Elephant Bedroom Camp — Hotel in Waso ward

We had a mixed experience at this camp. It was a bit difficult for us coming from what was a true 5-star luxury camp and comparing Elephant Bedroom with that expectation.

The camp itself needs a refurbishment. The grounds are well kept, but there are a number of small issues that take away from the overall experience. The tents, while large, are definitely showing signs of aging. There are stains, cobwebs, and some of the furniture requires repair. Our first tent had 2 major issues. There was a pretty bad bug infestation, and our toilet wouldn't flush. We understood that the bug issue was due to the unseasonable rains that happened, and management was able to put us in a different tent, but we did have to bring it up twice.

Food: The food was excellently prepared with a many options available, many dairy free options, too. We really appreciated the smaller portion sizes as it really allowed us to actually enjoy a 3 course meal without feeling sick from overeating. Just be prepared to deal with bugs in the evening and an agressive hornbill during the daytime.

Guide: Our guide was Anthony. He is everything you want in a guide. He is highly knowledgeable, excellent at spotting animals, and just fun to be around. The camp is lucky to have him. He has been a guide for around a dozen years, but is still so incredibly enthusiastic about his job. Please tip your guides as they are ones that make your experience!

The Park (Not reflected in our score) The park has dense bush which can make spotting animals difficult. This isn't a park I would pick for first time safari goers. The park has handled poachers very well and as a result, the animals are not very fearful of cars. This means you can get very VERY close to some of them. You will want to visit this park in order to have the best elephant experiences, to see the 300+ different species of birds, and for the Samburu 5 that can only...

Elephant Bedroom Camp was by far one of our most memorable destinations! It’s the kind of place you almost want to give a bad rating to so that you can be sure there will be vacancy next time you book!! If we didn’t live so far away we would have asked if we could build our own tent on their grounds and go every weekend! It’s not big and crowded with too many guests, which is what we loved! The tents are ultra clean and beautifully appointed, each with their own dipping pool and a good enough distance between them for “Obama” the neighborhood elephant to pass through for a visit! Loads of beautiful birds and interesting nature sounds embrace the compound along with their “lodge” impala who likes to accompany you with the groundskeeper to and from your room sometimes! The food, the service and ALL the staff were top notch! Courteous, happy people with the unique goal of making your stay the best they can possibly make it! What is also great is that you don’t have to wait in line every morning in your truck to buy tickets to enter the reserve, like they do in other areas. Also, their trucks are open on the sides which is WAY more comfortable than many other trucks we’ve encountered where people were standing up to look out through a roof opening! Alex “the great”, who was our guide and game driver, secured that title because he was exactly that: GREAT!! Extremely knowledgeable, there wasn’t one question he could not answer! He was loads of fun and made us discover Samburu and all of its beauty (from its wildlife to its people) in ways no book or internet link will ever do! And another thing: before going to the Elephant Bedroom Camp, we compared dozens of lodges in Samburu in terms of location, accommodations, prices, food, activities, wifi availability, distance to airport, access to medical, and that was the one that came out winning. So save yourself the trouble...

The location of the camp is utterly amazing, as it lies right on the river in the heart of the Samburu National Reserve. It was easy to find with GPS. The staff was helpful and friendly, starting with checking in. The camp is simple, which is part of what makes it wonderful. The dining area doubles as a lounging deck and bar. There are 12 tents altogether, each with a neat little plunge pool on the deck -- which was great for my kids! Breakfast and lunch are served at tables down by the river, which makes for an intimate experience. We were even evacuated from our table one time because an elephant came walking through. There were also elephants that frequented us at our tent. The security guards take their jobs seriously and keep you away from animals that might cause harm.

One of our only complaints is that a tour bus pulled into the camp one afternoon and about 40 individuals flooded the bar and deck where my family was relaxing peacefully in the middle of the afternoon. It was incredibly annoying that they allowed this to happen, since we paid a lot for the booking and these people had paid nothing -- and they were ruining our intimate atmosphere.

My biggest compliment is regarding James and Anthony, two of the staff members. They were both very genuine and sincere, and they made our family feel very welcome -- both at the camp and on our game drives. Anthony was a fantastic driver and we loved our...