O'Lerai from the air — the pergola deck on gum-pole stilts, two safari chairs at the rail, the glazed triangular gable behind, an acacia spreading over the watering ground below.

The villas · At the bush edge

O'Lerai Villa

Named for the lerai — the yellow fever acacia of Lake Naivasha's shoreline.

Sleeps four · Two bedrooms · Lowest on the hill

The villa

The smallest of the three, and the closest to the bush.

O'Lerai is the villa people choose for the animals and the quiet. It sits lowest on the hill, at the edge of the estate, where the gardens give out into wild grass and open scrub — and it is built accordingly: one high room under vaulted thatch, two bedrooms off it, and a wall of folding glass-and-timber doors that opens the whole house to its deck.

You come in through a private courtyard and step straight into the great room — rattan pendants under the thatch, a long seating area, a full bar, and the show kitchen along one side. When the doors are concertinaed back, the great room simply continues onto the deck.

The form

One thing worth knowing before you book: O'Lerai is one half of a thatched duplex. It has its own entrance and its own courtyard, and the wide deck beyond the doors is shared with the neighbouring residence — screened by planting and a change of level, so that in practice you will rarely be aware of anyone else. The house itself is yours alone.

The deck

What people remember is the deck.

A wide timber platform cantilevered off the back of the house, with a long table under the pole pergola and seats that follow the sun round the day — morning light off the lake, shade under the eaves by afternoon, the fire pit after dark.

O'Lerai's timber deck under its pole pergola — a dining table and rope chairs, the folding doors open to the sitting room, thatch roofs beyond. — The deck — the table under its pole pergola, the doors folded open to the great room.

The watering ground

Below the rail, the ground belongs to the animals.

The deck hangs above a watering ground, and animals pass through it most days. Zebra come most often; then impala, the occasional warthog and hartebeest — and now and then something rarer. No promises; the animals keep their own timetable. But most days, at some hour, something comes.

Two glasses of rosé and an open bird guide on a fluted drum table at the deck rail, the Rift Valley hazy beyond. — Sundowners at the rail, the bird guide still open.

A deck table set with indigo kitenge cloth, shell-edged woven placemats and wine glasses, thatch and the valley behind. — The table laid on the deck — kitenge cloth, shell placemats.

The bedrooms

Two rooms, both off the great room.

Each has its own en-suite bathroom and its own door to the outside, so nobody crosses the great room in a towel. Both beds are king, convertible to twins.

An O'Lerai bedroom — arched plaster headboard wall with twin sconces, a king bed with patterned cushions, cream armchairs in the foreground. — A bedroom at O'Lerai — the plaster arch behind the bed, the woven-mat ceiling above.

The materials

Built by the same hands as the rest of the hill.

The stone is off the estate, laid dry — no mortar — by Joseph Kimani and the Kasarani apprentices who came up through the build and now work here. The deck and its pergola are timber on gum poles, cut to length and lashed rather than bolted. Inside, the plaster is the estate's, mixed pale for O'Lerai: a grey-green arch behind each bed, arched niches beside the wardrobe, and a woven-mat ceiling on black beams overhead.

O'Lerai Villa, in fact

Sleeps: Four, in two bedrooms of 24 m² each, both with private access — beds king, each convertible to twins.
Bathrooms: Two en-suite, both in the estate's pale sage plaster.
The house: 111 m² — one great room under thatch, with the two bedrooms off it.
The view: Down over the watering ground and the bush canopy to Lake Naivasha.
The deck: Cantilevered timber on gum poles — the long table, the pole pergola, the fire pit. Shared with the neighbouring residence, screened by planting and a change of level.
Position: Lowest villa on the hill, at the estate's edge; the pool and the leisure spaces a short walk up.
Staff: Your own chef, butler and housekeeper for the length of the stay.

A pair of black leather sandals with beaded flowers on the straps, left on the sandstone coping at the edge of the pool, sunlight breaking on the water above them. — Beaded sandals on the pool coping — the pool a short walk up the hill.

Who it suits

Small party, long days, nowhere in particular to be.

O'Lerai is taken whole, by one party at a time. Tell us your dates, and Jenetta Barry will write back to you personally.

Enquire about O'Lerai → See the other villas →