ABOUT UMANI SPRINGS

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Umani springs camp is located within Kibwezi forest, bordering Chyulu Hills National Park in Makueni county in Kenya. The property is Owned by David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) which is well known for its great involvement in environmental and wildlife conservation programs- dealing majorly with injured and orphaned elephants. Kibwezi forest is managed by KFS ( Kenya Forest Service) in partnership with DSWT which conserve and sustain the environment and its biodiversity . Umani springs ecosystem is home to hundreds of bush bucks, elephants, leopards, monkeys, crocodiles, baboons, variety of birds species and butterflies. It is a favorite destination for fun seekers, animal lovers, bird watchers and botanists.

The property accommodates up to 10 pax in three elegantly raised bedroom cottages with two master bedrooms and three sets of twin beds. It has a spacious central three door living room with classic simple designs and furnishes that provides a nice space to sit and relax or have a chat. The dining room is adjacent to the living room and is well fitted with a big dinning table and seats, it has a bar section where you can get and enjoy drink.

Surrounding the living and dinning room is a extensive green garden with variety of trees( fig tree, Newtonian tree and tens of yellow fever acacias), water holes and a swimming pool. The garden view is breathtaking and provides an awesome space to relax, reed a book, browse and take photos.

THINGS TO DO AT UMANI SPRINGS.

DSWT Stockade morning and evening elephants visit and the mid day mad bath session near the camp. Get to enjoy lone time with the wonderful creatures at the Sheldrick’s Elephant stockade and learn about the programs and projects they are running. Every elephant at the ranch had a story explaining why they are kept at the stockade. Keepers were always there with us as we did this to ensure our safety.

Guided Nature Walks. Enjoy a walk in the forest accompanied by one or two of the forest scouts who will help you route your way within the forest. There are so many options to take for the walk depending on how long you would like walk, level of difficulty or places of interest. On our visit, we took the “Spring Walk” route which took us to the source of Umani springs- an opening on the ground with crystal clear water flowing out of it non stop. On the walk we enjoyed viewing and taking pictures of variety of birds, baboons,bucks, vervet and Sykes monkeys and crocodiles.

Sundowner Deck. Some of the most memorable moments I had at Umani springs were at the sundowner hill where we enjoyed variety of drinks and snacks as we watched the sun disappear over Chyulu hills into the horizon leaving the sky with a shade of orange. This is always one of the best feeling for me as I consider it the best way to end my day”Nature therapy”. https://leweneiphotography.travel.blog/2019/03/02/nature-therapy/ ) . We had interesting chats and made friends with people we were with and I learned a lot to do with photography and lifestyle form them . The most interesting and educative conversations were with Jake and Beth who are great photographers and run their own travel photography blogs http://jacobbescherer.com and http://www.etbtravelphotography.com/blog respectively .