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UNCHARTED® · Outposts · Samburu, Kenya

Sarara Camp

The Originals

Where the Samburu keep the wild.

Namunyak is their own conservancy:850,000 acres under the Mathews Range,with Sarara’s six tents on the hill.

One of the first, and still the best. Sarara is where northern Kenya’s community conservancies proved themselves.

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Why it's unique

Sarara is one of the originals, and still leading the way.

In 1995 the Samburu made Namunyak on their own land, with Ian Craig of Lewa on the founding board: the community would own the conservancy, and a lodge would pay for it. Sarara opened in 1997. It became the Northern Rangelands Trust, and it is still the model across northern Kenya.

We have known it from the first season. One of our travellers was among the earliest guests. Through Tusk USA we helped build the donors’ house, and close to forty journeys have come since.

1997Established
1995Namunyak,
community-owned
40UNCHARTED
journeys
Katie Rowe, Mother of Elephants ›
Samburu guides walking under the Mathews Range at Sarara
The elephant orphanage in Sarara. That was amazing. Anyone going to Sarara must have this on their itinerary.
Jim · travelled with us in 2019
Can’t even put into words how much I treasured every moment of this trip.
Andrea · travelled with us in 2019
You literally thought of everything. The trip was seamless and perfect!
Mary · travelled with us in 2019
Reteti was indeed better than Nairobi’s elephant orphanage. You were correct!
Shane · travelled with us in 2019

Now showingCommunity Tourism in Kenya: Sarara Lodge

Life in the Namunyak

How the days go at Sarara.

Mornings start early at Sarara, out on foot or on horseback before the heat. The rest of the day belongs to the elephants, the Samburu and the pool above the waterhole.

The camp

Sarara is built into the hill, with magnificent views of the Northern Frontier District.

Six tents on the hillside, every one open to the Mathews Range, with a solar-heated shower under the sky. Below them the mess, the pool and the deck look over a waterhole the elephants keep coming back to. Sarara House has two bedrooms, a plunge pool and a waterhole of its own, and the Treehouses sit up in the branches on the same land.

Around Camp

Where You Sleep

Owned byThe Samburu of NamunyakIn partnership with the community, on the conservancy they set up in 1995.
Founded byPiers & Hilary BastardOpened Sarara with the Samburu elders in 1997.
The familyJeremy Bastard & Katie RoweHave run Sarara since 2010 and live here with their three children. Jeremy is CEO; Katie shapes the kitchen.
General ManagerRobertAt Sarara since 2014, from guide to host to manager.
6TentsOn the hillside
1Sarara HouseTwo bedrooms
8TreehousesThe sister camp
1997OpenedOn Namunyak land
Ideal For
Families · Couples
The Days
Elephants, the Samburu, on foot and on horseback
Reteti
The elephant orphanage, 45 minutes from camp
Power & Water
24-hour solar and spring water
At Camp
No single-use plastic
Best Months
Jun–Oct · Dec–Mar
Closed
November

Where it is

Conservation

The Samburu brought the elephants back.

In the 1980s poaching cut the Mathews Range’s elephants from about 15,000 to around 400, and the black rhino went. Since the Samburu made Namunyak a conservancy in 1995, run by trustees they elect, the herds have come home: more than 6,000 today, Kenya’s second-largest.

850,000acres of Namunyak
6,000+elephants in the range
45minutes to Reteti

Reteti opened in 2016 as Africa’s first community-owned elephant sanctuary. Samburu keepers raise calves that were orphaned or stranded, often after falling into the herders’ wells in a dry season, until they can go back to the wild, and in December 2023 Namunyak was chosen as the place to release thirteen of them. It is forty-five minutes from camp, one visit is included in a stay, and it is the part of the trip our travellers talk about first when they get home.

  1. 1995The Samburu set up Namunyak
  2. 1997Sarara Camp opens
  3. 2004Namunyak’s model becomes the Northern Rangelands Trust
  4. 2016Reteti opens, Africa’s first community-owned elephant sanctuary
  5. 2023Thirteen orphans go home to Namunyak

When to go

Weather at Sarara.

Sarara is at its best from June to October and from December to March, dry and clear, with the elephants drawn to the waterhole below camp. The long rains come in April and the short rains in November, when the camp closes.

From our travelers

“Can’t even put into words how much I treasured every moment of this trip.”
Andrea · Traveled with us in 2019

Journeys

Safaris built around Sarara.

Traveled June 2025 · a family of six13 daysA Family Safari Through Kenya
  1. Nairobi
  2. The Mara
  3. Lewa
  4. Sarara

Karen Blixen’s Nairobi, House in the Wild on the Mara, rhino country at Lewa, and a finale at Sarara with a private visit to the Reteti Elephant Orphanage.

Sarara · 3 nightsSee the itinerary
Traveled Sep–Oct 2025 · a party of fourSix campsAn UNCHARTED®® Kenya + Tanzania Safari
  1. Nairobi
  2. Sarara
  3. Lewa
  4. Ngorongoro

Six camps from Nairobi National Park to the Ngorongoro Crater, with Sarara’s singing wells and rhino country at Lewa.

Sarara · 3 nightsSee the itinerary
Traveled Jun–Jul 2025 · four couplesThree regionsA Kenya Safari: The Mara, Namunyak & Borana
  1. Mara North
  2. Namunyak
  3. Borana

Walking safaris in Mara North, an exclusive-use house above the Reteti Elephant Orphanage, and a Borana finale.

Reteti HouseSee the itinerary

In the magazine

Kenya Stories

Story9 New Outposts We’re Stoked AboutThe most exciting openings of 2026 include a private Seychelles island reborn, Singita’s entry to the Okavango, a Peruvian fishing village haunted by Hemingway, and an Australian lodge set between rainforest and reef. The next era of UNCHARTED® exploration is upon us.Read the story
StoryKenya: The Spirit of IndependentsBefore there was UNCHARTED®, there was Bush Homes of East Africa — a handful of family-run camps that specialized in personal, hands-on hospitality. Decades later, that same owner-operated spirit shapes a new safari across Kenya, north to south.Read the story

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Tell us what you are dreaming of, and our crew will help you plan every part of it, from the first idea to the day you fly home.

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