Route Details

It’s ideally placed for exploring – perhaps to feed the staffs of the Giraffe Center, meet orphaned elephants at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust or visit the Karen Blixen Museum. Or you might simply feel like relaxing on site, where you can wander the bird-filled gardens, dip in the pool, take afternoon tea on the terrace or sip cocktails in the Hemingways bar.

A vast wilderness, Meru National Park features jungle, coursing rivers, swampland, khaki grasslands and gaunt termite cathedrals, all intertwined under a seemingly endless African sky. Little visited and utterly unspoilt, few places are comparable.

The park covers 1800 sq kms, and is the core of an ecosystem that includes Kora, Bisandi, North Kitui and Rahole Reserves, an additional over 5000 sq kms of wilderness.

Meru has enormous diversity of habitat and wildlife, from cool forests at 3400 ft to the west, dropping down to 1000 ft semi-desert plains with giant baobab and commiphora trees. It has thirteen clear spring fed rivers lined with palms and riverine forest, and home to basking hippo. This is lion and elephant country, but you’ll also discover rare species including caracal, the beautiful Lesser Kudu, aardwolf, and over 400 species of birds. The park also has an 84 sq km rhino sanctuary housing over 60 black and white rhino.

Great game, good looks, high adventure, an exclusive feel and a groundbreaking attitude to conservation make the Loisaba Conservancy one of the most exciting destinations in Kenya. Sitting within Northern Laikipia, it’s a ravishing landscape of rolling river valleys, rich forests and open plains, home to the Big Five, endangered rarities like wild dog and more than 260 species of birds.

As the wildlife is varied here, so are your options for getting out among it. The contemporary-luxe Elewana Loisaba Tented Camp – perched on an escarpment, with unhindered views to Mt Kenya – offers excellent game drives, of course. But you can also ride through the bush on horse-back – a thrilling way to get unusually close to wild animals. Or you could bound down the ridges and take a sunset trek by camel.

Or witness Loisaba’s cutting-edge conservation first- hand. Visit the conservancy headquarters to see the extraordinary work being done here and meet the sniffer dogs and the anti-poaching team to find out how they safeguard the wilderness.

For the ultimate unwind, sink into the camp’s infinity pool before a very special night’s sleep... Roll a four- poster Elewana Starbed out onto your decking and drift off to the tweets, snaps, howls and bellows of the bush, with nothing between you and the galaxies above.

Loisaba Tented Camp

• Set on one of Kenya’s most cutting-edge wildlife conservancies
• Remarkable animal encounters – from the Big Five to rare wild dog
• Spacious tents set on the edge of an escarpment
• Diverse activities, from camel treks to bush walks and mountain biking
• Spectacular wilderness of rolling hills, river valleys and open plains

Nowhere in Africa is wildlife more abundant than the magnificent Masai Mara. Creatures galore roam these sweeping, acacia-dotted plains. And while the seasonal migration of two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle crossing from the Serengeti is one of Mother Nature’s greatest spectacles, the profusion of wildlife here – from 450 species of bird to the Big Five – makes it one of the best safari spots year round.

The Mara will never disappoint. The animal encounters – often so close you hardly dare breathe – are just too good. But at Elewana Sand River Masai Mara, it goes above and beyond. You’ll feel a little bit movie star at this opulent 1920s-style camp, with its dark wood, draped four-posters and antique furnishings adding bygone glamour to the bush.

Even better is the camp’s location, on the banks of the serene Sand River: you might spot herds of ungulates crossing from the comfort of your own verandah. Head further afield, in the camp’s custom-designed 4WDs, with expert Maasai guides, to look for roaming elephants and lions on the hunt. Then return to base for the most dazzling of endings: a private table, set up in the wilderness, for dinner under the stars.

It’s well worth the early breakfast when you’re about to head into the ‘eighth wonder of the world’. Measuring over 20km wide and 600m deep, Ngorongoro Crater is a natural volcanic amphitheatre, a geological marvel, a festival of wildlife. Its acacia thickets, riverine forest and glittering lakes throng with around 30,000 animals: one of the highest densities of wildlife in Africa. Safaris here can be overwhelming, in the very best way.

Spend a full day in Ngorongoro – our expert guides will introduce you to its vast cast of characters: lions, elephants and buffalo, cheetah and serval cats, hyena, jackal and black rhino. Plus The Manor has special permission to host beautiful bush lunches in a private part of the crater, away from the crowds. You can picnic in exclusive style without missing a wildlife-packed minute.

Sundowners and dinner back at The Manor will be abuzz, as you exchange stories with your fellow travellers about what you’ve seen on this once-in-a-lifetime day.

Your drive to the airstrip gives you a final chance to soak up the sights, smells, sounds and sensations of the Serengeti. Just one more elegant giraffe, one more elephant charge. Once airborne, keep your eyes out the window, to see the Serengeti slide out of view and, perhaps, Kilimanjaro peeping through the clouds.

There’s no need to hang around at the airport – we’ll deliver you back to Arusha Coffee Lodge’s oasis of calm so you can relax in a day room amid the birds and the beans. Take a private tree-to-cup tour around the grounds, to find out how they make it so good. As well as producing coffee, the lodge is home to Shanga, a wonderful social enterprise that employs people with disabilities to create quality handmade products – watch the artisans at work, sewing, painting, weaving and glass-blowing, and perhaps pick up a souvenir or two before we take you back for your flight home, head, heart and soul full of African magic.