Leopard Hill
Africa, Eastern Africa | Kenya | Adventure, All Inclusive, Eco Friendly, Escorted, Family, Group, Honeymoon, Safari, Solo, Sustainable, Tailor Made | Safari Tented | Private, Reserve | Luxury
Seated in a secluded valley, Leopard Hill looks down on a series of waterholes, providing ample opportunities to view game from the comfort of your accommodation. The lodge is nestled amongst a grove of fig trees which hold spiritual significance for the local Maasai people. A remarkable fig tree, known as the “Double Tree” sits close to Leopard Hill and was split in two by a bolt of lightning in the 1950s. Sunrises shine through this marvellous and idiosyncratic tree, painting a remarkable silhouette upon the backdrop of the spectacular morning skies. The luxury tents at Leopard Hill impress the guests with their motorised roofs which can retract to unveil the magisterial milky way at night. The seclusion of this remote valley provides astonishing stargazing opportunities in a landscape devoid of light pollution, and guests find themselves immersed in a naturalistic retreat which connects them to the beauty of Africa.
Basecamp Leopard Hill, Mara Naboisho Conservancy, Kenya
The Naboisho Conservancy is an exemplary conservation area, a bastion of the ‘Naboisho Model’, a scalable model for responsible tourism operations. Through collaboration with over 580 local landowner families, the growing conservancy has secured 200km2 for a pure conservation land, reserved exclusively for the recovery of the natural ecosystem. This area, free from cattle grazing, has created some of the most fertile plains in the Greater Masai Mara ecosystem. As a result, the Naboisho Conservancy enjoys some of the highest population densities of game animals to be found anywhere in the Greater Masai Mara ecosystem, and by extension, anywhere in Africa.
Flying is the quickest way to get to the Mara. There are daily flights to the Mara from Wilson Airport provided by companies such as SafariLink and Air Kenya. A flight to Mara takes around 45 minutes. On arrival, the aircraft will land on an airstrip nearest to your camp. Basecamp guests are usually picked up from Olseki or Olkiombo airstrips. From there, guests will be transferred by road to their particular camp.
The Maasai Mara is about 280 km. west from Nairobi City. A drive to Masai Mara takes about 5-6 hours. While driving you will enjoy breathtaking views including that of the Great Rift Valley and also Mount Suswa and Mount Longonot. The road from Narok to the reserve is quite rough and it is advisable to use a 4×4 vehicle as this will make your ride a bit smoother. Once you get to Masai Mara there are a number of entry gates such as Sand River, Musiara, Talek, Sekenani or Oloololo Gate.
- Witness the Big 5 roam in the awe-inspiring Naboisho Conservancy
- Nestled amidst a beautiful grove of fig trees, which hold a great spiritual significance in Maasai culture
- Relax with a massage from the camp’s professional physical therapist
- Luxury safari tents with motorised canvas roofs unveil the spectacular Milky Way at the push of a button
- TIME Magazine listed Leopard Hill as one of the World’s Greatest Places to stay in 2019
In a landscape dedicated to wildlife, free of commercial cattle grazing, the Naboisho Conservancy is an unbridled wilderness area. The Naboisho Conservancy was formed through the collaborative efforts of conservationists and indigenous landowners to secure an area of lush pastures exclusively for the native wildlife. Basecamp Explorer was born by the campfire through discussions with Maasai chief, Ole Take, and have continued to manifest the vision which was born over 20 years ago.
What makes Leopard Hill accommodation truly special is the adjustable motorized roof in the tents, which provides an unhindered view of the African night sky. Dubbed the Star Bed, the tent roof can be opened to present a stunning view of the African night sky for you to marvel before falling asleep. The tent offers an almost 360 degree view of the surroundings, from your bed towards the Fig Tree and the water holes and from the bathroom to the back.
These exquisite canvas safari tents have a delicate natural air about them, in a style in which naturalist African design meets a calming minimalism. The result is a comfortable and refreshing sanctum, where guests feel connected to the landscape whilst enwrapped in luxury. The sun kissed verandas are the perfect spot to unwind at the end of the day, and enjoy the beauty of the African plains as the day recedes into night by the warmth of a log fire.
