Days 4 & 5: Tassia Community Lodge, Northern Frontier

The "Safari Six" are a group of Brownell Travel Advisors who are making their way across Kenya over the next two weeks. Read on for a journal of their adventures each day!

We left Laragai with a mixture of sadness and excitement--it was a great place to start the adventure. Here is another great picture of the view from the Lodge balcony on Sunday.

After lunch on Monday, we jumped in a in safari vehicle and headed back down to the Lewa Downs where we stopped at Lewa Wilderness for lunch and explored around the area. Lewa Wilderness is a great lodge that belongs to Will and Emma Craig.

From there we set off on an adventurous drive through the Northern Frontier district and various Maasai and Samburu communities and reached Tassia around mid afternoon. The drive was bumpy and dusty but fascinating and the couple of well spent hours gave us a real feel for the raw Africa of the pastoralists’ world.

Tassia is a delightful refuge in the heart of the Mukugodo tribal homeland.

Tassia gently sprawls over a rocky bluff with a magnificent view over the surrounding Northern Kenya plains and hills. It is a community venture that safeguards wildlife by allowing the Massai -through tourism- to reap the benefits of allowing wildlife free haven on their land rather than overgrazing the area with their large herds of livestock.

The six double bedrooms are open to the wild and have open bathrooms that overhang the drama of the bush below. The lounge/dining area overlooks a stunning swimming pool built into the rocks and then a small dam where elephants are frequent visitors. No trees were felled to create Tassia, which was built by the Massai entirely with local materials and keeping conservation and the environment foremost in mind. Incredible!

We have been hosted by both members of the community themselves and by Martin and Antonia Wheeler, a young couple who are dedicated both to the land and its people. This has been a once in a lifetime opportunity to have real access to a bona fide pastoralist community. Some of us went to visit one of their villages up in the hills--completely facinating! There is tons to learn from the local people and culture.

Our time in Tassia is almost complete, and we head north into the mountains in the morning...look for more to come in a day or two!

To learn more about the travel advisors at Brownell, click here. Contact Meg North if you are interested in traveling to Africa.