Kenya
Maasai Mara, Kenya
Lorien Mara
A private house in the Mara, taken by your party alone, with staff, guiding and a vehicle that answer to nobody else.
The Collection
A private house on safari, not a room.
There comes a point where another beautiful suite stops being the answer. What you want is the front door, the kitchen, the pool and the view, with nobody else attached to any of it. These are the private villas and safari houses we take our own families to: some on private conservancies the size of small countries, some on the sand at Diani or Belle Mare, all of them booked whole. Rates are quoted per property rather than per person, so for a family or a group travelling together an exclusive use villa is often better value than a suite each at a luxury camp.
- Exclusive useOne party per house, always
- Private guidingYour own guide and Land Cruiser
- Per propertyHow the rate is quoted
- Kenya to MauritiusSafari houses and beach villas
Every house visited by our team in Nairobi
The Houses
Every luxury villa and safari house.
Filter by the kind of house or by where you want to be, from private houses in the Maasai Mara and the Laikipia conservancies to beach villas on the Kenyan coast, the Serengeti, Rwanda and the Indian Ocean islands. Every property is exclusive use, and none is shared.
Kenya
Kenya
Maasai Mara, Kenya
Zamara
An exclusive use camp in the Mara. No other guests, no fixed mealtimes, and game drives that run to your rhythm rather than a lodge timetable.
Kenya
Maasai Mara, Kenya
Wild Hill
A private house set high above the Mara, with long views over the plains and the whole property held for one party at a time.
Kenya
Borana Conservancy, Laikipia
Arijiju
Carved into the hillside on Borana, with the stillness of a monastery and the comfort of a private home. One of the most admired houses on the continent.
Kenya
Borana, Laikipia
Sirai House
A private house on the Laikipia plateau, with long views, a full staff team and the run of the conservancy around it.
Kenya
Borana Conservancy, Laikipia
Lengishu House
Set high on Borana with Mount Kenya on the horizon, taken exclusively, with a chef, a guide and horses at the door.
Kenya
Laikipia, Kenya
Suyian
A working conservation estate in Laikipia, wild and unpolished in the best sense, held privately for the guests staying on it.
Kenya
Diani Beach, Kenya
Alfajiri Villas
Three houses on the cliff and the sand at Diani, each booked exclusively, each with its own chef, butler, housekeeper and pool.
Kenya
Kenyan Coast
Sirai Beach
The coastal sister to Sirai House. A private beachfront villa with its own staff, its own pool and the Indian Ocean at the foot of the garden.
Kenya
Kenyan Coast
Cardamom House
A private house on the Kenyan coast where the cooking is the point as much as the beach, taken by one party at a time.
Tanzania
Grumeti, Serengeti
Serengeti House
A four bedroom house on the hill above the Grumeti plains, with a private chef, pool and tennis court, and the Serengeti moving below it.
Tanzania
Central Serengeti, Tanzania
Four Seasons Villas, Serengeti
Standalone villas within the Four Seasons Safari Lodge, with private pools overlooking the waterhole the elephants come to at dusk.
Rwanda
Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
Singita Kataza House
A private house on the edge of Volcanoes National Park, taken exclusively, with gorilla trekking from the door and Singita kitchen and guiding behind it.
South Africa
Bantry Bay, Cape Town
Ellerman House
An Edwardian mansion above the Atlantic with one of the great private collections of South African art, and two villas taken exclusively.
Mauritius
Belle Mare, Mauritius
Villa One, One&Only Le Saint Géran
Three bedrooms on its own stretch of beach, with a heated pool, a private chef and a butler, and the whole resort a few steps beyond the garden wall.
Mauritius
Anahita, Mauritius
Four Seasons Villas, Mauritius
Two and three bedroom villas set in tropical gardens, each with a pool, a private garden and a golf course over the water.
Seychelles
Petite Anse, Mahe
Four Seasons Villas, Seychelles
Hillside villas above a private bay on Mahe, with infinity pools, granite boulders and reef a short swim from the sand.
No house matches both of those. Widen the filter, or tell us the shape of your party and we will find one.
Villa Safaris
Luxury safari itineraries built around a house.
Our most booked exclusive use journey, and the shape most villa safaris take: a private house held for one party, a private guide and Land Cruiser every day, and Nairobi at either end.
