LAIKIPIA PLATEAU

Stretching from the foothills of Mount Kenya to the shores of Lake Baringo, the Laikipia Plateau is one of Kenya’s lesser known wildlife areas. It consists of flat plains, basaltic outcrops and forested slopes, through which flows the Ewaso Nyiro and Awaso Narok rivers. It is Kenya’s second largest conservancy, comprising 9500 square kilometres and overseen by the non-profit Laikipia Wildlife Foundation. Several of Kenya’s private conservancies such as Solio, Ol Pejeta, Sweetwaters, Lewa-Borana, form part of the Laikipia Wildlife Foundation. We focus on two of them, Ol Pejeta and Lewa-Borana, as we know those the best, but also offer some of the adjacent conservancies.

History
With land originally given over to ranches for domestic livestock during the colonial era, these ranches have now become private conservancies devoted to wildlife conservation. It is considered to be one of the world’s greatest conservation success stories and is a model for sustainable tourism. Due to its setting in a transitional zone between grasslands and deserts, Lakipiais home to a dense and large variety of animals and is seen as one of the best places to go to tick off sightings of Africa's more elusive mammals.

Wildlife
Lakipia is home to the only viable population of African wild dogs in the northern hemisphere. Other treasured sightings include Grevy's Zebra (found only in East Africa), black rhino, elephants, reticulated giraffe, Jackson's hartebeest, gerenuk and Beisa oryx. You will also find lions, leopards and cheetahs here. And don't forget about the over 350 species of birds, including pelicans, spoonbills, flamingos and bustards.

Activities
Perhaps the greatest competitive advantage of Laikipia is that because is it not run by Kenya's National Parks board, but it is privately run, the regulations are more relaxed, allowing you to have a more up close and intimate safari experience. The lack of crowds in this massive wildlife area also contributes to the feeling of being lost in the wilderness.

The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is the most visited of Lakipia's conservancies. They offer a number of exciting wildlife viewing activities to get you closer to the wildlife than anywhere else. There are standard game drives and bush walks, but you can also do bicycle safaris, horse riding safaris and even lion tracking. A number of lions in Ol Pejeta are collared for research purposes and you can join the rangers while they attempt to track down the lions. In addition to these activities, Ol Pejeta is home to both a chimpanzee and rhino sanctuary. The chimpanzee sanctuary is home to over 40 rescued chimpanzees rescued mainly from the bush meat trade. Today they live a life of relative bliss in their sanctuary and visitors are allowed up to the fence to see mankind's closest relative. The rhino sanctuary is home to the world's last 2 remaining northern white rhinos, which are a distinct species from the southern white rhino. Sadly, both rhinos are female and the last male died in 2018, which will make re-establishing the population quite tricky. Frozen DNA from the last male rhino was saved and it is hoped that they will be able to use this to impregnate the females. You can do horse riding safaris through the rhino sanctuary.

Lewa-Borana Conservancy offers a wide variety of activities that you will struggle to find at any other wildlife reserve in Africa, let alone Kenya. Firstly, we should mention that Lew-Borana is our favourite of all the Laikipia conservancies, with its beautiful landscape silhouetted by Mount Kenya and the upmarket lodges which its boasts. In addition to the traditional game drives and game walks, you can also do horse riding safaris, and even camel riding safaris. Lewa-Borana is also the largest rhino sanctuary in Kenya and you are able to go behind the scenes and participate in some of the conservation activities. The guides and rangers are all very open about sharing with you how they protect the wildlife.
For the more active of you, Lewa Conservancy hosts an annual marathon in June, with all the proceeds going toward wildlife conservation. And to top it all of, why not enjoy a scenic flight around Mount Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa.

where to stay...

From our visit to the Laikipia Plateau, we have first-hand knowledge of the hotels and below you can find the ones we most commonly use. Those hotels include mainly our favourites sorted from low-key to deluxe, which are usually smaller hotels with very personalised service, but also some bigger places, if they are the best or only option available. Open, close, then open each tab again to display the images fully.