Reviews of The Emakoko
(96%) From 77 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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The Emakoko is brilliant
Everything about The Emakoko is great. The accommodation, the food, the staff, the location and the guiding. Elizaban is a great guide and excellent company. Once again their "dawa" cocktail proved extremely popular with our group. Nairobi NP is a great place to start a safari and it's just a shame that the "early bird" start from the airport is no longer available but I would have no hesitation in recommending The Emakoko to start a safari.
Read more about the whole tripThe Emakoko review
Good idea to have a brief taster as it were, straight away on arrival.
Read more about the whole tripThe Emakoko review
We spent an additional one night after our arrival in Nairobi at The Emakoko, as I like to have a sufficient buffer before moving on to the bush, just as protection against potential flight cancellations or other travel delays. This was our second stay at The Emakoko, and we were warmly welcomed back.
A funicular has been installed to help guests more easily access cabins on the upper portion of the hillside above the reception and dining areas, which is very helpful. The cabins are spacious, well-maintained, and luxurious. The staff is very friendly, and the food is excellent. Dining is at separate tables, which makes sense here, as this isn’t a place where guests remain for prolonged stays leading to bonding.
Nairobi National Park is worthy of our support, in my opinion, and it’s always a nice introduction back to Africa. It’s an excellent place to see rhino, both black and white.
The Emakoko Review
Overall, an excellent stay. However, can be somewhat uncomfortable for those with a fear of snakes when the owner brings a snake to the reception area.
The driver (Sammy) who brought us to the lodge was very patient with us, stopping numerous times for picture opportunities. Elizaban was also very accommodating.
Emakoko review
What an amazing way to end an amazing experience!
We so enjoyed everything about The Emakoko, from the hosts to the staff, it was a wonderful capstone for our trip!
And we saw black rhinos!
The Emakoko review
The food, facilities and location were excellent.
The guiding was good, although our guides knowledge of birds, although good, was not as exceptional as we had experienced at other camps during our trip.
The Emakoko review
It was good to stay here at the end of our trip.
I thought the road to enter the National Park was terrible and the last part of the road to get to Emakoko was also bad. Very steep and bumpy.
We saw a surprising amount of animals in the Park.
The Emakoko - Our special place
We visited twice with a two night gap at The Giraffe Manor in between.
Both visits were wonderful.
The Emakoko was our favourite place to visit from all the places we stayed across Africa in the month we were there.
We think it was the very special people who work there that made the difference, as we stayed in many beautiful lodges and accommodation types across Africa.
Rooms: The accommodation for our first visit (Room #10) was superb. Very clean (& i am very particular), special touches galore, view, layout, 'wow factor' all there in spades. I would not change a thing nor was there anything to fault.
During our second visit the room was low & close to the lodge... can't remember number? 3 perhaps? and was not as special.
A bit dark. Couldn't use bath as it was so badly damaged, safe didn't work, no battery in walkie talkie, view not as spectacular. However, the cleanliness, attention to detail with the special touches ie flowers, 'welcome back' message and the care taken to keep the fire going so it was always warm whenever we arrived at our room, made this visit very special also.
Food: Fresh, innovative, tasty, plentiful and the wonderful, warm & friendly, professional service team made it all the better for eating. 5 star.
Lawrence & Patrick and their teams seemed to be able to predict and be one step ahead of us in respect to anything we may wish for ie more bread, a wine top up etc. J-M's dietary needs were very well addressed and he enjoyed all the alternate dishes made with care just for him. Some Swahili lessons (we asked for some tips) were very much welcomed and enjoyed by us both also.
Personnel: 11/10
Everyone made us feel at home and so welcome. Nothing was a problem. Any slight request or inquiry was acted on straight away, even when we didn't expect it. The team at the Emakoko are proud of what they do and how they do it and it shows. They are warm, genuine and very friendly people and seemed as happy as we were to see us again when we arrived for our second visit. it was like 'coming home'. Very professional, organised and always a step ahead. The team are always looking for ways to do that little bit extra to make you feel special and surprise you & it works. It was very sad to leave.
Game drives:
10/10
The knowledge of our game drivers and sightings we saw were amazing.
Both had a wicked sense of humour. Elizban particularly had a perfect sense of timing and knew just when to stop and for how long... his sense of timing was almost as good as his sense of humour!
We were very fortunate with each drive to see something very special eg 2 lionesses and 5 cubs, family of hippo (mum, dad & baby) 'water dancing' just on sunset, white rhinos etc.
Expert Africa comments
We were delighted these clients enjoyed the Emakoko so much. However, we were surprised and disappointed to hear about the shortfalls in their room on their second visit. The Emakoko responded to pass on their apologies again, having discussed these issues with these travellers when they were staying. The bath was indeed damaged and was fixed shortly afterwards and the room steward was reminded about the need to always check that the safe is working and there are fresh batteries in the walkie-talkies.
Amazing to be so close to Nairobi
This was an amazing camp in a national park so close to Nairobi that you could see the city skyline as well as wildlife in front of you.
The pickup from the airport and transfer to camp was so well organised, it was a game drive in its own right when we arrived as soon as we passed through the park gates.
We were only here for one night, but this camp is worth a longer stay.
Great food and accommodation - and the rock hyrax love to eat the roses!!!!!
Amazing Emakoko
Ideal first call from JKIA to start off a safari - Nairobi National Park is underrated and getting to Emakoko is just a game drive away.
Emakoko is a wonderful lodge - great cottages in a wonderful setting with abundant birdlife. Fantastic food. Elizaban is a knowledgeable and friendly driver/guide and all the staff are helpful and attentive whilst also managing to be discreet! Antony is a very congenial host and runs a great lodge
A great introduction to a safari.
