The remote Mathews Range mountains are a dramatic landscape, home to the local Samburu people whose age-old traditions, including the famed ‘singing wells’ are as much a part of the fabric of this land as the wildlife. Sarara means “meeting place” in the Samburu language.

Nestled into a forest glade within an hours walk of Sarara or a mere twenty-minute drive, the treehouses emerge out of the forest canopy. A main mess area and swimming pool command incredible views of Mount Uarges, one of the seven sacred mountains to the Samburu. From the main area of camp, a fairly steep flight of steps descends the cliff to the valley below. Here, a network of raised walkways leads through the canopy to eight tree tents mounted on platforms among the trees. The tents are identical in size, and each can be arranged as a double, twin or triple. At the front of each tent is a balcony with a two sofas, perfect for watching the forest birds and butterflies or taking an afternoon nap.

Sarara is supporting the local community and a lot of Sarara's income is invested back into the area, with funds being used to support a wide range of projects from conservation to education and healthcare. As a result Sarara and Sarara Treehouses have become vital lifelines for the local Samburu people, which make up some 1,200 families in the Namunyak community.

There are scheduled flights from Nairobi Wilson airport into Samburu or Lewa Downs, followed by a road transfer to Sarara (1.5 hrs or 3.5 hrs). Private charter flights are available to Namunyak airstrip.

The camp is situated on the eastern side of the Mathews Range within the Namunyak Conservancy, a huge area of approximately 3439 km². It is a truly remote wildernes with only very few guests and practically no other vehicles.

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 live peacefully in the southern Mathews Range area. Together with a variety of other wildlife species such as buffalo, lion, cheetah, African wild dog, greater and lesser kudu, gerenuk, reticulated giraffe, impala and dik dik. However animal densities are still lower than in other places and wildlife viewing should not be your main point of interest if visiting this camp. Having said this, Sarara has owned itself the reputation for delivering very consistent leopard sightings!

Sarara offers drives, bush walks, hikes into the Mathews Mountains. It is also possible to charter the camp plane or a helicopter to explore the regions north towards Lake Turkana.

One of the highlights of the Namunyak area must be a visit to the famous “Sarara” Singing Wells. Samburu warriors bring their cattle to these watering holes on a daily basis during the dry season. The warriors descend into the wells which can be up to 10 meters deep, form a human chain and chant traditional Samburu songs as they pass water up by hand for the cattle. This fascinating ritual goes on for several hours. Please note that it is not allowed to take any pictures.

A stay at Sarara is not complete without a visit to the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary. Set up in 2016 along the lines of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust elephant orphanage in Nairobi, Reteti takes in young elephants which have been orphaned in northern Kenya. A dedicated team of keepers develop close bonds with the elephants, hand-raising them until they are ready to be introduced back to a wild herd. Guests are welcome to visit Reteti.

Between 1977 and 1995 over 30'000 elephant and rhino where killed by poachers and with all the elephants gone, the Grevy zebras and reticulated giraffe went too. In 1993, Ian Craig of the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy persuaded the neighbouring Il Ngwesi community to become the first community conservation initiative in the north of Kenya.

Set up in 1995, the Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust was established to bring peace to this troubled region. Today there are seventeen similar community projects up and running under the umbrella of The Northern Rangelands.

It is one of the most successful community conservation initiatives in Africa. Thousands of elephants have returned to the Mathews Range area and other species—including leopard, buffalo, and wild dog—are following. Perhaps most importantly, the Trust has helped to change the attitudes of local communities toward wildlife, ensuring the protection of these magnificent creatures for generations to come.

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