Solio Ranch

Rhino overload

This is the most southerly conservancy in Laikipia, easily accessed from the towns of Nyeri or Nanyuki, and one of the few that actively encourages private day visits (the first lodge opened on the property as recently as 2011). Since 1970 it has functioned as a key breeding centre for introduced founder populations of 23 black and 16 white rhino, and there truly is no better place in Kenya to see these endangered creatures – we must have seen more than 50 white and ten black rhinos in the course of an overnight stay. We also had great sightings of lion and cheetah, along with large numbers of buffalo, zebra, giraffe, eland and Beisa oryx, and were impressed at the condition of the pristine fever tree forest that follows the main waterway through the reserve (a result of elephant being excluded from the property). The one negative about this reserve is that it is very small and the concentrations of rhino and other grazers seem somewhat artificial. Still, the rhino viewing alone is superb, and the newly opened lodge is easily one of the most stylish bush retreats in Kenya.