Take a trip to Pride Rock…

A safari retreat is a busy holiday. You are travelling to Africa, usually an unknown and in an unfamiliar place for most.

First you embrace the Nairobi, a cosmopolitan city that is the only place in the world that has a National Park (complete with giraffes, lion and rhino) in the very heart. The very example of human and wildlife coexisting in the most extreme of settings. A bustling national city that is full of commerce and skyscrapers alongside the peace and tranquillity of wild animals.

Out of the city

A meandering drive out of the city, soon you hit Thika highway and then you are out in the green lush lands of Central Kenya. As you move through this land dripping with avocados and mangos of vivid orange, you start to see a more rural picture of Kenya as children run home from school and chickens peck through the dust trying to find a dudu (bug in Swahili) or two.

After a couple of hours (traffic depending of course), you will be in Nanyuki, the gateway to Laikipia and your safari retreat. Soon you will move through bustling town and out into the highlands.

Into the bush

Laikipia is teeming with wildlife It is one of the most important wildlife regions in Kenya where a deep sense of place and cultural attachment to the land has motivated people to find ways to coexist with wildlife.

Across the rangeland plateau, towering below the mighty Mt Kenya, 3500 square kilometers of wildlife habitat, sustaining globally endangered biodiversity. Home to over 95 species of mammals, 540 species of birds and over 700 plant species, Laikipia has some of the oldest and strongest protected wildlife habitats.

While wildlife has declined across the country over the past three decades by 68 per cent, in Laikipia this has been 11%. Even on Mt Kenya there has been a sustained population of elephants over the past five years.

Endangered wildlife

Laikipia is home to 60 per cent of Kenya’s rhinos with 365 of these being the endangered black rhino. Around 22 per cent of the country’s elephants live here and 60 percent of the cool, round eared endangered Grevy zebra.

There is so much passion and hard work going on here to protect these species and ensure they can coexist by humans – through wildlife corridors linking Mt Kenya, research on collaring the movement of elephants by Save The Elephants or fencing protected areas by Rhino Ark.

Suddenly you are out in the bush, on your safari wellness retreat in the wild and you feel yourself collective exhale the expanse. As you drive through the rolling hills, you feel like you are in another world. Cocooned in rolling hills, speckled with wildlife, this is the origins of the Pride Rock of the lion king.

Your Kenyan Safari Retreat offers a luxury wellness experience for body, mind and soul

We invite you to experience our award-winning Kenya wellness retreat. If it’s time to fill up your cup and reconnect with yourself on a deeper level, we’d love to help you rejuvenate, unwind, reawaken and experience the very best of Kenya safari. Dive into transformational yoga and meditation classes with your favourite host or our own teachers, enjoy safari life on foot, horseback or game drives and restorative healing sessions. How much or little you do is all up to you.

Take a look at our wellbeing retreat packages and luxury Kenya retreat accommodation options. We’d love to hear from you and help you plan your memorable and transformative retreat in the wilderness.

Photo credit: Laragai House, Borana Conservancy.