Rupi Mangat visits a private eco-lodge with stunning views of Lake Elementaita, sandwiched between Menengai Crater and the Aberdares.

We’re looking north,” says Monsieur Jean-Francois Damon, pointing to Menengai Crater and the Aberdare Range with Elementaita lying between them. I thought we were facing south; I’m so disorientated.

We’re standing in the spacious lounge cum dining area of Soysambu’s newest exclusive address, the Sleeping Warrior Lodge – a name taken from the silent volcano that’s a feature when driving on the Nairobi-Nakuru road.

For the old timers, the hill is also known as Delamere’s nose.

It’s a stunning view through the enormous windows into the crater of the Sleeping Warrior from the rear side and that of the many volcanic hills of the Great Rift Valley in Soysambu Conservancy.

The lodge stands on the slopes of one of the hills shouldering the peak.

With just an overnight – which is a shame for you really need more than that to enjoy the hotels – we finish our gourmet meal and dash down to the private bungalows spaciously dotted on the slopes.

Spacious, luxurious and far apart to offer complete privacy, the bungalows boast beautiful verandahs, which look into the two-million-year-old valley.

Game drive

It’s hard to move out of the bungalow following an afternoon siesta but Monsieur Jean-Francois Damon, a former 17th-century European art collector who with his wife, Jacqueline, built the lodge in this beautiful conservancy, has the day planned.

Jumping into the custom-built safari cruiser we’re off for the late afternoon game drive.

“Those are mountain reedbucks,” Samson Kadipo Olesiololo, the young Maasai guide, points out. It’s one of the few times Il’ve seen the herbivore at a close range.

“They have horns like goats’,” he says. The animals look at us then move away for more privacy through the long dry grass.

“They have a good life here with no lions chasing them; all they do is eat, drink and relax.” An Augur buzzard lifts and lands on a thorn tree nearby.

She’s out on an evening hunt, searching for mice and lizards. A herd of common zebra mow the grass while a solitary Rothschild watches us.

We take into account the fact that we’re looking at one of the 65 Rothschild giraffe on the conservancy.

Once common in western Kenya and bordering Uganda, the world population is about 650, so Soysambu is home to 10 per cent of the world population.

By the lake in the shadow of the tall yellow-barked acacia, a herd of buffalo is wary of us as they are with their young.

The lake’s a delight – in the shallow slate blue waters of the alkaline lake we watch the cormorant, spoonbills and yellow bill storks feeding.

The flamingoes and yellow-billed storks have migrated to Lake Bogoria.

Heritage site

In 2011, Lake Elementeita became a World Heritage Site because it is the only lake in Kenya that is a breeding site for the great white pelican.

It also supports 74 per cent of the lesser flamingo population and is a wintering ground for over 100 species of migratory birds and a flyway for palaertic birds.

Lake Bogoria and Lake Nakuru are also on the prestigious list. As the day dims, we head for another hill for a sundowner while the African ‘kangaroo’ emerges from its underground den for a night of feeding.

“Soysambu is 20,000 hectares, the size of the city of Washington DC,” Monsieur Damon remarks as we watch the sun sink behind Eburru and the stars take centre stage.

High up on the pinnacle of the hill shouldering the lodge, we’re looking at two lakes, Elementeita and Nakuru – which as the crow flies is less than 18 kilometres away.

With time on our hands before lunch, we walk on into the beautiful spacious glades, coming upon a herd of Soysambu’s famous Boran cattle (which the pioneer Lord Delamere brought in the early 1900s), giraffe and zebras.

Next time, I plan on a longer hike and hope to spot the leopard in the glades.

By RUPI MANGAT