Ol Pejeta Bush Camp

Dotted along the banks of the river are 6 charming and traditional safari tents. They’re all fitted with snug beds, extra blankets, en suite bathrooms with flushing loos and safari bucket showers, and private verandas that are ideal for some peaceful wildlife watching along the riverbank.

Ol Pejeta offers an extra Family Tent along the river, which features a double room and a twin room, each with their own en suite, and a cosy shared lounge area in between.

Ol Pejeta provides all meals and drinks for its guests, and meals are usually shared communally in the mess tent. For breakfast, guests can enjoy either a light continental buffet or a full English, as well as fresh fruit and juices. At lunch, chefs serve a great variety of dishes including salads, pastas and pizzas from the buffet. Three course meals are offered at dinnertime and taken at the communal dining table. All ingredients are fresh and sourced locally from a local women’s co-op or other regional farmers.

Game drives make up the heart of the safari adventure. Venturing out into the savannah with an expert guide is the perfect way to experience the Kenyan wilds. Ol Pejeta offers both daytime and night-time drives so you can get a fully rounded experience of wildlife. All vehicles are open-sided to allow for the best views possible and all guests will get a chance to ride in Ol Pejeta’s solar-powered safari vehicle for a carbon neutral and serenely silent drive.

Take a break from the vehicles and take to the savannah on foot with one of the camp’s expert guides and naturalists. Walking the same ground as the animals of the Maasai Mara takes safari to a far more intimate level.

The Ol Pejeta Conservancy has the privilege of caring for the last 2 northern white rhinos in the world. For their protection, the rhinos are in a special enclosure with 24 hour security, along with some Grévy’s zebras and Jackson’s hartebeest. Staying at Ol Pejeta opens up a truly once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the rhinos and their keepers and learn about the vital efforts to preserve this critically endangered species. Visitors to the enclosure can get right up close to the rhinos with their keepers, help feed them and even touch them!

This predator-free area is also a great place to enjoy a laid back, horseback safari.

Guests can make a visit to the dog kennels of the conservancy’s anti-poaching unit and learn about how the dogs are trained to become anti-poaching patrollers. You can even play a game of hide and seek with the dogs and they can show off their sniffer skills by finding your hiding spot!

All the staff at Ol Pejeta come from local communities surrounding the conservancy and would love the chance to share their culture with you. Visiting one of the villages, you’ll get first-hand experiences of these vibrant societies and see how communities are benefited by conservation and sustainable tourism. Locals will be happy to show you different agricultural projects like water collection, tree nurseries or the project to reduce the use of firewood. If you’re visiting during term-time, there’s even the chance to visit a local school!

If you’re looking to keep fit and active while on your safari adventure, the camp runs bush-themed gym sessions that’ll include all sorts of training such as strength, endurance, flexibility and agility, and can be modified to your individual fitness level. And if you’re after something simple but effective, you’re more than welcome to join the conservancy rangers on their morning runs.

At Ol Pejeta it’s never too soon to be a wildlife ranger with the Junior Ranger Programme! Equip your little ranger with one of the Junior Ranger Packs, which comes with crayons, stickers and an activity book filled with games and questions to be completed over the course of your safari adventure. At the end of your stay, the team at Morani Information Centre will be ready to have them recite the official ranger oath and present them with their own ranger hat, honorary pin and certificate.

Asilia understands that nature and humans are inseparable partners. They endeavour to support local areas, projects and communities through revenue and awareness created through tourism. Every year Asilia releases a report on the Positive Impact projects to show how these efforts have come to fruition and made real changes. Over 2018 and 2019, Positive Impact made contributions to:

• Offsetting 1,505 tonnes of CO2
• 44 scholarships
• Chimpanzee Habitation protection
• Community and Conservation projects
• Training local staff
• Developing economies

Asilia works closely with the Maa Trust, an organisation that aims to increase the benefits of conservation for Maasai families and empower local people, and especially local women, by promoting small business start-ups. They share the belief that education is the key to the success of conservancies in the Mara and the greater ecosystem. Asilia supports two of their main projects – Maa Beadwork and Maa Honey. The Maa Beadwork project generates the most income for women and ‘currently employs 579 women who craft beautiful beadwork that is sold at camps within the Mara Conservancies’.

This income allows these women to become financially stable and independent, and provide for their families and communities. The Maa Honey project combines the need to support African bee populations with the need for sustainable incomes. Honey from the hives owned by local women is gathered and sold to different camps across the Mara.

Through Ol Pejeta camp, Asilia also contributes to animal protection initiatives including the Mara Elephant Project, the Rhino Ark and the Mara Predator Conservation Programme. These initiatives work to protect animal species and their habitats to ensure their populations can be sustained safely. Revenue from Asilia goes towards things like equipment, training and resources that are all vital to keeping the wildlife safe.

• Mara Elephant Project – the MEP was established in 2011 to protect elephant populations in the Maasai Mara region who have been threatened by human expansion, deforestation and poaching. In collaboration with their partners, the MEP carries out their three-step approach of ‘monitor, evaluate, and protect’.
• Rhino Ark – the Rhino Ark was set up in 1998 to help save the black rhinos of Kenya. They are committed to creating harmony between the human and natural worlds where neither has a damaging impact on the other. Their initial project was setting up an electric fence along sections of the Aberdare National Park to prevent wildlife crossing into farmland and damaging crops as well as to hinder poaching and other threats to the animals.
• Mara Predator Conservation Programme – The MPC is committed to protecting predator populations, with focus on lions and cheetahs. Their 3 central goals are to educate people in the importance of predators in the ecosystem, to make sure that stakeholders collect and pass on sound information to conservation projects, and to support stable and healthy predator populations in the Greater Mara ecosystem.

Water waste from the camp goes through grease taps, which are cleaned on a monthly basis, and if needed through a septic tank, before draining into soak pits. Water is then cleaned and recycled through reverse osmosis to be used again safely. Solid waste is divided into types so it can be dealt with accordingly and waste that can’t be effectively reused on the camp is taken to Nairobi for recycling. Plastics have been replaced with glass and metal where possible, especially for things like water bottles and containers.

Solar energy is the primary source of power for the camp and its facilities, and there are a total of 106 solar panels installed. This has a really beneficial impact on the environment because solar energy is the most efficient renewable energy source, reduces air pollution in replacing fossil fuels and it doesn’t require water to make energy.

The camp uses Odex chemicals, which are biodegradable, for the kitchen and laundry and the toiletries in the guest tents are Cinnabar green products.