Arijiju retreat is quite unlike any other safari lodge. Essentially a large private villa, this exclusive-use retreat is a stylish grassed-roof construction designed to blend seamlessly into the hillside on which it sits and offers a new standard of luxury.

Arijiju is an unobtrusive home literally embedded in the landscape. Partly sculptured into the rock-bed, the subtle entrance opens into a fragrant, greened space with generous Swahili curves and an air of monastic calm. A 21st-century house built with 12th-century craftsmanship - all the quarried Meru stone was hand-chiselled by local masons - that feels ancient and elemental, but also very contemporary. Perfect for up to ten guests, the main house has 3 bedroom suites that share a courtyard garden. Walk around the garden and reach the living space, library, kitchen, boot room, games room and cinema. Outside, smooth-cobbled verandahs lead off all the rooms; the pool terrace fans out at the base of a flight of wide stairs, and beyond that, obscured from view, is the gym, a traditional hamman and spa.

Two very private guest cottages are set discreetly apart from the main house. Fourteen-strong staff is in attendance all the time, including the butler, a ranger and two chefs. Whereas the kitchen is central to the Arijiju experience. Energy-rich, quality ingredients and healthy, farm-to-table menus - Ottolenghi style. It’s gourmet but unfussy.

Arijiju - the house takes its name from the Maasai word for the hill on which it was built - stands on the 32,000-acre Borana Conservancy on Kenya’s Laikipia Plateau. The views from here are of seasonal river valleys coated in acacia and wild olive trees across naked savannah and rolling foothills to magnificent Mount Kenya, etched on the horizon like an engraving.

Laikipia County rolls north of Mount Kenya towards the rim of the Great Rift Valley. The plateau’s altitude and almost equatorial latitude brings perfectly temperature weather. Evenings are cool and days are typically long and warm. The geology is as divers as the wildlife; forested valleys, riverine tracts and open grassy savannas. Due to the high altitude of Borana (1,900 - 2,000m), Arijiju is malaria free.

Arijiju lies in the eastern side of Laikipia within the famous Borana Conservancy. Borana Lewa Conservancy is a 90’000 acre conservation archetype. Borana, Lewa and the neighbouring ranches and communities are pioneering a collaborative conservation approach that gives animals access to more wilderness and integrates free-ranging cattle ranching. Open fences and corridors now create safe passages for animals to follow their instinctive migration routes. The results speak for themselves - over the last 20 years Laikipia is the only part of Kenya where wildlife numbers are increasing.

You can reach Arijiju by shared scheduled flights to the Lewa Airstrip (90 minutes away), private charter to the Borana Airstrip (15 minutes away) or helicopter directly to the house.

The property is well stocked with plains game - zebra, giraffe, Grant's gazelle, eland and hartebeest - as well as lion, cheetah, wild dog and enormous herds of elephant. But the big news is it recently became home to more than 20 black rhinos, translocated from Lake Nakuru National Park and neighbouring Lewa.

At Arijiju there is no fixed schedule, guests plan their daily activities as they please. Game drives on Borana and into Lewa Conservancy, bush walks, mountain biking, horse riding, running in the wild on challenging trails accompanied by a support vehicle and ranger, helicopter safaris, quad bike tours, walking with Rhino Rangers, day trip to Ngare Ndare Forest, fly fishing, yoga retreats - all possible at Arijiju.

But there is also plenty to do while staying at home, the house has both tennis and squash courts, spa, treatment room, hammam and a beautiful and extraordinarily well-equipped gym.

SwissAfrican Travel Service
Dammstrasse 27
8702 Zollikon
Zurich, Switzerland


Telephone: +41 (0)44 451 40 51