The Laikipia Plateau — a vast, undulating highland region north of Mount Kenya and east of the Rift Valley — is Kenya's most compelling alternative to the Masai Mara, offering a fundamentally different kind of safari experience: intimate, unhurried and conducted largely on private conservancies where visitor numbers are strictly controlled and activities that are simply not possible in national parks become standard. Walking safaris with armed guides, night drives, camel safaris, mountain biking through wildlife areas and tracking endangered species on foot — none of this is available in the Mara or Amboseli, but all of it is on offer in Laikipia.
The region has the second-highest density of wildlife in Kenya after the Masai Mara ecosystem, with a particularly impressive black rhino population (the highest density in East Africa outside South Africa), large elephant herds, wild dog (one of Africa's most endangered predators), lion, leopard, cheetah, Grevy's zebra (the world's most endangered zebra species), reticulated giraffe and the rare Jackson's hartebeest.
Walking Safaris
Walking with wildlife — in the company of an armed ranger and expert guide — is the most profound and intellectually engaging way to experience the African bush. On foot, distances become meaningful, detail becomes visible and the relationship between species and ecosystem becomes clear in a way that is simply not possible from a vehicle. Laikipia's private conservancies (Ol Pejeta, Ol Jogi, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Borana, Ol Malo) all offer half-day and full-day walking safaris through country where elephant, buffalo and rhino are regular encounters.
The emotional impact of standing 20 metres from a black rhino on foot — aware that you are in its world and entirely dependent on the skills of your guide — is something that no game drive can replicate.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Ol Pejeta — the largest private wildlife conservancy in East Africa at 90,000 acres — is home to the world's last two northern white rhinoceroses (Najin and Fatu, a mother and daughter, the survivors of a subspecies that numbered 2,000 in the 1960s), as well as 100+ black rhinos and the largest population of chimpanzees in Kenya (at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary). Ol Pejeta's conservation model, where wildlife-based ecotourism generates revenue for community development and anti-poaching operations, is widely considered Africa's most successful.
Night Drives & Other Activities
Night drives — prohibited in Kenya's national parks but standard in Laikipia's private conservancies — reveal a completely different cast of characters: aardvark (one of Africa's most sought-after nocturnal sightings), porcupine, African wildcat, serval, genet, honey badger and the enormous-eared bat-eared fox emerge after dark. Spotlight drives with experienced trackers offer some of the most exciting wildlife encounters in Kenya.
