Distant Relatives Ecolodge & Backpackers

Eco-Friendly Environment: Emphasis on sustainability and integration with nature .

If you like hostel/backpackersl vibe, this is the place for you! There are not so many options in Kenya, so Distant Relatives really stands out. You will be surrounded by nature, friendly and helpful staff, animals (monkeys, cats, dogs, insects, birds) and interesting people. When it rains, the roof might be leaking in some rooms, but the administrator resolved the issue quickly and moved us to another room. Communal toilets and shower were always clean and well-maintained. The location is a bit far from the main beach but there are always boda bodas outside the gate, and you can also call a tuktuk. They host different events such as musical jams and night parties. The food in the restaurant is also very delicious! A few suggestions for improvement: 1. Communal kitchen is not very well equiped as there are few cooking items available, especially clean ones if someone who cooked before did not clean after themselves. Maybe additional pots for heating water for tea/coffee and a couple of more frying pans would be good to have. 2. There should be dedicated smoking areas or much more non-smoking areas. It was unfortunate that many people smoked around all the time meanwhile we came to enjoy nature and fresh air - it just did not feel right that in the Ecolodge smoking is allowed almost anywhere. 3. Music sound control. Sometimes I felt like the music in the bar area was a bit too loud for morning hours when I would prefer to relax in silence as the day unfolds, but maybe I could just ask to lower it a bit. Sometimes at night it was a bit noisy too and there was some noise at around 4 am on Sunday coming from the village (must be the church!) Just bring your ear protectors :)

Disappointing. It is a nice space, nice dorms, decent food, nice staff. But the music is going in the bar/pool area almost all day so it's impossible to chill and read a book. The nearby beach does get nice sunsets but can also be a bit loud with people with portable speakers. For me, it really wasn't worth the detour.