Take an old cattle ranch facing Mount Kenya on 50,000 acres of Kenyan savannah. Build eight separate wood and thatch villas to Conde’ Nast luxury travel standards with a hot tub on every veranda overlooking a watering hole with spectacular view. My highlight were the elephants that appeared at dusk and dawn, martial and snake eagles, silver-backed Jackals.
Add fine cuisine, an extravagant and huge art collection, enlightened community conservation programmes and run it all on solar power and sustainable water management. What do you get? The answer still would not add up to the unique experience that is Segera Retreat. The scope and breadth of it all defies simple addition.
Jochen Zeitz, the man behind Segera, has built the establishment around his foundation’s philosophy whose mantra is sustainability through the 4 Cs — “conservation, community, culture, and commerce.” Small wonder that he was invited to give a plenary address representing the global business community at last year’s IUCN World Park Congress, a landmark global forum on protected areas in Sydney in November.
Segera oozes high-end luxury, that will set a privileged pocket back by about $1,000 (Sh97,000) per person per night for the experience. It has been voted as one of the world’s top new hotels in Conde Nast Traveller magazine and is part of 35 similar destinations around the world trading under the banner Global Ecosphere Retreats.
It’s reminiscent of Out of Africa, the 1985 Sydney Pollack film that launched a generation of safari-suited visitors to the continent and a wave of films, books and shops to feed that curiosity. It’s not just the yellow Gypsy Moth bi-plane in the hangar, the same one used in the film and flown occasionally by Zeitz, or the convertible Rolls Royce Silver Shadow on display in the garage. Being there reminds you of Africa’s unending magnetism for those in search of space, spiritual refreshment, wildlife and astonishment. And in remarkable comfort.
It’s odd to be writing about a relatively new addition to Kenya’s high-end lodges when the country’s tourism is in the doldrums. But manager Jens Kozany is unfazed, phlegmatic and optimistic. “We are actually doing quite well. Tourism will increase again, that’s sure, and it’s not all about making money, it’s to share.”
“The first thing we did when the property was acquired eight years ago, was to tear down all the wire fences so that animals could move freely, especially as this is a migration corridor,” says Kozany, all except for the fence to the South, “ to keep the animals away from the communities and keep them safe.”
That said, Segera has not had a single case of poaching in two years and relies on its own community guards and people to sound the alarm if intruders come into the area.
Inside the retreat itself sustainability is a watchword. Employing 200 local people, the place runs on solar power completely with backup generators for emergencies. “We don’t just shine in the front and burn at the back,” says the manager. “We are serious.”
Grey water is recycled for the ornamental and vegetable gardens. An extraordinary tower shaped like a Samburu women’s neck decoration, which keeps 20,000 bottles of African wine cool through a collected rainwater system and solar-powered air conditioning. No two villas are alike but all are furnished to the highest standards and taste. Guests are encouraged to enjoy the place as the word retreat suggests: “a religious or spiritual term for time taken to reflect or meditate.” As such, the villas can only accomodate 30 guests at one go. There are no organised daily game drives, no bells sounding dinner. Guests can dine together if they want, but privacy and serenity are respected above all.
Segera also embraces community involvement. It has engaged local people in grazing committees so they can feed their livestock in an organized way at rates agreed by landowners across the plateau.
Also, it identified three schools built with help from the Zeitz Foundation. They are all innovatively designed with inverted roofs and water catchment tanks to collect rainwater, feed school and irrigate community gardens. More so, the foundation has established a library, environmental education centre and sports stadium supported by Segera and neighbouring ranches.
The community has, with Segera’s help, created income for itself by growing and cultivating food with rainwater harvested for the purpose.
“We thought we could teach people how to grow vegetables. What happened was that we created a sustainable business for the community – they sell a lot and women have turned into remarkable entrepreneurs,” says Kozany.
Segera offers wonderful space in which to sink into an armchair and look at nightfall over Mount Kenya with elephant, giraffe and zebra in the foreground.
From somewhere, my memory perhaps, I think I could hear Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A playing scratchily on a wind-up phonograph.
