Mount Kenya Wildlife Estate gets ready to showcase first complete home

(eTN) – Ol Pejeta is arguably Kenya’s most complete and easiest to access wildlife conservancy, where game and cattle live side by side on the sprawling 90,000+ acres estate. Home to the highest concentration of the Eastern Black Rhino in the entire East Africa and an almost as large population of the Southern White Rhino, it is also the only place on earth where the rarest of the rare, the Northern White Rhino can still be found in the wild. A dedicated chimpanzee sanctuary, also the only one in Kenya, rounds up the visitor experience of being able to see rare game, or game in fact not found anywhere else in the wild in the country.

Several up-market lodges and camps, like Serena’s Sweetwater Safari Camp, Ol Pejeta House, Porini’s Rhino Camp or the Kicheche Camp, offer guests first-class hospitality, while the conservancy’s own self catering units, especially the Pelican House, offers guests all the required amenities to enjoy an almost homely stay, cook their own meals and yet not break the bank. Camping, too, is possible on the conservancy, thus giving accommodation options for those travelling on shoe string budgets but also those who fly in by charter to the main airfield in Nanyuki, or the conservancy’s own airstrip and then pay top dollars for a pampered 5 -experience.

The addition a few months ago of the Morani’s Restaurant, where breakfast and lunch are available for day visitors has closed the remaining gap in providing a visitor experience second to none. Located less than a 3-hour drive from the capital Nairobi, Ol Pejeta has in recent years become a favorite destination for locals and expatriates but has also seen a steady rise in arrivals by tourists from overseas, who can enjoy conventional game drives in 4x4s and also walks, night game drives and even adventure activities, offered by Rift Valley Adventures.

Two years ago did news emerge that the conservancy would be setting aside some 1.000 acres of peripheral land, bordering the boundaries of the estate towards the town of Nanyuki, to set up an exclusive residential estate, which would allow living with wildlife. The first of the homes is now ready and can be viewed by prospective buyers, though nearly 80 percent of the proposed 66 villas have already been bought. Of the first 31 homes only one is still available and of the second 35 units, which will be constructed soon after completing phase one, 22 have already been sold, three have been reserved and only 10 remain open for sale. Starting this weekend will Ol Pejeta arrange for viewing of the completed sample house and is open for potential buyers between June 22-30.

Set against the backdrop of Mt. Kenya on one side of the property, which dominates the skyline to the East of the property and the Aberdare Mountains to the South West side of the property, the Mt. Kenya Wildlife Estate at Ol Pejeta will be a first of its kind in Kenya, and in fact in East Africa, where one can actually live in a secure residential gated community environment and yet have the conservancy’s wildlife close up and personal.

All possible care has been taken to meet stringent environmental guidelines, and as a result no individual swimming pools have been allowed in order to conserve the precious water, though a communal pool and some attached changing rooms and a pool bar are available for estate residents. The use of solar power has been integrated into the building design, reducing reliance on mains power supply.
Fancy living in a place where one is literally on safari all day and all night, with game wandering about outside the balcony? Here is an opportunity for those interested which should not be missed, for when the remaining homes are sold at 33,000,000 Kenya shillings (US$385,061), the Mount Kenya Wildlife Estate will be a closed community.