Laikipia Camp & Kitich Camp - Safari Hideaways by Brian Jackman

Italian-born Stefano Cheli created Elsa's Kopje safari lodge in Meru national park, which is an up-market version of a traditional hunting safari camp. It is set in a glade of fever trees with just four roomy tents (all en-suite), plus a comfortable mess tent where Stephano's cooks produce homemade focaccia and the best pasta in Africa. Altogether, Cheli & Peacock possess 14 properties spread throughout Kenya.

Although unrelated to Laikipia or the Mukutan, Kitich Camp is another East African hideaway with an Italian connection and owned by Cheli. Set in a secret valley in the Mathews range, this is possibly the most remote camp in Kenya. To reach it, you fly by bush plane from Nairobi to Wamba, then on by Land-Rover into the wild heart of Kenya's Northern Frontier Province.

After the red dust and thornscrub of the plains below, Kitich is an oasis of coolness, shaded by giant fig trees on the banks of the seasonal Ngeng River. It's a real old-fashioned safari camp: half-a-dozen green tents - all with bucket showers and long-drop loos - and a thatched dining room where supper is served on soapstone plates, and candlelight glitters on goblets of Signor Bertolli's best Chianti. There are no roads - hence no game drives. Instead, you walk with armed rangers to eavesdrop on elephants or swim in a forest pool where leopards come to drink at night.