Elephant Watch Camp

Elephant Watch Camp is situated at the heart of the Elephant Watch Portfolio, which is an exquisite family home, Sirocco, a self-catering Cabin and a tailor-made Boutique Safaris business.

The portfolio was founded by Oria Douglas-Hamilton, a native Kenyan of Italian and French extraction. Portfolio has grown out of her passionate love of Africa, its people and wildlife.

Guests at the camp will enjoy its hospitality with delicious food, tranquility, Afro-Italian chic – and the great outdoor adventure that beckons from beyond.

This luxury tented camp with the highest eco-credentials is nestled in the majestic Samburu National Reserve.

A favorite haunt of wildlife enthusiasts, filmmakers, and opinion-shapers, it is one of the few places where wild elephants slide so close by to the side of your vehicle that you can reach out and touch them.

The camp boosts six spacious and netted tents which are specially designed to catch the breeze and ensure maximum privacy and protection. Each tent hangs under a wide thatched roof with its own verandah and stunning view.

Inside, soft flowing cloths cascade to the floor that can be drawn across the windows at night. The walls are a mixture of canvas and netting which keeps bugs out but allows in the sounds and scents of the wild.

All the rooms comprise of a king-size bed with crisp cotton sheets, luscious feather pillows, bedside lamps, a flashlight, clean fluffy towels, a kanga bathrobe, and a bush cupboard with plenty of hanging space and shelves.

The verandah outside is expansive and comfortable where guests can relax in a lot of comfort with a book on a daybed or simply takes in the view. Monkeys will however come to peek at the guests but otherwise the tents are strictly private.

The bathrooms are en-suite and each is built around its own tree for maximum shade and privacy.

Hand painted buckets are filled with clean cool water by day and in the evening, steaming hot water heated naturally by the sun is poured into your bucket-shower that hangs from a branch so that you can enjoy the sensation of washing under the stars. Laundry is collected every day, washed, pressed, and returned within 24 hours.

Organic shampoo, conditioner and a bundle of other goodies can be found in an assortment of banana leaf boxes on the shelves and the mosquito repellent and skin creams offered by the camp are all natural products.

The camp’s environment is precious, fragile and threatened. The sun powers all of the camp’s electricity including the fridges and freezers. Water is hand-pumped from the on-site well and carefully distributed and then re-used to nourish the trees.

All of the buildings including the guests’ luxury en-suite safari tents are made with old fallen trees, solar-hardened earth plaster and sustainably-harvested palm thatch.

Ingredients for the camp’s chefs’ inventive fusion of Italian and African-inspired dishes come from the camp family’s organic farm in the Rift Valley or from the local farmers’ market on nearby Mountain Kenya.

The innovative water evaporation cold-room with its sustainably harvested charcoal walls keeps food fresh. Firewood is collected from driftwood that is brought by seasonal floods. At the camp, waste is kept to a minimum and very carefully managed with as much recycled as possible.

Animals are always treated with the utmost respect and minimal interference. Even with these efforts to limit the camp’s impact on its immediate environment and the wider ecosystem, guests will find a lot of comfort as they enjoy they Kenya safari in Samburu reserve. Guests who will stay at this camp will surely see how luxury can still be deeply eco-friendly.