Laikipia - Borana

If you can’t ride a horse, it’s a good idea to learn at least the basics, before you arrive at Borana Ranch.  The experience of gently riding through giraffes, zebra and elands is one of the absolute highlights of a visit to Borana.

Located just 16 miles from equator, but at an altitude of 6,500 feet and upwards, Borana  is an activity vacation with animals, rather than a photo shoot from inside a jeep.  Your personal fitness will benefit as you walk, horse ride and mountain bike.  Fishing is also an offered option.

Unlike other parts of safari Africa, where it is dangerous to leave the safety of a vehicle, walking is encouraged at Borana.  The downside of being able to walk is that there are not a huge number of visible predatory animals around.  During a four day stay we saw elephants, buffalo, elands, impala, giraffes and zebras, but no cats.  Don’t go to Borana if your aim is to hunt for the ‘Big Five.’

Borana is a working ranch which is now in its fourth generation of ownership by the Powys / Dyer family, originally from Dorset, England.  The elder family figures are Rose and Tony Dyer who live on a farm within the ranch.  Rose Dyer’s grandfather started the ranch and, despite being in her early 70s, she is still a very active character within the Borana experience, taking lodge guests out horse riding whenever they wish.  Her son, Michael, runs the ranch and his wife, Nicky, both runs the family tannery which produces excellent value sheepskin and leather goods, and takes the more experienced riding guests out on her feisty horses.

One attraction for Disney fans is the association between Borana and The Lion King movie.  The ranch provided the inspiration for the setting of The Lion King.  The famous ‘Pride Rock’, originally known as ‘Frog Rock’ because it resembles a leaping frog, is a 30 minute walk from Borana Lodge.  It was particularly pleasant to arrive at the rock to find that Borana staff had delivered drinks and additional clothing enabling us to enjoy a glass of wine whilst watching the sun set.

The Lewa Conservancy is close by where we saw a baby rhino and few grown up ones too.

The Borana Lodge is built on a hill side and consists of 8 cottages which are all very private.  We were fortunate in being allocated Cottage 8 which sits, very secluded, at the lowest part of the lodge, overlooking a small lake.  The lake was excavated in 1990 by the Dyer family and is worth watching in the early morning for elephants and water buffalo.  Cottages 7 and 8 are part of one building with an open living room area in between.  It is a perfect set up for a family, but also enjoys the best position of all the cottages.

There is a central bar, lounge and dining room for evening use and  a swimming pool with bar and a further dining area for lunch.

The rate per night is all inclusive.  The bar by the pool is open all day on a self service basis whereas the evening bar is run by ‘colonial style’ attired staff each evening from around 7pm.  Dinner, at the communal table, is at 8pm.  The food is excellent, and the wine a mix of South African and Italian.

Communications are poor, with mobile reception frustratingly inconsistent and the only internet access is via the pc in the Lodge office, which the management gladly allow guest to use, but the speed of the connection is painful.

Borana does have its own private airstrip which is a much better option, if you can arrange it, than the Lewa airstrip, which is further away.

The shop only sells souvenirs so ensure you have lots of sun cream, lip balms etc., with you.

The one concern we had about Borana was the regimented way in which it operated.  Lunch at 1pm, afternoon tea at 4pm (be careful of the monkeys eating all the cake), dinner at 8pm and lights out at 10.30pm latest.  Borana switches off their generator at 10.30pm or 30 minutes after the last person leaves the bar (whichever is the earlier).  This actually switches off all power so reading has to be by torchlight.  It’s like being at school.  It’s almost surprising that a matron doesn’t come round to make sure everyone is asleep.

We were very fortunate in that cottage 8 has a battery charged by the generator and this holds sufficient power to maintain the lights.  We ended each evening in front of the fire in our open living room.  However, had we been subject to the “lights out” regime of the other cottages, this camel would have been very arsy.

Fires were lit in each cottage at around 6.30pm every evening.  A nice touch, except that the time when a fire was really appreciated was after dinner, but every evening the fire had to be revived upon returning to our cottage, as it had all but extinguished.

Borana is well worth a visit for 3 or 4 days as part of a longer vacation, perhaps also taking a few days at the coast.  The highlights for us were the horse riding and sundown activities.  It is an excellent contrast to the full on animal safaris and the beach.

I do, however, hope that they address the institutional approach to lights out.  It’s surprising there are not more complaints, or perhaps there are?

http://www.borana.co.ke/