An English family spent years searching Kenya for the right site before they built Sirai House, and it is still kept as a private residence, never a lodge. The whole place goes to one party of up to twelve, on its own 250 acres of cedar and wild olive forest inside Borana Conservancy, high in Kenya’s Laikipia Highlands.
Black and white rhinos graze the plains below the terrace.
The ridge rises to around 2,000 metres, 27 kilometres north of the Equator at the foot of Mount Kenya. Black and white rhinos graze the plains below the terrace. A waterhole and hide lie within sight of the drawing room, and indoors there is a billiard room, a cinema and a cellar of some 3,000 bottles. Nothing runs to a timetable: meals, drives and rides happen when the party decides.
Fences with neighbouring Lewa Wildlife Conservancy came down after a founder population of black rhino settled in, leaving one continuous landscape across the two. Sirai House is one of six shareholders funding Borana’s running costs, so a stay pays into rangers, tracking and the habitat that supports the conservancy’s rhino population, its crowning achievement.
Riders take horses from the stables out among zebras and giraffes.
Borana is private land, so guiding is not confined to daylight and graded tracks. Days run to game drives after dark and walks with an armed guide, with mountain bikes for anyone who prefers their own pace. Riders take horses from the stables out among zebras and giraffes. Ngare Ndare Forest has a canopy walkway and cold pools beneath a waterfall.
The search that produced Sirai House ran for several years across Kenya, an English family looking for one right ridge. A chance meeting in 2009 with Michael Dyer, a third-generation member of the family behind Borana Conservancy, settled the question. The house that followed was raised by Kenyan craftsmen from indigenous materials, the stone hand-dressed and the cedar reclaimed, with heavy beams and thatched ceilings that lift high above the drawing room. Around it lie 250 acres of cedar and wild olive forest, held privately within the conservancy.
Six suites in four cottages sleep up to twelve, all linked to the main house by paths through the forest. The master suite stands alone at the estate’s high point, with a dressing room, a marble tub facing the plains and a small infinity pool on the terrace. The other four are arranged as two pairs, each joined by a shared drawing room and fireplace, one pair well suited to a family. The lowest pair lies among the tree canopy, with a wooden walkway out to a private viewing platform. Fires are lit at dusk, hot water bottles tucked into the linen at turndown.
Fires are lit at dusk, hot water bottles tucked into the linen at turndown
The house keeps its own aircraft, a Pilatus PC-12 that covers Nairobi to Borana in about thirty-five minutes, then carries on to sister property Sirai Beach on the Kilifi coast. Helicopters lift off for Mount Kenya, landing near Lake Alice for trout fishing. A picnic at altitude can follow, or a flight north toward the Suguta Valley and Lake Turkana. Overnight fly camps are pitched in the bush with proper beds and a campaign bar, for anyone who wants a night out under canvas.
Food comes largely off the estate and the conservancy. Vegetables and fruit are cut in the kitchen garden, eggs come from the house chickens, honey from its own hives, beef from the Borana cattle herds. Meals are served wherever the party wants them: the thatched dining hall, a veranda, the poolside loggia, or a hilltop with a fire and shawls as the light goes. Between drives there is a clay tennis court, a gym, a spa with sauna and steam room, a cinema and a heated pool, and a telescope on the main veranda turns from game by day to stars at night.
accommodation
Six suites across four stone-and-thatch cottages sleep up to twelve. Each has a fireplace, a private veranda and a bathroom with twin basins and a freestanding tub, and three add outdoor showers. The master suite has its own infinity pool, while two pairs of suites share drawing rooms, one pair suited to a family. Four bedrooms convert to twins.
activities
Game drives by day and after dark in open Land Rovers, walking safaris with an armed guide, riding out from the estate stables, mountain biking, fly camping and birding, all within Borana Conservancy rather than a national park, so off-road driving and night guiding are permitted. Helicopters fly to Mount Kenya.
conservation
As one of six shareholders, the house helps fund Borana Conservancy's rhino protection and ranger welfare, supporting a population of black and white rhino that stands as the conservancy's crowning achievement. The Borana Conservation Trust, set up by the owning family, pays for school materials, bursaries, clean water at schools and the Borana Mobile Medical Clinic, which serves communities across the Laikipia Highlands.
