Doonhamer32
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Paradise Beach Hotel, Shanzu, Kenya: Oct/Nov 2004Arrival: The drive from the airport shows you the level of poverty that exists in Kenya, but the hotel is a world and a half away from that: As you pass the security gate, the lush vegetation of the landscaped gardens is stunning, and the huge reception area gives an impression of opulence. Greeted with a welcome chilled fruit drink, we were directed to reception & then shown to our room by 2 porters who refused to let us carry a thing.
The room was simply furnished, with 3 beds (no fold downs thank goodness!), a dressing table, coffee table & chairs, and a huge built in wardrobe & cupboard. All the furniture was hardwood, and very well made; the balcony was quite large, as we were in a corner room, with table & chairs, and a view out over the pool to the sea. The shower was massive (all 3 of us could have used it at once had we been so inclined!)
Facilities: The Paradise Beach was in the brochure as part of a 4 hotel complex, but following an extensive fire last year, the site is still undergoing refurbishment. Apparently the Paradise Beach & Shanzu Beach were completed during the summer, but the Palm Beach is currently closed, and parts of the Coral Beach were not in use either during our stay. This meant that, although all 6 pools were still available, there were only 3 restaurants (plus 1 a la carte) and 4 bars available, which still gave us plenty of choice.
Our favourite daytime bar was the swim up pool bar in the Paradise pool (it had an access bridge from the sun terrace as well), although most evenings were spent in the main bar of the Paradise Beach, reached down a flight of steps, and overlooking the private beach - it was lovely & cool at any time, but especially at night.
The beach is accessed either through the main bar, or by another flight of steps, which lead you onto the hotel’s private beach, but you have to go onto the public beach to enter the sea; at this point you will encounter the “beach boys” whose sales tactics can be overwhelming at first. We found it best to be firm almost to the point of rudeness, although once we had actually bought something we were more or less left alone.
There is a PADI dive school attached to the hotel for any divers or would be divers out there – the coral reef is about a mile offshore, and is stunning. There are also glass bottomed boats available from the beach (Ksh600), which will take you almost to the reef but which will also allow you to snorkel inside the reef, and to walk about on the sandbar about 800 yards offshore (knee deep water at this point – my daughter though that was sooooo cool!). This is a good alternative if you don’t want to dive.
Meals: We always had breakfast in the Paradise Restaurant, next to the main bar (down those steps); it was a buffet affair, with (English) sausages, bacon, pancakes, tomatoes, eggs cooked to order, bread, jam, cold meats & cheese. Extensive but samey after a while.
For lunch, we divided our time between the Paradise restaurant, with its 2 meats, 1 fish, 3 veg, rice & pasta, and the Shanzu restaurant, which had a couple of big BBQs on which they did a couple of selections from beef, chicken, fish, burgers, sausages (German), as well as having other meat, veg, salad & pasta choices available
Mealtime drinks in both restaurants were waiter service.
We also visited the a la carte restaurant (Le Gourmet) on 3 occasions, never spending more than €70, including wine. The food there was very good, presented in the French manner with some excellent sauces.
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