Laikipia Wilderness

Laikipia Wilderness is in the Ol Doinyo Lemboro Ranch in the central area of Laikipia, a two hour drive north from Nanyuki. Blending into a hillside above the Ewaso Narok river, there are 6 tents with open air bathrooms allowing you to shower under the stars. Two of these are standard rooms and there are 4 family tents which are a double room, with interconnecting twin for smaller children. One of the family tents is extra-large and designed for families with up to four children who are in an interconnecting quadruple room, next door to the double and with a bathroom at the rear.

The freedom of this area means you can discover Africa in a more connected way than just witnessing it out of a moving vehicle. Explore rocky outcrops, walk along the river that carves it way through this part of Laikipia with an experienced guide. Venture through valleys and on top of escarpments with endless views of wilderness. Stop and listen and watch for a while, just magic!

This area in Laikipia has some of Kenya’s most stunning landscapes. No better way to explore it than on foot led by a professional walking guide. Steve is one of the best and most experienced walking safari guides in Africa and offer a number of different walking experiences. With 25 years of experience they offer morning and afternoon walks, or you can walk to a fly-camp set up just for you, and sleep under the stars before walking back to camp the next morning, or you can do a multi-day sleepout walk.

The walks are tailored to suit all abilities and the route is adjusted accordingly. Short walks for children in open areas with a focus on bones, tracks and droppings are enlightening for all. Climbing up rocky hills and spotting wildlife on foot as a family is something everyone can do together. Older guests can also do shorter or gentle walks along the river, which is an area with lots of beautiful birds. Multi-day walks and fly camping in Laikipia can be booked lasting anything from 3 days to a week. Carrying just what is needed each day the camp is moved ahead by the crew.

The area has large permanent herds of elephants all year round, lions, leopards, spotted hyena, common and Grevy’s zebra, warthog, hippo in the river, buffalo, and many different antelope species. Over 350 different species of birds have been recorded and the guides are highly trained in helping you spot and identify them.

Recently there has been sightings of a young male black leopard in the area. This is extremely rare and the well-known photographer Will Burrard-Lucas hit the headlines across the world in February 2019, with photos of the leopard after Steve and Will successfully identified where the leopard was moving at night and set up camera traps. After a week Will managed to catch the leopard on film in some beautiful photographs of this incredible creature. He is wild and he is likely to move but the team is certainly going to try and look for him on night drives over the next few months.

The hosts have a passion for food (as well as adventure!) and all the chefs are home trained. The facilities are very simple, a wheelbarrow for an oven, a charcoal oven for cooking breads, cakes and pizzas, and a small kitchen for preparing the food. But out of this little establishment comes some of the best food on safari in Kenya! Fresh pasta, a huge range of healthy salads using their own herbs and leaves from the garden, fresh fruit locally grown, and meat sourced from the local area, some from neighbouring farms.

Laikipia Wilderness is a great family safari destination because for more than 20 years they have specialised in hosting families and the camp has a huge range of adventurous activities which engage families. The hosts love keeping everyone busy and excited and aim to create life-long family memories. This is a really important holiday as a safari can be an incredible bonding experience, leaving behind the gadgets of the modern world and surrounding everybody in nature and adventure. The guides all have children and Kenyans are very warm, family minded people and delightful hosts.

See more about Varied Adventures of Laikipia here.