Geoffrey Dean travels to the Lewa & Borana Conservancies in Kenya where Prince William proposed to Kate
We flew in the open-air Waco biplane at no higher than a few hundred feet above the dry East African terrain for thirty minutes. Taking off at 6.45am on a golden January morning from savannah near the foot of Mt Kenya in the Lewa Conservancy, we passed over a herd of elephants and were soon bisecting a narrow valley that twisted and turned. Will Craig expertly navigated his way through it, dipping his wings with the intuitive understanding from years as a crop-spraying pilot. Soon we crossed over into the spectacular adjoining Borana Conservancy and flew over a pair of black rhinos that were browsing beneath us.
One of Borana's renowned sheer rock faces popped up as Craig flew alongside it. Then, after enjoying majestic views of the snow-capped Mt Kenya, on whose slopes Prince William proposed to Kate, we dived through another steep valley and returned to the airfield near the Lewa Wilderness Lodge. So ended the most exhilarating of starts to a day. Lewa is the only place in Africa where you can do this flight - two passengers able to sit side-by-side in the front seat with the pilot behind them. In Tiger Moths, which look almost identical, the pilot is always in front, and seats are single.
This unique flight is one of the many factors that makes the Lewa and Borana Conservancies so special. In 2013, Lewa was inscribed with UNESCO World Heritage Site status, and Borana may soon follow. The two are now a single entity in wildlife terms after the fences between them were taken down at the start of 2015. This was done because Lewa had reached its rhino carrying capacity (70 blacks and 65 whites), while the smaller Borana, with its 20 black rhino, is able to absorb double that number.
With the fence down, allowing freedom of movement, rhino numbers can be spread more evenly and increased as a result. Given the critically high rate poaching of rhinos in Africa, fuelled by Asian demand for their horns, it is gratifying to report that not one rhino has been poached in either conservancy since the second half of 2013. Local community initiatives, particularly subsidies of schools, have yielded vital intelligence against the poachers, who have been foiled by a well-armed team of Kenyan rangers, trained by a former member of the SAS.
To get the most out of a visit to the twin conservancies, it is best to spend a week or ten days and stay at each of the three best options: Lewa Wilderness Lodge, Lewa House and Borana Lodge. All offer something different, being in different areas, and allow you to experience the full scope and variety of the 93,000 acres that constitute the combined area. It is completely malaria-free due to its altitude of around 6,500 feet above sea-level.
Will Craig and his wife Emma are consummate hosts at Lewa Wilderness, offering a wide range of things to do. They have a choice of over 30 horses to ride out in the bush, offering guests the chance to get much closer to wildlife than in a vehicle. We rode right up to some Grevy zebra, a species so endangered there are only 3,000 left in Africa, 350 being in Lewa. For those who don't fancy getting on a horse, there is the option of a camel ride, which is especially popular with children. Walking safaris are also a delight from Lewa Wilderness as I found one afternoon, when my guide and I encountered a group of six white rhinos, who came within 25 yards of us and had no idea of our presence as we we were downwind of them.
There is also excellent walking, not to mention stupendous views of the Matthews Range fifty kms away, from Lewa House. The home of Calum and Sophie Macfarlane, this is a smaller setup than Lewa Wilderness (whose capacity is 20) and delightfully intimate. An adjacent waterhole attracts a steady stream of animals throughout the day, particularly elephant, and a nearby marshy area provides some superb game-viewing. There, we were the only vehicle that saw nine wild dogs feed on a male impala they had chased down. That same day, we came across three male cheetah brothers traversing the savannah, and two lionesses with cubs on a collapsed tree trunk. Lewa House is ideal for families, the Macfarlanes having two small children of their own, although kids are also welcome at the other two lodges..
The game is so plentiful and varied on Lewa and Borana that in my five days there, I completed sightings of the Big Five, never a given due to the elusiveness of leopards. But on my final evening just after sunset, we saw a big male after being alerted by some loud barking from monkeys and baboons. Nonchalently walking away from them as if to feign a lack of interest, this leopard allowed us to watch him for twenty minutes, much longer than the fleeting glimpses you normally get of this cat.
Ian Craig, the renowned conservationist with whom William and Kate stayed when he popped the question, has three orphaned male rhinos living round the back of his home near Lewa House. All aged between 20 and 28 months at the start of 2015, these friendly and happy youngsters live with their Kenyan handlers and love human attention. The baby-like cooing that they make tugs at your heartstrings as they allow you to pat them and scratch their heads on their bush walks. This sort of inter-action is another reason why Lewa is such a magical conservancy for visitors.
Borana, with its much steeper terrain than most of Lewa, offers views that are amongst the most spectacular in East Africa. Its lodge, too, has a score of horses, on which to ride out and encounter its wildlife and scenic beauty. A former cattle ranch, the Dyer family turned it over to game in the early 1990s and have created a secluded hideaway that is beguilingly romantic. Considerable imagination has been given to the way the lodge blends into the hillside, and its swimming pool has one of those infinity views that take your breath away. Indeed, Borana has an indefinable spirituality about it that makes it one of those places you have to visit before you die.
FACT BOX
Kenya Airways fly daily to Nairobi (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport) from London Heathrow (www.kenyaairways.com).
Air Kenya operates daily flights from Nairobi (Wilson Airport) to Lewa Downs
For bookings at Lewa Wilderness and Borana Lodge, visit www.handpickedafrica.co.uk (rates start at US$795 pp per night; Waco biplane flight for two, $600)
For Lewa House, visit www.lewahouse.com