Watamu Beach Hotel

[ali_alic]

Are you there GlitteryPink?

[GlitteryPink]

Hi yes i'm here! How are you, how was it?

[ali_alic]

Watamu was fantastic!!
Rained the first day, tho brilliant sunshine in the pm. Cloudy the next day and very rainy in the evening but one of the kids still got sunstroke thru the clouds. It then didn�t rain for the rest of the holiday except for last Thursday when it drizzled for about an hour in the am.
Temp in the 90s-100s most of the time. We ignored what the hotel said about booking tours through the beach chaps. We booked our Malindi tour through Ali Baba (from the beach, not the hotel) and it was 3 hours longer, cheaper and it included snorkelling. But you can decide that yourself. Certainly go onto the beach and ask for him. He�s a great guy. All the rooms have mosquito nets above the bed. I only got bitten 3 times as I was careful about spraying myself, others weren�t so particular and got bitten to hell and back. The safari days are done in 2 parts with a two hour lunch back at the lodge if you want tho there is an option for a packed lunch if everyone on your jeep/bus wants it. But you will need to use the loo in the middle of the park if you are delicate that way!! They call it an African toilet stop. So take toilet paper with you. Everyone had tummy upsets so take immodium instants or tummy tablets with you as a matter of course, tho there is a good pharmacy down the road next door to Mama Lucy�s (the local supermarket) who prescribes stronger medicines if you are bad. My other half suffered, took his tablets and was right as rain a day later. I was fine tho I put it down to my cast iron stomach (I eat chillis and vindaloos all the time)

[ali_alic]

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The staff are brilliant, very friendly. To give you an idea, the waiters earn about �55 per month, the barmen �63 and the head barman �68 per month, but they don�t resent us at all. The best staff in my opinion are George (the head barman) Charles (Assistant manager) Julius (Chef and Charles�s son) Eric (a waiter in the restaurant) and Silas (Assistant head waiter) Charles and Julius in particular were my favourites. When the tide goes out the islands in the bay are exposed and you can actually walk up to them. During that walk we saw 3 different types of star fish, sea urchins, sea anemones, crabs, moray eels, various shellfish etc It was fantastic. The only down point is that none of the beaches in Kenya are owned by the hotels so halfway down the beach there are groups of locals who try to sell you things, get you to go to their shops etc but they were very informative about the reef and its wildlife so just bung them a couple of hundred shillings (1200 ks to the pound) at the end of it and they are happy. They very rarely go away but ask politely and they will only to be replaced by a different group! We went for a romantic early morning stroll and ended up with an entourage! It�s a very poor country with tourism the main industry so you can�t really blame them for trying to earn money from us. We gave out loads of biros, toys and spare clothing (flip flops, t shirts, trainers etc).

[ali_alic]

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If you go out of the resort to go to mama lucys you will be accompanied - do not let them show you the short cut back to the hotel as all they do is take you though the village past all their shops, interesting in its own way especially as they take you passed the Masai house. But it is quicker to stick to the main road. I went at 8.30 in the morning (Mama Lucy�s opens at 8 apparently) and there was hardly anyone around � so no hassle. You can buy Pringles, sweets, choclate, lucozade etc as well a Kenyan products such as Coffee (�3), tea, chutneys etc. The hotel shop has very little in it so warn your family and friends that there is not a lot to buy � unless you want to brave the village shops!! The rooms are basic but good enough and there isn�t a great variety of food. But the staff were willing to cook omelettes, chips, pizzas etc in the evening if we asked. I was a bit disappointed that the so-called rainy season wasn�t rainy cos I am a very white white person!! Almost blue really!! And it was definitely too hot for me a lot of the time. Lawd knows what its like in the summer!! However I am a lovely brown now. Anything else you want to know just ask!! You are Gonna LOVE it if you are willing to "go with the flow". Definately do a safari tho - Lions, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes - the lot within feet of you. Awesome!!
P.s � give my love to Charles, tell him Julius�s white mother (Alison) says hello!!

[GlitteryPink]

Wow ali_alic thanks for that sounds amazing! I'm really excited now! I will definitely go and find Ali Baba, where did your safari take you was it to Tsavo or the Masai Mara? Did you do any of the other trips like the boat ones or the Gedi ruins? How was the flight and transfer?

