A traditional Laikipian house designed for verandah living, commanding magnificent views over the plains to Samburu and offering a rare opportunity to enjoy the perfect home in Africa.

Set on top of a hill within the 62,000 acres of the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Laikipia, Lewa House is a beautiful bush home with compelling panoramic views across the rolling landscape, overlooking  ‘luggas’ and plains, the horizon rising up to the Mathews Range and sacred Samburu mountain Ol Olokwe in the distance.

Maluti thatched and well-established, the traditional Laikipian design sits perfectly in its surroundings. Low, open-sided buildings with gardens between, allow the breeze to drift through them and frame the wonderful view. Beautifully decorated in extremely comfortable African style, the living room holds lounge and dining rooms and is a feast of dark wood and colourful textiles, cool in the day and reflecting warmly the light from open fires at night. A large verandah leads out onto lawns which in turn lead to the pool and tennis court so that extremely productive days may be spent between game watching from here over lunch and recovering by the pool - for those with energy to spare, the clay court has recently been refurbished and there is a fully equipped pool house nearby.

Three large cottages are well spaced out in the garden, each with double and twin rooms, providing accommodation for up to twelve. All have bathrooms en suite (apart from the family cottage which shares one) and are rustic in design, with shady ‘Sanje’ roofs and the double bedrooms have open fireplaces, mixing traditionally relaxed African ambience with modern comforts. Each cottage also has a private verandah where one may sit in the evenings to enjoy the brilliant African stars under the wide night sky.

Lewa House is taken on an exclusive basis giving guests the opportunity to really enjoy their own house party, free to dictate the pace of each day and enjoy an area teeming with exciting wildlife - the endangered rhino (for which Lewa is probably best known) and the Grevy’s zebra - as well as the ‘big five’ and especially abundant and varied birdlife. In addition to game viewing safaris which can be arranged whenever one wishes, guests to Lewa have the opportunity to become involved in or find out more about conservation activities such as the lion and colobus monkey projects.

Camel safaris, horse riding, night drives and trout fishing on Lake Rotundu can all be arranged and perhaps help justify the fabulous lunches and suppers which the kitchen provide. Lewa’s staff are extremely well-practised and attentive and perhaps go a long way towards making one’s stay here the perfect idyll of a Kenyan houseparty.