About the lodge
Located inside the Samburu national reserve in Northern Kenya, this camp is built atop high ground allowing panoramic views of the vastness of Samburu shrub land and the hills beyond. The lodge is built to reflect the architectural heritage of the local communities whose sons and daughters make up the majority of the work force at the lodge. Fifteen cottages, each with two bedrooms are built in an arch formation on either side of the public areas to surround the waterhole but leaving a wide gap to allow the animals free movement to the water.
Reception of Samburu Sopa Lodge
The coolness beneath the high ceiling of the circular, grass thatched reception area and its adjacent boutique is a welcome respite from the outdoor heat of the equatorial sun, and its earthen colours and traditional Samburu decorations blend in perfectly with its surroundings. Like all the public areas in the main building, there are no windows and cooling breezes flow freely through the large, amorphous spaces in the walls.
Lounge
The lounge also has an extremely high ceiling but, by way of a complete contrast, this spacious, comfortably furnished area has no front or side walls whatsoever except for a low, non-invasive safety barrier. As soon as you walk in from the reception, you feel like you are standing on top of the world as you come face to face with one of the most stunning, panoramic views of Africa you are ever likely to see. And once you have taken a deep breath and recovered from that, you might just notice the nearby waterhole with its regular animal or avian visitors right in front of you.
Swimming pool
What a pleasure in this arid, semi-desert region with its dry heat and low humidity! Tiled with various shades of blue mosaic tiles, and surrounded by a local flat stone sunbathing area, our large free form pool – with its adjoining children’s pool, outdoor shower, and sunken bar as well as views over the waterhole – provides you with the perfect solution when you want to be outdoors but keep cool at the same time.
Dining
The dining room is on a slightly higher level than the lounge, and it shares the totally open air atmosphere to allow you views over both the waterhole and the panoramic landscapes beyond. While artistically positioned wall niches house various forms of natural decorations, and the furniture follows traditional designs, the curvaceous buffet tables and live cooking areas offer a wide selection of delicious fusions of different culinary disciplines coupled with garden fresh fruits and vegetables.
Bars
Our tastefully decorated main bar is located against the rear wall of the lounge, and is adjacent to the walkway and sunbathing area around the swimming pool with its shaded sunken bar where you can sit and talk to our Samburu barman at will.
Our guest cottages follow the exterior design of centuries-old, traditional Samburu housing, but the similarity stops there. Instead, our structures have much higher ceilings; far larger windows; much more floor space; and en suite bathrooms. All our well-spaced cottages have two airy and comfortable, tastefully furnished guest rooms, each with two queen size beds; a large dressing table; a lavishly appointed bathroom; and an open air veranda which overlooks the waterhole. The two guest rooms closest to the reception area provide for the physically challenged.
Direction
By road the lodge is 325kms north of Nairobi, a journey during which you will cross the Equator and enter the northern hemisphere. The tarmac stops at a small town called Archer’s Post, and from there it is a 21km game drive on all weather roads to the lodge. The flying time from Nairobi is an hour and a half.
Samburu national reserve
Ranging between altitudes of 800 to 1230m above mean sea level, the Samburu National Reserve forms a part of a far larger wildlife conservation area which incorporates the Buffalo Springs National Reserve to the south, and the Shaba National Reserve to the east between which the resident wildlife freely migrates. And it was in this area that George and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the lion cub, and where they wrote the best selling book, Born Free, which later became an award winning movie. Joy later also wrote books about her pet cheetah and leopard, and today there is a museum dedicated to their memory at Lake Naivasha. The Ewaso Ngi’ro River flows through this semi-desert, arid and environmentally harsh region while it divides the Samburu and Buffalo Springs reserves, and forms the northern Border of the Shaba Reserve.
Wildlife
While there is a wide variety of animal and bird life to seen in the reserve, several species are considered unique to the region including the Grevy’s zebras, Reticulated giraffes and Vulturine guinea fowls. Lions, leopards and cheetahs can also be found here, as can elephants, buffalos, crocodiles and hippos. Other mammals frequently seen in the park include Olive baboons, gerenuks, warthogs, Grant’s gazelles, Kirk’s dik-diks, impalas, waterbucks, and Beisa oryxes. There are also over 350 species of birds which include Somali ostriches, Grey-headed kingfishers, sunbirds, bee-eaters, Marabou storks, eagles, yellow-necked Spur fowls, lilac-breasted rollers, palm nut vultures, red-billed hornbills, secretary birds, Verreaux’s eagles, superb starlings and yellow-billed hornbills.
