SOSIAN SAFARI LODGE

Min 3 Nights |From $2,850 per person | Laikipia, Kenya

Elegant home-from-home atmosphere

OVERVIEW

Sosian will make you feel at home in the wilderness with beautiful accommodation and endless safari adventure to keep you as busy or relaxed as you choose! With over 24,000 acres of private wilderness let Sosian become your new home in the bush.

Today, the beautifully restored ranch house is an intimate and homely safari lodge, and since the restoration of the ranch, the wildlife (including many endangered species such as wild dog, reticulated giraffe and Grevy’s zebra) has increased in great numbers, becoming a premier wildlife destination.

Sosian remains a functioning cattle ranch as well as a luxury safari lodge. There is a wonderful balance between cattle ranching and wildlife conservation that hugely benefits both parties and Sosian is a shining example of how this can be achieved.

Let’s ride!

HIGHLIGHTS

OVERVIEW

RIDE GUIDE

Duration: 3 night minimum stay

Cost: Rates are seasonal from low to peak and start at $750 per adult per night

Operator: Sosian Lodge

Where: Laikipia, Kenya

When: All year

Riding level: Intermediate to experienced. You must be comfortable at all paces in open country.

Weight limit: Maximum of 95kg/210lbs

Time in the saddle: 2 to 6 hours a day

HORSES

There are 26 horses (including children’s ponies), many of which are bred at Sosian. Riders must have considerable riding experience and be confident at all paces, so that they can handle a horse in open country and cope with close encounters with big game should it arise.

Rides tend to be 2-3 hours in the morning and/or evenings, with groups no bigger than 8 riders. Guests are lead by an experienced guide, plus a back up rider/groom.

Sosian can also cater for young children and novice riders with short rides close to the lodge and simple lessons in the fenced arena.

ACCOMMODATION

Today the original ranch house is now the centre piece of Sosian Lodge, made up of a large sitting room, dining room, bar and billiards room, with an expansive wrap around veranda, offering undisturbed views of the bush beyond.

The bedrooms, eight in total, are spaced out across the lodge gardens.

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WHAT'S INCLUDED

Full board accommodation, all drinks (except Champagne), day and night game drives, horse riding, guided walks, camel treks, fly camping (without horses), fishing, ranching activities, visits to the Sosian community project, school and clinic, Sosian airstrip transfers and laundry.

WHAT’S EXCLUDED

Insurance, international and domestic flights, visa costs.

Late departure (after 12pm) includes morning activities and lunch; Adult $60, Teen $40 & Child $30

Overnight fly camp with Horses; $130 per rider per night and must be pre-booked

Exclusive use of vehicle; $350 per vehicle per day

TRANSFERS

You will either be collected from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport or if you have arrived earlier, from your Nairobi hotel, and transferred to Wilson Airport for your 10am flight to Mara North in the Masai Mara.

Offbeat organise your domestic flights for you. Flights from Nairobi Wilson to the Masai Mara are 1 hour and you must check in at least 1 hour before your flight. If the ride begins at the River Camp you will land into Mara North Airstrip and drive 30 minutes to camp. If the ride begins at the Olare Lamun Camp you will land into Naibosho Ol Seki Airstrip and drive 30 minutes to camp.

Check in is from 11am

MEALS

Sosian are passionate about food! Being so remote, popping into town is not always very easy, so over the years they have nurtured their own extensive kitchen garden, and have become largely self sufficient, growing their own salads and vegetables.

Sosian also rear their own pigs and source high quality, farm fresh beef, chicken and lamb from our neighbours.

With these wonderful ingredients, the head chef has no problem producing wholesome, organic, home cooked meals throughout your stay at Sosian. They can cater for any dietary requirements for all the family.

WHAT TO PACK

Refer to our FA Q for what to pack on a horse riding holiday. Once your booking is confirmed we will share a detailed packing list.

Domestic flights have a weight allowance of maximum 15 kilos including hand luggage. A soft bag is preferable to a hard case on safari.

Laundry is available.

Helmets are not provided. Please bring your own if you choose to wear one.

INTERNET

There is wifi in the lodge and there is intermittent ‘Safaricom’ 3G signal in the surrounding area.

There are UK 3 point plug charging point in Kenya.

VISAS & VACCINES

Every visitor to Kenya needs to apply for an ETA online prior to their arrival . These cost $34 and take around 3 working days to process.

We will share a guide on how to apply for your ETA once your booking is confirmed.

Please ask your doctor for advice on what vaccinations and malaria medication are required before travelling.

Yellow Fever vaccinations are required if you are travelling from or to a country that requires it. Kenya itself does not require it. However if travelling from/to South Africa or Zanzibar for example, then you will require the vaccine.

PRICE & AVAILABILITY

You can stay at Sosian Lodge all year except for May.

Complete an obligation free Rider Form and we will be in touch with availability.

A seven night stay in the low season starts from $6,650: $5,600 per person sharing + conservation fees of $1,050.

The full rate table is below.

SPECIALS

1. EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT (5% off the accommodation rates on bookings that confirm with a deposit 9 months prior to travel date). Applicable all seasons and combinable with Specials No. 2, 3 & 4

2. FAMILY DISCOUNT (the 3rd child sharing a triple pays Conservation fees only). Applicable all seasons and combinable with Specials No. 1, 5 & 6.

