Twenty-one eastern black rhinos arrived on Loisaba Conservancy in early 2024, the first on this land in some 50 years, and Galago Private Canvas is pitched in their country. The camp is named for the northern lesser galago, the small bushbaby seen leaping close by. After dark, bushbabies can be heard scampering across the tents. Beyond them, the camp is given over to one party.
After dark, bushbabies can be heard scampering across the tents.
The guide and the vehicle go out when the group chooses, and the chef cooks to its timetable. None of the tents ever holds a stranger. The camp is owned and run by the conservancy itself, on land held since 2014 by the Loisaba Community Trust. Its tourism income goes towards rangers, schools and clinics, and the Chui Mamas women’s group.
The Ewaso Ng’iro flows down from the slopes of Mount Kenya and runs along one edge of the conservancy, and springs and seasonal waterholes dot the savanna and woodland. Elephants move through on a corridor running north towards Samburu. Among the acacia-dotted hills and rocky outcrops, reticulated giraffes and Grevy’s zebra share the ground with lions and leopards.
Elephants move through on a corridor running north towards Samburu.
Into this country, Kenya Wildlife Service brought the black rhinos from Lewa, Ol Pejeta and Nairobi National Park. Calves have been born here since. Rangers follow them day and night with GPS tracking and drones, and a surveillance aircraft keeps watch from above. Guests can join the conservancy’s field teams out on the ground, as they go about their rhino and lion work.
The Ancilotto family bought this land in the early 1970s and ran it as a low-impact cattle ranch that also took in visitors. Tom Silvester arrived in the early 1990s. In 1997 he set up Loisaba with his brother Peter and their friend Giles Davis. The American investors Jim and Lori DeNooyer came in alongside them. A 2014 handover, arranged with The Nature Conservancy and Space for Giants, passed the land to the community trust and out of private hands for good. Tom stayed on, and runs the conservancy as chief executive.
The whole camp, tents and kitchen included, travels in an expedition container. It is unpacked afresh for each booking. Once the party is in, solar power keeps the lights and the wifi on, and the laundry comes back daily. The chef cooks to the group’s tastes and times each meal around the day’s walks and drives, never to a set hour. When the party leaves, the camp goes back into its container, leaving nothing on the ground.
Mornings can start on foot with a guide, reading spoor along the game paths.
Loisaba is a private conservancy, not a national park. Mornings can start on foot with a guide, reading spoor along the game paths. Along the way the guide picks out birds such as the spotted palm-thrush. Game drives run on the group’s own clock. Lunch stretches out under canvas. Sundowners follow in the late afternoon, and dinner is often carried into the bush and served under the stars, with the evening ending by the fire. The pace suits families spanning several generations as easily as a group of friends.
The flight from Nairobi to the Loisaba airstrip takes about an hour. Beside its dirt tracks is a plain building, home to the conservancy’s operations room, where rangers follow the rhinos through EarthRanger. Guests can spend time there with the trackers and conservation teams who keep that watch. It is unglamorous work, and tourism helps pay for it, covering nearly half the conservancy’s running costs. Along the boundary, the same money pays for school meals and health outreach in Laikipia Maasai and Samburu villages, and funds scholarships there too.
accommodation
The en-suite safari tents sleep up to ten guests, all from a single party. Each has its own bathroom with a flush loo and a hot shower. A private guide and chef look after the group, with its own vehicle. Nobody else shares the camp.
activities
Guided morning walks are possible because Loisaba is a private conservancy, not a national park. Game drives go out in the camp's own vehicle with its own guide, on the party's schedule. Evenings bring sundowners and dinners in the bush, and guests can also spend time with the conservancy's field teams on their rhino and lion monitoring.
