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4-Day Borana & Lewa Conservation Safari
Four days on the conservancies where I spent thirteen years guiding: rhino tracked on foot, day and night drives, a horseback safari and an anti-poaching patrol.
Laikipia Plateau
A high plateau of private and community conservancies, including Borana and Lewa, run for rhino conservation and known for walking and horseback safaris with Mount Kenya on the horizon.
Overview
Laikipia is not one park but a patchwork of ranches, forest and rangeland given over to wildlife, run as private and community conservancies rather than a single government reserve. Borana, at around 32,000 acres, and its neighbour Lewa are among the best known of these, and together they anchor one of the most important rhino landscapes left in Kenya.
Because these conservancies set their own vehicle limits and manage land for both livestock and wildlife side by side, Laikipia tends to be quieter than the southern circuit, with fewer cars at any sighting. The open, rolling terrain and lower predator density also make it one of the few parts of Kenya where walking and horseback safaris are routinely on offer, on top of the usual game drives.
On a clear day Mount Kenya stands on the southern horizon, and the plateau itself rises and falls enough that the views change constantly, from dry acacia lowland to forested river valleys within the same conservancy.
Wildlife highlights
- Black rhino
- Reticulated giraffe
- African wild dog
- Elephant
- Grevy's zebra
- Leopard
Best time to visit
Driest from June through October and January through March, though rainfall here is lighter than further south and the conservancies are comfortable to visit outside those months too.
Getting there
Around three to four hours by road from Nairobi via Nanyuki, or a 40-minute scheduled flight from Wilson Airport to one of the conservancy airstrips.
Borana Conservancy is where I spent six years, as head of staff and head guide, before stepping back into freelance guiding in 2024. Before that I'd already put in seven years at Lewa Safari Camp, working up from safari guide to camp assistant manager and head guide, then two more seasons at Sirikoi. Il Ngwesi and Tassia, both community-run camps in this same stretch of country, were part of my circuit through the freelance years that followed. This is the ground I know better than anywhere else.
Safaris that visit Laikipia
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3-Day Laikipia Walking & Tracking Safari
Three days on foot across Laikipia's conservancies, tracking game the way I learned to as a boy in the Mukogodo Forest.
9-Day Kenya Honeymoon Safari
Three nights in the Mara, two on a Laikipia conservancy and three on Diani sand: the fullest version of a Kenya honeymoon, without a day of it spent rushing.
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