I thought I knew Naivasha, but this weekend proved me wrong. We spend lots of time down in the rift by the Lake. Whole days are given to driving through the hills that surround Naivasha’s waters. Through potato farms, and dusty red tracks and villages full of donkeys and cows. Whole weekends are given to exploring the water by yacht and kayak and SUP. Whole hours spent reading about the safety of camping near hippos and whole nights spent listening to the sounds of the lake; the eerie call of the fish eagle, the bellowing honk of the hippo, the high-pitched alarm call of the zebra and the splash of a marabou stork landing on water.

I've been to all the favorite haunts at Lake Naivasha; the fabulously chilled and child-friendly Carnellys, the green of crater lake, the deathly Hell’s Gate gorge.  I've spent days at Lake Naivasha Farmers Market, and created pottery and bought rugs at Naivasha Weavers. I’ve eaten pancakes in Buffalo Mall and run away screaming from a lion in Hell’s Gates’ obsidian caves.

Sanctuary Farm at Lake Naivasha

But in all these years, despite a million prompts from friends and positive reviews I had never been to Sanctuary Farm. As Julia Roberts once said in Pretty Women: ‘Mistake. Huge Mistake.’

Sanctuary Farm combined all the best bits of Naivasha;  the wildlife, we had been conservancy less than a minute before we saw a hyena. Proximity to the lake. Sweeping views. Fever and Acacia trees offering shade. A fancy restaurant. Smooth tarmac road for kids bike riding. And a glorious swimming pool with views over the animals and lake.

Camping at Lake Naivasha

Let’s start at the beginning. We decided to camp and we decided to whizz down after school. An optimistic thought, can ever whizz down the Rift? Thunderous trucks ponderously making their way down into Naivasha and matatus zooming past, two wheels hanging off the side of the road. Matatu passengers remain calm whilst I scream like a banshee and count on my fingers how long it is until I can start drinking.

Despite my husbands best efforts to mimic the Matatus we arrive after dark and attempt to put up tents. The 6 children are running around and the image of that hyena firmly implanted in my brain. Eventually, the tents are up, the wine is cracked and sausages on the fire, when out of the gloom appear two hippos. They are less than 4 metres away. All my time spent on the lake surrounded by hippos and all my hours reading about hippo safety fly out the window as my friend and our 6 kids run screaming for the tents. Possibly the worst thing we could have done, but the hippos are (thankfully) unphased. We creep back to the fire and sit metres from the animals for hours. There are animals all around us. At one point a herd of zebra gallop past the camp and we hear the hyena calling to each other, we debate a break for the tent again but the wine has kicked in and we are content to be in the very middle of nature.

The campsite at Sanctuary Farm

The sun is up and at last we can see where we are. A neat wooden toilet block is immaculately clean with steaming hot showers, so many that we have one per family. A lockable kitchen unit proves a godsend when 40 monkeys arrive on Sunday and tuck into our food. The kitchen has a big shaded porch and a dining table that would easily seat 8. The soft grassy clearing is miraculously clear of acacia thorns and serves as football pitch many a time over the weekend. From the camp we have lake views. Some hours later we go for a walk and discover the pool.  A sleek, stone affair that wouldn’t look out of place in a coastal villa. The trench dug around it to keep the animals out gives the feel of an infinity pool. A shaded area conceals huge flat concrete beds replete with white cushions, perfect for afternoon snoozes. Wooden loungers surround the pool, I never want to leave. Loungers, pool, a sky so blue it hurts your eyes, zebra, buck, and giraffe silhouetted in front of us and far-reaching views to the lake and crescent island beyond.  All it needed was wine, and we had that too.

Lunch at Lake Naivasha

We left for lunch, to the Ranch House, Lovely location, decent food, horrible incident with the worlds rudest manager. I hate to write a bad review but the way they treated us after delivering a 9 year old bottle of bad wine and then charging the poor waiter was appalling.  They ended up ruining the whole experience and we ended up paying for wine we didn’t drink, just so it wasn’t taken out the waiters salary.  Safe to say neither myself or my friends ever return there.

We had plans, to visit Crater Lake, to walk the gorge in Hell’s Gate, to head to Carnellys for lunch on Sunday, but I didn’t want to leave Sanctuary Farm. And so we stayed and didn’t leave until the very last moment. I lay on my back on the grasshopper green grass and stared at woodpeckers and lilac breasted rollers and fish eagles. I read books by the pool. I went for walks through woods and the fields of wildflowers. I saw buffalo, and hyena, and hippos, and waterbuck, and Thompson's gazelle and impala and wildebeest. The sheer numbers of bush animals, the pool, the beauty, the views, the hot sun – they stole my heart and nourished my soul.  Naivasha has always been my happy place and Sanctuary Farm took the core of what I love and made it real. The outdoors, the wide-open spaces, the animals, the green trees and brown water and pink sunsets.

I could go on, but I’m sure you get my drift.

Camping at Sanctuary Farm

If you want to visit Sanctuary Farm you should book in advance as its very popular. There are two campsites – the private one where we stayed sleeps 30 -40 and is only rented to one big group. It has a kitchen and 4 showers/toilet cubicles, 2 fire pits and a barrel braai/BBQ.  The public campsite is set closer to the road, with similar facilities but less attractive views and setting.

The Stables at Sanctuary Farm

Sanctuary Farm has converted their stable block into 10 gorgeous rooms. We snuck in and took a few photos. The rooms we saw had huge double beds and two little cots in the room so you could easily sleep a family of 4 (I’d probably squash my family of 5 in there).  You can stay in interconnecting rooms if you have a large family, or rent the fancy suite with its roll top bath and colonial style fireplace. The rooms are sparkling clean with lovely white stone showers. Half of them have lake views and the other looking out over the fields. They all have little sitting outside areas and access to the self-catering kitchen within the central courtyard block.

There is a self-catering, bed and breakfast and full board option (prices below)

 Eating at Sanctuary Farm

The restaurant, which was fully booked when we were there but the food promises to be wonderful. Lunchtimes are a set menu, different every day. We spied a veggie patch out the back, all the food is home-grown or locally sourced…but this snippet describes the food better than I can

We offer a simple lunch always starting off with a chilled soup, followed by a light fish or chicken dish with a selection of sensational, fresh salads, locally made cheese and a choice of homemade ice creams. Dinner is a more elaborate candlelit affair in our cosy dining room, preceded by aperitifs around the fire. Meals could not be more civilized with a carefully chosen menu and a selection of imported & local wines.

There is a set menu for all meals so should you have any special dietary requirements please let us know in advance. We are more than happy to prepare picnics for day trips.

Breakfast is 2000 per adult (kids half)

Lunch is 2500 per adult (kids half)

High Tea is 750

Dinner is 3000 (kids half)

Costs of staying at Sanctuary Farm

See attached images for the cost of staying at Sanctuary Farm

Contact details and how to get there

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