Lake Jipe Eco Lodge — Hotel in Taita–Taveta

What an absolutely lovely hidden little gem at the end of our beautiful country ♥️

Very very friendly and warm-hearted small team of staff! Thanks to them I felt at home almost immediately. 🥹

Food is very delicious and the chef was flexible and accommodated our wishes for very early breakfast so we could depart for game drive as soon as the park opens. Thanks chef 🙏🏽.

Jane and her colleagues did a fantastic job in making sure we were always comfortable.

The fire captain aka watchman was kind enough to let us know in which direction he heard the lions during the night and where we might find them, and he was right!!!!

Rooms are comfortable and very clean. Compound is well kept and groomed.

Only thing I would highly recommend them is to build a new viewing platform and make sure Kilimanjaro + the sunset is visible from it.

Here are some tips if you wish to travel here:

Do not use the first route google maps shows you, which includes driving on tarmac almost all the way to Taveta then turning left off the main road and hitting the Murram road until the you reach the camp. That small 25km will take minimum 1,5 hours to concur due to the condition of the road. And if it has rained then you might aswell forget reaching there unless you’re a very experienced off road driver in a 4WD. Solution = drive to Tsavo West Maktau gate and drive through the park all the way to lake jipe. There’s a park entrance 1-2km from the camp. The roads in the park are highway class compared to that small 25km from main road.

Bring a hybrid of Mpesa and Ksh cash to pay for your accommodation. The camp is remotely located for your convenience, kindly assist in making their life a little easier. Or call and ask what they would prefer before arrival.

You might experience problems connecting to a Kenyan telcom network due to the vicinity of Tanzania. Open your phone settings and switch off automatic network selection. Then choose your Kenyan network provider from the list. This will force your phone to stay on Kenyan line instead of jumping to the strongest signal.

Finally nowerdays park entrance fees are paid through e-citizen. This allows you to buy your tickets by yourself online. Now due to the above mentioned network challenges if you do not want to wake up early only to waste all that time at the park gate waiting for a stable connection so you can buy the tickets then buy them in advance. Just make sure you get the dates and entry gates correct. This can save you much hustle. If you do not have access to e-citizen kindly ask your guide to buy the tickets in advance.

Last and not least remember mosquito...

Lake Jipe Safari Camp offers all basic services a large group such as ours requires. We were 19 (!) and rented 3 rooms, with the rest camping in the tents on the lawn. The team on site was of great help to set up the camp and organise for a boat ride and some tilapias for dinner. Rooms are basic, but clean and comfortable, which is all you need after a long day of safari. We all enjoyed the swimming pool. One request to the management though: please control access to the pool, and enforce strict rules. Kids from the neighbor village come for a day, in plenty, causig some chaos in the pool yet can't swim (one boy almost drowned, saved by my 12 yrs daughter!). Other people come ill prepared and swim in full clothes, without any comment from the management. These examples are a concern for both security and hygiene. |Note that since electricity comes from a combination of solar and generator, it is not available throughout, so plan yourselves accordingly. |Mwakesi and team, thank you for making our stay comfortable...

Best reached through the park. The journey from outside the park is along a very poor road for at least an hour. The location is right outside the park, not on the lake but not so far away. The rooms are basic and clean. There was no choice for dinner at all but more lunch time options. Breakfast was basic but ok. I think, though, for some $80 per night this place is under delivering. generator off at midnight and the rooms are very hot without the fan. Payment was a challenge as neither cards nor Mpesa worked. bring cash. ||||The surrounding area is beautiful and there is a lot of wildlife just inside the park. The area is crying out for a decent hotel. Unfortunately, this does not really work. Oh, no...