This was our first "exotic" holiday outside of the usual European destinations we used to go to. Transfers etc were all absolutely fine, we went with first choice and the flight out was dreadful but largely due to the weather so not their fault at all. Having since flown with other longhaul airlines, I wouldn't choose to fly with them again but they were fine, nothing out of the ordinary.

The hotel itself is at the end of a long track off the 'main road'. The trip to the hotel is a real eye opener and all the children are clearly fascinated by the bus loads of tourists. A warm welcome with fruit punch awaits at the hotel. There was a slight delay while we filled out the forms before finally getting to our room. The hotel is decorated in a kind of morocan theme which is fine, but probably in need of an update. The pools are great, but to be honest we didn't really spend much time in there - not sure why though!! The fruit cocktails flow easily throughout the day and nothing is too much trouble. They offer a good variety of trips and we did 2 or 3 which really added to our Kenyan experience. We had chosen to just have a beach holiday, but the resort isn't far from Shimba Hills so we managed to do a day's safari. Far from the best safari park in the country, but gives you a taster.

The only down side for me was that one of the animation team approached us on more than one occasion to try and sell privately arranged tours. Now i know that there are often cheaper ways of organising tours, but this was defintaely dodgy and he was pretty persistent - it got to the point where we would walk the other way if we saw him. Having said that the rest of the staff were fabulous, especially those in the restaurant and the dive centre.

The food isn't amazing. But to be honest most of the more exotic stuff they have to get imported and the general kenyan palatte is pretty bland. Food was absolutely fine, just nothing exceptional.

The rooms were clean and tidy. The facilities met all our requirements but wasn't exactly luxurious.

I think the thing to remember is that this is a 3rd world country and to them the hotel is the pinnacle of luxery as they are still living in poverty and haven't even got proper roads. There are armed guards at all the exits and it isn't really a place you can leave on your own at night. We only left the hotel when we were part of an orgainsed tour, but i never felt threatened at all.

One final thing is that i can highly recommend the Seafood restaurant in Mtwapa. We went for lunch as part of a day trip to Bamburi Nature Park and a local village. The food was so amazing that we made enquiries and found out that they would send a car to collect you and take you back again. We went on the last night of the holiday and i can honestly say it was the best night of my life. There was only one other couple there and we had the undivided attention of a waiter all night. FOod amazing and collected from door to door in private transport. The whole night cost around £50 for us both and we really stuffed ourselves!!

On the whole a fantastic first far flung holiday which whetted our apettite for more!!