SUN AFRICA HOTELS CONFIRMS PLANS TO REBUILD LAKE BARINGO CLUB
(Posted 17th November 2015)
Rahul Sood, CEO of Sun Africa Hotels, during a meeting last week in Nairobi confirmed that the company is now all set to rebuild their Lake Baringo Club, which had fallen victim, alongside several other lakeside properties, to the rising waters of Lake Baringo back in 2012 (https://atcnews.org/2012/08/09/rising-lake-levels-shut-down-lake-baringo-resorts/).
The lodge has a long history as a stopover point for bird watchers and in the heydays of Block Hotels of old such famous names like Hilary Garland and Terry Stevensen were resident ornithologists, taking guests on walks along the lake shores or along the cliffs to see some or many of the 450 species identified at the time. (https://atcnews.org/2011/12/22/lake-baringo-club-where-i-was-chilling-with-the-birds/). Terry Stevenson went on to establish several world records for birdspotting in the 24 and 48 hour categories and wrote the book ‘The Birds of Lake Baringo’ while Hilary established a complete inventory of plants and trees, 36 species overall, found in the gardens of the lodge.
The 50 bedroom lodge was almost completely submerged in the lake waters and the remnants will be demolished while a new lodge, closer to the main road, will be built in due course. Once ready will the new Lake Baringo Club be a state of the art property but with only half of the rooms the former lodge offered, according to Rahul just 25 including a suite.
The announcement is good news for birders coming to Kenya and wanting to stop over at Lake Baringo where accommodation after the floods was in short supply, apart from the Island Camp which however is too small to have space to cater for the demand.
Sun Africa Hotels recently again bagged five World Luxury Hotel Awards in the annual ceremony this year held in Hong Kong which included the hotel group’s lodge in the Masai Mara, Keekorok. Other properties are the Sovereign Suites in Limuru, where Harrison Njoroge was just appointed as new General Manager, the Lake Naivasha Country Club and the Kiboko Luxury Camp, also on Lake Naivasha. In Mombasa does Sun Africa operate the Sun Africa Beach Resort while in Nairobi a new five star hotel in the Hurlingham area is rapidly advancing towards soft opening.
