Lonno Lodge Watamu

From Italy to Kenya, with love. We moved to Kenya in February 2006 to follow the construction of the Lonno Lodge, which opened to the public early 2009. Since the beginning of its activity we focused our attention particularly on the level of service we wanted to provide to our guests.

Here at Lonno Lodge you can receive, if you wish so, the personalized service you can expect from an hotel of our level, mixing service with attention to the customer’s needs, and maximum privacy with the beauty of a life on the sea side.

Rooms & Suites
The Charming Lonno Lodge is very cozy, but also very small, with only four rooms and four suites to guarantee everybody with silence and privacy.

The four rooms are in the Observation Tower, while each one of the four suites is on two floors, with independent access. Rooms and Suites mainly differ in size, and bedding, while several of the features they offer are common to every unit, such as:

• Kitchenette
• Frigo-bar
• Kettle
• Tea-kit
• Hot & Cool water dispenser
• Sink
• Glasses & Cups
• Wall Fan (no noisy air-conditioning)
• Mosquito nets on all the beds (not really needed, but .. you never know)
• Big bathroom with shower (no tub)
• Courtesy kit with natural soap, shampoo and conditioner
• Hairdryer
• 32″ TV set with Netflix and Youtube
• Multi-standard sockets (you don’t need to travel with tons of adapters to charge your phone and camera!)
• Safe-box (big enough to store a notebook)

The Tower Rooms
The Tower Rooms range from the cozy 42 sqm Deluxe Room, to the huge 72 sqm Top Tower Room with private and exclusive roof-top terrace; you’ll never ever miss the ocean view and the sea breeze, they’re just in front of you. Every room can accomodate 2 guests, plus a baby cot.

The Historical Suites
Suites with one bedroom or Family Suite with two bedrooms, from 90 up to 133 sqm, independent and with all the room you need to feel at home. A small indulgence for a well deserved holiday. Patio plus terraces are standard in our suites, they’re all facing the ocean except the GrandSuite, more secluded and facing the mature tropical garden.

Bedroom(s) and bathroom are on the first floor, living room is on the ground floor overlooking the natural garden, amid a cozy patio and frangipani’s fragrances. Suites can accomodate from 2 to 5 guests, plus a baby cot.

Dining
Our restaurant is very small and, more important, is reserved to our guests only. This means that it will never be crowded and that every guest will get proper attention. Not only for the service, but for the menu as well!

We’re ready to take care of specific dietary needs, from allergies to vegetarians, from gluten-free meals to vegan diets, but in any case our chefs will prepare wonderful lunches and dinners with local fresh ingredients, for both local kenyan dishes and international cuisine. And you’re not limited to a standard menu, simply because we do not have a “standard” menu.

Sure, we have dishes that are part of our daily cooking simply because they’re yummy and tasty, and for sure we’ll suggest you dishes from the swahili tradition, but you’re also invited to let us know your requests, your needs or simply preferences, and we’ll do our best to satisfy your wishes.

Gluten-free Restaurant
The small size of our restaurant, and a strict control on food preparation, allow us to cook even gluten-free food as bread, pasta, cookies and muffins. Gluten-free cereals suitable for coeliacs customers. Please notify us that you require gluten free food during the booking process.

The Swimmingpool
Our pool is right at the centre of Lonno Lodge, adjacent the restaurant and with its infinity edge facing the Indian Ocean: almost 200,000 litres of water, it’s surface is amplified by the absence of corners and by the harmony of its curving lines. The pool is never crowded, even at peak turnout, and there are always plenty of comfortable lounge chairs available.

We love devoting the utmost care to our pool so that you’ll always find the water perfect, but with great respect for the environment. In fact, the pre-filtered water coming from our desalination plant is regularly controlled and maintained to ensure minimal use of chemical products.

But, to tell the truth, all this is really just complicating things since, due to the conviviality of the sea breeze, the closeness of the bar, and the silence and tranquility that sets our structure apart, our guests tend to stick to the lounge chairs in complete and total relaxation. Don’t worry: none of us will attempt to fix this problem.

