The Collection

We’re proud to share that we have created two new educational curriculums with the Elewana Service Training and Hospitality School located at The Manor Ngorongoro and the Guiding School operating across properties in Kenya and Tanzania.

The Elewana Guiding School in Kenya and Tanzania will support the training needs of our current guides and provide the necessary resources to support them. Relaunching in 2022, the guide apprenticeship program is currently interviewing candidates and five applicants in Kenya and Tanzania will be confirmed in January. The year-long program will allow apprentices to move between camps, enabling them to gain knowledge regarding different biomes and regions. They will be assessed according to their skills and capabilities and will undergo rigorous on-site training to advance to new levels of achievement. The aim is to ensure that Elewana guides are the best in the business and this investment in our guides career paths is testimony to our commitment to this goal. Successful graduates of the program will join the Elewana guide team.

Elewana’s Group Training and Development Chef, Nicky Bryden has been working hard with the teams in the kitchens to conjure up a magnificent food and beverage offering for the upcoming Festive Season. All the camps are serving unique menus but with a unified approach to using local ingredients.

In Kenya, Elephant Pepper Camp is offering an African style Christmas lunch with local takes on traditional favourites and Christmas Eve and NYE ‘under the stars’ with specialities from the grill including lemongrass red snapper with wali nasi (coconut rice) and apricot curry glazed pork fillet medallions. Lewa Safrai Camp is putting on a five-course tasting menu for Christmas Eve and NYE with delights such as beef fillet with brandy sauce and turmeric spaetzle. There is also a NYE BBQ dinner. 

In Tanzania Elewana Tarangire Treetops will offer guests ‘dinner under the stars and baobabs’ on Christmas Eve and NYE with a ‘feast on the fire’ that includes African spiced beef sausage, tamarind samaki mchuzi (fish curry) and black pot roast vegetable ‘chunga’. Arusha Coffee Lodge will be offering their guests a seven-course tasting menu that focuses on African cuisine on Christmas Eve and NYE and ‘around the world’ on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Dishes include hibiscus chai cured salmon gravlax with fennel and citrus and slow braised mbuzi (goat) with ugali gnocchi and mint chimichurri.

Special Offers

Book your safari for 2022 and enjoy elevated savings with our special offers. 

Enjoy a beach holiday this winter and save up to 20% off when you book five nights at Elewana Kilindi Zanzibar. The special “Stay Five, Pay Four” complimentary night offer is valid until 31 March, 2021.

Guests seeking privacy on safari can still take advantage of a private guide and vehicle for bookings of seven plus nights at one or more bush properties until 31 May 2022.

To find out more about terms and conditions for these special offers and to make a booking, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Looking for that perfect gift? Shanga, a social enterprise located on the grounds of Elewana Arusha Coffee Lodge, offers unique and high-quality handmade jewellery, glassware and homeware incorporating recycled materials. The uplifting local community project employs local Tanzanians with disabilities who use their talents in glassblowing, weaving, sewing, Tinga Tinga painting, bead-making and metal work to create incredible one-of-kind items. Profits from sales of the products are reinvested into developing opportunities to employ more people with disabilities. The local shop is able to arrange online orders and international shipping of Shanga’s handmade products for holiday gifts. To find out more about how to place an order, visit www.shanga.org or email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Dina Wilson, Acting Operations & Finance Manager shares her holiday gift suggestions:

• Women: Handmade Amal necklaces, handcrafted Dar tie necklaces, hand-blown wine glasses
• Men: Handwoven scarves, handblown beer and wine glasses 
• Children: Hand painted animal pencils, handmade tunic dresses, glass-blown animals and handcrafted stuffed elephants
• Spouse/Partner: Handblown glass heart, handwoven blankets
• Best Friend: Handmade beaded necklaces and bracelets and beaded cutlery 
• Mom: Set of handblown glasses, handmade Christmas star ornaments, handcrafted table mats and napkin sets
• Dad: Bottlecap picture frame, animal bottle stoppers/openers
• Grandparents: Handmade picture frames, Kitenge handsewn pillowcase, handmade Christmas angel ornaments

In The Community

Please join us in giving a warm welcome to Land & Life Foundation’s new Director, Nabila Wissanji. A highly passionate development practitioner with over 25 years of experience, Nabila has worked in various areas including economic and community development, public health, human rights and social justice, as well as the promotion of sustainable livelihoods.

Nabila’s diverse expertise has led her to the remote regions of Central Asia, as well as the Middle East, and Eastern and Southern Africa. Her work has enabled her to gain valuable insights from multiple perspectives incorporating the development, public and corporate sectors. We are certain she will do a phenomenal job in helping guide Land & Life and we very much look forward to sharing updates with you about the work she is doing in the months to come.

From Our Conservation Partners

This year’s theme at Lewa's Safe-To-Roam, was literally about going further and doing more to actualise the primary goals of securing endangered species, managing habitats, and improving coexistence and livelihoods.  

Veterinary services are essential to these goals. The vet team responds to clinical emergencies ensuring vulnerable species are not decimated by avoidable circumstances, such as spear injuries or snares.

The vet unit also has other critical roles, like translocation. Recently the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), supported by Lewa, translocated five elephants from a local community to expansive Tsavo National Park. In such cases, the Lewa team is integral to logistical machinery, using their fixed-wing plane to locate animals and our helicopter to dart and tranquilize them for capture and transport. 

Inside Information From The Team

I first heard of the Black Rock area from a good friend who grew up in the Mara. He told me a story about his favourite area right at the Tanzanian border and that story always stayed with me. Living in Enonkishu with his family, for decades he used to regularly drive to this particular area on a Sunday morning at first light, simply to have breakfast and enjoy the view. It became a tradition over the years. The way he spoke about that place sparked something inside me, he called it the Black Rock Area and he told me it was his favourite little stretch of paradise in all of Kenya. As a result, I jumped on Google Maps and started to find out which lodges have access to this place and found that Elewana Sand River is the best vantage point to visit the area, so last October I went there for the first time. 

In contrast to the majority of the Masai Mara National Reserve, the Black Rock area is seemingly hilly with green undulating landscape that makes for incredible scenery. With the mountain ridge a few kilometres across the border in Tanzania in the background, the area offers some incredible photography opportunities. The black rocks are a welcome break from the grassy plains and give an amazing background to photograph lions. The contrast between the colour of the lion and the dark black colour of the rocks is a unique feature in the Mara, especially as the lions reside most of their time on or around the rocks. The elevation is also a great way to get some unique portraits which means that positioning the vehicle slightly lower than the lions gives a great viewpoint. 

But there’s more. During the months of the great migration (June till October) Little Sand River Camp, right next to Sand River Camp, offers a great location for river crossings. While both camps are situated right at the Sand River Banks, Little Sand River had a very particular feature. Next to room 16, there’s a migration crossing point, where hundreds, if not thousands of wildebeest enter the river. Last year, guests literally watched the migration from the deck of their room. 

News You Can Use

We urge you to tune into the Elewana Instagram account (@elewanacollection) from the 13 – 24 December, where Pie will share his incredible images and stories from his trip to Amboseli and the Mara. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about these fascinating areas through the lens of the talented wildlife photographer and keen conservationist.

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