Tawi Lodge

Tawi Lodge is an independent lodge in the 3,000-acre Tawi Conservancy, a community-run conservancy on the edge of Amboseli National Park, five minutes from Kimana Gate, the park's eastern entrance. The Maasai landowners are paid a lease for their land, which keeps it open to wildlife. On a clear day Kilimanjaro fills the view from the main grounds, though the view differs from one cottage to the next. The cottages have private decks, four-poster beds, fireplaces and bathrooms with both a bath and a shower, and there is a pool facing the waterhole and a safari spa. Staying on a conservancy gives you both halves of an Amboseli safari: game drives inside the national park, plus night drives and bush walks with Maasai guides on Tawi's own land. Bush breakfasts, sundowners with Kilimanjaro behind, balloon flights over Amboseli and visits to a Maasai village and the local school can all be arranged. Tawi holds a Gold eco-rating and runs mainly on solar power. Daily flights land at Amboseli airstrip, charters can use Tawi's private airstrip, and the road from Nairobi takes about five hours.