Mara River Safari Lodge - CHSE Certified

Had a ton of fun here, really brings you back to a sense of childlike wonder for the animal kingdom. I booked a Twiga room, on the second floor. You’re close enough to toss carrots to the zebras in the free roaming zone below. It also came with a free safari pass. I thought it could be better that they don’t help you book events like Feed the Predator in advance after you book your room — we didn’t know we’d need to book it in advance so couldn’t do it the day we wanted to, and nearly missed out on the experience. The park itself is great and I definitely recommend checking out all the shows you can, each was better than I expected.

If you are in bali, have to visit this hotel. Highlight, we stayed two day but I think just one day is enough. Highlight: convinient to use bali safari, there is a pool near swala, it is small but good to use with animal view. If you have children they will be facinated by breakfast with lion and mearcat. Lowlight: The room condition is not so clean. Many bugs and mosquitos around the room. Bathroom drain was terrible smell. breakfast was not very satisfactory. There was nothing around the hotel, so there was nothing to do after five o'clock.

Our second time here and the experience is always wonderful. The kids love coming here, food is great, service is excellent and cleanliness is top notch

Tough one to explain... It’s overpriced and disappointing yet I’m glad that we went. I have no regrets dropping $700-$800 on our two day stay. First off, the Twiga rooms aren’t as cool as they seem in the pics online. I had visions of closely interacting with wildlife from my balcony and feeding them practically by hand. There’s actually a pretty far distance separating you from the animals. Especially sucks if you’re unathletic like myself and can’t even give a carrot a good throw. Same deal with the pool. There will be no baby tigers or rhinos hanging out poolside. It’s very buggy there. I do a lot of traveling so it’s not that I have unrealistic expectations of a bugless Indonesia. Heck, I’m currently surrounded by mosquitos in northern Bali as I type this review and am totally cool with it. ...but Mara is buggy’er than usual. There were quite a bit more in the room than anywhere else we’ve stayed. The doors and windows are not sealed off well. The staff doesn’t give that Balinese sweet hospitality vibe. They felt more reserved. They didn’t give the same “makes you feel like family” type of vibe that we experience elsewhere in Bali. So, after all of that complaining, why am I saying it’s a “must visit”? Freakin’ Tigers. Being so up close and personal with the tigers on the night safari was a once in a lifetime experience that made it worthwhile. Also, feed the white tigers during the day. Amazing!!!