We are delighted to offer a brand-new activity for guests at Loldia House – horse riding with Bellafrica Journeys! This is a truly wonderful way to take in the stunning scenery of Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, as well as the joy of getting closer to the wildlife, than you would from a vehicle. The outfit is very professional with seven beautiful horses located on the Mundui Conservancy on the western side of Lake Naivasha, next to Lake Oloidien, also known as the ‘Little Lake’. Enjoy an hour and a half of trail riding across the open rolling plains of the conservancy, spotting all kinds of game from atop the saddle, including giraffe, buffalo, eland, zebra, gazelle, warthog, jackal and bat-eared fox. There are also a number of resident leopard in the area, and if you are very lucky you might just spot one of them! As you walk along the lake shore, you will see plenty of hippo wallowing in the shallow waters to keep cool. Your ride will end back at Mundui House or Hippo Point where a cold towel and a cup of freshly brewed coffee awaits you. This activity is suitable for all levels of riders – from complete beginners to professionals and it is designed to allow guests to truly appreciate the beauty of the lake and the wildlife that calls its shores their home, through a safe, leisurely guided tour.
Bellafrica Journeys – photo credit Alisa Bowen
We have another new addition at Loldia – a newly refurbished, sixteen foot, mono hull boat with twin Yamaha 50-horsepower engines which can carry up to six passengers. This is very exciting as we are now be able to offer longer boating excursions as well as the option to take a trip over to Crescent Island – the boat is very spacious with plenty of shade or rain cover – depending on the weather!
Loldia’s new boat ready to take to the lake! Photo credit Thor Karstad
Birdlife on Lake Naivasha – photo credit Will Fortescue
On the night of the 1st of July, we were graced with a visit from a leopard who chose to wander straight past the Loldia House gate at around 9pm! The night guards were alerted to his/her presence by the snorting of the water buck who were not happy with this intruder in their midst. We also have many Impala who prefer to sleep on the lawn directly in front on the main house, who also act as a good alarm call for such predators during the night.
Every evening, a pod of hippo congregates down in front of the right-hand side of the Loldia House boundary – plucking up the courage to venture out for their night time grazing expedition. It’s lovely to head down and quietly sit on one of the swinging chairs, inside the fenced area, and watch them splashing around in the shallows until finally one trudges out and that gives the others the much-needed encouragement to follow the leader. Usually between six to eight individuals use this point to come out onto land and from here they will venture inland as far as several kilometres, before returning to the lake in the early hours of the morning. We offer night game drives at Loldia House – guests usually depart after dinner – and this is a great opportunity to experience all the nocturnal animals and their night time activities.
On the 12th of July I was lucky enough to spot two marsh mongooses (Atilax paludinosus)! This was the first time I’d ever seen a marsh mongoose and considering that they are generally solitary animals, it was a real bonus to see two together, walking along the papyrus-lined shore close to the house. They are crepuscular animals, meaning that they are mainly active during the early morning dawn and late evening dusk hours. They tend to sleep in burrows throughout the rest of the day. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to snap a photo of them as they are incredibly shy and as soon as they saw me coming, they darted beneath a scrubby bush. I was able to watch them peering out from the dark undergrowth at me, but as soon as I tried to get my camera out from the back of my car, they had completely disappeared!
The Loldia House spa has been doing really well with plenty of guests enjoying a range of massages, facials and nail treatments. We only use sustainably developed, organic skincare products that harnesses the potency of Africa’s botanical heritage – two of which are made locally in Kenya. The Spa is located at the pool area and guests can choose to have their treatments done there or even in their rooms.
Terres’s D’Afrique, an organic skincare range as used in Loldia’s Spa – photo credit Will Fortescue
By Alisa Bowen, Guest Experience Manager at Governors’ Camp Collection.
