El Karama Lodge

The conservancy has its own airstrip about a kilometre from the lodge, so the quickest way in is a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, which can leave Nairobi's Wilson airport at a time of your choosing or meet an early international arrival and have you at the lodge a little over an hour after you land. The lodge's vehicle meets the aircraft and the last kilometre is a game drive.

The scheduled route is Safarilink from Wilson to Nanyuki, twice a day at eight and twenty past ten, with a third departure in the busier months; the flight takes an hour direct or an hour and a half when it calls at another strip on the way. Nanyuki is about 42 kilometres from the lodge and the transfer takes around an hour, most of it inside the conservancy. Scheduled or chartered, the aircraft take fifteen kilograms a person in soft bags, hand luggage included, so pack a duffel rather than a hard case.

On the official reading, yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates Kenya as high risk for malaria all year round, with no seasonal easing, and lists antimalarial tablets among its recommendations; only Nairobi and the highlands above 2,500 metres are classed as very low risk. The American CDC draws the same line, naming every part of the country below 2,500 metres, game parks included. The lodge stands at about 2,000 metres, so it sits below that line however cold the nights feel. The lodge itself describes its altitude as making it a low to no malaria area, and the risk at this height is certainly lower than at the coast, but low risk is not no risk.

We are travel planners, not medical professionals, and we do not advise on medication. Whether tablets are right for you, and for any children in the party, is a decision for you and your own doctor or a travel clinic, taken with your dates in front of you. The non-medical part is ours to suggest: long sleeves and trousers once the sun drops, and repellent on the veranda and at the campfire.

Yes, for experienced riders, which the lodge defines as being confident at a canter and a gallop in open country. The horses are stabled a twenty-five-minute game drive from the lodge and the rides are led by outside riding specialists rather than the lodge's own guides, so every rider completes a competency questionnaire and an indemnity form first, helmets are compulsory and there is a rider weight limit. Rides run from a two-hour morning outing to a full day or an overnight bivouac in the bush, and they are arranged and charged separately from the stay.

For younger or less experienced riders the lodge keeps ponies in a fenced area around the lodge, where children meet, groom and tack up a pony and ride on a lead rein with the grooms, again as a separately priced extra. Fly camping is open to children too, provided an adult from their own party sleeps out with them; nobody under eighteen goes without one.

Two main outings a day are part of the stay, and you choose their shape: a walk with one of the lodge's guides, all of whom hold Kenya's professional guiding qualification, a drive in an open-sided vehicle, or a night drive with a wildlife-friendly spotlight, and the lodge sends out no more than four vehicles at a time. The Bush School runs every morning as part of a family's stay, meals and the rock hide at the dam are included, and stays of three nights or more earn a dinner out in the bush by a fire, weather permitting.

Riding, the pony sessions for younger children, day trips beyond the conservancy such as Ol Pejeta or Solio, and the helicopter add-ons are all arranged and charged on top. We put every one of them into the quote before you travel, so nothing at the lodge comes as a surprise.

Hot days and cold nights, all year. The lodge sits on the equator at about 2,000 metres, so afternoons reach the mid twenties and can climb higher, while dawn on the river is close to twelve degrees and the lodge's own advice is that mornings and nights are chilly. The rains come twice: the long rains from March to May, with April the wettest month, and the short rains in October and November, with December to February drier again and June to September the driest stretch. The river answers the rain, so fishing on the Ewaso Nyiro stops when it is in flood.

Pack for both halves of the day: a fleece and a warm hat for the early starts and the night drives, light neutral clothing and a wide-brimmed hat for the middle of the day, high-factor sun cream because the altitude sharpens the sun, closed shoes with grip for the walks and the Bush School, and a light waterproof in the rainy months. Everything goes in soft bags for the flights, and the lodge publishes its own packing list, which we send with your travel documents.

Yes to both. The lodge runs entirely on solar power, twenty-four hours a day, for lighting and hot water, and the cottages have reading lamps and charging points for cameras and phones. Wifi runs through the cottages and the private house on a system the lodge can switch off at source, so it is there when you want to check in with home and absent when you would rather it were. We have not confirmed how far the mobile signal reaches, so if being reachable by phone matters, tell us and we will check with the lodge before you travel.