Governors’ Mugie House

Fly. Governors' Aviation, the airline the collection runs itself, has a daily scheduled flight from Nairobi's Wilson airport to Mugie's own airstrip, leaving at eight in the morning and timetabled at an hour and a half with a stop or two at other Laikipia strips on the way, and the same aircraft links Mugie with the Masai Mara each day, so a stay pairs neatly with one of the collection's Mara camps. From the strip the house is about twenty minutes by road. We can also arrange a private charter straight into Mugie, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, which suits an awkward international arrival time or a party large enough to fill the aircraft.

Safarilink and Air Kenya both fly daily into Loisaba, the neighbouring conservancy's airstrip, and from there it is around ninety minutes by road; from Nanyuki by road it is about three hours. The scheduled aircraft take soft bags only, fifteen kilograms a person with hand luggage included, and the Mugie flights only run with two passengers booked, which we keep an eye on when we fix the dates.

Treat it as a malaria area. The conservancy sits at roughly 1,800 to 1,900 metres, with the airstrip surveyed at 1,875, which is well short of the 2,500 metres at which both TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, and the CDC say the risk falls away. TravelHealthPro puts Kenya below that height in its high risk band and lists antimalarial tablets among its recommendations for it, keeping its very low risk label for Nairobi and the highlands above 2,500 metres, and the CDC names every part of the country under 2,500 metres, game parks included, as ground where it recommends them too.

We are travel planners rather than medical people, so what you take is a decision for you and your doctor or a travel clinic, and it is worth a fresh check in the weeks before you fly because the guidance is reviewed. The cool nights at this height mean fewer mosquitoes than in the lowlands, but the ordinary care still applies once the sun goes: long sleeves by the fire and repellent on any skin left bare.

Yes, and there is no minimum age. The house serves children's meals at an earlier sitting, and cots, high chairs and babysitting can be arranged on request, so the youngest are catered for even though this is a quiet house rather than one built around a children's programme. The family cottage sleeps four.

The house sets ages on the activities that need them: guided walks are for sixteen and over, and canoeing on the dam and the e-bike rides, which go out four at a time, are for twelve and over. Younger children still have the drives, the hide, the bloodhound kennels, fishing on the dam and Tala the giraffe at headquarters, which between them fill a stay. Tell us their ages when you enquire and we will confirm the current rules with the house and plan the days around them.

Yes to both. Wifi is free, in the main living area and in most of the cottages, and mobile coverage on the Safaricom network is reported as generally good at the house, which for a hilltop in the far north-west of Laikipia is better than we would normally promise. Calls and messages are realistic, then, without being something to build a working day around, and there are charging points in the cottages and the main house.

There are no televisions in the guest areas, and the house keeps a generator in reserve for cloudy spells, so power is steady rather than something to think about. If you need to be reachable at a set time, tell us before you travel and we will check the current position with the house rather than leave it to a guess.

Warm days and cold starts, the whole year. Afternoons on the plateau run to the mid twenties under a strong equatorial sun, while a dawn drive can begin close to twelve degrees, so most mornings start in a fleece and finish in shirtsleeves. The long rains run from March to May, April the wettest month, the short rains come in October and November, and June to September is the driest, clearest stretch, with December to February drier again. This north-western corner of Laikipia is semi-arid, so the dry months are properly dry and dusty, and a shower remains possible in any month.

Pack in layers: a fleece or light down jacket and a warm hat for the early starts and the evenings, light neutral clothing and a wide-brimmed hat for the middle of the day, and high-factor sun cream because the altitude sharpens the sun. Closed shoes with grip cover the walks, the path down to the hide and the e-bikes, swimwear covers the pool and the plunge pools, and binoculars matter at the waterhole and across the open grassland. Everything goes in soft bags for the aircraft.

Full board and most of what you do. The rate covers the cottage, all meals, soft drinks, beers, house wines and the standard spirits, day and night game drives, guided walks, canoeing and fishing on the dam, the e-bikes, sundowners, laundry and the transfers between Mugie's airstrip and the house. Outside it sit the flights, champagne, the finer wines and premium spirits, bush breakfasts and picnic lunches, the green fee and club hire on the golf course, the road transfer from Loisaba if you fly in that way, and the conservancy's fee, which is charged per person with a lower rate for children and which we build into the quote from the start so nothing arrives later as an extra. A visit to the bloodhound kennels is not charged, though the unit welcomes a donation.

Plan three nights at the least, and four if you can. That is enough for a session in the hide, a morning at the kennels and another with the telemetry set among the conservancy's fifty-odd lions in their four prides, an afternoon on the dam, a walk with an armed guide and a night drive for the striped hyena, the fifth of what the house calls the Mugie Five alongside the four northern species on the grassland, without any of it being rushed. The daily flight links Mugie with the Masai Mara, so three nights here pairs naturally with three or four at one of the collection's Mara camps.