Welcome to Kenya’s 8 star luxury hotels

The 8 star hotels are our national parks, games reserves and sanctuaries/conservancies. What did you have in mind? Visit Burj Al Arab and one of Kenya’s national parks or conservancies then compare and contrast. While 7 star hotels tries to pamper you with luxuries, 8 star hotels leave nature to pamper you.PHOTO: COURTESY

Nairobi has lately become a magnet for hotel chains. Even River Road and adjoining ‘third world’ parts of Nairobi are enjoying gentrification with lots of posh hotels.

Tourists looking for bargains and a feel of real Nairobi flock there. The city, despite its problems is an economic gold mine. We have argued that Nairobi is the best place to make money, either honesty or dishonestly but not to live. We all dream of taking a meal in one of the starred hotels, a rating that shows the quality of service and the prices. The highest rated hotels in Nairobi are 5 stars.

But there 6 and even 7 star hotels elsewhere. Burj Al Arab in Dubai, Hotel Seven Stars Galleria in Italy and Pangu in Beijing claim to be 7 star hotels.

The website of Burj al Arab gives the daily rate of a deluxe one-bedroom suite as 7,410 Emirate Dirham (AED) including all taxes. 1 USD = 3.7 AED. That is about $2,000 or Sh200,000. How much do you earn per month?

The good news is that Kenya has better hotels, in fact 8 stars. Their quality is equal to none. Most Kenyans know about them but have not sampled them. They are surprisingly affordable to Kenyans of all socio-economic classes. Non Kenyans from Kings to Queens and billionaires know about them and have sampled them. Examples include American president Theodore Roosevelt who came to Kenya in 1908 and Queen Elizabeth II who was in Kenya when her father died in 1952. That is how early the rest of the world discovered our 8 star hotels.

CHANGES WITH SEASONS

You thought of a hotel with several floors, a roof top bar, a heated swimming pool, butlers awaiting you (Did kitchen totos eventually become butlers?), rotating beds, golden tattoos and a helipad. You thought of a hotel by the beach, with a view of the ocean with sunrise and sunset reflected in the water and waves breaking as crabs run for cover. Keep thinking...

The 8 star hotels have not been touched by man’s opulent hands, only by forces of nature like wind, fire, rain and sun. Yet, they are more beautiful than the 8 star hotels. Their beauty can’t be copied. Their beauty is elevated not by mosaic paintings, marble floors or elegant shapes, but life itself! Enough suspense?

The 8 star hotels are our national parks, games reserves and sanctuaries/conservancies. What did you have in mind? Visit Burj Al Arab and one of Kenya’s national parks or conservancies then compare and contrast. While 7 star hotels tries to pamper you with luxuries, 8 star hotels leave nature to pamper you.

In a 7 star hotel, a butler or smiling girl welcomes you. In 8 star hotel, you are welcomed by the galloping of an antelope, the demeanour of a zebra or the hoping of a monkey. At night it’s the blues or jazz that liven 7 star hotels. In 8 stars, it’s the cry of the hyrax or cricket and other natural choirs. The experience in a game park or sanctuary can’t be copied and is always changing; you rarely see the same animals or vegetation which changes with seasons.

What changes in a 7 star hotel? You swallow food the same way, sit the same way, and sleep the same way. Still not convinced? It will cost you less than Sh1,000 to visit Nairobi National park (including the car). You will not even remember to get hungry! Yet the experience is more valuable than in any 7 star hotels. I did not know our parks are 8 stars till I visited America’s Yosemite National park. The only animal that impressed me there was a coyote, a relative of a wolf.

LEAFY SUBURBS

Yet, we are not paying enough attention to the world’s 8 star hotels. We are even willing to destroy what makes them unique, life itself, espoused by flora and fauna. Lots of Kenyans think that national parks and game drives are a mzungu thing. These parks are not for animals, they are for us, to admire and marvel at the wonders of creation.

No matter how many documentaries you watch on LED TV or OLED or HDTV or 3D, reality will never be replaced. You may not see national parks and game sanctuaries as 8 star hotels but may be your children or grandchildren will. Preserve them till they come...

It is fact that as we become more affluent we get time to admire nature and its miracles. That is why affluent people live in the leafy suburbs, in animal sanctuaries or keep pets. By preserving our national parks, game reserves and sanctuaries, we shall give the next generation a chance to experience 8 star hotels without leaving our shores.

That is why I can’t understand why a railway line which is dead should be allowed to pass through Nairobi National Park disturbing life, flora and fauna. There is no compensation too big to avoid disturbing Nairobi National Park. If economic growth envisaged by SGR will lead to demand for leisure activities like visiting national parks, why should we route it through a national park? This is not politics or economics, it is common sense.

Finally, May I pay tribute to all men and women who dreamt of setting up Kenya’s 8 star hotels. They were far sighted and visionary. The National Parks Ordinance of 1945 set the pace for 8 star hotels with Nairobi Royal Park established in 1946. Why should we start destroying the park after 70 years?