Our most booked villa safari
Private Villa Family Safari
A whole villa in the Maasai Mara held for one family, with a private guide and Land Cruiser every day, and Hemingways Nairobi at either end. Our most booked exclusive use luxury safari.
- WhereMaasai Mara and Nairobi
- Length7 days, 6 nights
- RateFrom USD 38,450 per family
Every other villa journey is built from scratch around the house you choose, your dates and the size of your party. See also our luxury family safaris, honeymoon safaris and signature journeys.
Why Exclusive Use
What a whole house gives you that a lodge cannot.
Six things the finest luxury safari lodge cannot offer at any price, however good it is.
- I
Nobody else checks in
The house is yours for the length of your stay. No other guests, no shared lounge, no waiting for a table or a sun lounger.
- II
Your own chef, and your own hours
Meals happen when you are hungry rather than when a dining room opens. The chef cooks to your brief.
- III
A private guide and vehicle
On the safari houses the vehicle is yours alone. You stay with a sighting as long as you like, and never share a radio channel with four other cars.
- IV
Space for the whole party
Three generations, two families or a group of friends can travel together and still find corners to be alone in.
- V
Genuinely private land
Most of these houses sit on conservancies rather than in national parks, which means off road driving, night drives, walking and horses.
- VI
Discretion as standard
Staff are briefed, arrivals are quiet, and nothing about your stay is discussed elsewhere.
Who Takes A House
The reasons people book the lot.
Grandparents, parents and children under one roof, with the flexibility for each generation to have a different sort of day and still eat together in the evening.
A house taken for a week, a chef briefed on the menu, and a party of twelve who never have to book a restaurant or negotiate a schedule.
Small ceremonies on private land, and honeymoons where the whole property belongs to two people. We handle the licensing, the flowers and the flights.
Boards, families in the public eye, and anyone who would simply rather not be seen. Exclusive use is the only arrangement that reliably delivers it.
How It Works
Three steps, and the house is held.
Exclusive use properties can only be sold once. Moving early is not a sales line here, it is simply how the arithmetic works.
- 1
Tell us the shape of the party
How many adults, how many children and their ages, and whether you want everyone under one roof or spread across two houses. That decides most of the shortlist.
- 2
We hold the houses
Exclusive use properties are single bookings, so they go early and they go completely. We hold two or three on option while you decide, rather than losing all of them.
- 3
The journey is built around the house
Flights, transfers, guiding, the chef brief, the wine, the horses, the balloon, the boat. Once the house is held, everything else is arranged around it.
Good To Know
Questions, answered plainly.
What does exclusive use actually mean?
The whole property is booked by one party. No other guests stay while you are there, the staff work only for you, and on the safari houses the guide and vehicle are yours alone. It is the difference between having a suite in a hotel and having the hotel.
How many people do these villas sleep?
It varies widely across the collection, from houses suited to a couple through to properties that take twelve or more. Tell us the size and shape of your party and we will send the ones that genuinely fit rather than the whole list.
What does a private villa cost?
Exclusive use properties are quoted per property per night rather than per person, and rates move considerably by season. We quote on enquiry, with the whole journey costed together, including flights, guiding and transfers.
How far ahead should we book?
Further than you think. A house can only be sold once, so the best properties in the Maasai Mara and Laikipia are often taken 12 to 18 months out for peak dates, and longer still over Christmas and New Year.
Can we combine two or three villas in one journey?
Yes, and it is how most of these journeys are built. A house in Laikipia, a house in the Maasai Mara and a villa on the coast, linked by private light aircraft rather than long road transfers.
Do the safari houses include game drives and guiding?
On most of them, yes. Exclusive use rates at the safari properties usually include a private guide, a private vehicle and conservancy activities. The island and coastal villas are quoted differently, and each proposal states exactly what is included.
Are these villas suitable for young children?
Many of them are ideal, precisely because there is nobody else to disturb. Some sit on unfenced land and are better suited to older children. We are direct about which is which when we send the shortlist.
Can you arrange a wedding or a celebration at one of these houses?
Yes. Small weddings, milestone birthdays and anniversary parties are among the commonest reasons people take a house. We handle licensing, catering, flowers, photography and the flights for everyone attending.
Begin
Plan your private villa safari.
Tell us the shape of your party and roughly when. We come back with the two or three houses that genuinely fit, and hold them while you decide.