OL DONYO WUAS COMES OF AGE AND EXCITING TIMES AHEAD
This year we celebrate the 21st birthday of Ol Donyo Wuas and what a 21 years it has been! We have been through the normal adolescent growing pains from early start up jitters, through fires that nearly destroyed us and the lodge, to weathering the storms of the Gulf War and 9/11 and so on. But through it all Ol Donyo Wuas has blossomed. These 21 years have also seen an incredible turnaround in the wildlife of the area. Poachers and snares littered the area when we first arrived. But now, with 44 game scouts on the payroll, the poachers have all but disappeared and the scouts are having to move further and further away to find their prey. When I first came here we would get excited even if we saw the tracks of an elephant passing through. Today we have elephants most of the day in front of the lodge, including two 1000 pounders who are permanent fixtures. Lion and cheetah concentrations are excellent and their numbers are increasing while our black rhino population is secure.
The wildlife has not been the only beneficiary of Ol Donyo Wuas. The community too has seen significant developments as a result of the lodge. Schools have been built, students educated through to university level, water projects initiated, women's projects set up and effective health programmes are running … and many more.
The purpose of this email is however not to talk of the past as we are looking into major changes and a new beginning. We are working with the Maasai community who have agreed in principal to set aside 70,000 acres as a core conservation area as well as creating wildlife corridors to keep the ancient migration routes open from Amboseli through to the Chyulu National Park and therefore onto Tsavo. This will be land set aside for wildlife and I don’t need to tell you what a major significance in conservation terms this will have not only for the Chyulu Hills area, but also for the Amboseli / Tsavo ecosystem as a whole. It is so exciting I can hardly sleep at night as to the possibilities it will create in producing a wildlife experience that will compete with anywhere in Africa.
This conservation initiative will be owned one hundred per cent by the Maasai community, funded through the lodge’s activities. We hope to conclude a sustainable structure so that it will be theirs in perpetuity. Each individual household within the conservancy will be a beneficiary. Part of our commitment to the community is to ensure that our revenues and benefits accruing to the community increase over time.
Ol Donyo Wuas therefore needs to rebuild the cottage that was gutted by fire earlier this year and the entire lodge needs an upgrade and a refurbishment to maintain its market share to ensure that the community gets fair returns for setting aside even more land for wildlife and conservation. We have looked at all the options on how to achieve this rebuild and upgrade without impinging on or spoiling guests experience while staying there. We realise the only fair way to do this is to temporarily close the lodge for the upgrade and renovations.
Ol Donyo Wuas will therefore close on January 10th, 2008 and will re-open on June 19th, 2008 for a soft opening, with the full opening on July 8th, 2008. When we re-open, the lodge will have a new and exciting design without changing the guest numbers in the lodge, nor its character. The bedrooms, bathrooms and furnishings are where the biggest changes will take place. All bedrooms will now have separate en-suite bathrooms, each with a great view and with a sleep-out option “under-the-stars” on the new bathroom roofs.
This renovation programme will affect any booking you may have at Ol Donyo Wuas between these dates for which we sincerely apologise. But believe it is in all our interests to close the lodge, rather than having unhappy guests while construction work is in progress.
We will have a great tented camp set up near the plains which will continue operating throughout this period. If your guests would enjoy this alternative accommodation option, (subject to dates available and limited to four sleeping tents) we shall happily host them there. If you are unhappy with this, you can cancel your bookings over our renovation period.
For 2008, we are increasing our Ride Kenya horse safari offerings. In addition to our popular 6 night and tailor-made safaris, we are adding a new 4 day safari with guaranteed departures. All these safaris are personally guided and hosted by Patrick Stanton and Nicola Young. These 4 and 6 night safaris have guaranteed monthly departures for a minimum of two guests and a maximum of eight guests. For those who have even less time on their hands, Ride Kenya offers day trips on horseback from Ol Donyo Wuas.
Please accept our apologies for all the resulting inconveniences for the lodge upgrade, but we felt the new lodge and expanded conservation area will speak for themselves when we re-open in June. Thanks again for all your support over the years.
Elizabeth Bean, Kerin Larby and Nicola Young will be at WTM on the ATTA stand and will be able to show you artistic impressions of what the up-graded cottages will look like.