Each tent offers king-size double or twin beds, bathroom featuring bio-flush toilets and two showers, one inside and one open-air safari shower. An elevated private elevated viewing deck with exceptional views of Naboisho Conservancy.
A perfect retreat for a family, this tent enjoys naturalistic design features in its sun-kissed veranda, and wooden frame, where a gentle palette of earth tones underpins this beautiful safari tent. Each room offers king-size double or twin beds, with the tent’s bathroom featuring bio-flush toilets and two showers, one inside and one open-air safari shower. An elevated private viewing deck commands exceptional views of Naboisho Conservancy. The mechanised tent roof allows for the beds to enjoy sublime views of the milky way, making for a night of beauty, romance, and tranquillity.
Dining in the African bush is an experience that ignites all your 5 senses, with the tantalising of the taste buds being the obvious one. It is a peaceful, exciting, fulfilling, and mysterious experience. Basecamp Explorers’ chefs are some of the leading chefs in East African cuisine, making for truly unique and exceptional dining experiences. The camp’s restaurant is for communal use, as such guests are kindly asked to be courteous towards the people they are sharing the space with and keep the mobile phones off while at the restaurant, which is a Mobile-free Zone.
Leopard Hill’s game drives are usually conducted in the early mornings, late afternoon or at night since these are the coolest times of the day when most animals are more active. During the game drive, the camp’s knowledgeable Maasai guides will introduce you to life in the savanna and share their infinite knowledge about African wildlife.
Walk across the savannah with the Maasai who have been doing it for generations. Learn the Maasai’s basic survival skills. Track and identify animal footprints and dung as you follow the path taken by elephants, wildebeest, and lions. Listen to the secrets of the Savannah and let the gentle winds urge you forward. Experience the wilderness on foot and come close to nature as you walk the vast Masai Mara plains.
A bush dining experience is quite exciting whether it is by the river’s edge where the hippos are grunting or on the plains with unlimited views of the big game. Leopard Hill’s staff carefully serve guests with freshly prepared gourmet food prepared by the executive chef using fresh local produce with international influences accompanied by fine wines. To make it an unforgettable African dining experience, a group of local Maasai men and women sing and dance providing background entertainment that blends with the sounds of the untamed bush.
Just as you wind up your afternoon game drive, your guide will set up for a sundowner drink. Enjoy a selection of drinks, cocktails and delicious biting usually served against the unforgettable backdrop of the African sunset. Most sundowner spots also offer amazing opportunities for a photographic session.
If you prefer a bit more relaxation and pampering, then the peaceful and serene bush environment at Leopard Hill makes for a deeply memorable massage experience. The camp offers a range of massage options that are specially designed to relax, refresh, and rejuvenate your body administered by a professional therapist in the privacy of your tented room or on your private deck with beautiful views over the conservancy.
Nothing beats the feeling of taking some time out for oneself and breathing in Africa’s pure air while stretching those muscles. Yoga is the perfect activity to add to a safari adventure. Yoga will be conducted as a self-practice, therefore, with no yoga teacher present. The yoga sessions will take place within the privacy of your tent terrace.
Basecamp Explorer works in an incredibly close partnership with the Maasai community, being founded by the fireside with the late Maasai chief, Ole Taek. This partnership was founded on “mutual respect, and shared ambitions” between the chief, and Basecamp Explorer’s founder, Svein Wilhelmsen. In this partnership, Basecamp Explorer has sought to bring a security to these traditional tribespeople, best attained through economic prosperity, which allows the indigenous Maasai to maintain their ancestral homeland.
Though the preservation of Maasai traditions has been at the heart of Basecamp Explorer’s engagement with the tribespeople, the patriarchal nature of the tribe’s internal structure provides an exception to this rule. Basecamp Explorer is dedicated to the emancipation of women, and seeks to overturn the cultural facets which have left women behind as the men of the tribe have begun to enjoy the prosperity that comes with sustainable tourism. Maasai women typically have left education at the age of eight, in order to fulfil the roles of wife and mother which they have historically been assigned to.
Wilhelmsen talks of Mama Ntete, the daughter of the late chief, who, despite having enjoyed certain benefits of Wilhelmsen’s progressive influence – being one of very few Maasai women to inherit land from her father – is still beholden to many of the patriarchal traditions of the tribe. Her name, Mama Ntete, is taken from her oldest son, per Maasai tradition.
