Dark volcanic stone, quarried on the ranch itself, makes the walls of Loldia House, a farmhouse built in the 1940s above the north-western shore of Lake Naivasha, in Kenya’s Rift Valley. Hippos climb out of the lake at night to graze the lawns. Mount Longonot’s cone rises across the water, framed by a courtyard archway, and fever trees stand between the verandah and the shoreline.
Hippos climb out of the lake at night to graze the lawns.
The 6,500 acres around it are still worked as a cattle ranch, and because this is private land the drives continue after dark, when leopards move along the fever-tree margins and bat-eared foxes and aardvarks turn up in the spotlight. Daylight keeps farmhouse hours: boat safaris through papyrus and pelicans, walks among impalas and grazing cattle, high tea on the lawn, log fires before dinner.
Tanya Carr-Hartley and Julie Hopcraft still run the ranch their family established after reaching Kenya by ox-wagon in 1902, and began farming soon after the Boer War. Cattle and ostriches still graze the fields the family first worked. The stone of the house was laid by Italian prisoners of war captured in Abyssinia during the Second World War. It is run now as a lodge, separate from the family’s own home elsewhere on the property.
Cattle and ostriches still graze the fields the family first worked.
Single-storey rooms open off a central courtyard, with polished wooden floors, clay tiles overhead and deep sofas on a cool stone verandah. Dinner is served formally at a long polished table set with roses and silver. After a night drive, hot water bottles appear beneath the sheets. Breakfast moves outdoors, under giant wild figs.
Game drives cross undulating grassland where zebras, giraffes, impalas and waterbucks graze without much regard for vehicles, and warthogs work the edges of the lawns. On the lake, motorboats push through papyrus for close views of hippos and pelicans, and African fish eagles use the giant wild figs along the shore as lookouts. Lake Naivasha holds over 400 recorded bird species. An afternoon can go to tilapia fishing, or to horses that head out along the shoreline and through the farm fields, past cattle and ostriches.
Full days out follow the Rift Valley lakes north and south. Lake Nakuru National Park delivers black and white rhinos, flamingos along the shoreline and plains game across the acacia woodland, with a picnic lunch packed at the house. Hell’s Gate is walked or cycled between its cliffs and geothermal vents, and Mount Longonot climbed for its crater rim. At Soysambu Conservancy, lion tracking runs alongside researchers. Night drives and off-road driving happen on the ranch itself; the national parks allow neither.
Hippos grunt through the dark outside the bedroom windows, and fish eagles call at first light.
Mornings start cool, often misted over the water and quiet until the lawn has dried. Hippos grunt through the dark outside the bedroom windows, and fish eagles call at first light. The ranch runs back from the shore toward the Eburru Forest, montane woodland that shelters the critically endangered mountain bongo. Children of any age are welcome, and it is the flat lawns and the stone infinity pool that see most of them, in sight of the verandah where the rest of the day tends to be spent.
Meals lean on farm produce, cooked in a country-house register and eaten together at one table, the day’s sightings compared over wine. Eco-Tourism Kenya awards the lodge a Gold Eco Rating. Many guests come at either end of a longer Kenyan safari, using this shore of Lake Naivasha to slow the pace before the excursion list gets much attention: the commercial rose farms nearby, the rehabilitated raptors, Crescent Island on foot, Crater Lake. Nairobi is around two hours away on the North Lake Road, or a short flight to the Loldia airstrip.
accommodation
Nine rooms come in four forms, up to twelve bedrooms in all. The master bedroom sits in the original farmhouse, with a traditional bathtub. Three garden cottages each hold two en-suite rooms with fireplaces and private verandas. Two lakeshore suites stand under fig trees, with plunge pools and double-sided log burners, and Top Cottage adds three bedrooms on the hill.
activities
Day and night game drives on the private ranch, guided walks among antelope and cattle, horse riding along the lakeshore, boat safaris on Lake Naivasha and Lake Oloiden, and tilapia fishing. Full days run to Lake Nakuru, Hell's Gate, Mount Longonot, Eburru Forest and Soysambu, where lions are tracked with researchers.
conservation
Loldia House funds the monthly meat bill for rescued birds at the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust. Loldia Primary School has grown from a mud-and-wattle building of 500 pupils to over 2,000, with scholarships beyond it; the Eburru Rafiki Forest Community Group plants trees for bongo habitat, and TAFA mentors children in nearby Kasarani.
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.
Two straightforward options. It is roughly an hour and a half to two hours by road from Nairobi, which makes it one of the easiest first stops in Kenya, or fifteen minutes from the Loldia airstrip if you are flying between safari areas from Wilson.
We usually put it at the start of a circuit for exactly that reason: you land, drive, and are on a lake shore the same afternoon rather than losing a day.
Yes. The Rift Valley lakes sit below 2,500 metres, and both TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, and the CDC treat Kenya below that altitude as high risk and recommend antimalarial tablets.
The altitude keeps mosquito numbers down in practice, but it does not change the guidance. Take the decision with a travel clinic or your doctor, and use repellent and covered arms once the light goes, particularly by the water.
All ages are taken, though the house suits older children more naturally, and families are usually put in the private cottage rather than the main house.
The grounds are a working cattle ranch on the lake shore with hippo about, so children are supervised and escorted after dark. Boat trips on Naivasha and the walking on Crescent Island are the parts children tend to remember. Tell us the ages and we will book the cottage.
Mild Rift Valley weather: comfortable days, cool mornings and evenings, and far less heat than most people expect on a Kenyan safari. The long rains fall roughly March to May, the short rains October to December.
Pack a warm layer for the evenings on the veranda, neutral colours, a hat and strong sun protection, and closed shoes for walking. Binoculars are worth having, because the birdlife around Naivasha is exceptional.
June to October and January to February bring the most reliable weather and the easiest going, which suits the boating, the walking and the drives.
The wetter months are green and quiet, and the birding is at its best when the migrants are in. Because this is a lake house rather than a big-game camp, the season matters less here than it does in the Mara, and it works as a first or last night in almost any month.
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.