3. HONEYMOONERS DISCOUNT (25% off the accommodation rates for the bride). Applicable all seasons and combinable with Special No. 1. 1. Honeymooners must travel within 9 months of their marriage date.

4. PER SINGLE RATE is only charged from the second single room per booking. (First single pays the per Adult sharing rate). Applicable all seasons and combinable with Specials No’s 1 & 5.

5. 5 NIGHTS FOR THE PRICE OF 4 (Conservation fees payable on all nights). Applicable Low Season only and combinable with Specials No. 2 & 4.

TRANSFERS

Transfers between Nairobi and Sosian are by private charter flight (about 50 minutes), or by an hours scheduled Safarilink flight to Loisaba or Nanyuki and onward vehicle transfer (one or two hour drive respectively).

Scheduled safari link flights are approximately USD200 per person, each way, Nairobi / Loisaba or Nanyuki, including taxes.

Overland transfers can also be arranged - it is about a 5 hour drive from Nairobi.

Loisaba Airstrip transfer (50 mins one way); $110 per vehicle (7-seater) Includes $50 Loisaba entrance fee

Nanyuki Airstrip transfer (2hrs one way); $250 per vehicle (6-seater)

KENYA

Currency is Kenyan Shillings. Most shops in Nairobi will take a credit card. Offbeat Safaris T shirts and caps are available as well as local Masai goods which can be paid for on a cash only basis in US Dollars or Kenyan shillings (small denominations are advisable).

Time Zone: Eastern African Time/GMT +3

Climate: You ride at an average of 5500ft, which makes for warm days (up to 28°C and cool nights (down to 11°C) and very few mosquitoes. August/September/October are the best months for seeing the wildebeest and zebra migration from the Serengeti, but these animals can be seen in good numbers all year round.

Visit this uncannily accurate weather website

You need a visa to enter Kenya. Kenyan entry visas are exclusively issued electronically, with passengers required to obtain their e-visas before departure. You can apply for single entry and transit visas on the e-visas website.

Lodge Based Riding

1-3 Hours morning and/or evening

Kenya is the birthplace of horseback safaris, offering some of Africa’s most outstanding riding. Sosian is no exception to this, and over the last 10 years has become one of Kenya’s top lodge based riding destinations. With over 24,000 acres of pure Laikipia wilderness, traversing this vast expanse of game filled land with Mt Kenya as a backdrop is an entirely private experience to only those staying at Sosian.

Sosian offers a great variety of riding, across open plains filled with zebra, oryx, giraffe, eland and gazelle, stretching down into thicker valleys harboring kudu, buffalo and elephant, plus a further 15km of river providing superb birding, as well as hosting large numbers of hippos and yet more elephant, plus the not-so-elusive leopard.

Riding is generally 2-3 hours in the mornings and/or afternoons and riders can spend up to 6 hours per day in the saddle. We often ride to bush breakfasts or sundowners, which seem to appear from nowhere as you turn a corner on a particularly beautiful stretch of the river or reach the top of a breathtaking escarpment.

Overnight Fly Camp with Horses

A night under the stars

For the keener riders we can offer a 1-night fly camp with the horses. Leaving the lodge after lunch we ride approximately three hours north, exploring the rivers and escarpments along the way, arriving at our fly camp that evening, in time for a sundowner. With simple tents, a long drop loo and a traditional hot safari shower, guests can settle in for the night with a bush dinner and then fall asleep to the sounds of the African bush.

We have a 2nd stable block up on these northern plains where the horses spend the night. The following morning we get up early, have some tea and then head out across the plains on the horses. Riding back southwards towards the lodge, we stop for a bush breakfast before riding back into the lodge in time for lunch at the pool and a chance to cool off after the long morning’s

ACCOMMODATION

Four double cottages are dotted throughout the gardens, against a back drop of Mt Kenya with views for miles over the Laikipia Plateau. This is true unspoilt Africa. The lodge has a beautiful swimming pool, plus a tennis court, organic vegetable garden, and a stable yard of 30 safari horses. The list of safari activities available is extensive and the ranch lies at an altitude of 5,500 ft, which makes for a perfect climate, with no record of malaria.

There are four twin rooms, each with en suite bathroom and its own veranda. There are three double rooms, each with an en suite bathroom and its own veranda.

Family Cottage: This cottage can either be a two or three bedroom unit, accommodating a family of up to seven people. There is a double room with an interconnecting twin or triple, which has its own bathroom with tub.

Italian Cottage: This is the honeymoon cottage, which is set in its own private garden area with extra privacy. It is the largest of all of the rooms with a bedroom, walk-through closet and large bathroom with twin basins, shower, and bath.

HOW TO BOOK

1) Complete an obligation free Rider Form

2) We will confirm availability

3) Secure your saddle with a 20% deposit. The balance is due 90 days before departure.

Cancellation Terms

More than 120 days in advance: Full deposit is returned net of bank charges a 3% Offbeat admin fee on the full ride value and an agent booking fee of $250.

120 – 91 days in advance: Full deposit is forfeited.

90 - 0 days in advance: 100% of full amount is forfeited

No refund will be given for clients who join a safari but leave before its completion.

Amendments and cancellations are only effective on receipt of written notification.

Should an amended booking fall in a different season, new season rates will apply

Offbeat Safaris Holdings Ltd reserves the right to review published rates in the event of currency fluctuations or increases in taxes/levies/charges and costs that are beyond our control.