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.
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Most guests use the house's own aircraft, a Pilatus PC-12 with eight reclining seats, which flies from Nairobi to Borana airstrip in about 35 minutes, and from there it is a twenty minute drive through the conservancy to the house, so a party can be at the door under an hour after leaving the capital. It can leave from Wilson or from the international airport itself, which means an overnight flight from London puts you at Sirai in time for a late breakfast. We can equally arrange another private charter, a Cessna Caravan or a second Pilatus PC-12, to the same strip in about an hour, and there is a helicopter pad on the grounds.
The scheduled light aircraft from Wilson serve neighbouring Lewa instead, about an hour in the air and then around an hour's drive to the house. By road it is four hours from Nairobi and one from Nanyuki. The same PC-12 carries on to Sirai Beach, the sister house on the Kilifi coast, in an hour and a quarter, which makes a bush and beach pairing unusually simple.
Officially, yes. The house's agents describe Borana as free of malaria because of its height, but TravelHealthPro, which carries the UK's official travel health advice, and the CDC both put the altitude above which Kenyan malaria risk falls away at 2,500 metres, and the ridge stands at around 2,000, so both class it as a risk area and recommend antimalarial tablets for it. We call it lower risk rather than malaria-free.
We are travel planners rather than medical professionals, so the decision sits with you and your doctor or a travel clinic, and the advice is reviewed, so check it is current close to departure. Cold highland nights keep mosquito numbers down, which changes nothing in the official guidance: long sleeves and repellent once the fires are lit.
Highland weather at around 6,500 feet: warm, bright days in the low to mid twenties and cold nights the whole year, which is why the fires matter. The long rains fall around April and May and the short rains in November, and the months between are dry, with dust on the tracks and the sharpest views of Mount Kenya at dawn.
Pack real warm layers for early rides and drives and for dinner outside, neutral colours for the bush, a hat and strong sun protection because the altitude sharpens the sun, and closed shoes for walking and rhino tracking. Riders should bring their own boots and hat, tennis players their shoes, and swimwear covers both the heated pool and the cold pools at Ngare Ndare.
The dry months are the pick: late June to September and again December to February, with clear skies, firm ground for riding, walking and mountain biking, and the wildlife drawn to water so the rhino are easier to find on the plains below the house. Those are also the months when the helicopter to Mount Kenya has the best chance of a clear summit.
The green seasons after the rains are quieter and beautiful, with fresh grass pulling the plains game through and the birding at its best, though the game is more spread out. With the house to yourselves the calendar matters less than in a shared lodge: mealtimes, drives and rides move around the weather rather than the other way round.
Yes, and taking the house whole is what makes it work: there are no other guests, so mealtimes, noise and bedtimes are the party's own business, and the pairs of suites that share a drawing room keep parents and children close without sharing a bedroom. Beyond the game drives, the mornings can go to rhino tracking with the conservancy's scout team, the afternoons to the cold pools and canopy walkway in Ngare Ndare, and the evenings to the cinema.
Two things carry limits. Riding out on Borana is for experienced riders only, so beginners get the stables rather than the open plains, and the walks go out with an armed guide and suit older children best. Tell us the ages when we plan and we will shape the days around them.
Yes, and unusually good for the bush. The house runs a fibre-optic wifi system quoted at 50 megabits per second throughout the suites and the main house, with a back-up connection behind it, and mobile signal on the ridge is good, so a call home or a morning of work from the veranda is realistic rather than hopeful. The suites also have televisions and sound systems, and the cinema streams as well as running its own film library.
Staying reachable here needs no special planning, but if a particular call matters, tell us and we will confirm the current setup for your dates.
rated five stars by our clients
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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.