Swimming with Dolphins
Watching dolphins jump and play is always a unique and unforgettable experience. Get a boat, go looking for them. Swimming with dolphins is definitely not a great idea, sorry about that. Dolphins are lovely, incredible, beautiful but wild animals, and very protective of their young.

But watching them swimming and jumping and playing around your boat is a magical experience worth trying, to bring home in memories and pictures. Dolphin families have lived in Watamu’s Protected Park and Reserve in Kenya for as long as people can remember.

Watamu Marine Association have been studying these highly intelligent marine mammals since 2010, and have so far found that over 100 different animals inhabit this area, many of them mothers and young calves.

There are three species of dolphin that you can see in Watamu; the Indo Pacific Bottlenose dolphin, the rare Indo Pacific Humpback dolphin and the off shore acrobats the Spinner dolphins. Whoever you see please enjoy them naturally but do remain in the boat.

Dolphins are wild and have over 100 teeth! Here are some guidelines from Watamu Marine Association that will help you enjoy your experience and help protect our Watamu dolphins:

• Do not touch dolphins. As said swimming with dolphins is strongly not suggested, and clearly not touching dolphins as well.
• Do not feed dolphins or throw objects in the water to attract them.
• Do not make sudden or loud noises like banging on the boat or shouting. This can damage their hearing and interfere with their communication, navigation and prey location.
• Do not jump in and swim with dolphins unless they come to you first, and you are already in the water. Chasing dolphins to swim with them may place both you and the dolphins at risk. Especially if they have young.
• If you would like to watch our wild dolphins please contact reception, we can put you in touch with experienced captains that can take you on their boats safely, privately or on a shared group. Going on a Dhow Cruise is also a wonderful way to meet dolphins.

A Safari in Kenya at Tsavo East
Complete your beach stay with a 2 Days Safari at Tsavo East National Park. On a LandCruiser, for your party only and with our expert driver, you will explore the most beautiful and unforgettable places in Tsavo. No sharing with other guests, no overcrowded 2WD buses!

Your Safari in Kenya will leave directly from the Lodge. At 7am your driver will be waiting for you on a 4×4 Landcruiser, ready to take your party to explore and experience Tsavo. Pls remember that the 4×4 will be just for you, no sharing, and do not forget to fully charge your batteries the night before the Safari.

Hat, sunglasses and binoculars are warmly recommended, water is provided on board, and a light snack for breakfast too! Along the road of “Mariakani”, that crosses typical African villages and a beautiful palm grove, we will stop for a coffee before reaching the Tsavo National Park entrance, following meals will be served at the Safari Lodge. You’ll be back at Lonno Lodge the following day, late afternoon.

Tsavo National Park
With a total area of 21,812 square kilometres, Tsavo is the largest natural park in the country. The park was inaugurated in April 1948 and in May this year was subdivided for administrative purposes in Tsavo East National Park and Tsavo West National Park.

The park includes a variety of habitats. Tsavo East is predominantly flat. Penetrating a little further you are at the sight of the savannah and arid plain, where you can see antelopes, gazelles, lions, leopards, giraffes, zebras … and about 500 species of birds that live there, including the beautiful fisherman eagle (haliaeetus vocifer) and the colourful kingfisher.

The main relief is the Yatta plateau which, with its 290 km, is the largest lava surface in the world created by the activity of the Ol Donyo Sabuk Volcano. You can also admire the Lugard Falls a system of waterfalls formed by the Galana, named after Frederick Lugard (explorer 1858-1945).

The Game Drives
Searching for wild animals with a Landcruiser, that’s what ‘Game Drives’ are all about during your safari in Kenya. Coupled with the African horizon and spectacular skies, a game drive through the Tsavo offers for an experience of a lifetime into the wild, greatly enhancing your chances of spotting the Big 5.

Wild animals are mostly active in the early mornings and late afternoons. That’s why the Game Drives always start early, around 6 o’clock in the morning, and last 3 to 4 hours to be back to the camp for lunch. At around 16 o’clock the afternoon game drive sets off, and also takes roughly 3 to 4 hours, to arrive back at lodge on time to freshen up before dinner.

