Loldia House is a home away from home, nestled amongst a private ranch of 6,500 acres in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. The original farmhouse and lakeshore setting are breathtaking – perfect for easing into your East African safari. With just nine rooms, personable staff and flawless views, the location is ideal for families, couples and solo travellers seeking an intimate and memorable experience in Kenya.
Lunch beneath the fig trees – photo credit Felix Rome
We have recently created a family-friendly accommodation option at Loldia House, enabling you to keep your little ones close at night. Interconnecting double and twin rooms are now accessible to each other through a private doorway, allowing for easy movement between the two.
Our new family rooms comfortably sleep up to four guests – photo credit Felix Rome.
Both rooms are ensuite, and the spacious bathrooms feature a rain shower, an alcove bathtub, and double vanities. This setup is ideal for families who want to share space while maintaining privacy.
At Loldia, we offer a wide range of engaging activities for all ages. Early morning boat rides on Lake Naivasha are hugely exciting for kids, who will relish the opportunity to spot all kinds of wildlife along the shoreline, including baboons, vervet monkeys, Colobus monkeys (Mau Forest guereza), reedbuck, monitor lizards, and hyraxes.
Boat safaris on Lake Naivasha – photo credit Felix Rome
Be on the lookout for pods of resident hippos—we have counted about 30 individuals guarding the stretch of shoreline below Loldia, where they lie half-submerged and draped in hyacinth.
Photo credit Felix Rome
Expect to see various water birds, including pied and giant kingfishers, great white pelicans, grey herons, goliath herons, common squacco herons, African jacanas, and cormorants. An abundance of African fish eagles—an iconic regional species—can be spied at the top of yellow-barked acacia trees as they wait for hunting opportunities.
African fish eagles hunt fish from Lake Naivasha – photo credit Felix Rome
Game drives within Loldia’s 6,500-acre ranch are very productive, with all the usual plains game concentrated around the airstrip. Impalas, buffalos, Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles, warthogs and zebras prefer the shorter grass up there while Maasai giraffes are generally seen poking above the leleshwa scrub, closer to the lake.
Game drives on Loldia – photo credit Felix Rome
If your kids are up for it, why not let them discover the magic of one of our night drives? After an early dinner, head out with your guide to spot some of Loldia’s nocturnal species such as white-tailed mongooses, hippos, Cape hares, spring hares, zorillas and ground-roosting African montane night jars.
Another enjoyable experience for children is a half-day adventure into Eburru—this prime indigenous forest is part of the Mau Forest Complex and a significant regional water source. Home to the critically endangered mountain bongo, the 8,715.3 hectares of woodland forest offer pure enchantment.
The view from Eburru Forest – photo credit Felix Rome
Although the walking trail is not ideal for kids under 14, we suggest a gentle drive to a lovely open glade where you can stop with a picnic breakfast spread and enjoy the fresh air and plenty of space.
With advance notice, we can arrange for a honey harvesting demonstration by the marginalised Ogiek people who are traditionally hunter-gatherers and very much into their honey. After lowering their sustainable hives from beneath the overreaching canopy, they smoke the bees out by creating a friction fire from two sticks and some old man’s beard lichen, which is very flammable!
Making a friction fire – photo credit Felix Rome
Once the bees are calm, honeycombs dripping with natural golden honey are gently eased out and proudly presented for sampling on the spot. This is always a fun, hands-on experience for young children fascinated by the magical world of honey bees.
Locating the hives in Eburru – photo credit Felix Rome
Last year, the Ogiek community harvested a whopping 3.5 tonnes of honey, which was supplied to the well-managed cooperative at the bottom of the hill. Here, the community receives a fair price for their crop, which is then strained, packaged, sealed, and stored for onward sale.
Traditional beekeeping by the Ogiek people – photo credit Felix Rome
Another activity we highly suggest for families is a visit to the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust, which is located on the other side of the lake and is worth the visit. Not only does the minimum donation entry fee support the conservation and rehabilitation of Kenya’s raptors (some of them critically endangered), but it is also massively inspiring to hear about the fantastic work being done there.
Shiv Kapila, Director of the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust – photo credit Felix Rome
Every bird at the trust has a sad story of how they arrived at the centre, but the ultimate goal here is to release injured or poisoned raptors back into the wild, and for those that cannot be released, retain them for captive breeding. Afternoon visitors will catch feeding time for the vultures which takes place at 3pm.
A Rüppell’s vulture – photo credit Felix Rome
With so much to see and do at Loldia, it’s no surprise that many of our international guests choose to begin their Kenya safari here, on the serene shores of Lake Naivasha. Additionally, Loldia is less than a two-hour drive from Nairobi, which makes for a wonderful weekend escape for many of our resident clientele. Whatever your reason for choosing Loldia, you’ll find it difficult to tear yourself away…
