Laikipia's Segera Retreat voted among top world hotels

Segera Retreat in Laikipia. It has been voted as one of the new hotels in the world serving high-end clients. Condé Nast Traveller’s 2014 hot list released Monday said the Laikipia based facility scores highly as a serene and wild getaway resort in the 'way-out –there’ category. PHOTO/FILE.

What you need to know:

  • Condé Nast Traveller’s 2014 hot list released Monday said the Laikipia based facility scores highly as a serene and wild getaway resort in the 'way-out –there’ category.
  • Initially, Segera Retreat was a family home but has since been redesigned.
  • The ranch grounds have been restored with local communities given access rights to some portions to graze their cattle.

Segera Retreat, one of Kenya’s luxurious resorts, has been voted as one of the best 33 new hotels opening their doors around the world for high-end client.

Condé Nast Traveller’s 2014 hot list released Monday said the Laikipia based facility scores highly as a serene and wild getaway resort in the 'way-out –there’ category.

This is a highly competitive selection that targeted 510 hotels in 400 cities in 93 countries.

Condé Nast Traveller says the 2014 list of 33 new hotels was the most selective over the years where their judges looked at 'sense of place, personality and intuition’ which apparently means “the facilities meet your needs before you know what your needs are”.

Segera Retreat, which is owned by a German entrepreneur Jochen Zeitz offers luxurious African touch of glamour and the idea of a safari camp within a pristine environment on a 50,000 acre private ranch that enjoys a rich array of wildlife with minimal human activities.

“This super-luxurious eco-resort is the stuff of the most seductive jet-setting fantasies”, the website stated.

MIGRATORY CORRIDOR

The lodge situated in Laikipia overlooks Mount Kenya with the ranch lying in the middle of an important migratory corridor for elephants between Aberdare and Mount Kenya National Parks.

Initially, Segera Retreat was a family home but has since been redesigned, its indigenous forest restored in a painstakingly laborious exercise thereby giving paying guests value for their money.

The ranch grounds have been restored with local communities given access rights to some portions to graze their cattle as well as providing jobs for them.

Among the wild animals recorded by judges at the ranch are elephants, lions, leopards, buffaloes, elands and plains game, including the endemic reticulated giraffe, Grevy’s zebra and Beisa oryx.

The lodge has over 3,000 heads of cattle co-existing with wildlife, a touch that redefines the experiences of visitors and tourists to the lodge.

Mr Zeitz, formerly the Puma CEO, has involved the local Maasai ranchers in preserving the sun-scorched plains, helping struggling wildlife flourish and giving rural communities a stake in their ancestral land.