Loldia House (Lake Naivasha)

Boat trip on Lake Naivasha

Lake Naivasha, at over 6,000 feet, is the highest lake in the Rift Valley. Fringed by papyrus and with the extinct Mount Longonot as a backdrop, the lake is picturesque.

The lake is extremely productive for a variety of birds, and is also home to pods of hippo.
Loldia House has it’s own boat and launching jetty and a boat ride is a wonderful way to view all the feathered and non-feathered species of the region.

Boat rides on Lake Naivasha are included.

Lake Naivasha Birding

Lake Naivasha is listed as an important birding area and is often visited by specialist birding tours. The sheer volume of birds (over 400 species!) is incredible. Being a freshwater lake, many waterbirds are attracted to it. Notable bird families frequently seen include the cormorants, pelicans, darters, ducks, teals and geese, herons, jacanas, kingfishers, storks, grebes, coots, spoonbills and the occasional flamingo. The shoreline vegetation of giant-leaved fig trees and yellow-barked acacias are an excellent habitat for owls, wood hoopoes, green pigeons and ring-necked doves, woodpeckers and weaver birds. The trees are also home to the continent’s highest concentration of African fish eagles, many of which nest in pairs within the Loldia House grounds. Their dawn calls being an iconic sound of Africa.

The lush gardens team with stunning birds. Iridescent sunbirds (bronze sunbirds and variable) feed off the sweet nectar that the flowers have on offer, while rufous sparrows chatter from the hedgerows, common fiscals keep an eye out for insects from their perches and tiny little colorful fire finches and red-cheeked cordon-bleus enjoy afternoon poolside dips alongside fork-tailed drongos and superb starlings.

Day and Night Game Drives on Loldia Conservancy

Day and night game drives on Loldia Ranch allow you to see the resident wildlife on the ranch, which includes abundant plains game.

Night game drives normally depart after dinner. The drive lasts for one or so hour. Animals normally seen on night game drives include bat-eared foxes, aardvarks, leopard, long-tailed mongooses, spring hares, nightjars and eagle owls; as well as hippos leaving the lake to graze.

Game drives on Loldia Conservancy are inclusive in accommodation costs.

Nature Walk on Loldia Ranch

We can offer a guided nature walk around Loldia Ranch. You would walk with one of our naturalist guides and another member of the Loldia team. During the walk it is possible to see some of the wildlife resident on the ranch and some of the smaller flora and fauna of the ranch.

Included in the accommodation price.

Day Trip to Lake Nakuru National Park

One of the highlights whilst staying at Loldia House is a day trip to the picturesque Lake Nakuru National Park. Lake Nakuru is world famous for it’s thousands of colorful flamingos and abundant rhino.

Guests depart from Loldia after an early breakfast and enjoy a drive through the Rift Valley. Lake Nakuru is approximately a 2 hour drive from Loldia House. It is one of Kenya’s smaller National Parks, yet it is one of the most beautiful. Enjoy game viewing around the park in specially designed 4wheel-drive Land Rovers before choosing a shady spot for a sumptuous picnic lunch. Return to Loldia House for afternoon tea and delicious cakes, on the lawn overlooking Lake Naivasha.

Guided walk and picnic on Crescent Island

A boat ride takes you over to the picturesque Crescent Island. This is actually a peninsular connected to the main land when the lake levels aren’t too high.

With your guide, take a walk on the island to view the bird and animal life. The shores host abundant bird life including pelicans, cormorants and fish-eagles with their haunting cry. There are herds of Wildebeest, Water buck, Zebra and Gazelle. The giraffe who were born on the Island return to give birth; sometimes you see three generations at a time. Hyena come to hunt at night but are not resident on the island. The many python who do live here can be seen occasionally with a kill.

From the top of the hill there is a 360 degree view across the Lake. From Longonot to Hell’s Gate to the Mau Escarpement to Eburu and onto the Aberdares.

Eburu Forest

Eburru Forest crowns the geologically active Mt Eburru, a volcanic massif in the Great Rift Valley. Mt Eburru is key in influencing local weather patterns, creating a catchment for rains that feed Lake Naivasha and Lake Elmenteita.

