Venture north to the romantic Laikipia region of the Great Rift Valley!
You will find here a small and private sustainable Conservancy at the foot of Mount Kenya, the only place in the country to see chimpanzees and the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa.
Chimpanzees are not native to Kenya but the Sanctuary has been established to rehabilitate animals rescued from the black market. It is also home to three of the world’s last remaining northern white rhino.
We really love this place because when you come for an Ol Pejeta safari, you’re not just visiting, you are leaving a lasting legacy! This isn’t passive conservation; this is get-your-hands dirty, smell-the-elephant breath conservation.
Help preserve the future of big cats by tracking radio collared lions, follow paw prints and whisker patterns through bush on foot for the most intimate safari of your lifetime, or get an all-access pass to the wilderness after dark.
You have also a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the outstanding rhinos up close and to hear their amazing story from the keepers that look after them 24/7.
Ol Pejeta’s ranching life started in the early 1940’s with Lord Delamere, well-known as one of the first and most influential British settlers in Kenya.
By the late 1960’s, poaching in Kenya by colonial hunters had taken a serious toll on wildlife populations. Elephant and rhino numbers were plummeting, and although elephant hunting was declared illegal in Kenya in 1973, numbers continued to decline. This concerned one of Ol Pejeta’s previous owners, Lonrho Africa, who established the Sweetwaters Game Reserve in 1988 as a sanctuary for black rhino and other wildlife. Over time, the Game Reserve expanded to cover 90,000 acres – now Ol Pejeta.
Today, Ol Pejeta utilises agriculture and tourism to create surpluses wholly for reinvestment in wildlife conservation and community development, such as education, healthcare and infrastructure for the next generation of wildlife guardians.
IUCN Green Listing aims to define excellence in managing valuable natural areas and in 2014 Ol Pejeta achieved IUCN Green List status being one of only two conservancies in Africa to be awarded this.