Satao Camp
Satao Camp is in the heart of Tsavo East National Park. Its location is excellent. Several pools of water nearby attract wildlife and the identification of animals is easy because the park is in a horizontal position with the prairies of the savannah.

A Safari in Kenya: your Lodge
The camp boasts 20 authentic safari style en-suite tents, each with private verandas, nestled among the tamarind trees surrounding the camp’s very own watering hole.

The tents are carefully positioned to allow uninterrupted views of the visiting wildlife whilst ensuring total privacy. The tents interiors are simply exquisite. All are attractively furnished to a unique African design.

Sightseeing
Tsavo National Park is large, very large (actually, the largest in Kenya) and it’s not practical to see all of its hotspots in two days, you’d shrink too much of your Game Drives.

During your 2 days Safari you’ll have the opportunity to see a good chunk of these points of interest, selected by your professional driver according to weather and roads condition, and to the presence of wildlife in the season of your Safari, among the Aruba Dam, built on the Voi River, or the Mudanda Rock and the Yatta Plateau, or the Lugard Falls on the Galana River and the Galana River itself.

Trust his/her experience, you’ll not regret you did, all of our guides are Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association certified.

A Traditional Dhow Cruise
Boarding a traditional Dhow and setting sail for a charming cruise is surely the most romantic way to look for dolphin and whales at the Watamu Marine National Park. A private full day cruise reserved to your party only.

Boarding a traditional Dhow and setting sail for a charming cruise is surely the most romantic way to look for dolphin and whales at the Watamu Marine National Park. And if you think that the dhow and its crew are completely for your party, no sharing with other guests, it makes the cruise even more enchanting!

After breakfast, around 8:30am our private transfer will take you to the harbour to board a traditional lateen sail dhow that will cruise you the whole day off the Kenya coast and/or inside the Mida Creek. You’ll spend the time exploring desert beaches, looking for Humpback Whales or chasing Dolphins.

Snorkeling and lazily lying on board will also be part of your day, do not forget the sunscreen. Lunch will be served on board, and drink and fresh fruit will be available for the whole cruise, that will take you back to the departure harbour after a charming sundowner at sunset cruising the Mida Creek, just in time for a shower before dinner.

Sailing with the fishermen
From November to April, during the monsoon season when the sea is calm and the fishing season is also at its peak, it is the best moment to experience a day of fishing with the fishermen of Watamu.

Sailing on a boat with the local fishermen for a day of fishing. Sailing with the fishermen of Watamu from November to April, during the monsoon season when the sea is calm and the fishing season is also at its peak, is the best moment to experience a day of fishing with the local fishermen.

No engine boats, no deep-sea fishing, only wind, silence and hard work. You simply have to show up at the beach around 4pm, when the fishermen are back, to arrange for the following day.

Consider that for a day of fishing you’ll have to be around from 5am to 4pm because the fishermen go out 15-20 kilometers, and it is a 2 or 3 hours travel because of the little wind in the morning. Then they fish for three or so hours, and the moment comes to sail the wind back, for the return trip.

The experience is truly unique, and completely safe. There are always several boats fishing together, always helping each other, and even in case of a broken sail there is always another boat to safely take you back to Watamu. To the Watamu Beach, to sell your catch of the day.

The Do-Nothing Tour
The “Otium Tour”. That’s right: spending the whole day laying around. Have you overestimated your own strength? Changing your environment, seeing different places and people, and altering your schedule and diet is not only fulfilling, it is also quite exhausting.

So, don’t forget to include a place to relax. Holidays should be full of “otium” leisure, as classical age Romans knew well, far from the hassles, traffic, and mindfulness that are at the centre of daily life.

Because a real body-mind holiday is just taking in one’s surroundings without thinking of anything. We could really benefit from adopting our ancient fathers’ idea of “otium”, a break from action.

Try out the different beds at Lonno Lodge, take your time; don’t line up for the bed, it makes no sense, there are plenty of them. Indulge yourself in a relaxing massage, read a book, order a cold beer or one of our cocktails: our personnel will be very careful to keep you from exerting any energy unnecessarily.

Website: www.lonnolodge.com

Rooms: 42

Price: from 311 EUR per night