Lewa House

Lewa House is run by Sophie and Calum who live here with their family of two small children. Sophie is Kenyan and grew up at Lewa House, with family connections to Lewa going back over five generations. It was Sophie’s Great Grandfather who first started conserving wildlife alongside farming.

Sophie met her future husband Calum at university in Scotland, where he was studying zoology. Calum is also a qualified walking guide and Sophie and Calum made Lewa House their home in 2012 and plan never to leave. They love Lewa House and we know you will too!

The heart of Lewa House is a large elegant building with an open fireplace at one end where guests can relax during the day and mingle with a drink before dinner, and at the other is a large family dining table where the evening meals are served, hosted by Calum and Sophie.

There is a large shaded veranda extending away from the main house with a comfortable seating area from which you can enjoy a cool afternoon drink and soak in the very special atmosphere of Lewa House.

Beautiful shaded gardens surround the house and breakfast or lunch is often served on the lawn. The house also has a large swimming pool which overlooks a waterhole providing some of the best game viewing on Lewa!

If you’re traveling as a family and want to be close to each other, a thatched, family cottage is perfect for you.
The charming cottages are part of the original house. They are built using the traditional Lewa architecture of rough stone walls and thatched roofs and are furnished with beautiful rough-hewn hardwood furniture.

Cottages consist of a double and twin room, each with an en-suite bathroom. Adjoining the two bedrooms is a large veranda where you and your family can sit and enjoy early-morning biscuits and coffees before heading out into the Conservancy

The latest additions to Lewa House are four rooms (or earth pods.) Their novel architecture is designed to disappear into the landscape, collect and store rainwater and maintain an even temperature. They have a simple, elegant décor that compliments their views over the Northern Frontier of Kenya.

However, the hosts wish is ……. that you spend as little time at the house as possible! Being on safari is all about being out in the bush watching game, appreciating how conservation of rare species works, understanding the challenges for communities living nearby and savouring this ancient and diverse environment.

A team of fully-qualified driver guides are on hand for vehicle safaris across the conservancy. The specially adapted open vehicles allow for excellent viewing but it is the richness of the game that guests talk about. All the main safari predators, the rare Grevy zebra and of course the threatened rhino can be viewed in abundance.

A particular favourite and well recognised aspect of the area near the lodge are the good elephant numbers and at least weekly sightings of the illusive wild dogs. The game drives are on your terms using the guide’s experience and are not limited to daylight hours. Guests can also explore the conservancy by night using spotlights and the full moon when it obliges.

Game walks with Calum, a FGASA qualified trails guide, which will open up the landscape and let you appreciate the smaller (or sometimes very large!) animals as well as the tracks, trails, signs, sights, sounds and smells of the wilderness – something you often miss from the car!

Guests can also visit the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy headquarters to find out more about their pioneering conservation and community work such as a visit to the anti-poaching tracker dogs or a visit to the LWC sponsored local school or other community project

Lewa is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and have some of the best game viewing in the whole of East Africa. It’s home to 350 bird species and 70 mammal species so you’ll have a great chance to see all of the ‘BIG 5’ — lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo and rhinos, as well as the specialised northern species only found here.

Read more about Kenya and Laikipia.