This is but one example of the misogyny, which is embedded in Maasai tradition, which Basecamp Explorer is attempting to overturn, without destroying the important cultural identity of the people. As for destruction of identity, however, Mama Ntete cannot even remember her name before taking the name of her son as her life of motherhood began. Her identity outside of motherhood has been annihilated by certain aspects of Maasai tradition. Although progress for women’s liberation within the Maasai has come a long way – the Maasai have led the charge in putting an end to FGM practices in Kenya’s tribal communities – there is yet a long way to go.
Basecamp Explorer has engaged the women of the local Maasai community in a handicraft initiative, which empowers women through their cultural practices, whilst providing an extra avenue of commerce to boost the tribe’s economy. The long-term goal for Wilhelmsen is to improve women’s access to education and employment, and to attain equity with their male counterparts in the tribe. Access to education is especially important, as there is no better agent of progressive change within the tribal communities than the tribeswomen themselves.
Basecamp Explorer is proud to run their Kenyan operations with 100% local staff. The company has trained 331 Maasai students in the Koyaki Guiding School, bringing those with the ultimate safari guiding credentials to the fore in the Maasai Mara – its native pastoral residents.
Basecamp Explorer has further provided exciting opportunities to locals who wish to pursue nonconventional careers, such as their executive chef, Benson Ole Soit. Now the author of Eat This!, his own cookbook demonstrates his unique culinary repertoire, combining traditional cuisine with his own personal innovation which was fostered and encouraged by Basecamp Explorer managers. Benson’s book is on sale at Basecamp Explorer boutiques, and the proceeds from the book go towards supporting the ambitions of young Maasai, who wish to pave the way of their own future, much like Benson did.
Basecamp Explorer’s 2020 Sustainability Report reflects on the successes and limitations of one of the most turbulent years on record, with lives upended, borders closed, and uncertainty prevailing in the age of Covid-19. Alongside the tragic loss of life and livelihood, hope lingered on the horizon through partnerships which guaranteed survival for the model of community-based conservation. With the continued support of donors, Basecasmp Explorer, the Naibosho Conservancy, and the Greater Maasai Mara have weathered the worst of this storm.
Much in the “naboisho” fashion, Basecamp Explorer has consolidated its efforts towards the protection of the communities at the heart of its operations, coming together in times of existential threat: “rather than focus on the challenges that may lay ahead in the coming weeks and months, [Basecamp Explorer has] chosen to focus on the people. The projects, and [their] future as a company and foundation,”.
This report highlights the work that Basecamp Explorer’s team completed while its camps were closed, including building a new borehole, which serves 500 community members between Basecamp Maasai Mara camp and Leopard Hill. Basecamp Explorer’s team also planted 90,000 trees in our reforestation project, and have 80,000 seedlings prepared to plant in 3 plots in the Pardamat Conservation Area – with plans to scale rapidly in the area and invest in a revenue generating carbon credit program.
The company and foundation were successful in securing 2,863 more acres of land for the free movement of wildlife through de-fencing, bringing the total to date to 16,500 acres. This has resulted in a rapid replenishing of lions, cheetahs, and elephants in badly overgrazed yet vital parts of the Maasai Mara Ecosystem. Further, efforts focused on expanding education programs at the newly opened Enjoolata! Centre drove forward with the exciting Wildlife Tourism College of Maasai Mara. Together these projects bring the youth of the Mara into conservation efforts, ensuring they continue into the next generation.
Finally, work was undertaken to elevate service delivery to guests and further improve awareness of and support for the foundation’s current and future conservation goals. This is evidenced by Basecamp Explorer’s beloved head chef, Benson Ole Soit, recognised as one of the 100 top chefs in East African cuisine, and many improvements to further decrease our carbon footprint. As proud new members of The Long Run, Basecamp Explorer has joined a prestigious nature-based tourism organisation that recognises businesses that excel in following the highest standards of sustainability encompassing Conservation, Community, Culture, and Commerce (4Cs).
