Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge

View is nice from main lobby and restaurant, pool is nice. Rooms are old and service poor.

Kilaguni Serena, a 56 room hotel in Tsavo East is a very comfortable base to explore Tsavo. All staff were welcoming and helpful, rooms are fit for purpose albeit they would benefit from some updating and the buffet meals excellent in terms of choice and taste. The star however is the very active waterhole below the bar / restaurant which was constantly active particularly with elephant. Recommended as a great base to explore Tsavo.

In 2024 we enjoyed our third stay at Kilaguni after stays in 2022 and 2023. Our enjoyment of the lodge grew with each visit as we became increasingly familiar with its positive attributes. The staff at the lodge are most friendly, relaxed and helpful. Many have worked at the lodge for a long time. The food is of good quality, abundant and varied—solid, delicious meals with good service and flexibility of choice. There is an excellent, well-stocked shop in the lobby offering maps and other publications, safari and ethnic clothing, souvenirs, handicrafts, and jewelry. The lodge seems to be constantly busy, with many visitors coming for an overnight stay en route to or from Amboseli or from places in Tsavo West. Hence the lodge has a comfortably lively atmosphere, never dull. We are looking forward to our next stay at the lodge, in September. The rooms are spacious and well-supplied with basic toiletries and other essentials. Because it is an older lodge the rooms have the benefit of having not only a shower but also a bathtub. For our 2022 stay we were in a regular room which was rather small and very hot at night (no air conditioning, no window to open in the bedroom area) but we still enjoyed the lodge overall with its long dining area and verandah. On our subsequent two stays we enjoyed a much more spacious and comfortable setting in a large suite with its own large balcony/verandah overlooking the water holes, and three spacious rooms including the large bedroom, a large bathroom, and a lounge/dining area. We also learned to control the nighttime air by resorting to the old-fashioned approach of opening the windows and letting the sheer curtains keep bugs out. Ceiling fans in the rooms help to the air circulating. Kilaguni belongs to a set of early generation lodges and hotels in Kenya, with a characteristic building design in terms of fixtures in the bathrooms and furnishings in the rooms. In the gardens, the landscaping such as garden pathways lined with boulders and mature old trees makes for a restful environment very similar to other lodges of similar age--the Amboseli SOPA lodge comes to mind. Similarly, the pool is old but well-kept, and the slate decking around it also hearkens to the mid twentieth century era. But the lodge and its setting are well maintained and very comfortable. This is not a pretentious lodge, focusing on fashionable décor and trends. Instead, it has its own traditional character and décor, focusing on the “safari” theme. A highlight of a stay at the lodge is to spend time in the very long, spacious dining area and the adjacent verandah that actually serves as a giant “hide” since you can sit enjoying a meal, or a round of drinks, and just relax while watching what wildlife come to the two water holes immediately below and in front of the verandah. At any time of day or night, there is always something going on at the water holes, with various species of wildlife coming and leaving. A couple of spotlights illum