Hotel Snapshot
A private, exclusive-use, five-bedroom house, Wild Hill is safari luxe at its most elevated—literally. The owner-operated villa floats high on Kileleoni Hill above a pioneering conservancy, tucked into a quiet, northern corner of Kenya’s Maasai Mara. The drive up-and-up-and-up to get there, coupled with seriously special facilities and seriously exceptional staff to tend to your every whim, means guests rarely leave the premises.
Design and Character
Bold, earthy interiors by South African designer, Pullos Pardon, are inspired by the African continent and beyond. A moody palette of charcoal, black, grey and brown dominate the double-height communal lounging and dining areas, with plaster walls, concrete floors, giant fireplaces, and mud-wrapped pendant lights suspended above button-back sofas in slubby linen. From the games room to the TV snug, to the bedrooms and spa, carved Zanzibar doors, tribal shields, Moroccan lanterns and Rajasthani mirrors offer a global bazaar vibe. The effect is upscale but rustic and befitting of a villa deep in the Mara bush.
Outside, a half-moon infinity pool and jacuzzi encourage lazy afternoons, gazing at the view. Things happen here at your pace. Want to go for an all-day safari? Or skip the morning drive for a game of pickleball? Devote the day to wellness? It’s all on your own terms.
Anyway, the wildlife comes to you. Lions can be heard at night, and leopards and buffalo regularly wander the nearby rocks. On the plains below, the elephants move about like pieces on a chessboard. You might want to go and see them. Then again, if this is your respite after a week’s hard safari, you might just want to watch them through the telescope with a martini in hand.
The Rooms
Low-slung bedrooms are embedded into the landscape, with living, grass roofs, and rendered in grey cement, (far nicer than it sounds), to resemble elephant hide. Inside, the rustic, African aesthetic continues via basket-woven armchairs, carved coffee tables and cowhide rugs. Nice touches include a desk set with an easel and watercolours, plus a fully stocked kitchenette. The enormous sitting room leads to a vast bedroom that leads to a bathroom the size of small Manhattan apartment. Each room is devoted to the view: a staggering, 180 degree panorama with sightlines all the way to Tanzania. At over 2000m above sea level, you’re sharing the air with the eagles. At sunset, the light pours inside the room, suffusing it with a pinkish glow.
Food and Drink
Exceptionally good, locally sourced menus are provided by a team of your own private chefs, who can make anything (within reason) you fancy. The villa experience means you get to decide the what and when of it all—especially handy if travelling with young children—but you’d be advised to lean in to the expertise here. Meals are three-courses and delicious. Lunches are salad-heavy and might comprise a dish of watermelon, mint and mozzarella, or fresh greens from the garden, served with herby, grilled chicken. Dinner by the fire could be fillet steak followed by a light-as-air chocolate cake, accompanied by a glass of a cab sav from Tokara, one of a huge range of wines from South Africa’s finest vineyards.
Spa and Wellness
A separate spa villa is outfitted with grass wallpaper and textiles in restive, blue-green hues. It houses therapy rooms for massages incorporating local herbs, as well as a space for hair and nail treatments. There’s a sauna, hot tub, and cold plunge pool. You can do yoga on the spa roof, and a range of wellness rituals is offered, including sound bathing, qigong, breathwork, rewilding, probiotics, and skincare treatments. Daily treatments are included in the room rate. There’s also a gym and pickleball court—compete with buffalo tracks—for working up a sweat.
Fast Facts
Location: The Northern Maasai Mara’s Enonkishu Conservancy.
Rating: 5 star
The Vibe: A hill-top, exclusive-use safari villa where a deep connection to nature and community-driven conservation is felt in every detail, from the spa offering, to the rustic interiors and intentional, guest-led experiences.
Dining: Menus are rigorously local, delicious and sophisticated, with salads and veg harvested from the Wild Shamba—Wild Hill’s community empowerment gardening project. The kitchen also supports ethical farming by its careful curation of sustainable suppliers. Breakfasts are a highlight, including freshly-baked bread and eggs any way. Copious teatime treats, pre-cocktail snacks, a fully stocked in-room kitchenette, means it’s impossible to go hungry.
Amenities: A lovely spa, infinity pool, boma and BBQ area, a space for rooftop yoga, a gym, pickleball court, private guides and vehicles for safari drives any time you fancy, a ritzy cocktail bar, beading activities and warrior games for children, plus visits offered to the conservancy’s rhino sanctuary.
Our Hotel Favourite: It would be impossible not to be completely bewitched by the view. Equally enchanting: Wild Hill’s smiling service, the feeling of splendid isolation, the sense of a place where nature is in charge, where conservation goes hand in hand with community, and every comfort, every need, has been anticipated and provided for.
Starting Rate: Minimum nightly rate is $14,400 for six, all activities, meals, drinks and spa treatments included. Split between a group, the cost is similar to that of any premium safari lodge, while offering an entirely bespoke experience.
What’s Nearby: The wilds of the Northern Maasai Mara’s Enonkishu Conservancy. Wild Hill forms part of Tarquin and Lippa Wood’s Collection in the Wild, a family-owned enterprise which, in 2013, pivoted from agriculture to sustainable, community-driven eco-tourism and the rewilding of thousands of acres of former farmland. The wildlife has returned in huge numbers, from lions and hippos and giraffes to cheetahs and leopards. With very few camps in the area, wildlife encounters are uncrowded; Wild Hill’s vehicles are often the only ones at the sightings. The Northern Mara is also blessedly free of the vehicle traffic plaguing the migration routes, spotlighted in the media recently. Up on Kileleoni Hill, you feel a million miles away from everything.
Airport: There are three airstrips in the vicinity, accessible by private charter or scheduled flights from Nairobi. Naretoi and Ngerende are a forty-five-minute drive away, while Mara North is an hour’s distance.
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