Lewa Safari Camp: A romantic plan to remember
Or let's look for Out of Africa. The image of Denys Finch Hatton arriving unannounced at Karen Blixen's (aka Isak Dinesen) farm, excuse me, that was love . Karen telling stories in front of the fire was love. Karen brushing her straw-blond bangs aside while she slept in the rocking chair was love. Denis washing his hair by the river was love . Love or its surroundings, who cares. None of that could be lived in another place because in Kenya everything is more and better. Everything is wilder, more extreme and definitely more romantic.
You decide your own route at Lewa Safari Camp
Romanticism can be anywhere because it is not a place, but an energy, but if we have to look for a romantic room we have to travel to Kenya. We are sorry to resort to the cliché of the movie meryl streep Y Robert Redford : this magazine does not deserve such easy clichés. But every topic comforts. Thanks to this film we have fantasized about Kenya . When we travel there we see that the reality is even more extraordinary, although there are no longer gentlemen's clubs to shock.
Pure Kenya
This country is dotted with rooms that seem invented to tell stories or listen to them . Almost any would do to talk about romantic rooms, which is what should be done at this time; but let's not be vague in its double meaning: lazy and diffuse. Let's concrete. There is a room, of the thousands that embrace in Kenya, that would make Karen and Denis look at us with envy . Now it's their turn.
It is at Lewa Safari Camp. This is one of the many camps in the country's natural parks. Here's a flowery fact: Prince William of England proposed to Kate Middleton right here . We already said that it was a flowery fact. It is in Lewa, a Conservatory of Wild Fauna; it sounds like music and that doesn't bother us. What is done in these reserves is to protect a wild animal, the rhinoceros, as simple and relevant as that. Originally it was the house of the rhinoceros caretaker . Today, the original house is the main building of the hotel, where you can spend your afternoons reading, discussing the emotions of the day and watching the fire in the fireplace. The rhinoceros lived freely on these 2,000 hectares and was so well protected that the entire property was dedicated to the animal. Buildings were added and it became a hotel. Today it is a role model in sustainability and commitment to the community. Belonging to Elewana Collection , but let's stop talking about corporate data, always anticlimactic. Let's return to love and its surroundings.
Rhinos at Lewa Safari Camp
A suite at Lewa Safari Camp is exactly what we imagine when we travel to a suite at a good camp. Reassures that reality corresponds to fantasies . Surprises are unsettling. This suite is romantic because it is remote, private, simple and beautiful, the requirements that we ask of such a place. In Kenya there are many similar. But we have chosen Lewa Safari Camp because Karen and Denys would have liked it although it is not very close to the Ngong Hills.
In the suite of this camp there is bed with mosquito nets (there are mosquitoes, because this is Africa). There are no cabinets, no televisions, no iPads, no bar cabinet . How exotic is everything. If you want a vinazo you ask for it. But beware, there is no phone. You'll have to use a walkie and that moment goes, immediately, to the album of mental memories. In Kenya they give you a flashlight to use at night because at night there is no light, only stars. In the suite there is a porch with armchairs and chairs from which you can see… Nothing is visible. There is no light, there are no buildings, there are no people. There is purity and silence and darkness that is something that perhaps we haven't seen for decades. Traveling was just that: seeing what we don't see.
Love at Lewa Safari Camp
The nights in Kenya are very dark. There are strange and unidentifiable noises . It's nice to have someone close by, under the mosquito net, because it's better to ward off fear than to try to find out the animal that produces it. In Kenya the nights are short because you get up early and sunrises are always romantic. It is to go out on safari with your eyes still glued and after a Kenyan coffee. The days break with indolent moments in the hotel. Most travelers can't help but bring an Isak Dinesen book. Why avoid it? In this camp there are healthy lunches with a Mediterranean aftertaste, **a swimming pool (every romantic plan needs it)**, sofas on which to let the hours pass and cocktails at the end of the day.
Don't miss the pool
And the animals. Where do we leave the animals? In schools they should prepare us to see animals like this. We know about buffalo, about elephants, but there are some that we thought only existed in animated movies. Here too there are brown rivers that look like aliens. In Kenya it seems that they have just made the world, that the label is still on and they have invited us to its premiere . That's romantic because it's memorable. The biblical rivers of Kenya are always remembered. Also the breakfasts at the end of the walks and the time spent looking at the horizon on the porch of the room. Suddenly, in the distance, an elephant appears and you are there, wrapped in your shawl, with someone nearby and, suddenly, everything falls into place and trips are those and love was that. Isak, Denis: Thanks for everything, but now it's our turn.
Nights to remember at Lewa Safari Camp