Kibo Safari Camp, Amboseli, Kenya — Hotel in Kimana ward

I cannot recommend this place enough. Located at the heart of Amboseli National Park (5 mins drive to the gate), my room offered unimpeded views of the Kilimanjaro in the mornings! I even saw the dwarf mongoose, yellow-necked spur-fowl right outside my tent, a few times! There was also of course the weaver-bird nests right outside. In the morning giraffes and even a big elephant was spotted near the main gate! There was hot water, fans were provided inside the tent and beds were super comfy! Food was self-service and was an excellent layout of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. Cooks would prepare fresh rotis, baturas and pizzas on request! They have a bar and swimming pool on site. The massage services were great (have to pre-book) and so is their local shop. I had thought the items would be over-priced but, the prices were reasonable when I made comparisons with shops outside. Besides the quality of the products were excellent! Staff were very polite and helpful, especially Duncan- manager from the restaurant.

The only reason for 4 stars being, some unfortunate events with room service. On the first day after I came back from safari, I found the dirty wet bathroom mat, left on the chair. I had to ask the cleaner to take it away. I had an empty bottle of water which I had left on the table, that was thrown away, thinking it was trash. When I reported this at the reception they first asked me what they were supposed to do about it (not great for a luxury accommodation). I insisted that since I had lost both my empty bottles because they had been taken away by their staff, they should replace it. In response they brought back an empty plastic bottle from the restaurant and gave it to me. I was horrified and asked for the manager. He was more reasonable and gave me a new bottle of water. I understand water is valuable in Kenya, but, to hand someone an empty used bottle to rectify their own fault is not acceptable. On the day of checkout there was a knock ony door at 7:30 to see if the cleaners can come in, which was not appropriate. The checkout is at 9am. When I came back after breakfast at 8:30 am to take my stuff, the cleaners had already started cleaning and there was soap water everywhere. Slipping through it I had to use the loo one last time and retrieve my bags. I would recommend this rule be changed because it felt quite intrusive. Cleaning should start after guests have...

A poor sleeping experience due to poor tent conditions and rowdy neighbors that stayed up until 2am talking. Although the service and food upheld its reputation, I still wouldn't recommend the Private Tents to anyone. Due to high season and a packed 100-room facility, they overlooked details and service and I would have preferred a close-knit cozy 3-star hotel instead.

The tent in the private zone (P5) had a snapping interval sound that was like constant water dripping or electricity issues. It felt like I was part of a Chinese water torture experiment and I logged in only a few hours of sleep that night. My other family members had issues with loud neighbors that didn't understand the hourly courtesy or processed how thin the tent was. Of all my days sleeping in Kenya, this was by far the worst experience. Private zone was also a 5 min walk to lobby.

The proximity of the Camp is quite convenient to the Safari access.

Service was all great except for the part everyone instantly assumed we were Chinese and greeted nihao in every corner we went to. Breaking news: Asia is more than just China, but I'm not here to lecture about geography.

The folks here aren't as friendly as the other 3-star hotels I was at during our Kenya trip. It also took some time to get our bags carried out of our rooms, unlike the other 3-star hotels. The hotel is massive so service coverage is quite slow; the gardener ended up carrying my mother's heavy luggage instead of the general carriers. The reception also didn't seem pleased that we wanted to borrow two hairdryers as everything was underresourced. The staffs seemed generally unhappy and discontent.

Food is excellent as expected of the hotel. There is a huge variety of foods to choose from. The kitchen team is excellent; I have no issues with that. Even their trainees are fluent in english and service-minded.

There is no wifi accessible at the Private Tents and the service to procure even the wifi password was a struggle. My room was dirty with dirt and dust. My toilet was still stained with dirt along with my sink and washroom faucet. Tent was basic with a bednet, an extension chord, an electric fan, and a water station. But it wasn't as luxurious as the other 3-star which was also a...

Having stayed at the sister camp on Masai Mara and having a great experience, we had high hopes for our 2 nights at Kibo. Unfortunately, they just didn't deliver. Firstly, we were assigned a tent that seemed to be in a different (and older) area of the camp, which required over a 5mins walk to get to any of the facilities. The path was lit, but at night it was a little difficult to get back to. The tents in our section were quite close together, which meant our first night was spent listening to the tent next door both snoring and vomiting in the middle of the night. The beds were rock hard and very uncomfortable to sleep on.

We had a triple room, but only 2 towels were provided. As there was no phone in the room we requested a towel from reception after trekking over to the pool. I was happy to take one then and there (so I could shower post pool), but they insisted that someone would bring one down to us. Having waited almost an hour and running late for dinner, I gave in and used a random towel from the bottom of my suitcase. The towel never showed up and I had to ask again the next morning.

We were to have packed lunches for our middle day, as we explored Amboseli (really great game drive) and I had specifically gone to reception to advise that I had a dairy intolerance and asked for my packed lunch to be free of dairy. They took notes and assured us it would be all fine. In the middle of the national park, I found out it was not fine and there was cheese, butter, and milk through every item in my box, except an apple.... this was pretty disappointing as I was hungry, and there was no way to get any other food.

The buffet served for other meals was ok, not amazing, but still decent. The staff were attentive, but a little too attentive at times. Waitresses were constantly asking us if we wanted something when we had either already ordered or just told another one what we were doing.

We also booked in for massages that were ok but a little pricier than other stops and seemed to not be tailored to what you needed.

The laundry service was pretty efficient here and at a decent price compared to some of the...