Shompole
When Shompole opened in 2001, its coolly stylish interiors – free-flowering white concrete, rough-hewn figwood, smooth, round river stones and plunge pools under thatch-sent shivers up the spines of regular safari goers. Yet the hotel, which clings to southern Kenya‘s Nguruman escapement views over the Rift Valley, is also here to benefit the wildlife and local Maasai people.
Since the conservancy was established, the number of lions on the previously overgrazed, overpoached land has increased tenfold, and elephants have come back down from the Lolita Hills – exhilarating night drives also reveal glimpses of civets, beat-eared foxes, and aardwolves. Game drives are a big part of a stay there, as is watching flamingos on Lake Natron.
The community has also used its conservation fee to pay for rangers, teachers, nurses, and secondary school bursaries, and helped to build and run the six-bedroom lodge. This has evolved to include a two-suite annex with a long thin lap pool (Little Shompole), an intimate, family house with lawns and fountains (Shompole House), and another private unit, 360, practically tumbling down the escarpment , with a dumbbell-shaped pool and a helipad for flying to Ol Donyo Lengai, an active volcano across the Tanzanian border. There is also a shop selling unique pieces of African jewelry and a modest spa, which offers treatments incorporating the muds of lake Natron.
Even without leaving the lodge, guests can enjoy the astonishing sunsets over Shompole Mounatain, and a feeling of utter peace.
Photos by: Furyk
