Mountain Rock Lodge, Mount Kenya Region, Kenya

Inquiries:

You can visit the hotel's website at: www.mountainrockkenya.com or check out Expedia.ca (Canada) or Expedia.com (USA) for the most and best deals on other accommodations in the Mount Kenya, Kenya area.

Location:

The lodge is located in the Mount Kenya region, 7km north of Naro Moru, 15km south of Nanyuki, less than 1km from the main road and within a 2-hour walk on a dirt road to the Mau Mau caves. The lodge is in a fairly secluded area on the lower slopes of Mount Kenya. 

Room Comfort:

The lodge offers a camping area, standard and superior rooms. We were provided with a standard room and it was the worst room we had during our travels around East Africa. The room was small, the mattresses on the beds were really worn down and folding at the edges. Moreover, the toilet in our bathroom didn't have a toilet seat. There was a small TV in the room but it wasn't plugged in as the TV had a European plug but the room had British sockets. There weren't any adapters in the room or at the hotel.

The lack of a toilet seat was a concern for us so we asked the manager if there was another room we could stay in. The manager showed us another standard room that was in worse condition then the one we were staying in, so we declined that offer after he said he would get us a toilet seat for the toilet in our room. Although his intentions were good, he didn't realize that the hotel staff would scrub a really dirty toilet seat on the lawn outside of the room in plain sight, which really turned us off from wanting it. Having witnesses the original state of our supposed new toilet seat, we declined that offer and figured we were probably better off without the seat at that point. Later that day, when we arrived from our walk, we were informed by the manager that they got us a clean toilet seat. When we later found that our toilet seat was from their common washrooms, we had enough and decided to switch hotels.

On the positive side, we didn't see any insects/bugs during our brief stay in the room. Unfortuantely, we can't say for certain that there are no bugs/insects in the room since we didn't spend the night there. 

Cleanliness:

It was hard to distinguish how clean the room or lodge was as it was really run down. Clean bed sheets and towels were provided but the bathroom looked grungy. The common bathroom near the restaurant were not clean.

Service:

The lodge can arrange many activities within the area, such as horseback riding, hiking on the nature trails, climbing Mount Kenya, and so on. There is a restaurant onsite and a common area for watching TV.

Food:

The food was okay. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served in a buffet style and are similar to other lodges/resorts in Kenya. Beer was reasonably priced at 150 shillings. This was one of the best prices at hotels in Kenya.

Overall Value:

We ended up checking out of this hotel and going to the Leisure Lodge which was a new lodge in the area. The manager at the Mountain Rock Lodge was very kind and actually helped us with moving to another lodge. This was the first time in our lives that we checked out of a hotel prior to completing our stay. We don't recommend this place until it is renovated, but we aren't aware of any renovations taking place anytime soon though. Be cautious if you are making arrangements with a tour operator as it seems that many of them use this lodge for accommodations in this area. If that's the case, don't be afraid to ask to stay at a different lodge, (check out our review of the Leisure Lodge as an alternative).

Other Notes:

We found that the lodge has little to offer to their guests that are not on tours. We finished our hike to the Mau Mau caves by noon and were stuck at the lodge with nothing to do. Other lodges in the area have swimming pools, game rooms, tennis courts, etc. so at least if your stuck at the lodge there are things to keep their guests busy and entertained, rather than trapped and bored.  Furthermore, the hotel would not let us explore the area without hiring one of their guides due to the apparent dangers from wild elephants and some locals that are found in the area.

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