Saruni

Saruni is a collection of unique and intimate lodges found in Kenya's most beautiful, private wildlife conservancies, offering the ultimate in luxury and authenticity and committed to conservation and the local communities.

Away from the crowds and off the beaten track in Kenya’s most spectacular and diverse areas offering truly authentic Kenya and culture, our ‘beyond luxury’ collection includes:

• Saruni Mara: the smallest permanent lodge in the Masai Mara, nestled in a hidden valley in Mara North Conservancy.
• Saruni Wild: the smallest tented camp in the Masai Mara (3 tents). Tucked away on the border of Mara North/Lemek Conservancies right in the heart of the Mara ecosystem, totally immersed in the amazing plains game wildlife.
• Saruni Samburu: the most stunning eco-design lodge perched high above, overlooking Kalama Community Wildlife Conservancy, bordering with Samburu National Reserve.
• Saruni Rhino: this 3-cottage ‘banda’ camp in Sera Community Conservancy, Northern Kenya (a 90 minute drive from Saruni Samburu) offers guests for the first time in East Africa the opportunity to track the endangered black rhino on foot.

Quite simply, the collection of Saruni lodges provide our guests with the most exciting and diverse safari experience in Kenya.

Samburu and the Masai Mara are well-established wildlife sanctuaries with some of the highest densities of wildlife in the world. We offer day and night game drives in open 4 x 4 vehicles, game walks, birdwatching, bush lunches and spectacular bush dinners. The guides are all members of the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association and provide personalised, high quality guiding to a discerning clientele and are all Samburu or Maasai meaning you experience a truly cultural safari travelling with us. The guides and the managers personally host the guests, so staying with us is very welcoming and personal. Saruni Mara and Saruni Samburu both have a Wellbeing Space where highly trained therapists provide massages and beauty treatments where Western techniques and local Maasai/Samburu expertise on herbs, plants and leaves are used to provide guests with the highest standard of service.

Saruni work very closely with their respective communities in the belief that only community-friendly tourism is sustainable in the long term. Saruni Rhino, located in Sera Community Conservancy, offers the first on-foot black rhino tracking experience in East Africa.

To see our official Safari video, please click HERE. 

To see our official Black Rhino Tracking video, please click HERE.

Saruni’s reservations, ground-handling, sales and marketing teams are based in Karen in Nairobi, Kenya.

Please contact

Reservations: reservationsteam@saruni.com

CEO: riccardo@saruni.com

Marketing: marketing@saruni.com

Office Mobile : +254 (0)735 950 903 or +254 (0)202 180 497

Our Commitment to Responsible Tourism

Economic Responsibility

The majority of our team members belong to local Maasai or Samburu communities and have been trained by us. They are a highly motivated, enthusiastic and friendly group of people and an integral part of our extended family. They have all made an effort to acquire better skills and constantly strive to improve their communication and presentation abilities.

Our procurement of goods and services for all Saruni properties is done locally, as far as possible. To provide benefits (especially employment, income and skills) to the local community, we also employ local craftsmen and technicians in most restoration and extension work. In addition to this, we help generate and encourage income and social enterprise amongst the women of the local community by selling their handmade crafts in our shop.

Environmental Responsibility

We are committed to minimising the environmental impact of our properties. Two of our lodges are members of Ecotourism Kenya. Saruni Mara received their gold eco-rating in 2017. For more details about our certification click HERE. Saruni Samburu is currently on a silver rating. We are currently working towards becoming gold-level certified, one of the few in Kenya. For more information click HERE.

During the day, we use solar power that provides lighting and hot water. In the evening the generator is turned on for a maximum of 4 hours and is then turned off later at night.

Saruni properties recycle organic waste through compost pits and dispose of inorganic wastes through high-temperature incinerator systems. The lodge recycles all glass and plastics by transporting them regularly to special recycling bins in Nairobi. Water waste from the kitchen and cottages/villas is disposed of through an environmentally friendly soak pit that filters and brakes down water using organic bacteria. The lodge also utilizes rainwater runoff by collecting it in large water tanks and using it throughout the camp.

All visitors are given a briefing and provided with information for reducing water and power consumption. The bathrooms all have showers, but we recommend that guests do not use this water in excess. All our toilets are eco-toilets that provide either short or long flush cycles reducing water usage where possible.

We provide our guests with eco-friendly Kenyan shower products, which have been locally sourced combining the importance of supporting the local economy but also promoting and using organic products that do not affect the ecosystem and water table in our area.

