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The Emakoko
The Emakoko
The Emakoko
The Emakoko
The Emakoko

Reviews of The Emakoko

Wildlife sightings and reviews

120 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited The Emakoko and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in May-2018, 57 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at The Emakoko.
Lion

75% success

Leopard

3% success

Cheetah

13% success

Wild dog

5% success

Zebra

87% success

Giraffe

87% success

Black Rhino

79% success

White Rhino

78% success

Buffalo

74% success

Eland

63% success

Wildebeest

56% success

Spotted Hyena

51% success

Striped Hyena

6% success

Pangolin

3% success

Aardvark

0% success

Showing 111-120 of 120
Duration
Arrival date
Mr & Mrs B
Belfast

"Good base for Nairobi"

0 night Arrived 20 Jul 2014
"We only spent about 8 hours in the Emakoko while waiting for our flight home to London. It's reasonably close to the International Airport, approx 40 mins drive and access to it is via the Nairobi National Park. It's a realy lovely hotel with individual bungalow type rooms. It's hard to believe that the major city of Nairobi is only a mile of so away.

Anton the manager greeted us on our arrival and was most attentive despite our short stay. His efforts at keeping us in touch with the final moments of the British Open Golf were much appreciated.

Standard of accommodation were excellent, it was great to have unlimited hot water for a change and it's an ideal place with which to start or end a safari in Kenya." See all these reviews: 11n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Mr P & Ms F
London

"The Emakoko review"

1 night Arrived 16 Jul 2014
"comfortable and efficient for overnight stay.
friendly welcome." See all these reviews: 7n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Good
Service:
Good
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Good
Mr & Mrs Lysiuk
UK

"Exploring with Rhinos"

2 nights Arrived 14 Jul 2014
"Great introduction to first time on Safari and to Africa. Wonderful hosts filling in for the owners but we wouldn't have known!

Wonderful food, very fresh and varied. The service was great from all the staff we met. Our game driver was fun and friendly and we learnt so much about the country and wildlife! We spotted lots of animals - giraffe, lion, rhino and hippos!" See all these reviews: 7n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
The B family
Leics.

"The Emakoko review"

1 night Arrived 15 Feb 2014
"All aspects excellent" See all these reviews: 13n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs W
Cambridge

"Very good base for Nairobi"

2 nights Arrived 15 Jan 2014
"Anton and staff were very welcoming, and our room was spacious and comfortable. Given our age, the unavoidable drives through the National Park were rather taxing and a slight disadvantage, which would in no way put us off recommending the Emakoko. Looking out from our window at the acacia trees and the bush, it was impossible to think that we were so near a major city.

It was good to have time to visit the KarenBlixenMuseum, which was a personal request to James, our guide. We also took in the David Sheldrick Trust - disappointing because it felt more like a circus or zoo and there was not much to it. The late afternoon sessions may be better but are costly.

The food was good, better at light lunches than in the evening, when meat was rather chewy." See all these reviews: 9n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Average
Facilities:
Excellent
Dr B & Mr S
London

"Emakoko - A Beautiful 'Welcome to Kenya'"

2 nights Arrived 29 Oct 2013
"We landed in Nairobi early in the morning and were surprised how congested the roads were already. But short after we turned off the main roads into the National Park we soon started to see the animals roaming the fields - and we even spotted a pride of lions on this first drive through the park. It made us feel like this is how it will be on all game drives, but it turned out to be the only time we saw a big cat.

The lodge was beautiful and we received a warm welcome and attentive service. There was a tame(-ish) Impala on the grounds which liked to come close. Having an animal to touch was a beautiful experience for our 2.5-year-old daughter. Buffaloes grazed under our balcony and we were made aware that they were the most dangerous animals around. I enjoyed this respectful co-habitation with the animals who live there. Even a hippo came up to the swimming pool at night.

Our daughter was able to go and play with the owner's daughter of the same age while we went on a game drive by ourselves, which was a very welcome luxury. And every evening someone came to babysit her while we went for dinner.

Only one other party of two was staying at The Emakoko when we were there and we usually had dinner all together at one table with Anton the owner of the Lodge. The food was very good.

This was our first experience of a safari lodge so we didn't have much to compare it to. Two little details that we found uncomfortable were:
- the mosquito nets had holes in them. Given that this is a higher end lodge, we didn't expect such a detail to be overlooked. Coming from the UK, our main fear of Kenya was of the malaria mosquitoes. In retrospect, we know that the number of insects was nothing compared to the coastal mosquitoes, but fixing the holes should still be possible and a priority. (I mentioned it to Anton as we left)
- the shower was leaking hot water a bit at the tap. We're used to that kind of wobbly plumbing in the UK, but in Switzerland, where I grew up, showers work smoothly. (I didn't mention that to Anton)

My personal highlight was a walk with Sylvester, our driver, and Sunde, a local Maasai, over the ridge behind the lodge and into the ancestral lands of the local communities. It was a short walk, but I learned a lot about Kenyan life and customs and got to see some very modest homesteads.

Our daughter's highlight was probably feeding the giraffes at the Giraffe Centre. And splashing around in the swimming pool with the impala stalking around us." See all these reviews: 5n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Ms C & Mr S
Dublin

"The Emakoko review"

3 nights Arrived 15 Oct 2013
"Everything about The Emakoko is superb. Food is wonderful. How Stephen manages to continually create such lovely dishes from his small kitchen area is a credit to him. Overall the staff were terrific. Quiet, professional, with a terrific sense of humour.

We visited some historic places around Nairobi and have to complement Sylvester on his driving in the madness of Nairobi traffic. He was great. Chris and Rachel who were doing relief managers were absolutely terrific. Highly recommend this lodge." See all these reviews: 9n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mrs V
Cornwall

"The beautiful Emakoko Lodge"

1 night Arrived 12 Oct 2013
"With the early flight into Nairobi it is a good option to have a full day in the National Park and stay at the beautiful Emakoko Lodge which is in a stunning setting.

It also gave us the opportunity to visit the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage which is a must." See all these reviews: 4n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
The H family
Berks

"The Emakoko review"

1 night Arrived 8 Jul 2013
"The Emakoko was the perfect place to recover after our flight, we only wished we could have stayed longer.

The drive from the airport with our guide James was a mini safari in itself and he like all the staff we met could not have done a better job." See all these reviews: 10n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs J
New Delhi

"Beautiful place"

0 night Arrived 26 Jun 2013
"It was really special, we felt our one day stay was not enough!" See all these reviews: 5n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Showing 111-120 of 120
96%
120 reviews of The Emakoko by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
101
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3
0
0
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