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Hollywood brought the story to an even wider audience with the 1966 release of the Box Office hit ‘Born Free’, starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers. Filming Elsa’s life story began in Kenya, and the resulting Academy award-winning film was not only a smash hit, but a ground-breaking movie which captured the imagination of the world and redefined the meaning of wildlife conservation forever.

George and Joy forged a great friendship with Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, who portrayed them in the film, and inspired the two actors into a life dedicated to wildlife conservation. They went on to establish the Born Free Foundation, which is still protecting wildlife today and is now managed by their son Will Travers.

Elsa the lioness is buried in Meru, with Joy’s ashes scattered at her gravesite. George is buried in neighbouring Kora National Park with his brother Terrence and two of his orphan lions, Supercub and Boy.

Meru National Park is wild and beautiful. Straddling the equator north-east of Mount Kenya, Meru National Park covers 870 km2 and has enormous diversity of habitat and wildlife ranging from cool forests to open semi-desert plains dotted with giant baobab and doum plams. Irrigated by 13 rivers and numerous mountain-fed streams, the meandering waterways are life-sustaining arteries through the rugged landscape.

Elewana Elsa’s Kopje Meru

Beautifully styled using only naturally sourced materials, Elewana Elsa’s Kopje is almost invisible to the eye as you approach. Sculpted into Mughwango Hill, above the site of George Adamson’s original camp where he raised his orphan lions and released them back into the wild, Elewana Elsa’s Kopje has long been regarded as one of Kenya’s most wildly romantic retreats.

Each cottage is individually designed, incorporating the natural features of the kopje, and enjoys a spectacular vantage point over the vast Meru landscape.

An elegant and comfortable open dining area and bar built in the same natural style as the cottages and a dramatic infinity pool sculpted into the rocky features and overlooking the Meru plains confirms this award-winning, boutique lodge as one of the most elegant and luxurious lodges in Africa.