Extravagantly beautiful, relaxing and serene resort

Low season is a good time to take a break from work and go visit some fine places around the world. It is that time of the year when you can take advantage of low rates at beautiful facilities and you don’t have to compete for attention.

My recent visit to Lion in the Sun, in Malindi, is full proof of this. It was a familiarisation trip with Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) and the facility was as quiet as babies like it after feeding.

With a couple of regional journalists and bloggers, we enjoyed not just what the facility had to offer but the hosts, Fiona Ngesa and Helen Omukoko, both staff at KTB, ensured we enjoy every moment of our week-long working holiday.

I was checked into a honeymoon suite, large and beautiful, with evidence that a couple would enjoy more than making love and rest. The suite had a big bathroom, with a bathing cabin, a bathtub, and a seat besides the two.

The idea could be that as one soaks into bath salts, shower gels and soaps, their lover is there to sit, watch and compliment them or engage in simple talk. You rouse your eyes for more.

Inviting interior
The room has some magazines, mostly about tourism and travel, so flipping through such literature as you let the salts wash off dirt from Malindi’s adventure excursions is another worthy treat. What about bathing one another? It is something romantic that lets you explore your bodies in a way that will create fond memories worth holding onto.

The wider suite has a living room too, with white sofa seats for your comfort should you want to have coffee within or host friends for a chat. The carpets on which you will be resting your feet are soft and give your feet a lulling feel.

Decor
But the name of the hotel is ‘Lion in the Sun’ and lions are depicted in an artistic manner at different points of the resort. From the entrance, you are greeted with golden-coloured figurines of lions seated on both ends of the gate as if to ‘keep guard’.

There are more statues at the walkways, restaurant area and all the way to your rooms where lions are depicted in art hangings on walls. The carpets too are decorated in embroidery bearing lion pictures.

Malindi is Swahili land and the culture and heritage is kept alive through the old porcelain and travel bags that are placed at different points of the hotel and in your room, as decoration. There are sharp-pointed pots covered in copper colours sometimes modelled into a man’s or woman’s face, and the bags bearing beautiful Swahili designs.

When it comes to beds, Dr Hilderman would frown as he layers lyrics of Double bed mazongoto. The beds are big and inviting, laid in white bed sheets. You will find yourself smiling as you read an invitation letter bearing your name or names, with a warm massage.

You do this while you lean back on comfy seats on your balcony as you relax and enjoy a portion of the cosy resort; it green gardens fitted with hammocks under tree shades. After every few rooms is a swimming pool for guests to cool off, unwind and exercise their bodies after heavy and sumptuous meals.
It is a place for lovers on holiday, tourists on short and long stay as well as couples or individuals who walk in to have well-spent evenings, breakfast or brunches. It is hard to find fault in your stay there, because the language of hospitality is fluently spoken.