The Ark Lodge — Hotel in Nyeri

Our stay at the Ark Lodge was spoiled by a terrible check-in process. We were a party of 4 adults, 1 child (5) and an infant travelling to the Ark. Before travelling we had called hotel management to advise us of their rates. They shared their rates, but told us you are likely to get better rates on Booking.com. As such we booked on booking.com. We spent the night before at the sister property at Aberdares with no issues. You check into the Ark from the Aberdares property and the staff at the Aberdares were aware we were going to Ark. Despite this knowledge we were only informed 2 hours before check in time at the Ark that they had identified an error in our booking at Ark. Instead of booking for 4 adults, we had booked for 2. This I acknowledged straight away was an error on my part. I explained that we had booked a triple room (extra cost) and a double room to fit the 4 adults + child + infant. The staff at the hotel explained that they could not check us in unless we added 2 adults to the booking through booking.com. Booking.com did not allow this given it was already check-in day. At this point I assumed the hotel would provide a reasonable remedy - we had the 2 rooms booked with enough beds. So I enquired if there is an extra charge to add guests to the booking?

I was surprised at how novel and impossible this simple request was as the staff were not able to help.Their only solution was for me to book another room at a significant cost. This was a ridiculous solution to a simple issue. Particularly given no one was saying the 2 rooms wouldn’t fit our party. The blame was placed on me the client and the use of booking.com. It was as if the property was run by booking.com and had no systems to deal with “adding 2 adults” to the existing booking. I showed that on booking.com I had paid extra for a triple room but I was met with a “I dont see that you booked a triple room, I just see 2 people on that room”. At this point we would have cancelled but there was a no refund policy. So we were presented with one option that we had to take - buy a 3rd room which we of course didn’t use.

An issue of the hotel systems not fairly handling a customer mistake added an unnecessary cost to our booking. I was willing to pay extra for the error but no compromise offer was made to add adults to our existing booking. This issue could have been handled much better throughout the whole process: If the systems do not work well with booking.com, don’t recommend clients book on booking.com There was ample time during our Aberdares stay to identify the mistake in the Ark booking to resolve it ahead of time Reservations agreed that a triple room sleeps 3 but couldn’t acknowledge (despite proof) that a triple room was booked An obviously the easiest solution - have a simple remedy (with a charge if necessary) to rectify this that doesn’t cost “a whole new room”. Despite being in the hotel and talking to the front desk, I was made to feel like the hotel was solely responsible...

Bit of a different set up here compared to other lodges. Everyone has to start at the Aberdare Country club. Lunch is provided from 12:45 (Decent hot buffet). In case you arrive early, the club does have pool and you could pay to go on a nature walk (but at $20 per person we gave this a miss).

Groups of guests are then transported over to the Ark on old fashioned school buses, I think every half an hour over the space of a couple of hours, starti from 2pm. I guess on nice days you may see some animals on the journey but the weather was very cloudy/foggy so visibility was poor for us. The idea seems to be that people only stay for one night and are transported to and from the Ark by the country club bus.

The Ark itself is a great idea- the building is literally shaped like the Ark and the rooms inside are modelled on boat cabins (i.e. very small rooms, twin beds, tiny bathroom). Each room has a buzzer (which you can turn on and off) which is sounded when animals come to the watering hole. One buzz = elephant, Two buzz = Rhino, Three buzz = Leopard and Four buzz = hyena attacking.

Each floor has a viewing platform overlooking the large watering hole. Over the afternoon/evening we did see a variety of animals: various birds including storks, herons and ibis, buffalo, lots of elephants, warthogs, bats and genet cats.

Sadly I think the building has passed its best, it seems tired and outdated. Posters on the walls are yellow faded. WiFi is very poor (personally I'd rather not have it, I'd have a day just enjoying the surrounding, talking and watching the animals but if you're going to offer it, it should work) this also means the card machine only works very occasionally so having cash is essenial. The staff encourage you to pay after each drink rather than being able to set up a tab and pay at the end like at every other place we've stayed. The whole set up seems a bit old-fashioned.

One positive is that the food was very good.

I suspect if we had done this stop earlier in our trip we would have enjoyed it more but given we had already seen a large variety of animals, it didn't really feel like the waiting around and faff was worth it. Given we had a long travel day the next day we had decided not to leave the buzzer on overnight. For others who would keep it on or stay up to watch all night it could be an amazing experience but you need luck...

There is a nice story to tell, the princess become queen one, but nothing else much. It's located in a remote area, we accept that, but the check in and check out procedure is organised in a weird way, we have lunch at the country club, leave big luggage behind carry only small bag because the room is too small, that's fine and convenient, but departing at 3pm from country club, it took 1.5hr to drive up to the hotel! In a 24 seater coach, at 30kph, on unsealed road, not 4x4 vehicle! We were told we can enjoy afternoon tea at the hotel with a view, which starts at 4pm, but when we reach the hotel it's almost 5pm. Concierge welcome us at the beginning of the walking bridge, I understand it's to show us the beautiful view by walking us through to the building, but it was raining and freezing cold! It took the concierge 15 min to have all guests took off from 3 coaches and decided it's too cold to do the talking here, but to walk to the building instead. It's still cold at the front door, and he talked in a really slow pace, with a lot of unnecessary small talks, I understand this is a standard thing he does everyday but while the weather doesn't allow us to enjoy the view, he should be able to compromise and allow us to enter asap! By the time we seat down in the tea room, it's 20 min before dark, and they don't have lights in the tea room! I assume it's because they want to light up outside so we can see animals, but even some small gentle candles can do better than absolute dark! We were told not to do bush walking, only the wooden bridge. Unfortunately only one single elephant came to the pond at night, I wonder is there anyone who saw a herd like the picture on their website? But that's ok, that's not something they can control. Then next morning, we were told to leave at 8am! 15 hrs in the hotel only! As always, some are late embarking the coach, and all 3 coaches waited until everyone is onboard, I don't understand why can't they make it 2 or 3 departures? Or simply fill up one coach and leave, let the late ones wait for the later ones. As for the room, I accept it's small and simple, but they don't even provide quality bedlinen! That's unacceptable! The pillow cases and bedsheets are worn, I can't say it's dirty but it's not white, even darker than the shirt I wear after 2 days safari! I didn't enjoy, would advise...