The biodiversity of the Eburu is astounding. With some 60 species of mammal. This includes a very small relic population of the incredibly rare Mountain Bongo. A beautiful antelope. Loldia have teamed up with the Rhino Ark and the Bongo Surveillance Program to support their conservation activities of the Eburu Forest. And restoring the population of Mountain Bongo. Mountain Bongo experts Donna Shepherd, Colin or Tony Church can also be invited to speak about their ongoing surveillance work, and the future plans to reintroduce Mountain Bongo to where they once freely roamed.

A walk in the Eburru Forest will reveal active steam vents, a multitude of forest bird species and a rich floral ecosystem.

A truly wonderful experience is to see a traditional honey harvesting demonstration by the Ogiek people, who are the traditional inhabitants of the Eburu forest. Enjoy a tea and biscuits with some freshly harvested honey. There is also a tree planting program.

Eburu Forest Birding

Eburu Forest, is a remnant segment of a once vast tropical rain forest that stretched across much of central Africa. This precious area provides a critical last refuge for many highland forest species such as yellow-billed barbets, crowned eagles, golden-winged, malachite and tacazze sunbirds, Doherty’s bush-shrikes, black-billed weavers, montane orioles, African paradise flycatchers, Narina trogons, Klaas’s cuckoos, red-fronted parrots, crowned hornbills, white-starred robins, and Hartlaub’s turacos.

Community Tourism

We can organize a visit to the Loldia School. The manager of Loldia House and longstanding guests have together formed the Loldia School Fund, a UK registered charitable trust, which has worked hard to improve the school for the children of the area. It is one of the best schools in the region. Scholarships have been offered to primary school leavers to attend secondary school. And some of the brighter students have gone on to Universities in Kenya and South Africa. The school also serves the wider community offering evening adult literacy classes and a kindergarten.

The Governors’ Camp Collection supports the work of the Loldia School Fund.  This is helping provide a standard of education that enables the children attending to better their circumstances and find a way out of the poverty that exists in this area of Kenya.

Donations in the form of pencils, footballs, etc to the school are very welcome. We will be happy to facilitate. We encourage you at the time of booking to request for information on the most pertinent needs of the school, so as to make the most impactful contribution. Visits to the school are a rewarding experience for all. With the children learning as much from you as you from them. The visit will be around the children’s school routine so as to not be disruptive. A monetary donation is expected.

Lake Elementeita

Between Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru lies another of Kenya’s alkaline lakes – Lake Elementeita. You can stop off here for a leisurely wander along the shoreline and enjoy the sight of beautiful flamingos in their thousands. As well as other animals such as Zebra, Gazelle, Eland and Warthog. We generally suggest a stop off here either on your way to, or return from, Lake Nakuru National Park as it is on the way.

Also of interest nearby is the Kariandusi Prehistoric Site. An African Early Stone Age site that dates back approximately 1 million years. It was discovered by renowned paleontologist Louis Leakey in 1928 and is famous for the abundance of Acheulean handaxes thought to have been made by Homo erectus in a possible ‘hand-axe factory’ like setting.

Lake Elementeita Birding

Lake’s Elmenteita is another hot-spot for birding. Being a Rift Valley soda lake, it provides a completely different habitat for avifauna compared to Naivasha’s freshwater ecosystem. Lesser and greater flamingos can almost always be seen filter-feeding on microscopic algae and crustaceans in their thousands. Flocks of pied avocets and spoonbills are also frequently seen feeding in the shallows. Cape teals bob along on the water’s surface and grey-headed gulls patrol the shoreline from the skies. While both pink-backed and great-white pelicans descend upon the lake great numbers for feeding and breeding.

Climb Mount Longonot

We are able to arrange a climb up Mt Longonot. Mt Longonot is a dormant volcano which lies in the Great Rift Valley and is visible from Lake Naivasha. This is a demanding hike but the views from the top across the Great Rift Valley and Lake Naivasha are glorious. There is a thick forest on the crater floor and the volcano’s slopes are home to buffalo, eland, lion, leopard, bush buck, zebra, giraffe, Grant’s gazelles. As well as countless species of wild flowers and some interesting bird life.

A picnic lunch for guests going on the climb can be arranged. Please note Mt Longonot is a strenuous climb and clients must be in good health and fit to take on the climb.