[ali_alic]

Flight was OK, usual airline food but it was overnight so we slept. Paid �30 each in stirling for visas when we got there but take small loose change to tip the porters at the airport. The hotel does not take money tho. You have to sign for everything and then they stop your account once you reach 300 euros. However you can pay your bill up daily but if you are going with a friend then you may find splitting the bills fraught. We had the 3 kids with us and we were forever worried they were gonna knock the hell out of the account!! The hotel also does FREE tours/activities such as bush walks and beach walks, visits to the church (real happy swinging singing) etc - they are worth doing. We loved it so much out there we got Ali Baba to show us some land that was for sale. Unfortunately someone had already put an offer in.

Went on the Red Elephant safari (Tsavo) ourselves but our guide (Mohamed) reckoned that the Masai mari is the best for seeing all the animals. Having said that he did say that we saw an amazing amount of animals on ours (the only ones we didn�t see is the leopard and rhino, but the rhino is in the wrong part of the park so we were never gonna see them). But he did say that as we were �up for it� he felt he was able to get closer to the animals. He overtook a pride of lionesses and parked in front of them so they had to go round the jeep. Lionesses just a foot or so away from you, brushing against the vehicle � fantastic. He also

[ali_alic]

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pee�d off a bull elephant who then charged us, we then chased an ostrich across the bush, chased and cornered a honey badger, chased a herd of buffalo (scary), raced a giraffe alongside the road (the giraffe won) and flushed out two cheetahs in the long grass whilst the rest of the jeeps kept a safe distance. Oh yes, and played chicken with a teenage elephant. We also saw a lion and lioness feeding off a baby zebra (made the 12 year old cry) with jackals circling them. It was a 2 hour coah trip to the airport, then a 30 minute flight to crocodile camp, but jeep journey all the way back!! We did the Mida Creek trip with the beach Ali Baba which included walking across the shallow mangroves in amongst the flamingos and herons, visiting the man with 10 wives and then onto a secluded beach for a BBQ. We started off with octopus soup and coconut rice then swordfish, then Shrimp (large) ending with lobster all accompanied by good wine, beer and sodas. If you don't like fish let them know and they will bring chicken & BBQ that. Then snorkelling in the afternoon. All for 40 euros each (the 12 year old went free!)
Didn't do Gedi but by all accounts it was brill. Glenn and Chris went see fishing on a trip organised by Ali Baba and caught Tuna etc. Say Hi to Ali from �Mister Glenn and Chris�. Glenn is a huge chap so they should remember him!!

Ali (not Baba!!)

[ali_alic]

Warning tho - we ended up paying another 174 euros (for the 5 of us) for park entry fees, so find that cost out before you book!!

[GlitteryPink]

Thanks for all this info, it is such a help and making me even more excited about getting there! My boyfriend is wondering about what to wear at dinner...is it one of those hotels where you have to wear long trousers etc? Also did you wear shorts on safari or are there too many mozzies for bare legs? What spray did you use as it obviously works!?

[ali_alic]

The only dining rules were : no swimwear at any time (Tshirt, shorts, wraprounds etc over the top were OK for breakfast and lunch) But no shorts at dinner. As for the mozzy spray. I used asdas and sainsbury's own plus jungle formula ( as long as its contains Deet its OK, most is 30% but I also took 50% and 90%) as well as the local "brew" which was called Kinga. You can buy this cheaply at Mama Lucy's) I must add tho that I was very fanatical about using it. Always carried it with me in case I didn't get back to my room by 6pm!! The majority of people that got caught out on safari did so because they didn't think to put it on at 5am BEFORE the safari and got bitten in that hour. I wore a long skirt on safari but wished I'd worn a short skirt or shorts etc as it was hot and sweaty in the jeep. In the evening on safari I cheated and wore my "flight socks" under linen trousers. My boyfriend got bitten big time on the plane home even tho they spray the plane. I again wore my flight socks so I was OK. If you like reading on your hols (I do) take your own books. They do have a "library" as normal but its all full of german books. I read my 3 books and then had to start reading the kids books. "The Princess and the Pony" can not compare to a Gresham novel!!

[GlitteryPink]

Thank you so much for all the info Ali. I have tried to think of anything else I want to ask you but i think you have covered everything! We are so excited now, hope our trip goes as well as yours did! Thanks again.

[ali_alic]

No problem. It has got to be the most beautiful country I have ever seen - and I used to live in Hawaii!!

You will definately love it as long as you take as it comes

Ali