Elsamere Conservation Centre

Elsamere is the house on the southern shore of Lake Naivasha that Joy Adamson bought in 1967 and lived and worked in until her death, now run by the Elsa Conservation Trust as a conservation and field study centre. Most visitors come for an afternoon: the museum rooms, a documentary about the Adamsons, tea on the lawn, and colobus monkeys in the fever trees above it.

Whose House This Is, and What It Is Not

The Elsa connection is the thing most often placed in the wrong county, so it is worth getting straight at the start. Elsa was the lioness George and Joy Adamson raised and returned to the wild, and the book that came from it made Joy Adamson’s name. Elsa lived, died and is buried in Meru National Park, not at Naivasha. She was released there, integrated with the wild lion population, had cubs and died in 1961. Kenya Wildlife Service lists her grave among Meru’s attractions.

Joy Adamson bought Elsamere six years after that, in 1967, long after the events the book describes. She did much of her painting, writing and conservation work here. She was murdered in January 1980 at a campsite in Shaba, in the northern reserve complex, not at this house; George Adamson was shot at his camp at Kora in 1989. Both left their estates, including Elsamere, to the trust.

Elsamere is where Joy Adamson lived and worked. Meru is where the lion story happened. Pages that merge the two are common and they send people to the wrong park.

What There Is to See

The house is kept as it was lived in rather than staged, and the contents are the point: Joy Adamson’s possessions, her sketchbooks and her paintings, which are what most visitors find they remember rather than the film memorabilia. The standard day visit combines a viewing of a documentary about the Adamsons’ life and work with a tour of the museum rooms.

The other half of the visit happens outside. The lawn runs down towards the lake under mature fever trees, and a troop of black and white colobus works the canopy above the tea tables. They are habituated, they are close, and for a lot of people they are the reason to book the afternoon slot rather than a quick look round.

The trust’s afternoon tea, served with baked things on the lawn, has been an institution on this lake for decades and is the format most day visitors take. A lunch option exists as well. Both include the documentary and the museum.

The Conservation Centre

Elsamere is not a museum with a trust attached. The Elsa Conservation Trust, which the Adamsons established in the early 1960s, runs the property as a working centre: a centre for education in sustainability offering training courses and outreach programmes, a birds of prey centre, and accommodation used by study groups as well as by ordinary visitors. School and community programmes run regularly.

The subject of that work is the lake outside the window. Water abstraction, the flower farms, the lake’s changing level and the catchment above it are the long running argument at Naivasha, and Elsamere sits in the middle of it. Anyone who engages with a guide here about the state of the lake will get a more interesting answer than any interpretation board offers.

Visiting Elsamere

Elsamere is on Moi South Lake Road on the southern shore, in Nakuru County, among the lodges rather than in Naivasha town, roughly ninety kilometres and about two hours from Nairobi. It is an easy add to a Naivasha day and the usual combination is a morning boat safari or a walk, then Elsamere in the afternoon.

Day visits are normally taken as the tea package or the lunch package, and booking ahead is sensible because the sittings are finite and the property also functions as a lodge. Charges are set by the trust and no current published rate could be verified, so confirm directly when booking. Allow around two hours.

Nearby on the same shore are Crescent Island for walking among plains game and Crater Lake Game Sanctuary across the water, and Hell’s Gate National Park is a short drive. Wildlife conservation experiences in Kenya covers the country’s other centres of this kind.

Questions Visitors Ask About Elsamere

Is Elsa the lioness buried at Elsamere?

No. Elsa was released into Meru National Park, lived there and is buried there. Joy Adamson bought Elsamere in 1967, six years after Elsa died, and the house is about her life and work rather than about the lioness.

What does a day visit include?

Normally a documentary about the Adamsons, a tour of the museum rooms in the house, and either afternoon tea or lunch on the lawn. Around two hours is the usual length.

Are the colobus monkeys reliable?

They are resident in the fever trees over the lawn and are seen on most visits, which is unusual for a primate that is normally a canopy silhouette. They are the part of the afternoon that surprises people.

Do you need to book?

Booking ahead is advisable. Tea and lunch sittings are limited, the property operates as a lodge as well as a day visitor centre, and turning up unannounced is not reliable.

Can you stay overnight?

Yes. Elsamere takes guests and is used by study groups and researchers as well as by travellers, which gives the place a different atmosphere from a lakeshore lodge.

Is it worth it for someone who has not read the book?

Usually, because the house works as a portrait of a person and the lawn, the lake and the colobus carry the afternoon on their own. It is a quiet two hours rather than an attraction, and people who want activity should spend the time on the water instead.

2 Places to Visit in This Area

Other sites in Lake Naivasha, each with its own guide.

Crater Lake Game Sanctuary Crescent Island

Safaris That Visit Lake Naivasha

3 of the 11 safaris listed here that visit Lake Naivasha, from different operators where the listings allow it. Each is sold and run by an independent tour company. This site lists them and passes on enquiries; it takes no booking and charges you nothing.

Great Migration