"Tea Plantations" Kericho by ocicat

The tea plantations in the Kericho area are beautiful. Carpets of green laid out over rolling hills.

Our only misstep was in our planned stop at Kericho to stay in the Tea Hotel. According to the Lonely Planet guide, "Glorious gardens envelop this grand property...all rooms have TVs, fireplaces..."

Yeah right. We were given a cramped room that looked like a truck stop room that charges by the hour. Broken down beds, moldy smell and a shower that barely worked and no shower curtain provided (at our insistence, they brought in a sheet and threw it over the bare rod. I had to use my sewing kit to stitch it so it would stay on). The pool furniture was broken and the pool water was a strange grey color. The "glorious gardens" were down to a few trimmed hedges in the back section. The restaurant food was bad.

Even the property guard tried to scam us to pay to see some turtle. Sheesh!

Oh yes, our tea plantation tour "arranged" by the hotel was to walk down to the barb wire fence on the back side of the property and look across at some tea bushes. Great tour...just like our stay at the Tea Hotel. NOT!

To top it off, they did not tell our tour agent that the weekend we were booked for, that there was a rock concert being held on the property. We could not sleep a bit that night due to the bands and loud drunks wandering around. We stayed only one miserable night of the 2 we booked, leaving as fast as we could the next morning.