crowned lapwing pair - part 4 - preening

crowned lapwing pair - on safari at Solio Ranch/Game Reserve, Kenya
Tips from my vacation: if you go to Solio, DON'T stay at The Safari Collection (TSC)'s 'luxury' Solio Lodge. They are the only lodge on the reserve, but TSC is not worth the ridiculous price - food's not luxury, not even good. Sure, the rooms are big and look posh, but service is bad and there are a lot of issues with the basics:
- rickety, crappy jeeps with windows that got stuck in down position (when another jeep drives past you, you roll it up so you and your equipment don't get a face full of dust). The guides' windows rolled up, but not the guests' windows.
- overcooked meat (tough, inedible), eggs (solid yoke, rubbery)
- oddly seasoned food (they marinated filet mignon in cabernet wine for a long time, and baked it - it tasted horrible... who even marinates a filet?! or bakes it? ugh - boiled meat?! WTF?!)
- they failed to accommodate simple dietary requests (as you do for places like this, in advance of your stay you provide preferences. I asked for no citrus due to health issues. The first meal they served me was fish poached in a lot of lemon juice and a little butter)
- $7 bottles of disgusting wine (tasted like vinegar = oxidized = spoiled)
- broken furniture in room (couldn't sit on couch since one leg not there)
- they failed to replace used washcloths, towels (which are thread-bare and useless)
- the back of their lodges are all glass - beautiful views, but the other guests walk through the grass in the back of the lodges as a short-cut to the main deck and can see you in all your glory
- the showers are also all made up of all glass windows facing the back where creepers can and do walk past - in the dark you don't know who's back there
- the shower heads are very high up, water just spits on your head, not an relaxing, clean experience - and you have to run the water for 30mins before you get any hot water
- the manager is incompetent and a hovering nuisance who monopolizes you meal time bitching about other guests, and talking about herself
However, Solio Ranch/Game Reserve, Kenya is a great place to see lots of white rhinos and colobus monkeys - and as I said, The Safari Collection (TSC) has the only lodge on site. BUT, you can still go for the day with another company - I saw lots of other jeeps and non-guests at lunch. It's an easy day trip from Ol Pejeta - stay with Kicheche Laikipia Camp (they are amazing!).
Buffet lunch at Solio lodge is actually not bad, but it's vegetarian only. If you want meat you have to special request it - but they screwed up grilled chicken, so don't bother. And go to Solio when it's been wet for a while, otherwise the rhinos are sparse.
You may have noticed this is my 2nd trip to Solio. I returned because TSC gave me a 2-day lodge voucher as compensation due to the horrible service I experienced at their Sasaab and Solio lodges during my 2020 stay. They blamed COVID for their bad service, and blamed the bad food on a substitute chef (a lot of other guests were complaining to the manager in front of everyone so I know I wasn't the only one). TSC insisted it would be better my next stay, and I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Normally, if a company has 'done right' to correct poor service I wouldn't write a thorough review - but when I returned to TSC's Solio the next year nothing had changed, even with the regular chef back cooking the meals. So another bad experience staying there, and I wasted money (getting there, paying for a solo jeep) and time I could’ve used at another lodge. Their other lodges also have bad food/service and/or are in bad locations. So, I can say unequivocally that The Safari Collection (TSC) is not a good company to use - you will not get your money's worth.
Thankfully, during this 2021 trip I tried out Kicheche Camps (Kicheche Laikipia Camp on Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Kicheche Naboisho Valley Camp on the Mara Naboisho Conservancy). TSC can't even compare and doesn't come close to Kicheche's amazing lodges, service, food, jeeps, and locations - so if you go to Kenya, stay with Kicheche Camps!

[@MauroMeneguzzi]

Essas aves são quero quero aqui no Brasil é chamado de quero quero ❤😊