Laikipia Wilderness

You fly from Nairobi's Wilson airport to a Laikipia airstrip, roughly an hour by light aircraft, and the camp meets you for the transfer to the Ol Doinyo Lemboro ranch above the Ewaso Narok River.

We build the flights into your trip and match them to your arrival. If you would rather fly privately, we can arrange a charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, flown direct to the strip at a time that suits you.

The small planes take soft bags of about fifteen kilograms per person including hand luggage, so a duffel is best. A road transfer from Nairobi is also possible if you would rather travel overland.

It is a lower-risk malaria area rather than a malaria-free one. The plateau's height and dry climate hold mosquito numbers down, but it still sits below the altitude at which the CDC and TravelHealthPro consider risk to fall away, so antimalarial tablets are usually advised.

We do not make medical recommendations. We are travel planners, not doctors. Which tablets are right for you, whether they suit your own health or anyone else's in the party, and what is appropriate for a child, is a conversation between you and your doctor or a travel clinic.

The practical side we can speak to is not medical: cover arms and legs from late afternoon and keep repellent to hand.

This is high, dry ranch country, so warm days meet cold mornings and nights the year round, and the river adds a green thread through it. The dry seasons are dusty and clear; the rains green the ground and can soften the tracks.

Pack warm layers for early walks and drives, sun protection and neutrals for the day, and sturdy closed shoes, since walking is central here. For children there is swimming and tubing in the river, so bring swimwear too.

The dry months, July to September and December to February, give the strongest walking and game viewing, with clear skies and animals drawn to water. The green seasons are quieter and good for birds, with the game more spread out and the river full.

Because so much here happens on foot, the drier ground of the dry season makes the walking easier, though the camp runs year round.

Walking is the core of the camp, led by a professional guide who follows big cats and wild dogs on foot across rocky ground and riverine forest, reading sign a vehicle would drive straight past. Laikipia holds one of Kenya's fastest-growing wild dog populations, and the camp records its sightings for a predator study, so you may help track collared animals in the field.

Nothing is guaranteed with wild animals, and a few nights improve the odds over a single one, but the packs move through often enough that dogs are a realistic part of a stay rather than a rare piece of luck.

Very much so. This is a family-run camp built with families in mind, with four of the tents configured for families and separate exclusive-use camps for groups. Children learn to track, and the private ranch opens up river swimming, tubing, fishing, rock scrambling, biking and bushcraft, so the days are not spent sitting in a vehicle.

Walking with predators nearby has sensible age limits, so tell us your children's ages and we will match the activities and, where it helps, arrange a private guide and vehicle.