Standing on the flamingo-fringed shores of Lake Elmenteita, one of Kenya’s most beautiful Rift Valley lakes, the Serena Lake Elmenteita Luxury Camp offers just 24 luxury tents (and one luxury tented suite), each with its own private veranda overlooking the lake. Clustered around a central dining room and bar, and overlooking its own luxury swimming pool, the camp stands on the 48,000-acre Soysambu Conservancy, which until 2008 was the private estate of the Delamere family.

Known to the Maasai, the original guardians of this land, as ‘the place of striated rock’, Soysambu was established as a cattle ranch in 1906 by one of Kenya’s most famous colonial figures, the third Baron Delamere.  Today, it offers a sanctuary of haunting beauty, dotted with extinct volcanoes, fringed with acacia groves and dominated by Lake Elmenteita, the ancestral home of 1.2 million flamingoes. 

Location

The camp is 125kms from Nairobi, 30kms from Nakuru, and just 27kms from the Nderit Gate of Nakuru National Park. Adjacent air strip.

The Background

The Soysambu Conservancy is part of the lands of Lord Delamere, one of Kenya’s most prominent colonial figures. Formerly a cattle ranch, which includes the western shores of Lake Elmenteita, one of Kenya’s most beautiful soda lakes, the land has never been open to the public. Even today, access is strictly limited to the guests of the conservancy. Utterly pristine and hauntingly beautiful, Soysambu is one of only a handful of private conservancies in Kenya.

A part of the extensive lands, first owned by one of Kenya’s best-known pioneers, Lord Delamere, the non-profit Soysambu Conservancy is dedicated towards preserving this previously private and still pristine wilderness - for the benefit of its unique wildlife, and for the generations of tomorrow. Featuring volcanic hills, rolling plains, and dense acacia woodlands, the Conservancy also includes a substantial part of Lake Elmenteita, the ancestral home of 1.2 million flamingoes and their attendant cast of pelicans, commorants, waders and storks. Within the shelter of the crater, wander large herds of buffalo, within the acacia thickets graze the rare Rothschild’s giraffe, and across the plains bound an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of plain’s game. Long protected from the impact of mass-tourism, the Conservancy also provides sanctuary for a wide range of carnivores, including the shy and secretive leopard. 

Accommodation

The 25 large custom-made canvas tents (including a luxury tented suite) are widely spaced throughout the acacia glades that fringe the lakeshore. Each tent stands on a stone platform with its own private verandah. Opening off the spacious bedroom, is a tented bathroom, which features twin basins, shower and flushing WC. 

Tent amenities

Include: Tent service, ceiling fans, 24-hour hot water, telephone, Wi-Fi, mini bar, tea and coffee making facilities, hair dryer, mosquito nets, valet and laundry services and private airstrip.  

Dining and bars

The central dining area overlooks the swimming pool, and features a stylish bar and a selection of traditional safari seating with long views over the lake. Safari sundowners and bush dinners can also be presented on the lakeshore, on the cliffs that overlook the lake, or in the bush.   

CAMP AMENITIES

• Dining, bars and hospitality
• Health and wellness
• We offer a swimming pool, guided walks and a range of health and beauty treatments. 
• Activities and cultural interaction
• Shopping
• The gift shop offers; travel requisites, gift items, books, fashion items and cultural crafts.

Weddings and honeymoons

We offer a selection of wedding and reception venues, a luxury tented honeymoon suite and a wedding advisory service.

Family features

We offer; children’s menus, babysitting, nature walks and educational talks. 

Unique experiences

Safari sundowners on the lakeshore or the cliffs, bush dining, Maasai dance performances and cultural lectures. 

Eco-culture

A portion of the proceeds from the conservancy and camp go towards the maintenance of this unique bio-sphere and the local Maasai community. 

What to see and do

Escorted day and night game drives around the conservancy and lakeshore, bird and nature walks around the conservancy, which hosts 450 species of birds; safari sundowners on the cliff tops and along the lakeshore,  bush lunches and dinners, hot air balloon trips across lakes Nakuru and Elmenteita. Excursions to Lake Nakuru National Park, visits to the Menengai Crater, Hyrax Hill prehistoric site, Kariandusi prehistoric site and the Diatomite factory, Kekopey Hot Springs, the Delamere Graves, and Lake Naivasha.

Activities include:

• Escorted day and night game drives around the private conservancy.
• Tours of the lakeshore, periodic home to over 2 million flamingoes.
• Escorted walks
• Ornithological walks around the conservancy, home to 450 species of birds.
• Sundowners or bush lunches.
• Ballooning across lakes Nakuru and Elmenteita
• Excursions to Lake Nakuru – across the rangelands which separates the two lakes

Wildlife highlights: 

Defassa waterbuck, gazelles, antelope, colobus monkey, rock hyrax, impala, dik-dik, bush pigs, aardvark, leopard, striped hyena, bat-eared fox, wild cat, golden cat, reedbuck and buffalo and over 450 species of birds.