conservation
The black rhino programme is run with Kenya Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and donors can adopt or name a rhino. Women from nearby villages run small businesses from the Chui Mama Centre, along with an organic garden and an apiary.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
01
Laikipia Highlands
02
Laikipia Highlands
03
Laikipia Highlands
04
Laikipia Highlands
05
Laikipia Highlands
06
Laikipia Highlands
07
Laikipia Highlands
08
Laikipia Highlands
09
Laikipia Highlands
10
Laikipia Highlands
11
Laikipia Highlands
12
Laikipia Highlands
13
Laikipia Highlands
14
Laikipia Highlands
15
Laikipia Highlands
16
Laikipia Highlands
17
Laikipia Highlands
18
Laikipia Highlands
19
Laikipia Highlands
20
Laikipia Highlands
By scheduled light aircraft from Nairobi's Wilson airport to the Loisaba airstrip, about an hour in the air, with one AirKenya and one Safarilink service each day. Scheduled aircraft take soft bags only, fifteen kilograms a person including hand luggage. Transfers on the conservancy are part of the stay, and since the camp is pitched afresh for every booking, its vehicle and guide collect you from the strip.
For your own timings, or to fly straight in from the Mara or Samburu, we can arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, landing at the Loisaba airstrip. Coming by road from Nanyuki or another northern camp works too, as a private transfer.
The whole camp travels in a custom-built expedition container and is unfolded only for your stay, then packed away when you leave, so nothing permanent is left on the conservancy. It is never shared: five spacious safari tents, each with its own bathroom, set up as doubles, twins or family tents for up to ten guests in one party, with a shaded dining area and a fire pit.
Mobile does not mean rough. The loos flush, the showers run hot on demand, the power is entirely solar, there is Starlink wifi and laundry is done daily. The kitchen works from the container with the camp's own staff, and the minimum stay is two nights.
Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates Kenya as high risk for malaria, setting apart only the city of Nairobi and the highlands above 2,500 metres. The American CDC lists every part of Kenya below 2,500 metres, game parks included. Loisaba Conservancy lies on the Laikipia plateau at around 1,750 metres, well below that line, so the guidance applies in every month.
We are travel planners, not medical professionals, and we do not make recommendations about tablets. What suits you, and what is right for a child, is a question for your own doctor or a travel clinic, asked with your travel dates to hand. Long sleeves in the cool evenings and repellent on bare skin are the sensible camp habits.
On the full safari rate, almost everything: your own vehicle and guide for the whole stay, game drives and walks on the conservancy, all meals with premium drinks, the camp staff and transfers on the conservancy. A food and board rate is offered too, covering the tents, meals, drinks and staff without the vehicle and the activities.
A specialist walking guide, an extra vehicle, a dedicated host and time with Loisaba's own conservation operations team can be added. The conservancy fee is charged per person per night, half for a child under sixteen. We can also arrange a private charter. We include medical evacuation cover as standard.
Very much so: families, often travelling across three generations, are who this camp suits best. Because it is booked by one party only, the tents are set as doubles, twins or family tents to fit, meals and drives run to your children's timetable, and the same vehicle and guide stay with you throughout.
A discreet wildlife-safe perimeter runs round the camp, keeping elephant, rhino and buffalo outside while smaller animals pass through, and at dusk the galagos, the bushbabies the camp is named after, come out in the trees. Tell us your children's ages when you make an enquiry and we will shape the days around what they can do.
Elephant, lion, leopard, reticulated giraffe and Grevy's zebra, with more than 350 kinds of bird. Loisaba lies on the western edge of one of northern Kenya's great elephant routes, linking Laikipia with Samburu and Isiolo. In early 2024 Kenya Wildlife Service moved twenty-one eastern black rhino to Loisaba from Lewa, Ol Pejeta and Nairobi National Park, making it Kenya's seventeenth rhino sanctuary.
Nothing is promised on a given day, but a private vehicle lets you stay with whatever you find for as long as you like. Guests can also join the conservancy's field teams as they monitor black rhino, track lion and gather camera-trap data, when places allow, and because the land belongs to the Loisaba Community Trust, a stay helps fund its schools, clinics and women's group.
rated five stars by our clients
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
