Sarara is found within the lands of the Namunyak Wildlife Conversation Trust. An area of approximately 850,000 acres which lies folded around the southern corner of the fabled Mathews Mountain Range of northern Kenya. This is home of the proud Samburu tribes people, a group of semi-nomadic pastoralists who have long shown tolerance for the wildlife that co-exists alongside their cattle.
The conservation work carried out by the Namunyak Trust to date has been hugely successful. As a result of the severe ivory poaching crisis of the 70’s and early 80’s there were no recorded elephants remaining in the Mathews Ranges by 1985. Today, several thousand elephants are living and breeding peacefully in the southern Mathews Range area. Together with a variety of other wildlife species such as buffalo, lion, leopard, cheetah, African wild dog, greater and lesser kudu, gerenuk, reticulated giraffe, impala and dik dik.
Sarara has six luxury tents, each positioned to maximise the stunning views of the Mathews Range of mountains and the animal watering hole. These tents are spacious and high ceilinged, with plenty of cupboard space, electric lighting and 24 hour hot and cold running water. Sarara has established itself as one of the 'hot spots' for quality leopard viewing in Africa and equally, for close-up sightings of the normally extremely shy lesser kudu antelope. The African wild dogs are frequently encountered in the Sarara valley too. Elephant, buffalo, giraffe, gerenuk, impala and warthogs are now regularly seen on our game drives and bush walks.
Visit a local Samburu village and get to learn their culture and way of life.
Get up close with the Ellies as they come to water and bath at the hide bust below the main pool.
A fun way to spend your morning or afternoon away from the Camp. Slide down natural rock in water that originates in the Mathews Mountains and into crystal clear pools.
An insight into the men who pass down from generation to generation the skill of crafting as you watch your bracelet being made for you.
A full day trip with a packed breakfast and lunch out from Sarara to the sacred Mout Ololokwe.
Private scenic flights can be arranged up to the famous Mount Kenya, sacred Mount Ol olokwe or up to the spectacular Lake Turkana. There is no better way to see the diverse landscape.
Sarara means "the meeting place" and at the Singing wells, all the neighboring communities come together to water their wildlife as they sing and catch up on happenings around the community. Its a spectacular culture that you would never want to miss.
One of the best ways to view game is on horseback with Sarara's bush ponies
Sarara has established itself as one of the ‘hot spots’ for quality leopard viewing in Africa and equally, for close-up sightings of the normally extremely shy lesser kudu antelope. The African wild dogs are frequently encountered in the Sarara valley too. Elephant, buffalo, giraffe, gerenuk, impala and warthogs are now regularly seen on our game drives and bush walks and are very much on the increase in numbers.Unusual sightings include striped hyena, aardwolf, civet cat, African wild cat, greater kudu, grevy zebra and cheetah.
Early morning game drives are a good time for seeing giraffe, kudu, and elephants. Starting off early, the guides can have you back in time for breakfast at camp or make up a picnic breakfast for you out in the bush.
The night game drive takes you out into the bush to search for the nocturnal star of sarara, the leopard. Leopard sightings are currently running at around 80% for guests staying three nights.
Our Samburu naturalist guides can take you out for an early morning walk through the bush to take an up close and personal look at the glorious flora and fauna surrounding the camp. If you wish, we can set up breakfast for you on a hilltop or in a dry river bed.
A visit to the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary is one of the best things you can do to help strengthen the community and protect all elephants who live in the RESCUE center located on the Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy in northern Kenya.
During your visit, you will paired with a keeper who will accompany you the entire time to tell you about our work and answer any questions. From a special viewing platform, you will watch the elephants come in from their walk to receive their bottles and then have mud hole playtime. Afterwards, you will be given a behind the scenes tour of the sanctuary.
The Mathews Range, or Ol Donyo Lenkiyieu, was once renowned for its numbers of elephants and rhinos, attracting explorers, hunters and writers from across the world to experience this dramatic wilderness. Approximately 4,000 black rhino and 15,000 elephants roamed the area, browsing back the vegetation and maintaining a grassland cycle that attracted a multitude of other wildlife, including buffalo and lion. The surge in the international demand for elephant ivory and rhino horn and the banning of hunting in 1977, created a highly tenuous environment for many key ecosystems and the wildlife across Kenya suffered. Without protection elephant and rhino numbers plummeted, and by the early nineties there were no black rhino left in the Mathews, and only around 400 elephant. This dramatic change caused a lot of damage to the surrounding ecosystem. With no keystone species to bulk browse the vegetation, the area moved from a grassland cycle to a woodland cycle leaving the area devoid of any wildlife due to the lack of grass and increased instances of drought. The land also became less and less productive for the Samburu and their livestock.
By 1995 the community conservation movement was beginning to emerge in Kenya and communities started to take on the idea that conservation could in fact improve their land and their livelihoods through conservation. Namunyak Conservancy was set up in the same year encompassing the entire Mathews Range, a key water tower for Northern Kenya and once home to one of Kenya’s largest elephant populations. The 850,000 acre conservancy hosts approximately 2,300 registered families who collectively own and manage the land, using it for their livestock, honey gathering and wildlife conservation. The Conservancy locally employs sixty eight wildlife rangers to patrol the Afro Montane cloud forest and savanna plains below. It also hosts the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, and a wildlife research and monitoring programme in partnership with San Diego Global. The Conservancy falls under the umbrella of the Northern Rangelands Trust, and has been a flagship model that has spearheaded the community conservation movement in Kenya.
Since then, elephants started to return to the now secure and protected Sarara Valley, and as they browsed the bush and opened up waterholes and grassland, other wildlife followed. The community in turn started to see tourism revenue from Sarara as travelers from across the world came to see their wildlife, alongside healthier pastures and water sources for their livestock. Fast forward to today and the Mathews Range holds up to 4,000 Elephant. By 2018 poaching numbers had reduced by 90%, and 1,300 scholarships and bursaries had been awarded. The story of Sarara has become a flagship model for conservation on community land across Africa, and continues to act as a model that improves livelihoods through the restoration and preservation of the environment.
At Sarara we believe that conservation is as much about people as it is wildlife. With an ever changing demographic in rural Kenya, and as the country develops at rapid rates, the pressure on all wild spaces is unprecedented. We believe that building capacity at the grass roots levels, and equipping communities with the right tools to improve their livelihoods, whilst protecting their land holds the key to wilderness preservation.
The mobile Montessori programme provides access to effective and relevant education to the Samburu community living within Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy. The programme remains sensitive to traditions and offers a highly effective and practical form of learning. The entire teacher team is from the local community and is managed by AMI, Association Montessori Internationale.
Reteti represents an ever-growing movement of grass roots level, community focused conservation that is gaining huge momentum in Northern Kenya. Once heavily poached and severely degraded by instability, the northern rangeland is now restoring itself through transparent, self-governed community conservancies that promote the preservation of natural resources in order to create stability, employment and revenue. Reteti is designed to rescue and release orphaned and abandoned Elephant calves, whilst creating much needed benefits to the local people that live alongside them. This is seen through the representation of the communities standing united for wildlife, in recognition of the value that they can cultivate.
