How we turned our home into Sh47,500 a night resort

On the banks of the Burguret River, off the Nyeri-Nanyuki Highway, sits a 12-acre property. BDLife spoke to the owner, Betty Meserve, on how she built it and managed to attract guests paying from Sh10,500 to Sh47,500 a night. Ole Samara is fast attracting couples and young families looking for a place to spend the holiday.

How did you get the land to build Ole Samara Suites?

My husband and I were looking for property to build a home where we would eventually retire. We settled on Nanyuki because we love all that it has to offer: it’s a very cosmopolitan town, and we love nature.

We looked for land for five to six years, travelling to Nanyuki from Nairobi so often that we rented a cabin on the edge of Mt Kenya National Reserve so we could continue the search with ease. We liked this property the first time we saw it, but the original owner was neither selling nor interested in subdividing it.

He was very attached and had taken good care of the land and the indigenous trees on it. One day we were having lunch at the Trout Tree Restaurant and a worker told us that there was land next door for sale. They said it had a river, access to electricity, trees…all the things we had been looking for over the years. It turned out to be the same property we had seen earlier and didn’t even know it was so expansive at over 100 acres.

The owner had since subdivided it to his children who were now looking for buyers. We would have been happy with even an acre, and when they agreed to sell 5.5 acres, we were thrilled. We built a small cabin and moved in so we could spend weekends here.

Eventually, land became available in the neighbourhood and we would buy more to protect what we had invested in. It’s a beautiful habitat for birds and colobus monkeys that are almost extinct, as well as indigenous vegetation.

How did the idea to turn it into a lodge come about?

When we bought the land, my husband was an expatriate working as a diplomat in Nairobi and I was running a handicraft business. I always knew I wanted to do some cabins, but this happened very organically. We don’t cut trees but build around the vegetation here, wherever there are open spaces. I built the first one which wasn’t for guests, but I saw potential in it being a guest house.

After fully moving from Nairobi in 2017, we used our furniture to furnish the rooms. There are six units now, which make up our standard rooms. I had been wanting to do some tents- something interesting on the property.

In October 2021, I decided to build our first two-bedroom luxury tent. When I saw that there was demand, with a lot of our customers being couples or families with young children, I built two others.

Eventually, people were asking for a swimming pool so I looked for space and put up one. We’ve just grown organically, and now have nine units in total: three luxury tents and six suites. Some even have kitchens for self-catering. We still have room to slowly expand depending on the demand.

Where did you get the building plans?

We tried to buy locally as much as we could, but sometimes things like mazeras become expensive to buy in the area. It’s cheaper to get Mazera near the coast. For the first cottage, we used local stone. It’s a very hard stone and it cost a lot to dress, which took a lot of time and was costly.

For the others, we then used stone from Meru which has an interesting colour; it is machine cut and easier for fundis to work with. We got wood from local timber yards. There’s a lot of good support from the hardware shops in Nanyuki and Naromoru, but we buy things like tiles in Nairobi for variety.

I came up with the plans and designs and then left it to the experts to do the rest. Being new to the area, we didn’t know a lot of service providers, so we asked around and got a foreman from Nyahururu who hired the team.

What about the decor?

I did all the decor and sourcing myself. The first guesthouse was furnished from our house in Nairobi, and for the rest, I also sourced from Nairobi. We imported things like towels and bed linens for the quality.

You’re very hands-on. What’s the best part about running the house?

Creating experiences for people and sharing this beautiful property with others. It also functions as our family home.

It’s still new, so I want to learn everything about this business before I can hire a manager to handle what I am doing. After moving here, I thought I would be so bored if I wasn’t doing something professionally, so I enjoy running the business.

What activities draw guests to Nanyuki?

Nanyuki has very good dining options. Right next door we have the Trout Tree Restaurant which is renowned for its treehouse structure and fresh trout fish. The Nook, which we love, is a nice new restaurant just before town. They change their menu every Tuesday and have a nice bar.

The food at Mt Kenya Safari Club is also nice. There is also Barneys about five minutes away. For activities, go for game drives at Solio Lodge which is some 20 minutes away and is a sanctuary for rhinos, or to Ol Pejeta some 35 minutes away. Go on a day trip to Samburu National Park.

Across is Mt Kenya Forest, where you can do a lovely walk there or a day hike to Mau Mau Caves with a guide. I recommend visiting Mt Kenya from Sirimon gate: drive to Old Moses then do a scenic hike.

At our property, we have an outdoor wood-fired pizza oven, a playground, hundreds of bird species, a nature trail and trout fishing in River Burguret.

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