Sirikoi Lodge crowned top resort in the world

Kenya's Sirikoi Lodge has been ranked as The Best Resort in the World in the 2019 Condé Nast Readers' Choice Awards.

Everyone at the lodge had been thrilled when they received the news that they had been ranked number one in the Top 30 Safari Properties in Africa category of the awards. 

Then there was an unexpected development…and everything changed, for the best. 

“A few days later, however, we heard that we were also ranked the number one resort in the world, and at this point, we were all surprised and in shock,” said   Nikki Hartley, marketing manager, Sirikoi Lodge. 

But why Sirikoi?

Tucked at the Lewa Conservancy in Laikipia County, Sirikoi is an intimate, hand-created and family-owned resort. The resort comprises of a main lodge, a three-bedroom house, two and four-bedroom tents facing a watering hole. Hartley said that the resort stood out for its exceptional location, attention to detail and a true personal touch of the safari experience it offers. 

''The feeling that you've entered a private home suffuses, from the lovingly tended gardens to the heirlooms collected by the family over the years. In addition to morning and evening game drives, you can do a bush walk with a ranger, horseback ride across the plains, fly in a helicopter up to Mount Kenya or do a quad bike safari for an overnight campout,'' a statement on the  Condé Nast website reads.

Sirikoi has bagged several awards before both at home and abroad. In 2015, the lodge bagged the Eco-lodge of the year award, in the annual Ecotourism Kenya awards. The lodge has also made it to the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List of favourite hotels in the world three times - in 2016, 2017 and 2018. In 2017, it was crowned Africa's leading luxury lodge by the World Travel Awards. But beating nearly 10, 000 hotels, resorts and spas in the world to win the coveted accolade was hard to believe. 

“What is amazing about this year’s award and ranking in the Conde Nast Traveler’s Reader’s Choice Awards is that it is a global position and importantly, it is the travellers and safari-goers themselves who ranked Sirikoi number one,” said Hartley.

This was the 32nd edition of the annual Choice Awards. Nearly 10,000 hotels, resorts and spas were rated by 600,000 well-travelled individuals. The travel enthusiasts voted for their favourite destinations before the number was whittled down to 50. Sirikoi emerged the best. Coming in second, in the list of top 50 resorts was L'Horizon Resort and Spa which is located in the Palm Springs of California, United States.

Sirikoi Lodge was founded by Willie and Sue Roberts. Hartley said the success of the lodge was attributable to the couple who had poured their soul into the resort adding that the resort is the couple’s incredible creation and a legacy of their lifetime love affair with Kenya’s wild places. 

“The late Willie Roberts was a visionary and perfectionist, with an absolute passion and connection to wildlife, the wilderness and communities of Kenya. Sue shares this passion,” said Hartley.

The couple, she noted, had created an extraordinary winning formula, expressing her optimism that the lodge would keep up the great work.

Besides Sirikoi Lodge, the other Kenyan resort that made it to the top list is Nanyuki-based Ol Jogi Home which came in at number 17.

Meru National Park's Elewana Elsa's Kopje took the eleventh position with Maasai Mara's Richard River camp coming in sixth.