Suyian means wild dog in the local language, and the conservancy remains a stronghold for them. Suyian Lodge sits on this private land, in the northwest of Kenya’s Laikipia Highlands, its suites strung along a Rift Valley escarpment above the Ewaso Narok River. The land is unfenced, running into neighbouring Loisaba and, per conservancy management, Sosian.
The granite kopjes hold the rare chance of a black leopard.
Mount Kenya marks the horizon, and Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Beisa oryx and gerenuk graze the grasslands below. The granite kopjes hold the rare chance of a black leopard. The melanistic cat is never promised, only ever possible, and has become the conservancy’s most talked-about resident. Guides track off-road and drive after dark, and walking, horses and camels cover ground at a pace no vehicle can.
Will Powys came from a literary Dorset family and made his life as a sheep farmer. He first grazed stock in this part of Laikipia in the 1920s, and in 1963 he bought the land that became Suyian. His son Gilfrid ran the livestock here until his death in 2017, turning the ranch towards wildlife habitat with his daughters Anne and Marian. Both still keep homesites on the conservancy.
The land is held by the Suyian Conservancy Trust
Nearly a century of Powys ranching ended in 2022, when Space for Giants bought the ranch and established a community conservancy. Cattle still move across the grasslands, as they have for a century, grazed under a plan that opens dry-season pasture to local herders. The land is held by the Suyian Conservancy Trust, and the lodge, operated by andBeyond under an exclusive tourism lease, opened in July 2025.
Fourteen suites hug the escarpment, their curved, domed forms echoing the granite kopjes of the Rock Sanctuary opposite, where ancient cave art survives on the rock. Michaelis Boyd designed them in lime plaster, local stone and timber under grass roofs, with floor-to-ceiling glass onto the valley and a plunge pool on every deck. The furnishings came from Kenyan makers, in mottled earth tones drawn from the coats of the wild dogs. Thirteen of the suites sleep two, and one, with two bedrooms, takes a family.
Evenings gather at the firepit, the talk mixing with the sounds of the bush after dark. Inside, the lounge, library and map room double as the place to work out where the wild dogs were last seen, and the Samburu bar and house kitchen sit alongside tables laid indoors and out. Dinner can also travel, set out near the Rock Sanctuary. A rim-flow pool with sunken daybeds looks far across the valley, and the wellness centre, set apart among the outcrops, holds two treatment rooms, a steam room and a cold plunge.
Evenings gather at the firepit, the talk mixing with the sounds of the bush after dark
Herders set out at daybreak, and guests can walk with them and the cattle. Camel treks trace the old pastoralist routes along the Ewaso Narok River. Horses cover open country and get closer to zebra and giraffe than any vehicle can. On foot, guides read the tracks in the dust, and the walking runs to botany, to Stone Age painting sites, and to tea with Samburu and Pokot families. Helicopter flights lift over the Rift Valley geology, the braided rivers and Mount Kenya, and for slower mornings there is a yoga deck.
Wildlife moves freely between Suyian and neighbouring Loisaba, and the conservancy protects a corridor used by elephants heading north. Space for Giants, which established Loisaba in 2014 with The Nature Conservancy, oversees the conservation work here. More than 260 bird species have been recorded, from Verreaux’s eagles riding the escarpment thermals to the weavers calling around the lodge. More than 70 percent of the lodge’s staff come from four partner communities, and most of the rest from elsewhere in Laikipia County.
accommodation
Fourteen open-fronted suites follow the line of the escarpment, thirteen of them for two and one a family suite of two bedrooms, with a second bathroom and a shared lounge. Each has a stone fireplace, a freestanding tub at the window, showers indoors and out, and a private plunge pool on a timber deck. Binoculars come with the room.
activities
Game drives run twice daily, and as a private conservancy Suyian permits off-road tracking and night drives not possible in Kenya's national parks. Also on offer: walking safaris, horseback and camel rides, mornings with the herders, cave art visits, birding, wellness sessions and helicopter flights over the Rift Valley.
conservation
Space for Giants, which acquired the ranch in 2022 and established the conservancy, oversees conservation on land held by the Suyian Conservancy Trust, protecting an elephant migration corridor. Lease income supports schools, scholarships, health services and community enterprises including honey production.
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 fly. Safarilink and Air Kenya both run scheduled light aircraft from Nairobi's Wilson airport to Loisaba airstrip, twice a day and about forty-five minutes in the air, and from there it is around an hour by road across the conservancy to the lodge.
We can also arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, straight onto Suyian's own airstrip, which cuts the drive at the far end to about twenty minutes.
The scheduled flights take soft bags only, fifteen kilograms per person including hand luggage, so pack a duffel rather than a hard case. If you would rather see the country change on the way up, the drive from Nairobi takes about five hours.
Yes, treat it as one. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health advice, and the CDC both put the altitude at which malaria risk falls away in Kenya at 2,500 metres, and Suyian sits well below that line, so both class the conservancy as a malaria risk area and recommend antimalarials for it.
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.
Yes, children of every age are welcome, and the lodge runs a children's programme of its own, so a family safari here is a real option rather than a compromise.
The wilder activities are the exception: the horseback safaris carry a minimum age of sixteen, and the camel walks, guided bush walks and mornings out with the herders are set the same way, so younger children's days centre on the game drives and the lodge itself.
One practical note: the suites step down the escarpment on uneven stone stairs, which is worth weighing with a toddler in tow. Tell us the ages when we plan and we will be straight about what fits now and what to leave for an older trip.
Nobody can honestly promise you one, and we never will. Laikipia is one of the only places on earth where black leopards are seen with any regularity, yet the estimate is that only around ten live across the whole county, so even here a sighting is a stroke of luck rather than something to plan a trip around.
They have been seen and photographed on the conservancy itself, which is more than most places can say.
What genuinely helps is time. The leopards here are wild and unhabituated, so more nights mean more chances, and the after-dark drives put you out when a cat is most likely to be moving. If the black leopard is the dream, tell us, and we will build the trip to give it every chance, with the wild dogs, Grevy's zebra and the walking carrying the stay either way.
The core of a stay is full board:
Every suite has wifi.
For everything beyond that list, tell us what you want your days to hold and we will set out exactly what your quote covers before you commit, so nothing arrives as a surprise.
Laikipia is high, semi-arid country, so expect warm, dry days and genuinely cold early mornings and evenings the whole year round. The long rains fall from around March to May and the short rains in November, greening the plateau, and the months between stay clear and dusty.
Pack warm layers for dawn game drives and the evenings at the firepit, neutral colours for the walking, and serious sun protection, because this is equatorial sun sharpened by altitude. Closed shoes with grip earn their place on the kopjes, and swimwear is worth having for the plunge pool on your deck.
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.
