Rustic getaway at Sagana

The development. [PHOTOS: WANGECI KANYEKI/STANDARD]

By WANGECI KANYEKI 

Sagana is getting quite a bit of attention lately. It was part of high altitude training ground for First Lady Margaret Kenyatta as she prepared for last month’s London Marathon for her Beyond Zero campaign.

A new resort and conference centre, the Sagana Getaway, is also coming up off the Nairobi-Nyeri highway.

Situated between two rivers and a stepping stone to the Mount Kenya region, the main resort sits on 133 acres and includes extensive high-end conferencing facilities, a restaurant, health club with gym and spa organised around the waterbodies of a swimming pool and a lake creating a therapeutic cool oasis in the midst of a hot environment.

For golf lovers, a nine-hole golf course will be built to overlook the hills. On the other side of the highway, next to Tana River, is additional land for picnic sites, bush dinners and riverside recreational activities. 

The main resort houses 20 cottages, each with five ensuite hotel rooms, giving a total of 100 rooms. An additional seven cottages will be built at a later stage, which will increase the hotel rooms to 135.

The cottage hotel rooms will cater for accommodation needs of conference delegates as well as tourists and weekend-break guests. 

The architect who designed the development opted for a simple aesthetically pleasing yet functional design on the facilities that does not call attention to itself.

The exterior of the facilities and the stone-finished pathways between the cottages and leading to the conference facilities give a rustic direct link to the natural environment as the clay roof tiles blend in with the red soil and greenery.

The car park area has compacted ground, punctuated with indigenous acacia trees, and provides shade when the humid temparatures of Sagana soar.

Timothy Mahinda, who was part of the team that conceptualised Sagana Getaway, says: “We visualised the great opportunity of Sagana Getaway because it has a strategic location that borders three counties, namely Murang’a, Machakos and Embu.  The location also has easy access to water, varied landscapes, proximity to a highway and ideal for conference facilities between Nairobi and Nyeri.”

ACREAGE

The total area of 150 acres is owned and developed by Spread Eagle Limited, who are giving investors the opportunity to buy 20 cottages as partners, who will in turn lease them back to the resort.

At the time of writing this article, some cottages had been sold at Sh19.5 million each, inclusive of furniture and furnishings.

According to the Finance Manager, Robert Darby, the resort will manage, maintain and market the cottages for a monthly service charge of Sh5,000 per cottage. Income from the cottages will be pooled based on the overall occupancy and distributed according to the cottage days available for lease.

The cottages constructed in three rows are spacious with wide windows, letting in natural light and aerating the space. Exposed rafters on the high ceilings give a rustic feel to the upstairs rooms.

The cottages adjacent to the lake have a balcony to give the occupant a direct lakeview. The cottages consist of only bedrooms and bathrooms – there are no kitchenettes as catering services are provided by the restaurant.  

Forty-six quarter-acre fully serviced plots are being sold at prices ranging from Sh4.5 million. The plots are suitable for construction of holiday homes, which could benefit from resort overflow.

To take advantage of the fine weather in Sagana, a two-acre orchard has been planted consisting of fruit trees such as oranges, mangoes, pawpaws, guavas, lemons and Jack fruit, which will provide the resort with homegrown fresh fruits and honey from the bee farming.

The area is zoned as an agricultural land and requires change of user should one need it for commercial purposes. Depending on location and proximity to the road, an acre of land is currently selling for about one million, with prices beginning to appreciate due to the value addition provided by Sagana Getaway and the adjacent FEP Hotel, which has a capacity of 175 rooms on 22 acres. 

So far, the value of land and constructed buildings for Sagana Getaway is estimated at Sh400 million. Most of the funds have been raised by shareholders and from sale of the cottages and the resort hopes to be complete and running by December 2014.

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