#ILoveMondays: Enashipai Resort and Spa
There are places in this world that just make you feel like going on a holiday. I mean just by looking at the photos online all you want to do is pack your bags and literally walk there just so that you can sit and relax. No clubbing, no excess heat, no humidity, just peace and quiet. In Kenya, we are lucky to be blessed with such a wide range of beautiful places to visit and Enashipai is one of those places for me.
Located approximately one hour drive from Nairobi on Naivasha’s Moi South Lake road, just 7 minutes from Naivasha town. This beautiful resort is a must visit. This was our second visit to the place with our first being in 2011 when it was still pretty new. Back then, we stayed in 2 two bed roomed cottages that were on the same block. Being a new hotel at the time, I think it might have been their first Xmas, they were pretty well prepared for the full house that they had. Food, if I remember well was good but they had a pretty boring desert spread. On our last day at the resort, my brother and I requested the chef to make a nice desert because for us, hotel stays are all about desert. The chef was nice enough to make us something.He did a decadent chocolate brownie that he served with ice cream. I remember how good we felt that he had obliged to our request and made us something. The other issue I had with them at the time was that we requested for a nonslip bath mat every day for the 4 days we were there for my great grand dad but never got one. That was not amusing.
Enashipai has quite grown from our last visit in 2011. In 2015 they had a lot more hotel rooms, they’d completed their spa and they also had a state of the art discotheque. We stayed there for 2 nights. Arrived Saturday Afternoon and left Monday Afternoon. Here are the highlights of our stay.
Reception
From the guards at the gate to the guards at the reception to the ladies at the reception everyone was quite friendly. It was quite a busy day for them as they were fully booked. When we got to the reception we had to wait for a few minutes for them to finish off with some clients and due to this we were not met by the usual cold glass of juice and wet towels that you would expect for these caliber of hotels. Given that they were busy perhaps they should have gotten an extra hand to assist with this. I think if we did not have toddlers with us we probably would not have noticed this. After about 10 minutes we requested for some juice for the tots and this was served very quickly which we appreciated. We were then showed to our rooms.
The rooms
We had 5 double rooms this time. 4 in the same block and one in the adjacent block. The rooms were beautiful. We had twin beds in each room. The bottom rooms open to a beautiful garden that has a man-made water fall and the rooms at the top have a balcony with a sitting area. The rooms also came with a sofa bed and would therefore be able to sleep 3 people. The hotel also provided us with baby cots for the toddlers at no extra cost. The room came with complementary bottles of water and some tea and coffee. They also have a small fridge that you can use during your stay. The hotel room deco has an Africanish theme, from the burnt orange walls to the curtains which were my favorite. They had a plain curtain that was orange then a smaller curtain that was the exact same curtain and fabric with the runners on the bed. I loved it. They also had extra pillows and blankets in a pull open compartment that I thought was so cool. The bathroom had a bathtub and a large area with an overhead fixed shower with AMAZING pressure. Only thing that would have made this better is if the shower had multiple jets on the wall.
Room Service
For a hotel of this stature I had expected them to have a few times when room service was offered for free. This was not the case and we were charged 500 per trip.
The Gardens
Enashipai is full of many small gardens. As I had said earlier our room opened to a small fenced back yard that led to a larger garden with a water fall. This was replicated in most of the rooms. They also have a medium sized garden near the dining room and a large garden near the lake that is ideal for weddings.
Dining Experience
The food at the restaurant was served at set times. The buffet style meals were quite tasty. In hotels I tend to be a salad and animal protein kind of girl and their array of fresh crunchy salads spoke to my heart. On one of the nights they had a barbecue cooking station outside with lamb, beef fillet, fish and pork. The lamb and beef was cooked to a perfect medium as per my request. The pork I felt was dry because it had stayed on the jiko for a tad bit too long. The selection of food on the buffet was large with them having a section for diabetics and people suffering from HBP (high blood pressure). This was low fat salt free food. Quite genius if you ask me. They also had a kids’ menu which my brothers and my nieces really enjoyed. My brothers said they were their mamas babies so they might as well enjoy food from the kiddie menu. The Kiddie buffet was always ready by 6pm which is perfect time for feeding children. It was balanced too with nice veggies.
This time the desert options were right on the money and my brother Charles and I were happy campers. Another highlight for me was the soup served for breakfast. Perfect for anyone trying to chase away a hangover. On Sunday they served Mimosas with brekky, oooh my what a treat. On our last day we requested for packed lunch. They packed chicken, a veggie sandwich, fruit, juice, water and a cupcake. This was good so at least the kids had something to eat before they got to Nairobi. Only complaint was that half of the packed chicken was not cooked.
Kiddie play area and swimming pool
This was a favourite with my nieces. All they wanted to do was go to the play room and get lost inside the tunnels and ladders. They also had quite a good swim on one of the afternoons. My brothers enjoyed the swim too.
Spa and Museum
Unfortunately I did not get a chance to visit the spa. WHY?? I have no idea. Next time I visit I will make time to go for a spa treatment. As for the museum again we did not visit, they were charging Ksh 500 pp to go in and see a small museum. We were four and so we did not see the use of paying that much for just me to take photos for the blog. I again think that if one is paying almost Ksh 30,000 ($300) for a hotel room per night it only makes sense to have this as a complementary service where guests can go into the museum for free but can give donations.
My Take
I love the place, yes I would go back. Next time I go maybe it will be for a spa weekend with my girlfriends, my mum or the Mr. It is an all round place, great for a family getaways, couples romantic weekend, a birthday party (There was someones 40th birthday on that weekend), spa dates and weddings.
Have you been there? What was your take?
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