equipped kitchens and served by waiters who are often surprisingly knowledgeable about local wildlife and customs. Although the food can occasionally be dull and repetitive, the best places have their own organic vegetables and herb gardens and prepare gourmet dinners in the middle of nowhere.

Where hotels and camps have swimming pools, they are free to guests, and generally open to casual visitors for a small fee per person.

All the more expensive hotels, lodges and tented camps quote their rates in US dollars or sometimes euros.You can always settle your bill in Kenya shillings, but the exchange rate is often poor. Prices can be high, with $400 or more for two, on a full-board basis, not unusual, and some properties hitting $1000 or more, usually on a “package” basis, which essentially covers all meals, drinks and most activities.

It is always worth trying to negotiate a discount. Many cheap hotels will bend over backwards to remind you that their rates can be discussed. And in the more expensive places with a two-tier tariff for residents and non-residents, it’s a perfectly acceptable negotiating tactic to claim to be a resident, though you may have to eat humble pie if they demand to see proof. If you need a single room, expect a single-occupancy rate around two-thirds of the double or twin rate.

Boarding & Lodging Kenya

In any town you’ll find basic guesthouses called Boarding & Lodgings (for which we’ve coined the abbreviation “B&Ls”). These can vary from a mud shack with water from the well, to a multi-storey building of self-contained rooms, complete with a bar and restaurant, and usually built around a lock-in courtyard-cum-parking area. Most B&L bathrooms include rather alarmingly wired “instant showers”, giving a meager spray of hot water 24 hours a day.

While in any town you can always find a room for under kshs 1000, and sometimes much less, room prices are not a good indication of the standard. If the bathrooms don’t have instant showers, then check the water supply and find out when the boiler will be on. The very cheapest places (ksh200-500) will not usually have self-contained rooms, so you should check the state of the shared showers and toilets. You won’t cause of fence by saying no thanks.

The better B&Ls are clean and comfortable, but they tend to be airless and often double as informal brothels, especially if they have a bar. If the place seems noisy in the afternoon, it will become cacophonous during the night, so you may want to ask for a room away from the source of the din. Moveover, if it relies on its bar for income, security becomes an important deciding factor. Well-run B&Ls, even noisy, sleazy ones, always have uniformed security staff and gated access to the room floors. You can leave valuables with the manager in reception (usually a small cell protected by metal grills) ,though you’ll need to use your judgment .Leaving valuables like cameras in your room is usually safe enough if they’re packed away in your bags. Its money and small items left lying around that tend to disappear.

The terms twin, double and single aren’t much in use in B&Ls: what matters is how many beds will be used, not the number of people sleeping in them. A couple sharing a double bed will nearly always pay the same price as a single guest, though they’ll have to pay for an extra breakfast. If you want a double bed, just ask for a room with “one big bed” .If you ask for a double room you may get two beds.

Cottages and Home stays

Increasingly, it’s possible to book self-catering apartments villas or cottages. Home from Home (www.kenyasafarihomes.com) , are agents for a wide range of holiday homes especially on the coast. Also on the increase are home stays.GSE-Ecotours (www.gse-ecotours.com) offers village home stays, giving a deep insight into local life while integrating development and conservation. At the other end of the economic spectrum, a limited range of all-inclusive accommodation in a usually Anglo-Kenyan household in the countryside, with optional excursions and safaris, can be booked. Kenya Beach Rentals (www.kenya-beachrentals.com) specializes in coastal properties.

Youth Hostels

Only two Kenyan youth hostels, Nairobi and Naro Moru, are affiliated to Hosteling International .Both are fairly basic, but good places to hook up with other budget travelers. Non-Members pay extra to the normal charges. The hostels can be booked through HI or the local association .There are also YMCA s, YWCA s and church-run hostels in a number of towns. The better ones are mentioned in accommodation listings.

Camping

If you’re on a budget and have a flexible itinerary, there are enough campsites in Kenya to make it worthwhile carrying a tent, and camping wild is sometimes a viable option, too. Bring the lightest tent you can afford and remember its main purpose is to keep insects out. You might consider making your own simple ridge tent: nylon netting with a sewn-in groundsheet is the basic tent. A rip-stop nylon flysheet adds privacy.Poles, back and front are tensioned using guy lines, tied to tress where possible.

Campsites in the parks are usually very basic, though a handful of privately owned sites have more in the way of facilities. Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) manages all the campsites in national parks. For that hefty price, you often get little more than a place to pitch your tent and park your vehicle: showers and toilets are often rudimentary and the other normal features of the campsite.

The so called special campsites, found in a number of parks, are in reality simply campsites which have to be reserved on an exclusive basis for private use. But unlike standard campsites they have no facilities whatsoever: you need to be entirely self-sufficient to use them.

In Kenya accommodation range from budget, moderate, luxury, Boarding & Lodging and camping which are situated in major cities, national parks, game reserves and on beaches? The accommodation is in safari lodges, tented camps, campsites and self-catering cottages and apartments. While on safari in Kenya don’t worry there is budget and luxurious hotel accommodation which you can choose from depending with your budget all you need is to get a consultant who can guide you. http://www.wingsoverafrica-aviation.com/index.php/safaris-east-africa/kenya-tour-packages.html

Anthony Mmeri is the Editor and Senior Aviation Director at Wings Over Africa Safaris Limited. This is a Safari Holiday Company that specializes on Accommodation Kenya| Hotels, Lodges & Tented Camps Kenya & Camping Safaris Kenya. The website has guided thousands of travelers to achieve their dream holiday. For more information and guidance, visit the site at http://www.wingsoverafrica-aviation.com/index.php/safaris-east-africa/kenya-tour-packages.html

Author Bio: In Kenya accommodation range from budget, moderate, luxury, Boarding & Lodging and camping which are situated in major cities, national parks, game reserves and on beaches? The accommodation is in safari lodges, tented camps, campsites and self-catering cottages and apartments. While on safari in Kenya don’t worry there is budget and luxurious hotel accommodation which you can choose from depending with your budget all you need is to get a consultant who can guide you. http://www.wingsoverafrica-aviation.com/index.php/safaris-east-africa/kenya-tour-packages.html

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