Rhino River Camp

Rhino River Camp is the place to stay if you visit Meru National Park.

When you pull up to the camp, you are initially surprised because the scene in front of you doesn't match what you saw in the brochures and on the website.

However, it is only the bland front entrance hiding the beauty and luxurious attention to detail inside of the camp.

From the warm greeting you receive upon your arrival (accompanied with refreshing towels) to the delicious Italian pasta served at dinner, this is a unique place.

Our host, Lorenzo(the brother of Andrea) welcomed us to the camp in the same way that you might expect to be welcomed into someone's living room.

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Our company of six stayed in the large tent located at the far end of the property. It provided us with the privacy we were looking for while enabling us to be as loud as we wanted.

Another feature of this particular tent is the large stone outdoor bath-tub. We used it once. It seemed like a good idea that has been poorly executed.

The tub is too large to fill up before the hot water runs out and the water cools very quickly. Perhaps a better idea would be to convert it into a jacuzzi?

The night-time sleeping (without the need for mosquito nets) was awesome. The sounds of bush-babies, monkeys and other creatures filled our ears. I

n the distance, the white noise of the waterfall could be heard in the background.

We were woken up each morning by a servant who delivered tea, hot chocolate and cookies to our front porch prior to our game drives.

If you have children, you will appreciate the swimming pool. We made good use of the swimming pool (located on the edge of the river). The pool is clean and feels as though it may even be slightly heated.

Because of the limited number of guests at the camp, there are plenty of towels and lounge chairs available. Although we did find a couple of large water-bugs in the pool, we weren't bothered because we recognized we were swimming in the middle of the jungle.

While swimming, the children kept one careful eye on the crocodile basking in the warm sunshine on the edge of the waterfall. It was an incredible memory the children will not soon forget.

The game drives in Meru National Park are more wild than you will experience in other parks.

Those who are light on safari experience will find this frustrating (and perhaps even a little boring). They are used to the Masai Mara where you first look for other vehicles to find the animals.

Here, you might not spot another vehicle all day, and therefore you must actually look for the animals.

Occasionally, we wished there were more animals in the park. However we did see plenty of the usual African animals like giraffes, zebras and warthogs.

All the animals we saw were reserved and reticent of vehicles. The animals in this park are not like the ones in your local zoo---they have had very little human interaction.

We saw four of the big five: Buffaloes gave one look and then headed for the bush, a rhino grunted and snorted as it charged our vehicle, elephants appeared timid and shy and a female lion moaned as we observed it searching for her pride.

If you are looking for a unique bush camping experience with a touch of class, great food and is child-friendly, this is the place for you