Why One Couple Swapped Maldives Beaches for Kenya’s Laikipia Plateau

By Safari News — Africa Calling Safaris, Partner desk, Nairobi · 17/10/2025

Updated 23 October 2026

James, 34, and Priya, 32, married in June and chose Kenya’s Laikipia Plateau over the beach honeymoon their friends expected. Working with Nairobi-based operator Africa Calling Safaris, the couple spent five nights in a private conservancy camp of just eight tents, seeing barely another vehicle for three days. Travellers from Tbilisi or elsewhere in Europe typically connect through Nairobi, with onward charter or road transfers to Laikipia’s airstrips.

Laikipia sits at roughly 1,600–2,000 metres on Kenya’s central highlands, with daytime temperatures of 22–26°C and cool nights suited to walking safaris and open-air dining. The region’s 70-plus private ranches and conservancies span some 9,500 km², making it Kenya’s largest private conservation landscape. It also shelters more than half the world’s remaining Grevy’s zebra — an endangered species and the largest wild equid, weighing up to 430 kg — alongside African wild dogs, whose packs hunt with a success rate of 70–85%, the highest of any African carnivore.

The couple’s camp marked the occasion with champagne on arrival and a riverbed dinner under the stars; sightings that week included a wild dog hunt, a leopard with a fresh kill, and elephants at the waterhole. According to Africa Calling Safaris’ honeymoon programme data from 2016–2024, private mobile camps account for 34% of honeymoon bookings, with an average client rating of 4.9 out of 5.

“Five nights felt rushed,” Priya said. “We didn’t want to leave.” The couple are already planning a return trip.

Based on reporting by Safari News, the travel desk of Africa Calling Safaris (Nairobi), GTour’s partner for East Africa. Read the original there.