All through the day, elephants, kudu and warthog file down to the waterhole below Sarara Camp, close enough to watch from a tent veranda or the edge of the pool. The camp sits on the southern slopes of the Mathews Range in Northern Kenya, inside the Namunyak Conservancy, 850,000 acres owned outright by the Samburu community, where six tents and a private house look out over the water and the plains beyond. The wildlife keeps no fixed schedule. Whoever arrives to drink sets the rhythm of the afternoon.
Whoever arrives to drink sets the rhythm of the afternoon.
The camp’s signature experience happens away from camp altogether, in the dry riverbeds where Samburu warriors dig wells deep into the sand and pass water hand to hand up a human chain, each family calling its own cattle forward with a distinct chant. Guests may watch, but nothing about the ritual is adjusted for an audience, and photography is not permitted. It is done the way it has always been done, because the cattle still need the water.
Samburu elders established Namunyak Conservancy in 1995, after decades of poaching had emptied the Mathews Range of much of its wildlife. Two years later, Piers and Hilary Bastard opened Sarara Camp in partnership with the community. It was the first lodge built from that conservancy project. Their son Jeremy and his wife Katie took over its management in 2010, and later co-founded Reteti, a community-owned elephant orphanage near camp.
It was the first lodge built from that conservancy project.
Because Namunyak is community land rather than a national park, guiding here extends well past the standard game drive. A day might run into a night drive, or lead off-road on foot into the montane forest in search of colobus monkeys and cycads; another might be given to horseback rides across the plains and fly camping in a dry riverbed under the stars. The guides are almost entirely Samburu, many describing terrain and animals they have known since childhood rather than reciting a script learned for the job.
Six tents are spaced along the rocky hillside for privacy, high-ceilinged canvas set under thatch and softened, since a recent refurbishment, by handwoven rugs. Each opens through an en-suite bathroom, where an indoor basin gives way to a solar-heated open-air shower that faces the hills, onto a private veranda looking out over the Mathews Range and the waterhole below. Two tents interconnect to form a family unit, while Sarara House stands apart, a two-bedroom villa with its own plunge pool, lounge, dining area and dedicated guide, made for families or a group travelling together.
Meals draw on produce from the camp’s own garden, breakfast and lunch taken on the terrace above the waterhole or under a shade tree, and dinner sometimes carried down to a dry riverbed and lit by fire. Above the water, a natural infinity pool is cut into a single slab of rock, so close to the animals that the line between the two blurs. In the dry months, elephants have been seen drinking from the pool directly.
In the dry months, elephants have been seen drinking from the pool directly.
Ownership is the organising fact of the place. The land and the camp belong to the Samburu, and tourism revenue funds The Sarara Foundation’s work, from scholarships and a mobile health clinic to nomadic Montessori schools, while a milk programme pays more than 1,200 women for surplus milk that feeds the orphaned elephants at Reteti. Namunyak was for years affiliated with the Northern Rangelands Trust, an umbrella body that supports community conservancies with funding, security and governance, until 2022, when the community units within Namunyak withdrew from that membership, citing concerns over transparency and representation, and the two have operated separately since. Sarara’s answer has been to keep leadership and benefit inside the community itself.
The Mathews Range is elephant country, and across its arid plains and forested slopes they move alongside leopard and reticulated giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, gerenuk and lesser kudu. Beyond the reach of any ordinary morning drive, a helicopter can lift guests to the sacred mountain of Ololokwe for breakfast on its summit. The staff are drawn almost entirely from the surrounding Samburu community, and the guiding carries a familiarity with the land that comes from generations spent on it rather than a season’s training.
accommodation
Six high-ceilinged canvas tents under thatch, spaced along the hillside, with handwoven rugs. Each has an en-suite bathroom, solar-heated open-air shower and private veranda. Two interconnect for families. Sarara House is a two-bedroom villa with a private plunge pool, lounge, dining area and dedicated guide.
activities
As a community conservancy rather than a national park, Namunyak permits day and night game drives, guided bush walks and forest hikes into the Mathews Range for colobus monkeys and cycads. Horseback safaris, fly camping in a dry riverbed, visits to the singing wells, beading with Samburu women, and trips to Reteti Elephant Sanctuary are all part of the offering. Helicopter flights reach Mount Ololokwe.
conservation
The Samburu community owns the land and the camp. Revenue funds The Sarara Foundation's work: scholarships, a mobile health clinic, nomadic Montessori schools and the Milk to Market programme paying over 1,200 women. Sarara's founders co-established Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, a community-owned elephant orphanage.
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.
You fly from Nairobi's Wilson airport to an airstrip in the Namunyak Conservancy of northern Kenya, around an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half by light aircraft, and the camp meets you for the transfer to the southern slopes of the Mathews Range.
We build the flights into your itinerary. For the trip north we can also arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, timed to your international arrival.
The bush planes take soft bags of around fifteen kilograms per person including hand luggage, so pack a duffel. This is remote country, so flying is far easier than the long overland drive north.
Yes, though a lower-risk one than the coast. The Namunyak country is hot and semi-arid, which holds mosquito numbers down, but it sits below the altitude at which the CDC and TravelHealthPro regard malaria risk as negligible, so antimalarial tablets are usually advised, with the risk a little higher after rain.
We do not make medical recommendations. That is a conversation between you and your own doctor or a travel clinic, who know your history and can weigh it properly. We are travel planners, not medical professionals, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise.
Warm to hot days, milder nights than the highlands, and a dry, dusty landscape that greens after the rains. The waterhole below camp draws elephants, kudu and warthog down through the day whatever the season.
Pack light, breathable clothes in neutral colours, strong sun protection and a hat, a light layer for early mornings, and closed shoes for the walking and hikes into the Mathews Range. Swimwear for the pool, and binoculars for the birds and the wildlife at the water.
The dry seasons suit this country best, when the tracks firm up, wildlife gathers around permanent water and the skies stay clear, with June to October the strongest window and January to March also good. The rains green the land and lift the birding, at the cost of muddier roads.
The singing wells, the camp's signature experience, run in the dry riverbeds through the drier months when the cattle most need the water, so the dry season is both the more reliable and the more evocative time to come.
Yes, and they are the camp's signature outing. In the dry riverbeds nearby, Samburu families dig deep wells by hand and lift water up a human chain to their cattle, each herd called forward by its own chant, which is where the name comes from. You are welcome to watch.
Two things are worth knowing before you go: nothing is staged for visitors, and photography is not allowed, because these are working watering points the cattle still depend on. They are busiest in the dry months once surface water has gone, which is also the easiest time to reach them. Around them the conservancy offers walking, game drives, forest hikes and beading with Samburu women.
Sarara has added satellite wifi in its main areas, which is a real change for somewhere this remote, so you can check in when you need to. There is no mobile phone coverage here, though, so once you step away from the main area you are genuinely off the grid.
Most guests treat that as the point of coming to Namunyak, but if you need to stay reachable for part of your trip, the main-area wifi makes it possible. Tell us and we will confirm the current setup before you travel.
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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.