Lake Oloidien

Heading off on a 45-minute drive around the western side of Lake Naivasha brings you to another small lake. Boats are available for hire and will take you for a leisurely cruise along the lake edge. This lake has particularly prolific bird life and a healthy population of hippo. Take a picnic basket of tea and cake and stop along the lake shore to take in the beauty of this little corner of Africa.

Visit to flower farm

Kenya is one of the largest growers and suppliers of flowers to the European market – it’s where many Valentine’s Day long-stem roses come from!

We can arrange a visit to a nearby flower farm for guests staying at Loldia House. Guests are given a guided walk through the farm’s greenhouses to see how the flowers are grown, harvested and prepared for shipment to Europe. From cutting to arriving at auction in Europe the process and transport takes just over 48hrs to ensure they arrive fresh!

Kenya Bird of Prey Trust

Escorted by a highly skilled and experienced guide, depart after an early breakfast to Eburru Forest. Arriving in time for the early morning activity of it’s forest birds with a bush walk. Golden-winged and Tacazze sunbirds, Doherty’s Bush-Shrike, White-Headed Wood-Hoopoes, Narina’s Trogan and more can be found in the lush vegetation of Eburru Forest.

After an early morning of birding, continue through the forest by road passing over the ridge of Eburru and descending down towards Soysambu Conservancy in the north. Here over 450 birds have been recorded in the conservancy itself. Soysambu encompasses Lake Elementeita, one of the Rift’s soda lakes. And home to a stable and larger seasonal population of Greater and Lesser Flamingoes, Great White and Pink-Backed Pelican. Avocets, Sandpipers, Snipes and Spoonbills are some of the other species occupying the water and shorelines. Out in the open grasslands, Ground Hornbills, Secretary Birds and several species of Bustards can be found.

After a picnic lunch, visit the Raptor Rehabilitation Center on Soysambu, run by the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust. Simon Thomsett uses the principles of falconry to rehabilitate injured raptors back into the wild. View a demonstration of falconry. The center also houses 2 x African Crowned Eagle pairs, from who 11 generations of chicks have been released into the wild.

Horse Riding

Head off on a 1.5hr horse ride throughout wildlife-rich Sanctuary Farm. An area teeming with bat-eared foxes, warthogs, giraffes, hippo, eland, zebra, buffalo and gazelles. You’ll ride across the open plains to view the abundant game. And then along the lake shore where you’ll see lots of hippo in the lake.

This is a safe and professional outfit where riders of all skills are welcome. You will be asked about your experience prior to arrival to pair you with the right horse and provide the right level of support. We highly recommend this activity! Must be booked by the day before.

Golf at Great Rift Valley Lodge

We can arrange for guests to go to play golf at the nearby Great Rift Valley Lodge. The golf course has 18 holes and is located above Loldia. There are lovely views out over Lake Naivasha, Mount Longonot and across to the Abedare Mountains. Great Rift Valley Lodge also swimming pool. There is plenty of bird life on the course and guests can sometimes see zebra wandering across the fairways. Guest need to pay entrance fee, green fees, hire of golf clubs and caddie fees.

Trip to Hell’s Gate National Park

Hell’s Gate National Park is known for its interesting geology and the steam geysers that are found in some areas. It is possible to hike down the gorge to the hot springs and one of our resident naturalists will be happy to accompany you on the walk.

Aside from the spectacular geology, Hell’s Gate is also home to a wide range of wildlife. Despite its relatively small size, the area’s wildlife includes giraffes, lions, leopards, buffalo, thomson gazelles, and eland antelopes. The high cliffs of the park are also ideal for nesting birds, which total around 103 species. Of particular note is the bearded vulture – a rare yet stunningly beautiful bird.

Crater Lake

Guided morning or afternoon walks around this 14-hectare lake can be arranged. The crater lake is home to a troop of over 70 Black and White Colobus monkeys and 400 bird species. 100 of which can easily be spotted in a day. At certain times during the year flocks of flamingos congregate here in numbers as high as three or four thousand.

We are still adding accommodation for Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivaisha so if you have somewhere in mind, please let us know.

Loldia House (Lake Naivasha)

Posted: April 19, 2023

Loldia House is on the shores of Lake Naivasha. Perfectly located to enjoy many activities, landscapes and wildlife areas of the Great Rift Valley