The Malibu Artist

Sweetwaters Tented Camp 
at Ol Prejeta Conservancy: Overview

The 90,000 acre Ol Prejeta Conservancy is a private reserve in the heart of Kenya. The conservancy is situated on the equator, in Kenya’s Laikipia Deistict, between the foothills of the Aberdares and the snow-capped Mount Kenya. The conservancy hosts a large variety of animals, including the “Big Five”, Grey’s zebra, Jackson’s hartebeest, cheetah, and chimpanzee. It is also the home of the Jane Goodall Chimpanzee 
sanctuary.

This is a unique place. One of my favorite parts of the this reserve is the lit waterhole that is next to all the tents. During the day, it hosts a variety of wild animals including zebras, warthogs, and countless antelope. One of my favorite memories was dinner at Sweetwaters. The elephants would come to drink water in the evening just as dinner was being served.

Sunrise over the waterhole that sits next to all the tents at Sweetwaters Tented Camp.

Lodging:
Lodging in my opinion was about a star below the Intrepids at Samburu, but nonetheless, it was a great experience. Nearly every tent has a waterhole view with some tents having a clear view of Mount Kenya. The Dining room was large and offered a variety of buffet style meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The desert options here were exceptionally good with their bread pudding being among the best I've ever had. There was complimentary tea and coffee in the lobby for anyone to have before going on their game drives.

Game Drives:
Now the game drives here are a bit different than the game drives in Samburu. First of all, the roads are much better than the large game reserves. And second, the amount of animals you will see in a short amount of time is vastly greater simply because the reserve is so much smaller than the much larger Samburu and vastly larger Masai Mara. For anyone wanting to photograph all types of animals, Sweetwaters offered a near guaranteed opportunity to do so. The big cats, however, are still very elusive. We did not see any leopards or cheetahs here and only saw one lioness hidden in the bush. There are plenty of opportunities for bird photography and some beautiful landscape opportunities as well. In fact, one of the prettest meadows I've ever seen happens to be within Old Prejeta Conservancy.  Below are some highlights of the game drive.

African Fish eagle. 

Baboons in a meadow. 

Mount Kenya.