Samburu, Kenya
Sarara Treehouses
Set high amidst ancient treetops overlooking the Mathews Mountain Range
Emerging from a canopy of trees, Sarara Treehouses lies deep within a forest glade in Kenya’s Namunyak Conservancy near the Samburu National Reserve. Like its sister property Sarara Camp, the retreat is owned and stewarded by the local Samburu community.
Through various experiences, you’re invited to deepen your connection with Samburu culture. Share stories with Samburu women as you learn how to bead richly coloured jewellery or watch a blacksmith at work using techniques honed over generations. You can also witness the tradition of the singing wells where warriors chant songs while working together to unearth drinking water for their livestock by digging deep wells.
Join the Samburu on foot during guided hikes to experience their deep knowledge of the bush. Follow elephant trails through giant cycads or climb the sacred mountain, Mount Ol Lolokwe. Across the Namunyak Conservancy, you can embark on game drives to spot reticulated giraffes and an abundance of elephants – representing Kenya’s second-largest elephant population – as well as rarer species like endangered Grévy’s zebras. Return from the day’s adventure to enjoy dinner at Sarara Treehouses. Dishes celebrate ingredients sourced from the region, much of which comes straight from small-scale farms.
The lodge itself is completely off the grid and runs on solar power. Just eight tents rise on stilts among the trees, connected by leafy wooden walkways. Perched within the thick of the canopy, they resemble the nests of birds. Many of them swoop through the tangled branches that surround you and the booming calls of hornbills are what wake you each morning. Beneath your tent’s canvas ceiling, a breezy sunlit interior opens to a panoramic view of the Mathews Mountain Range and the elephants and giraffes that roam the forest floor below.
Highlights
Connect with Samburu culture through various cultural experiences
Explore the Namunyak Conservancy on foot with a Samburu guide
Witness enormous elephant herds on game drives
Savour meals that celebrate the region’s produce
Gaze out to ambling giraffes beneath your tent
The impact of your stay:
- You’re set in the heart of an 850,000-acre wilderness, owned and managed by the local Samburu community who share a deep bond with wildlife and the land. From your stay a contribution goes to the Sarara Foundation, which works together with the Samburu and wildlife rangers to protect and preserve the vital ecosystems within the conservancy. See this conservation in action on exhilarating game drives that offer abundant sightings.
- You’ll have the chance to see how once-degraded land is being brought back to life across the conservancy. Guided by Samburu elders and warriors, the team works to reseed the plains with native grass – restoring vital grazing grounds for both livestock and wildlife for generations to come.
- Your stay helps support the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, where you can meet the keepers – including the first female Samburu keepers – and the young elephants they care for. Watch bottle feeds, muddy playtime and hear powerful stories of rescue, healing and return to the wild.
- Through the Sarara Foundation, you’ll discover how community-led projects are creating lasting change. Learn about education programmes rooted in Samburu storytelling and traditions, and meet the Samburu women whose sales of goat milk empower them with economic independence.
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