African Safari Diaries – A Dream Honeymoon Safari in Kenya

Sioned and Craig recently visited Kenya with us, choosing to go on a safari and a beach break for their dream honeymoon. They chose our Parks and Peaks itinerary, which is an excellent opportunity to combine a visit to Kenya’s largest national park, Tsavo, with Amboseli, considered by Hemingway to be the very essence of Africa.

1. Was this your first time visiting Kenya? What made you decide to visit?

So, this was our first time to Kenya. One: a holiday of a lifetime, two, our honeymoon and three, a holiday we knew that we would never forget. After looking around on websites, social media and in travel agents for our perfect holiday, we finally decided that Kenya would be our dream destination. At the end of the day, I am sure there is no better place to experience wildlife at its best than in their own environment, so we decided we wanted to do a safari, and Kenya it was!

2. How did you choose your itinerary?

We chose our itinerary through Worldchoice Travel in Shrewsbury where Sian (who we’ve booked holidays with before) put together different packages through Somak Holidays. We chopped and changed our itinerary a few times so that it was just right for what we wanted after a hectic few months planning our wedding.

Parks and Peaks was the package we went for.

We decided to do our 4 days safari first, where we visited Tsavo East, Tsavo West and Amboseli National Park. All three were such different environments to see the animals in and we enjoyed each one the same. All three were out of this world.

We then headed down to Diani beach to relax for a week. Beautiful white sands, gorgeous food and brilliant weather!

3. Where did you stay whilst on your trip and what was your favourite property and place?

We stayed at Ashnil Aruba in Tsavo East where we stayed in a tent. What an experience! Hearing the elephants and lions whilst we were sleeping is something we will never forget. How amazing!

We then moved on to Amboseli Serena Lodge in Amboseli National Park. Yet again another eye opening experience. Watching the animals down by the watering hole of an evening with a cocktail in hand was definitely a dream come true.

After this we travelled to Tsavo West where we stayed in Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge. As soon as we stepped out of our truck and in through the hotel entrance, the view hit you. Wow! Words can’t even describe it. We loved it here. This is where we ate our meal of an evening and our breakfast in the morning with a fantastic view of all the animals coming and going to the watering hole.

After our safari we headed down to Diani Beach which is around 40km from Mombasa. We wanted a quiet time by the beach and this is exactly what we got. We stayed at Neptune Palm Beach Boutique Resort. It was beautiful! As a bonus we got to use the facilities at the two sister hotels which were next door.

The staff went above and beyond, the beach was stunning, food was lush and we had a lovely hut prepared for an evening meal, just the two of us which was out of this world and super romantic.

4. What were the highlights from your trip?

The highlight of our trip was definitely seeing the animals in their natural environment. What more could someone ask for than seeing a parade of elephants washing themselves in the water, lions basking in the early morning sun, a leopard just casually chilling on a rock, giraffes reaching high into the trees, and hippos enjoying life keeping cool in the water.

 

 

5. Do you have any advice or tips for anyone thinking of going to Kenya for a holiday?

Definitely book a package with Somak Holidays – everything was organised and sorted for us. We just had to turn up!

Take a good camera to capture those special moments – whether it be photos of the animals or photos of you enjoying your evening food, you will definitely treasure these photos forever!

Enjoy and appreciate every moment – our planet is such an amazing and diverse place and Kenya is definitely fantastic evidence of this!

Visit the locals – go and see a Masai Tribe and then appreciate how lucky you are!

6 What were your special memories from this trip?

EVERYTHING – and we cannot thank Somak Holidays enough! If we ever get the opportunity again we will grab it with open arms. It was a dream come true from the minute we got on the plane in Manchester to the minute we landed back in Manchester. Thank you!

If after reading about Sioned and Craig’s experience you would like to book a similar itinerary, you can read more about our Parks and Peaks itinerary here.

We would love to work with you to plan the safari holiday of a lifetime. For more information on how our safari experts can help you, call Somak Holidays today on 020 8423 3000.

Please note all photos featured are credited to Sioned Barnett.