Saruni Samburu

Saruni Samburu is the kind of lodge people describe in superlatives, and the setting earns them. It is the only property in the 200,000 acre Kalama Conservancy, built into a rocky inselberg so that the six villas seem to grow out of the boulders, and the view runs uninterrupted across northern Kenya to Mount Kenya on a clear morning. The villas are open sided and deliberately unglazed: wooden floors, Samburu fabrics, a netted bed you can lie in and watch the sunrise, a bathroom that incorporates the rock face, and a veranda with chairs, binoculars and nothing between you and the wilderness. Below the main area, pools are set into the rock. Above it, the night sky is uncompromised. Samburu warrior guides lead the drives into Kalama and on into Samburu and Buffalo Springs for the Samburu Special Five, the gerenuk, reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich, Grevys zebra and Beisa oryx, and they are as good on culture and tracking as they are on wildlife. Italian ownership shows up where it should, in the food, the coffee and the wellness treatments.