Naivasha Kongoni Lodge - Lakefront Getaway

Naivasha Kongoni Lodge is a fantastic family getaway with stunning lake views, spacious cottages, and a serene atmosphere. The friendly staff and beautiful surroundings make it perfect for relaxation, while activities like boat rides and nearby wildlife keep everyone entertained. An ideal spot to unwind and reconnect with nature!

Kongoni lodge is a place we visited before We booked a cottage with 2 bedrooms for my mother and ourselves (couple) as husband was doing mtb race - this was confirmed 4 weeks in advance The night before the race we headed to kongoni lodge for the night. My driver also called the lodge to book his accommodation there. We arrived at 7pm. Front desk gave us welcome drinks, hot towels took our passports and made us fill up the forms But just before passing the keys she casually informed us that we will only have 1 bedroom for 3 of us and the other room in the same cottage was already occupied by a sick traveler who will depart next morning: We obviously jumped. Firstly There was ample time for the hotel to contact us before we arrived at 7pm and inform us so we can make alternative arrangements - the roads leading to kongoni werr bad and this was was a pure waste of time especially when everyone is exhausted after the ride from Nairobi Secondly to make us fill up forms, provide them passports then tell us the news was not acceptable. This could have been said upfront vs after all admin In addition the female desk manager was not honest - she stated repeatedly she couldn’t get hold of us. We didn’t get any missed calls. Also there is email, phone options? my driver confirmed he spoke to the lady manager to reconfirm his own room booking and even received 2 phone calls that day to enquire about the time we were supposed to arrive Finally after we protested about sharing a cottage with a sick traveler - she reluctantly offered an option for us to move to another hotel but we have to make our way there, check out in the following morning and move the stuff ourselves back to Kongoni it would cost us 10,000 kes but we had to pay kongoni directly. An arrangement we couldn’t figure why This was not feasible as husband was racing the following morning 7am till 3pm I was to follow the race as well. This meant we had to pack by 6am and check out from the hotel and mode stuff over to kongoni. Before going to the race Then unpack again at the new room at their lodge assuming the guest recovers. We are appalled at how this was being managed - the lack of honest and upfront communications. Finally the lady assured us she would be on standby to assist We tried calling back when we were at the replacement hotel to find rooms for ourselves Needless to say the kongoni front desk never picked up our calls I am appalled how they had treated and dumped us without any remorse, or attempt to help us despite this massive glitch. Till today none of them even called to apologize to us I will never recommend them to anyone and urge all to rethink as well at this unprofessional, irresponsible and unhelpful management

Kongoni was a perfect getaway, about two hours from Nairobi. The grounds are beautiful; we especially enjoyed hiking the path to a viewpoint of the lakes. Food was delicious and our room was clean and so nice! Be aware, that you may share common space with another couple in your cottage. This would have been fine with us, but we happened to have it all to ourselves. Kongoni is located about 15 minutes from the entrance to Hell's Gate, so you will need your own transportation or a taxi to get most places. But we so enjoyed Kongoni, that we were happy to not go far at all!

Me and my family of 4 were at Naivasha Kongoni lodge for 3 days /2 nights and the experience was absolutely sublime. We loved the place, we loved the staff, the restaurant, the pool and the landscape. We were accommodated in a picturesque cottage with wonderful decoration and special Woden furniture. It was special being at the balcony listening to the silence, sometimes with the birds singing and the thunderstorm and rain in other occasions.

Good location convenient to Naivasha, Hells Gate for hiking/biking, Crescent Island. Very peaceful, clean spacious rooms, ample hot water. Unfortunately as we checked out, we were overcharged for drinks/waters by about 50%. It was the old ruse of "the charges are 'in the system' but we can't find receipts". This was a surprise because we had signed for any extras like beverages, and it wasn't hard to remember how many there were since it was only 2 nights. There was no real effort to resolve, leading to an impression that this type of predatory charging may be the norm. This is extremely bad behavior for a place as nice as this, and for this reason I do not recommend the lodge whatsoever.

The overall experience was absolutely horrible. It was a total waste of 3 days of holiday. Had booked their top luxury cottage with a private plunge pool but it was way below even an ordinary room.. post checking-in spent some time to tidy up the sitting room... the basics like straightening the furniture etc. No hand wash in the bathroom, rickety shower, torn bathrobe and torn bed linen. Hot water was an issue and July gets cold!. At night no bonfire for guest or any other activity... just a dead place. The bartender couldn't put together the most basic Kenyan Cocktail - Dawa. The soft furnishing in the cottage was definitely worn out and requires an immediate change. The old man (the guide) who takes you for a short walk to the observation point at the top of the hill was the only positive experience. Overall an extremely bad experience - a 100% write-off as a holiday. Total waste of time, money and peace.