Whitesands Reviews

Our first week in kenya was spent on safari doing the kenya classic tour from thomson and staying at the excellent sopa chain of lodges.
We were not disappointed and saw the big 5 plus a lot more. Although it was a little rainy in the afternoons this did not affect the quality of wildlife that we saw.
The balloon flight over the masai mara was the highlight with the champagne breakfast afterwards!

After a short flight from nairobi to mombasa we arrived at the whitesands hotel for the second week.
In the light of day the hotel looked immaculate. The service was excellent and you could either have your lunch or dinner in the main buffet restaurant, the pizzeria or lido fish on the beach restaurant. Try the a la carte menu at lido before you leave.

The glass bottom boat trip is also worth a try to the marine reef and the snorkelling is fab.

The swimming pools at the hotel are varied and it was never busy the whole time we were there.
The slide and plunge pool are great fun for all ages.

The only disappointing thing was that the sea was so shallow you couldn't swim off the beach but it was lovely to sit in, as warm as a bath!

All in all this hotel is a great place to relax after a week on safari and we would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to stay on kenya's coast.

Went on the Sopa Serengeti safari in Tanzania, followed by a week in Mombasa in November
The BA flight out was excellent.
Somak looked after us well yet again and the holiday was a delight.
Whitesands hotel is a must to stop at if you get the chance. Set in fabulous grounds, the staff cannot do enough to help you make your hokiday special.
This was our second trip to Kenya We will be going again.

Have a bottle of water on you ready for your transfer from the airport - its hot, dusty and a little uncomfortable!

Whitesands is a lovely hotel with great staff and lovely grounds. Its right on the beach - and you can get hassled by beach traders but as its the same people every day they soon get to know you. The hotel shows are worth going to - they are good and there is really no where else to go. The pool areas are clean and they dont get crowded - the water slide is great for kids but us adults seemed to whizz down it a little fast! - hold onto your bikini bottoms...

The food is nice - especially breakfast - the hotel is owned by an Indian family and the food reflects this and can be spicy - but is all well presented and prepared.

Be prepared for close encouters with the wildlife - though this only happens outside and not in the rooms! We had an invasion of crabs coming in from the sea and scuttling around the grounds - monkeys drink from the hoses in the gardens at sun rise - its worth getting up early one morning to see them before the gardeners chase them off! There are some big 'bugs' but we had no problems.

The beaches are clean and safe and the only problem is seaweed coming up from the reef. If you can - go snorkling at least - the sealife is amazing and the guides are friendly, helpful and informative.

The resturant on the beach has stunning views and serves mean cocktails.

If your looking for a safari the choice is wide - as it was our 1st time we did a 2 day to Tsavo - worth the early start- but make sure you take lots of water and dress for the heat.

All in all a great holiday - have fun!

We travelled in relative comfort to Nairobi to commence the first part of the holiday, a week safari trip to Samburu, Masai Mara, Lake Nakaru and Mount Kenya. The Safari was fantastic as was the accomodation, all but one lodge was with the hotel group Sarova and Serena, first class service and fairly good food.

As we arrived the week prior to Christmas we were fortunate enough not to have to share the safari vehicle with anyone else. The driver Sammy was fabulous, although he was only meant to take us for drives at certain times he would regularly stay out hours after he should have returned and therefore we got to see a lot of sights that other people had missed - notthe best time to travel to see the big 5 though as the vegetation screened a lot, finally we did see everything though.
Samburu and Masai Mara were definately the high points and we would have been happy to have stayed the full 3 weeks on safari.
Got talked into visiting a Masai village and paid quite a bit for the privelege, although at least we could see what the money would be going on.

Transferred then back to Nairobi to go onto the Whitesands Hotel, we had heard excellent reports of this hotel and were not disappointed when we arrived. The staff, especially Nelly could not do enough to help us and although we were in a state of panic about our forthcoming wedding in the resort they ensured it ran smoothly, even organising a wedding cake for all the guests as we did not want our wedding breakfast on our own. All the staff came round the table and preformed a dance for us and they arranged a band to play so that we could have our first dance.

On the negative side we had gone all inclusive and it turned out to be a bit of a waste of money as we were charged £75 each per day as it was over the Christmas and New Year period. The food seemed excellent to start with, although with the owners being Indian there was a definate bias towards Indian food, which was quite spicy. The food would have been fine if we had been staying there just for one week but by the 2nd week we were sick of the same food and stopped eating in the restaurant.

The hotel itself was excellent, large foyer, plenty of facilities and lovely grounds. The rooms were spacious and all overlooked the grounds or sea, the grounds being the prettier view. There were plenty of activities if you wanted them with an excellent animations team planning events each day. The resort was excellent for children of all ages and also for couples as there were so many different areas to go to within the hotel. We did not want to go to a resort where there would be a lot of young children all around us as we were there primarily to relax for a week before the wedding and then to honeymoon for the last week, but I can honestly say I cannot think of anywhere better to have stayed.

The holiday would have been fabulous but for the events on our final day - we had been allowed an extra baggage allowance for the wedding gear but on arrival at Mombasa airport we were advised by Air Kenya that we had to leave our wedding gear behind or pay an excess of £600 and that the excess had to be paid in Kenyan currency, as we did not have the money and they would not accept a credit card they sold our seats in front of us and left us stranded at the airport.

Somak refused to help us and said we were not their responsibility, Kenya Airways refused to speak to us and were extremely rude and we ended up at the airport alone at 10pm. Eventually we managed to get back to the hotel and had to check back in, whilst we tried to arrange another flight. As a lot of people had visited family in Kenya over Christmas there were no spaces on any flights for another 10 days, we were running out of money and had to get home. Eventually a local newspaper got involved and we were offered alternative flights for the next morning, meaning we would be just 2 days late home. We ended up having to take 4 flights which as they were not classed as long haul meant we only got 1 sandwich in 14 hours of flying time.
In all we spent over £6500 with Somak holidays and then ended up spending another £1000 just to get home (this was not including flights as it was agreed we had not been at fault).

Although everyone was excellent when things were going to plan, when things went wrong no-one assisted us at all. We will never travel with Somak holidays or Kenya Airways again, although we will definately return to Kenya and to Whitesands Hotel.