Mara River Lodge

This is one of the oldest "camps" in the area and it shows. If it weren't for the amazing Hippo viewing and nice staff this place would be 0 stars. The rooms are small and cramped. They only provid electricity a few hours in the morning and evening. Half the lights in our room flickered when on. There is no screen on the windows and you have to close them so the monkey's don't ransack them when not there so the room gets warm and musty. The hot water used to be solar but its been replaced with wood/coal making the rooms smokey. There is plenty of hot water but almost no cold water so you can scald yourself or have a tiny trickle of a warm shower. It's easy to hear your neighbors conversation or snoring. The gardens are nicely kept and Hippo viewing is great. The food buffet was all bland and mostlycaters to Indian which i normallylike. Nothing other than tea or coffee is offered to drink included in the full board buffet. Some if the staff were even eating from the buffet while we were dining and the little food that was left was cold. For the price point I'd expect much better as compared to other off grid camps in Kenya. It's clear they've not renovated anything in many years. The bar manager William is overly nice but cannot hear making him annoying to interact with. Located in the conservancy an additional $80 per person per night fee is required in cash to be paid to the conservancy regardlessof game drives. There are no more lions in the area they've been run off by the Massai. You hsve to go at least an hour drive to Massai Mara for even a chance to see them. Otherwise the wildlife is still pretty good in the area but there are so many camps and Massai villages it almost feels like a neighborhood. 3 hours of rough gravel road driving to get here once you leave the asphalt road near Norok which is another 3 hours from Nairobi. I'd pay more for better or not come had i to do it over again.

Absolutely one of our worst stays we have ever had. We had booked a 3 night stay but left after 2 nights. In hindsight we would have paid more and gotten much better accommodation . We definitely will not be going back. Pros: -located right in the Mara river, you can watch the Hippos all day. -staff was friendly Cons: - the rooms were not good, the linen and towels were dirty and had stains and the water had a smell to it and sometimes not clean -food was sub par, lot of Indian food options on the menu -the pool water looked awful - the logde is far from the park entrance it is almost 90 minutes away which makes the game drives really long.