Towards the end of last year, Saruni partnered with Seedballs Kenya to re-plant indigenous trees in degraded areas near the lodges. Guests can get behind the initiative by buying a box of seedballs, available at all our lodges. Each ball consists of a seed encased in a fertile and protective charcoal crust. These are then tossed into designated areas and observed until they germinate and develop into fully grown trees. For more information click HERE.

Social Responsibility

Our mission is to protect and support our local environment, wildlife and communities. In order to achieve this, we work in close collaboration with the Mara North Conservancy, in the Mara and Kalama Conservancy in Samburu. In the Mara, the MNC’s aim is to create a best practice, world-class conservancy with long-term commitments to the environment, wildlife, and local communities. Saruni also sponsors and assists with the annual Aitong Medical Clinic, bringing much-needed healthcare to the Maasai communities. 

In Kalama Conservancy, Saruni Samburu has been a vitally important part of Kalama’s conservation and community development efforts. In Kalama, the conservancy bed night fees go directly towards the conservancy. From this income, 60% is used to fund community projects (such as school bursaries and water projects) whilst 40% is used to fund the annual operating costs of the conservancy. 

At Saruni, we aim to promote an atmosphere of respect, understanding and appreciation between the visitors and the local people. Our policy is to preserve and support, rather than exploit and corrupt local culture and traditions. To do this, we aim to show and inform our guests of the multiple aspects of the local culture and to raise sensitivity to host countries' political, environmental, and social climate. To encourage this, every evening, one of our guides will join the guests for supper, providing insight into the customs and lives of their local community. We also offer opportunities for the guests to learn more about the Maasai and Samburu cultures in our program ‘warrior for a day’ where they learn and practice Maasai/Samburu traditions. For more information click HERE.

Our Commitment to Responsible Tourism

Economic Responsibility

The majority of our team members belong to local Maasai or Samburu communities and have been trained by us. They are a highly motivated, enthusiastic and friendly group of people and an integral part of our extended family. They have all made an effort to acquire better skills and constantly strive to improve their communication and presentation abilities.

Our procurement of goods and services for all Saruni properties is done locally, as far as possible. To provide benefits (especially employment, income and skills) to the local community we also employ local craftsmen and technicians in most restoration and extension work. In addition to this we help generate and encourage income and social enterprise amongst the women of the local community by selling their hand made crafts in our shop.

Environmental Responsibility

We are committed to minimising the environmental impact of our lodges. During the day we use solar power that provides lighting and hot water. In the evening the generator is turned on for a maximum of 4 hours and is then turned off later at night.

Saruni properties recycles organic waste through compost pits and disposes inorganic wastes through high temperature incinerator systems. The lodge recycles all glass and plastics by transporting them regularly to special recycling bins in Nairobi. Water waste from the kitchen and cottages/villas is disposed off through an environmentally friendly soak pit that filters and brakes down water using organic bacteria. The lodge also utilizes rainwater runoff by collecting it in large water tanks and using it throughout the camp.

All visitors are given a briefing and provided with information for reducing water and power consumption. The bathrooms all have showers but we recommend that guests do not use this water in access. All our toilets are eco-toilets that provide either short or long flush cycles reducing water usage where possible.

We provide our guests with eco-friendly Kenyan shower products, which have been locally sourced combining the importance of supporting the local economy but also promoting and using organic products that do not affect the ecosystem and water table in our area.

Social Responsibility

Our mission is to protect and support our local environment, wildlife and communities. In order to achieve this we work in close collaboration with the Mara North Conservancy,in the Mara and Kalama Conservancy in Samburu. In the Mara, the MNC’s aim is to create a best practice, world-class conservancy with long-term commitments to the environment, wildlife, and local communities. In Kalama conservancy, Saruni Samburu has been a vitally important part of Kalama’s conservation and community development efforts. In Kalama, the conservancy bed night fees go directly towards the conservancy. From this income, 60% is used to fund community projects (such as school bursaries and water projects) whilst 40% is used to fund the annual operating costs of the conservancy. 

At Saruni we aim to promote an atmosphere of respect, understanding and appreciation between the visitors and the local people. Our policy is to preserve and promote, rather than exploit and corrupt local culture and traditions. To do this we aim to show and inform our guests of the multiple aspects of the local culture and to raise sensitivity to host countries' political, environmental, and social climate. To encourage this, every evening one of our guides will join the guests for supper providing insight into the customs and lives of their local community. We also provide opportunities for the guests to learn more about the Maasai and Samburu cultures in our program ‘warrior for a day’ where they learn and practice Maasai/Samburu traditions.

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