Days 6 & 7: Sarara Lodge, Mathews Mountains

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!

From Tassia, a private charter plane literally swooped in to the bush to extract us up and northwards to Sarara, Namunyak. Particularly famous for leopard sightings and amazing cultural access, Namunyak (meaning 'a place of peace') is a vast tribal community wilderness area administered by the Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust, under the guidance of Piers and Hilary Bastard. (Their son, Joffy, is our private guide for the adventure, and has done an incredible job!). This family orientated camp, north west of Mount Kenya, is situated just beyond Ol Donyo Sabache (Ol Lolokwe) below Warges peak in the fabled Mathews Mountains of Northern Kenya.

The Mathews Mountains are an extraordinary ecosystem that range from ancient, mist enshrouded forests at their summits to rugged desert bush land, and they are filled with game animals at their base. It is a paradise of a half million acres that we have had all to ourselves to enjoy!
The Sarara Lodge, named after the sand river that runs through the area, is particularly special in that it is the anchor of a community project that directly benefits the pastoral Samburu and the wildlife of the area. This is a truly un-spoilt wilderness conservation area with few roads. Part of the emphasis here is on rifle led walking excursions, with local Namunyak community game scouts as guides. We had an amazing opportunity to be able to interact with the local Samburu peoples. One of the great highlights was experiencing the “singing wells” of the Sarara sand river. These are wells that have been dug deep in to the sands to extract water by leather buckets for the tribal livestock herds. The warriors pass the water up from hand to hand in sequence and sing out ancient songs in praise of their cattle and of brave deeds--we were so thankful to be able to see this part of thier culture.

Sarara Lodge has six luxury sleeping tents, each with its own flush loo and open-air bush shower. In addition, there is also access to a private cottage with two super en suite rooms. Comfortable beds, quality bed linens, bathrobes, towels and other essentials are all provided, so we feel quite taken care of in the midst of this wilderness. There is a truly beautiful lounge and dining banda; a thatched area that not only adjoins a remarkable swimming pool created out of a natural rock formation but also overlooks a waterhole that is much frequented by elephants and other game animals. All this whilst enjoying spectacular views of the Mathews Mountains beyond.

Sarara is a dry season refuge for several hundred elephant and numbers increase further during the rainy seasons. For leopards, Sarara enjoys some of the most consistent and high quality leopard sightings in East Africa. Lions are residents and there are two separate groups of the endangered African Wild Dogs, with one pack numbering at least thirty individuals. Other wildlife species of particular interest include kudu, Grevy's zebra, striped hyena and gerenuk – all special desert adapted beasts. Up in the reaches of the tropical forests, there are many other species, including black and white colobus monkeys. We have seen much of the incredible wildlife on our excursions over the past two days. We have all had our favorite parts of the trip so far, but agree that Sarara is remarkable!

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