The Mara Naboisho Big Cat Project is a long-term effort to monitor and protect the lion, leopard, and cheetah populations in both the Naboisho Conservancy and neighbouring community-owned lands and conservancies. The steps outlined by the project are centred in “Establishing and enhancing collaborative landscape-level lion and spotted hyena conservation; Enhancing human-lion and human-spotted hyena co-existence; Improving education and awareness of lion and spotted hyena conservation status and ecology; Facilitating evidence-based decision making for lion and spotted hyena conservation; Building integrated and sustainable structures to facilitate lion and spotted hyena conservation.”
In 2011, Basecamp’s given figure of Kenya’s remaining wild lions in the country was 2,800, declining at a rate of 100 lions per annum – it is unclear where these figures came from exactly. Figures from the Kenyan government estimated that the country’s lion population in 2010 was as low as 2000, however, as of 2020, the government reported the population was up 25% from 2010, at 2,489. Whether Basecamp’s 2011 figure of 2,800 was a generous one, the rate of decrease over the 10 years would have dropped to roughly 30% of the 100 lions being lost every year – and likely indicates that the tide has turned, with a now-rising population of wild lions being sustained in Kenya.
The Eat This! Basecamp Culinary Project is a cook book fundraising initiative that was curated by Benson Ole Soit the executive chef at Basecamp Explorer in Masai Mara. The Basecamp concept centres on empowering staff by offering them opportunities to develop themselves and Benson is one of the beneficiaries. Basecamp Management supported him with a chance to see his wish to become a successful chef fulfilled. Chef Benson Ole Soit is a self-made success story who learned how to cook through experimentation.
The proceeds from the cookbook created by Chef Benson are put towards educating passionate young Maasai. A scholarship of up-to USD 2,500 is given to a young Maasai with passion for cooking who are not able to afford the school fees. The funds are utilized during an 18 month cooking course at the Karen Blixen cooking School in Masai Mara.
The kingpin of Basecamp Explorer’s conservation initiatives is the Naboisho Conservancy. Initiated in 2010 by Basecamp Explorer and the Basecamp Explorer Foundation, “Naboisho” is a Maasai war-cry, a call to “come together” in times of existential threat. Whilst there is no war raging, the Maasai recognise an existential threat in the loss of their homelands, and the onslaught of the climate crisis. The Naboisho Conservancy has secured 200km2 for a conservancy which challenges the limitations of pre-existing conservancy models, which have been insufficient in their distribution of the economic benefits throughout the local community, attained by land-lease payments, employment, and grazing lands.
The Naboisho model guarantees monthly income to the landowners as well as employment to the youth, contributing significantly to the local development. The scalable Naboisho model for responsible tourism can be replicated anywhere. The successes of the model are found in having provided a guaranteed income to almost 600 local Maasai households; impacted directly and indirectly over 10,000 people in the region; seen a 72% rise in the number of elephants between 2014-17.
From every bed night 80 USD have gone directly to Naboisho operations; as such, guests are aware of how much, precisely they are contributing to the conservation efforts of the Naboisho Conservancy. Being the overall winner of the 2016 Africa Responsible Tourism Awards, Naboisho was recognised as a conservancy that truly remarkably brings together communities and wildlife conservation.
Basecamp Explorer has undertaken a large reforestation project to revive the Mara’s original biodiversity, having partnered with Maasai landowners from Talek in efforts to implement correct waste management procedures through waste collection and recycling. Basecamp Explorer has implemented solid waste, organic waste, and polytene recycling procedures to significantly reduce the environmental impact of their operations in the Greater Maasai Mara ecosystem.
Since the Basecamp Tree Plantation was established in 2000, the initiative has planted 75,000 trees. The aim of the project is to revive the Talek river ecosystem by addressing the pressing issue of deforestation and ground erosion. By planting trees, Basecamp is also sequestering carbon to counter the carbon footprint created by its visitors’ air travels.
Seedlings are shipped to schools and health clinics in the area. In this way Basecamp seeks to educate the local community on the importance of afforestation and conservation of natural habitats.
In 2006 Basecamp Masai Mara was chosen to host Barack Obama and his family when he visited Kenya. Each member of the Obama family planted a seedling in the Basecamp Tree Plantation. The ‘Obama Forest’ can be seen on the right-hand side as guests enter the camp. Basecamp Explorer encourages its guests to follow the example set by the Obama family, and plant a tree in its Tree Plantation.