Richard Bonham and Trish Luke
This year we celebrate the 21st birthday of Ol Donyo Wuas and what a 21 years it has been! We have been through the normal adolescent growing pains from early start up jitters, through fires that nearly destroyed us and the lodge, to weathering the storms of the Gulf War and 9/11 and so on. But through it all Ol Donyo Wuas has blossomed. These 21 years have also seen an incredible turnaround in the wildlife of the area. Poachers and snares littered the area when we first arrived. But now, with 44 game scouts on the payroll, the poachers have all but disappeared and the scouts are having to move further and further away to find their prey. When I first came here we would get excited even if we saw the tracks of an elephant passing through. Today we have elephants most of the day in front of the lodge, including two 1000 pounders who are permanent fixtures. Lion and cheetah concentrations are excellent and their numbers are increasing while our black rhino population is secure.
The wildlife has not been the only beneficiary of Ol Donyo Wuas. The community too has seen significant developments as a result of the lodge. Schools have been built, students educated through to university level, water projects initiated, women's projects set up and effective health programmes are running … and many more.
The purpose of this email is however not to talk of the past as we are looking into major changes and a new beginning. We are working with the Maasai community who have agreed in principal to set aside 70,000 acres as a core conservation area as well as creating wildlife corridors to keep the ancient migration routes open from Amboseli through to the Chyulu National Park and therefore onto Tsavo. This will be land set aside for wildlife and I don’t need to tell you what a major significance in conservation terms this will have not only for the Chyulu Hills area, but also for the Amboseli / Tsavo ecosystem as a whole. It is so exciting I can hardly sleep at night as to the possibilities it will create in producing a wildlife experience that will compete with anywhere in Africa.
This conservation initiative will be owned one hundred per cent by the Maasai community, funded through the lodge’s activities. We hope to conclude a sustainable structure so that it will be theirs in perpetuity. Each individual household within the conservancy will be a beneficiary. Part of our commitment to the community is to ensure that our revenues and benefits accruing to the community increase over time.
Ol Donyo Wuas therefore needs to rebuild the cottage that was gutted by fire earlier this year and the entire lodge needs an upgrade and a refurbishment to maintain its market share to ensure that the community gets fair returns for setting aside even more land for wildlife and conservation. We have looked at all the options on how to achieve this rebuild and upgrade without impinging on or spoiling guests experience while staying there. We realise the only fair way to do this is to temporarily close the lodge for the upgrade and renovations.
Ol Donyo Wuas will therefore close on January 10th, 2008 and will re-open on June 19th, 2008 for a soft opening, with the full opening on July 8th, 2008. When we re-open, the lodge will have a new and exciting design without changing the guest numbers in the lodge, nor its character. The bedrooms, bathrooms and furnishings are where the biggest changes will take place. All bedrooms will now have separate en-suite bathrooms, each with a great view and with a sleep-out option “under-the-stars” on the new bathroom roofs.
This renovation programme will affect any booking you may have at Ol Donyo Wuas between these dates for which we sincerely apologise. But believe it is in all our interests to close the lodge, rather than having unhappy guests while construction work is in progress.
We will have a great tented camp set up near the plains which will continue operating throughout this period. If your guests would enjoy this alternative accommodation option, (subject to dates available and limited to four sleeping tents) we shall happily host them there. If you are unhappy with this, you can cancel your bookings over our renovation period.
For 2008, we are increasing our Ride Kenya horse safari offerings. In addition to our popular 6 night and tailor-made safaris, we are adding a new 4 day safari with guaranteed departures. All these safaris are personally guided and hosted by Patrick Stanton and Nicola Young. These 4 and 6 night safaris have guaranteed monthly departures for a minimum of two guests and a maximum of eight guests. For those who have even less time on their hands, Ride Kenya offers day trips on horseback from Ol Donyo Wuas.
Please accept our apologies for all the resulting inconveniences for the lodge upgrade, but we felt the new lodge and expanded conservation area will speak for themselves when we re-open in June. Thanks again for all your support over the years.
Elizabeth Bean, Kerin Larby and Nicola Young will be at WTM on the ATTA stand and will be able to show you artistic impressions of what the up-graded cottages will look like.
Richard Bonham and Trish Luke
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