The Ark

Unique accommodations and lots of great opportunities to get close to wildlife. Meals were tasty and lots of selection at breakfast and supper. Early check out for all guests but we saw what we needed to. Smoking section should be separate from viewing this was only negative. Rooms are small but you are not in room other than to sleep. Would have liked our room to not be at end of hotel facing shuttle bus. There was lots of room available. Staff were friendly.

We had the experience of staying overnight in the ARK Lodge on B level. There are 4 levels - A any the top, B next (with closed glass common balcony for viewing games from the floor) and C (open with an extended balcony and most crowded viewing place with a lot of noise) and D (closed viewing at the bottom). C level houses restaurant as well. Before reaching the ARK Game Reserve, visitors have to first report at Aberdare Country Club (a beautiful golf club and you can see some animals like Giraffes and various types of antelopes freely roaming around in the woods around the driving road inside the Club arena. The reception will advise you to leave some heavy luggage at the Reception counter / Cloak room and carry some small bag with useful stuffs for an overnight stay at the Lodge. The lunch is served to visitors at the restaurant of the Club from 1.30PM or so and visitors will travel in a different bus leaving their vehicles at he Country Club. The drive is about 30 - 45 minutes from the Club. The drive is smooth and you read ch the main gate of the ARK game Reserve at about 4PM or so. You have a choice to take the raised wooden walkway among the trees from the drop off point or drive with the bus for 3-4 minutes to reach entry level (C) of the Lodge. The welcome drink is served and they show you to your rooms. The rooms are very small but have good viewing windows. The service is not so good as limited number of people available for service. The guide will explain the ringing conventions which will guide the visitors to go the balcony to see the wildlife in the salt pit area. The guide also explains the lifestyle of Kenyan elephants which is very interesting. Tea and snacks are kept in the restaurant area for the benefit of visitors. We saw elephants, buffaloes, waterbucks, hyenas, etc. No birds around the place. Large elephant and buffalo herds are addicted to salt licking and they are almost everywhere around the small waterbody near the Lodge. Most of these animals are almost domesticated as they are available for visitors till about 10PM or so. Afterwards, most animals leave the pace and you hardly see any animal during midnight. The place is lighted properly for visitors in the night to see animals once darkness sets in. We had a good experience here. Food is good and elaborate in dinner and breakfast.

The staff at The Ark was very nice, everybody eas there for pampering us! There were a lot of animals at the lodge, especially elephants, we counted 53 once! The view was amazing from the room and there were many view points in the lodge! The food was good, also the chefs have been very nice! The rooms are very small and it was cold, it’s a basic accomodation but it worth going there for the animals! The game drives are spectacular in Aberdare!

OK you are not there for the rooms as they are small and pokey and the bathroom is pokey and not great. But you are they to see the wildlife at the salt lick and it is an amazing experience, well worth the journey. We sat on C level and watched the elephants and wilder beast for hours. There was an information session prior to dinner which was quite good. Again you are here for the animals so don't expect a great fare for dinner and breakfast. We were advised that we would be woken during the night if other animals turned up - but going down at four in the morning found the dude that was supposed to raise the alarm regarding other wild life had head phones on and was fast asleep!!!!!!!!!!

Unique place. The whole point of coming here is that the lodge was build by a salt lick and water hole that is floodlight all night. The lodge is build to watch the animals. There are several viewing areas each at the end of the building overlooking the waterhole. On the top floor the viewing area is open so can look down. Lower level viewing areas have glass windows but at ground level is a door that leads to a dark room off to the side that has openings a few feet above ground level so can come eye to eye with elephants. And can hear and smell the goings on. We saw elephants, giant forest hogs and also good for birding in this higher elevation. The restaurant is buffet style and i head that the one night we stayed some 96 people were there. So the restaurant was busy but there was plenty of space in the viewing areas. And could stay up all night or go to bed and they would wake you up if you wanted for any special animals that appeared in the night. The food was perfectly fine and plenty of it. The staff were friendly and helpful. This is not a fancy place. My room was small with two single beds and a tiny bathroom. But for one night was ok. Not luxurious but that is not the point of coming here. The whole point is to experience the waterhole and the evening we were there it delivered in spades with fighting elephants, giant forest hogs, the civet coming round, hyenas and worthogs and buffalo and bushbuck and mongeese and some wonderful birds.

Of all of the places we stayed at on our safari, this was the one I was most excited about based on the online photos. However, it was quite disappointing. To get there, you meet at the Aberdare Country Club. We had an excellent lunch at the country club before departing for the Ark Lodge. Once you leave the country club, you are only allowed a small overnight bag at the lodge, which required us to repack our luggage and leave some of our belongings behind. Then you board a bus which takes you up to the lodge. By the time we arrived at the lodge, it was nearly 4:00 p.m. and the bus leaves to take you back at 8:00 a.m. the next day, so the stay is very short. The lodge itself and the rooms are very small, so it is very crowded and noisy. Our shower was unusable since after a few seconds the water started to spill over out and cover the floor. The decks overlooking the watering hole are nice, but very busy and we only saw animals that we had already seen elsewhere. I checked the log book and confirmed with staff that no rhinos had been seen for the past 7 months. We kept our alert bell on during the night in the hopes that we might see something special, but it only rang for elephants, which we had already seen there during the day. I must say that the staff were very attentive and accommodating, and I want to give a special thanks to Steven and to Kelly for going out of their way to make our stay more enjoyable.