Ol Pejeta.
Around 140 black rhino, the last two northern white rhino on earth, and a conservancy that will show you its accounts.
Two nights, and no more. Rhino sighting is close to certain, the chimpanzee sanctuary and the last two northern white rhino are both here, and it is a working conservancy rather than a wilderness.
- Give it
- 2 nights
- Best months
- Year-round
- From
- $780 pp/night
- Come for
- Rhino, conservation access
The largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa
Ol Pejeta is 36,000 acres of former cattle ranch on the Laikipia plateau, fenced, and holding around 140 black rhino — the largest population in East Africa — alongside a substantial southern white rhino population. Within a morning, a rhino sighting here is close to certain, which is not true of anywhere else we send guests except Lewa.
It also holds all the big cats, and unusually a Grevy’s zebra population, wild dog, and around 400 bird species. Lion density is high and the conservancy runs a long-standing predator research programme, so the animals are individually known and their histories documented.
And it holds Najin and Fatu: the last two northern white rhino in existence, both female, both descended from the Dvůr Králové zoo population, under 24-hour armed guard. Visiting them is quiet and rather sad, and it is the most affecting twenty minutes we sell anywhere.
36,000
Acres of conservancy
~140
Black rhino — the largest in East Africa
2
Northern white rhino left on earth
190
Rangers and support staff
A camp with a waterhole, or a house for a group
Our standard is a small tented camp inside the conservancy with a waterhole in front of it and a sunken hide beside it — black rhino use it at night, and the hide is worth the cold. Ten tents, well run, and the best guides on the conservancy.
For families and groups of six or more we use a house on exclusive use with its own vehicle, chef and staff, which works out cheaper per head above six guests and removes every argument about mealtimes.
A share of every nightly rate goes directly into conservancy operations — 190 rangers, a canine anti-poaching unit, a veterinary team and the endangered-species programme. Ask to see the breakdown and they will show you; very few places will.
Month by month
| Months | Weather | Conditions | Crowds | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan – Mar | Warm days, cold nights at 1,800m | Excellent; green after short rains | Moderate | Among the best months |
| Apr – May | Long rains; all-weather tracks hold | Very good — this works when others do not | Low | Our answer for May |
| Jun – Sep | Cool, dry, clear | Excellent | High in August | Reliable year-round |
| Oct | Warm, dry, dusty | Excellent | Moderate | Quiet and superb |
| Nov | Short rains, brief | Very good; green flush | Low | Lowest rates |
| Dec | Clearing, cold nights | Excellent | High from the 20th | Book ahead for festive dates |
Access
A 45-minute flight from Nairobi’s Wilson to Nanyuki and thirty minutes by road, or three and a half hours by road from Nairobi through the highlands. Twenty minutes by air from Lewa and forty from Samburu — Ol Pejeta is the easiest conservation leg to attach to any northern itinerary.
What you pay to enter
There is no national park fee. The conservancy fee is USD 110 per person per night, plus USD 90 for the northern white rhino experience and USD 60 for rhino tracking on foot. All are included in every AETHER journey and itemised on your invoice.
Before you go
At 1,800m the nights are cold — a fleece is essential and lodges supply hot water bottles. Low malaria risk but prophylaxis advised. Tracks are all-weather, which is why this region works in the rains. Children from six, and from eight for rhino tracking on foot.
Five places we use, and why
A tented camp with a hide
Ten tents · from $780 pp/night
Waterhole in front, sunken hide beside it, black rhino at night. Our standard, and the best guides here.
A six-bedroom house
Exclusive use · from $980 pp/night
Own vehicle, chef and staff. Cheaper per head above six guests, and the answer for three generations.
A camp on the Ewaso Nyiro
Eight tents · from $690 pp/night
On the river at the conservancy’s northern edge, quieter, with river-line game and excellent birding.
A small lodge near the sanctuary
Twelve rooms · from $620 pp/night
Closest to the rhino sanctuary and the chimpanzees, with a pool. Our choice with younger children.
A stable cottage for two
Riding · from $840 pp/night
Two rooms beside the stables, for guests who want to ride the conservancy at dawn before anyone else is out.
What USD 110 a night actually buys
Rhino on foot. Tracked with the ranger teams, at a distance they decide rather than you. It is the closest most guests will come to a wild black rhino, and the briefing that comes with it is substantive rather than decorative.
The last two. Najin and Fatu are visited with their keepers, at close range. The men guarding them have done so for a decade and will tell you about the IVF programme, the surrogacy plan and its odds without overselling any of it.
The chimpanzees. Sweetwaters takes rescued chimpanzees from central Africa — animals with names, histories and in several cases visible injuries. It is not a wildlife encounter; it is a rescue facility, and it is one of the few things on a safari that children remember for years.
Research. Lion collaring with the predator team when they are working, and the conservancy’s livestock-and-wildlife integration programme, which runs 6,000 head of Boran cattle alongside the game and has the grazing data to argue about it.
Two nights, as we would build it
Into Laikipia
Flown to Nanyuki or driven up through the highlands. Afternoon drive to the rhino sanctuary, and a night drive after dinner — Ol Pejeta is one of the few Kenyan reserves permitting them.
Rhino on foot, and the chimpanzees
A morning tracking black rhino on foot with the ranger team. Afternoon at Sweetwaters, then time with Najin and Fatu and the men who have guarded them for ten years.
Onward
A last drive at dawn, then twenty minutes by air to Lewa or forty to Samburu. Very few guests fly back to Nairobi from here.
What pairs with Ol Pejeta
Select a region
Masai Mara
Amboseli
Samburu
Laikipia
Lewa
Aberdare
Naivasha
Nakuru
Nairobi
Meru
Loita
Tsavo
Watamu
Diani
Lamu
Lewa, 20 minutes by air. More rhino, Grevy’s zebra, riding and the canopy walk — the two conservancies together make the best short conservation week in Kenya.
Laikipia, 40 minutes by road. Onto the wider plateau for fly-camping, riding and genuine emptiness.
The Aberdares, 40 minutes. Cloud forest, waterfalls and a floodlit salt lick, and about fifteen degrees colder.
Samburu, 40 minutes by air. The arid frontier and the northern five, and the standard onward leg from here.
On Ol Pejeta
Will we see rhino?
As near certain as anything on safari — around 140 black and a substantial white population inside a fenced 36,000 acres, tracked daily by rangers who know where they slept. It is the reason people come here for two nights rather than four.
Is it a real wilderness?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. It is a working conservancy with fences, 6,000 cattle, research teams and infrastructure. What it offers instead is access — on foot, with the people doing the work — which no unfenced wilderness can give you.
Is it good for children?
Among the best places in Kenya. Rhino on foot from eight, chimpanzees with names and histories, rangers who answer any question, and house options where nobody must be quiet at dinner. From six.
Can we see the northern white rhino?
Yes — Najin and Fatu, with their keepers, at close range. It costs USD 90 per person, which goes to the endangered-species programme, and it is the quietest and saddest twenty minutes on any journey we sell.
How does it compare with Lewa?
Ol Pejeta has more black rhino, the chimpanzees, the last two northern whites and night drives; Lewa has Grevy’s zebra, better riding, the canopy walk and a wilder feel. Twenty minutes apart, and two nights in each is the right answer.