Fodor's Expert Review Salt Lick Safari Lodge

This truly uniquely designed lodge is set in the Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary just outside Tsavo West and off the main Voi-Taveta road (A23). A clutch of giant honey-color rondavels with dark brown thatched roofs sit on stilts, linked by aerial bridges, and overlook a chain of small floodlit waterholes—it looks a bit like a fantasy settlement from The Lord of the Rings's Middle Earth. The entire lodge is so high off the ground that the animals, even elephants and buffaloes, simply walk underneath. The en suite, small, round rooms are comfortably if basically furnished, but it's the experience you're here for, not the room decor, although the public areas are sumptuously decorated with rugs, batiks, and a number of authentic African artifacts. Request a top room or one over a waterhole for close-up encounters with game. Be sure to visit the underground viewing room at night, too, and you might be lucky to spot nocturnal animals like civets, porcupines, and maybe even a leopard. The food is excellent with lots of fresh homegrown vegetables.

If you can't get a room here, stay at the renovated Taita Hills Safari Resort nearby, also in the Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, and visit Salt Lick during the day.