Porini Rhino Camp

By light aircraft from Nairobi's Wilson airport, about an hour in the air, to Kamok, the airstrip inside Ol Pejeta, or to Nanyuki just outside the conservancy.

AirKenya's daily service leaves Wilson at 9.45 and serves both strips, calling at more than one on the way, so the landing time can move, and it needs at least two passengers for each strip; Safarilink flies to Nanyuki twice a day.

A driver from the camp meets the aircraft for the short transfer, and the transfer from Kamok is part of the rate. The aircraft take fifteen kilograms a person, hand luggage included, and soft bags travel best.

If you would rather fly at your own time, we can put in a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, straight into Kamok.

On the way out, the same AirKenya service flies on from Nanyuki and Kamok to the Masai Mara around midday, sometimes by way of Wilson in the low season, so the Mara is an easy next stop without a night in Nairobi.

The road from Nairobi through Nanyuki works too, and we would set it up as a private transfer; the conservancy's gates open from seven in the morning to seven at night, so we plan a road arrival for daylight.

Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates Kenya as high risk for malaria and recommends antimalarial tablets for it, setting apart only the city of Nairobi and the highlands above 2,500 metres.

The American CDC draws the same line, naming every part of Kenya below 2,500 metres, game parks included, as an area where it recommends preventive medicine. Ol Pejeta lies on the Laikipia plateau well under that height, and neither source makes a seasonal distinction for Kenya, so the advice is the same in the dry months as in the rains.

We are travel planners, not medical professionals, so we do not make recommendations about tablets. Which ones suit you, how they sit with anything else you take and what is right for a child are questions for your own doctor or a travel clinic, and the guidance is worth checking again close to departure.

The practical part we can speak to: nights on the plateau are cool, which keeps mosquito numbers down but changes nothing in the official advice, so cover arms and legs from dusk and keep repellent to hand, above all on a night drive.

From the age of eight. The camp takes children aged eight and over, either sharing a tent with their parents or, when they are old enough, in a tent of their own, and it has family tents for parents and children who want to stay together; tell us who is travelling and we will book the right mix.

Children under eight cannot stay, so for a family with younger children we would choose a different camp in Laikipia.

The game drives are shared with other guests, so for a family we would add a private vehicle and guide, charged on top of the rate, which lets the days run at the children's pace rather than another party's.

Ol Pejeta's own conservation experiences, such as the northern white rhino visit and lion tracking, come with separate conditions for children, so tell us their ages when you enquire and we will check each one before we plan the days.

Almost everything on the ground.

The rate is full board with soft drinks, Tusker beer, house wine, vodka, gin and tonic and mineral water.

It covers shared game drives by day and by night in open-sided four-by-fours with qualified guides, walks with Maasai guides, sundowners at scenic viewpoints, a visit to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary and the transfers to and from Kamok airstrip.

Ol Pejeta's daily conservancy fee is in the rate too, so there is no separate conservancy bill to settle.

What sits on top: a private vehicle and guide, other drinks, and the conservancy's own conservation experiences, such as meeting the northern white rhinos with their keepers, lion tracking and the behind-the-scenes visits, each charged per person, booked at least a day ahead and dependent on the weather and the animals' welfare.

Leaving after the camp's morning check-out costs extra, so we time the flight out to suit. We build all of it into the quote before you travel.

Plenty, because Ol Pejeta is a private conservancy rather than a national park. Alongside the day drives the camp runs night drives and walks with Maasai guides, and it keeps a hide at its own waterhole, placed so that animals come to drink right in front of the camp and you can watch and photograph them at close quarters. Sundowners at a viewpoint close most afternoons.

The conservancy is the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa, with southern white rhino on the plains as well, and it is home to Najin and Fatu, the last two northern white rhinos on earth, whom you can meet with their keepers as one of Ol Pejeta's own experiences; lion tracking with radio-collared prides can be arranged too, and both sit on top of the stay.

The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, set up in 1993 with the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Jane Goodall Institute for chimpanzees rescued from the illegal pet trade, is the only place in Kenya to see them, in large natural enclosures either side of the Ewaso Nyiro River.

We plan at least three nights at the camp, so the drives, a walk, a night drive and the rhino visit all fit without a rush.

The dry months, July to September and January to February, when the grass is short, the ground is firm and the game stays close to water.

The long rains fall in April and May, with April the wettest month of the year, and the short rains peak in November; March, June, October and December sit in between, often with good viewing and fewer vehicles about.

The rhino are resident, so any month the camp is open is a good one for them; the camp itself closes for part of the long rains, around May.

Ol Pejeta lies on the Laikipia plateau just north of the Equator, so the afternoons reach the low to mid twenties under a strong sun while the dawns drop to around eight to ten degrees, and a night drive is colder than people expect.

Pack layers: a fleece or down jacket and a warm hat for the early starts and the evenings, light neutral clothes and a wide-brimmed hat for the day, high-factor sun cream, closed shoes for the walks and a light waterproof in the wetter months, all of it in a soft bag under fifteen kilograms for the flight.