At Lentorre Lodge, the best seat is below ground. A sunken, air-conditioned hide at the edge of the waterhole puts guests at eye level with the zebras, elephants and striped hyenas that come to the water. Six villas look down on it from a spur of the Nguruman Escarpment, in the Olkiramatian Conservancy, with Mount Shompole rising to the south.
A leopard may appear in the grey hour before dawn.
The hide opened in 2020, and it can be booked for the night, when striped hyenas and caracals come out of the dark. A leopard may appear in the grey hour before dawn. The dry months are best, as pools across the conservancy shrink and the waterhole below the villas draws in the animals that remain. By day, guests wander down from camp and sit behind the glass for as long as the light holds.
A family who camped in this valley as children, and kept coming back as adults, built Lentorre Lodge beside a natural spring and a grove of old tamarind trees. From the deck, the view carries over the border into Tanzania. Mount Shompole looms close, and beyond it the active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai and the peak of Ol Donyo Gelai rise on the horizon.
Beyond the fire, Maasai cattle low somewhere in the dark.
Under vaulted thatch and floors of local stone, the upper lounge and bar open to the valley, and breakfast and lunch are served up here, above the pool. Dinner is served under the stars, down by the water in a lower dining room and bar, and then comes the campfire and the Milky Way. Beyond the fire, Maasai cattle low somewhere in the dark. Below, the waterhole stays busy through the night.
Around the turn of the century, predators were absent from this stretch of the South Rift. Lions have come back. Elephants still come to feed on the ripe tamarind beside the lodge. Both share land the Olkiramatian Maasai elders divided so that growth in their villages would not cost them their wildlife, holding a core conservancy apart from the community behind a buffer zone. Twice a year, with the rains, their cattle cross the Ewaso Ng’iro, and the grazing keeps the grass open and cuts the conflict between herders and lions.
Maasai herds graze these plains by day, and after dark night drives pick out striped hyenas, aardwolves and the occasional leopard in the spotlight. Mornings suit walking, from short nature walks and sunrise hikes to longer climbs that follow the escarpment gorge up to waterfalls and rock pools. A local research centre habituated a group of baboons, and guests can walk among them. When the Ewaso Ng’iro runs high enough, the same river the cattle cross becomes a slow float on inner tubes.
Elephants still come to feed on the ripe tamarind beside the lodge.
Guests fly in by light aircraft to Rangers Airstrip and drive about 40 minutes through the conservancy, or come by road from Nairobi in about three and a half hours. From the lodge, Lake Magadi lies to the east and Lake Natron to the south, two soda lakes that both hold flamingos. Either can be reached by road. A pre-arranged helicopter flight, though, crosses the soda flats low enough for aerial photography. Back at camp, small bird hides are tucked around the grounds, and the sky over the escarpment is dark enough for proper stargazing.
Village visits with the Olkiramatian Maasai fill in the rest of the story: the bomas and the cattle, and the families whose grazing decisions made the conservancy possible. Visiting families are welcome too, and the family accommodation, the pool and the tubing on the Ewaso Ng’iro all suit a multi-generation group. Photographers plan their trips around the hide instead. They come in the dry months, as the pools across the conservancy shrink, and spend at least one night below ground, watching a waterhole that stays busy until dawn.
accommodation
Six stand-alone villas each open onto a private plunge pool and a terrace, and some look out to Mount Shompole. Inside, a double or twin bed lies under a mosquito net, and the bathroom has a power shower, with a bathtub in some villas. Two of the six are family villas, each with two en-suite rooms.
activities
Day and night drives and walks cover the Olkiramatian Conservancy, and gorge hikes climb to waterfalls and pools. Closer to camp are the sunken hide and the bird hides. Further out lie the habituated baboon walk, village visits and tubing on the Ewaso Ng'iro when levels allow. Stargazing and bush dining round out the stay, and helicopter flights cross Lake Magadi.
conservation
Rebuilding the Pride studies how lions and herders share the land. It works from the Lale'enok Resource Centre, owned by the women of Olkiramatian. SORALO, a community-driven landowners' association, works to link conservation areas between Amboseli and the Mara. The lodge partners all three, and most of its team comes from the community.
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.
Most guests fly. There is no scheduled service into this corner of the South Rift, so we book a private charter from Nairobi's Wilson airport, typically a Cessna Caravan, to Rangers Airstrip. The lodge's vehicle meets the aircraft and covers the last forty minutes by road, through Maasai grazing land and up onto the escarpment.
The alternative is the road from Nairobi, about three and a half hours down into the Rift Valley and out past Lake Magadi. It is a memorable drive, but the flight saves most of a morning on a short stay. Light aircraft take soft bags only, about fifteen kilograms a person.
Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates Kenya as high risk for malaria, setting apart only the city of Nairobi and the highlands above 2,500 metres. The American CDC lists every part of Kenya below 2,500 metres, game parks included. The valley floor around Lake Magadi lies far below that line, and Lentorre, on a spur of the escarpment above it, is well under it too.
We are travel planners, not doctors, so we do not make recommendations about tablets; that decision sits with you and your own doctor or travel clinic, best taken with your dates to hand. Evenings in the valley are warm, so pack long sleeves and long trousers for after dark.
It is a photographic hide sunk into the ground at the edge of the lodge's waterhole, opened in 2020 after several years of work to get it right. You sit at eye level with the animals as they drink, behind photographic glass, in an air-conditioned and soundproofed room with lighting for night work, so the animals carry on as if nobody were there.
Yes. There are beds in the hide and a bunk room beside it, so you can stay the night. Leopard are regular visitors, often in the hours before dawn, and striped hyena and caracal come too, though no sighting is ever certain. The hide is at its best in the dry months of September and October, and February and March.
Drives go out by day and after dark, when the guides look for leopard, striped hyena, aardwolf, genet and bushbabies. Guided walks climb the gorge behind the lodge to waterfalls and clear spring-fed pools you can swim in, and you never walk alone. When the Ewaso Ng'iro runs high enough, you can float down it in an inner tube beneath fig and tamarind trees.
The baboon walk joins a habituated troop studied by the local research centre. The lodge also arranges Maasai village visits, meals out in the bush, stargazing, and the drive to Lake Magadi and Lake Natron for flamingos and the hot pools. To see the soda lakes from above, a scenic helicopter flight can be booked in advance.
Yes, families are a large part of what the lodge does. Two of its six villas are family villas, each with two en-suite rooms, so parents and children sleep under one roof, and every villa has its own plunge pool. With room for sixteen guests at most, the lodge never feels crowded.
Children can spend a day as a young Maasai, fetching water, helping with the cattle and goats, lighting fires and trying a bow and arrow, and the spring pools and the river fill the hot middle of the day. The lodge is unfenced and animals come to the waterhole, so small children stay with an adult, and an askari walks everyone to their villa after dark.
It is Maasai land, set aside by the Olkiramatian community itself. By about 2000 lion and the other big predators had gone, so the elders divided the land into a core conservation area and a buffer zone, and went back to moving their cattle from one side of the Ewaso Ng'iro to the other with the rains. The grass stays open and the lion have returned.
Lentorre is family-owned and run in partnership with the community, and most of its team are hired and trained locally. It works with SORALO, the landowners' association linking conservation land between Amboseli and the Masai Mara, and with the Lale'enok Resource Centre, owned by the women of Olkiramatian, home to the Rebuilding the Pride lion project. Guests can visit the centre.
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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.
