Beyond Safari: Ol Pejeta's Most Popular Conservation Experiences
Your safari at Ol Pejeta Safari Cottages is extraordinary on its own. But to compliment it there are a selection of activities that are coordinated by Ol Pejeta that we would recommend you consider adding on. These are experiences that shift what your visit means. They help you understand a little more about where your money is going and what it takes to run an award-winning wildlife conservancy like Ol Pejeta.
There are three most notable activities that our guests book and enjoy the most and these are the ones we’re talking a little bit more about today. This blog tells you what they are, what to expect, and how to decide which ones matter to you.
The Northern white rhino encounter
Behind-the-scenes with the chimpanzees visit
The K9 anti-poaching unit tracking demo
1. Meet the Last Two Northern White Rhinos left on Our Planet
This is not a regular rhino experience. Ol Pejeta is home to Najin and Fatu — the last two Northern white rhinos on Earth. Not the last two at this conservancy. The last two on the planet!
For most safari-goers, seeing a black rhino or a white rhino is already a profound moment but seeing these two is something else entirely. You're not just witnessing rare wildlife — you're witnessing the last members of a species that numbered in the thousands until recently.
What Actually Happens
You arrive at the Northern White Rhino’s dedicated enclosure with your guide and one of the keepers who knows them personally and tends them daily. Najin and Fatu are in a spacious, carefully managed habitat within the conservancy and you’ll enter in the vehicle. You'll spend time watching them, learning their personalities, understanding what the keepers are doing to protect them. You will stay in the vehicle at all times, but the proximity is much closer than you would experience with other rhinos in Ol Pejeta.
What strikes most guests isn't the rarity (though that's undeniably powerful). It's the intimacy - you're close enough to see the detail of their skin, to notice how they move, to understand that they're individual personalities, not just "the last of their kind."
Why This Experience Matters
Your booking fee directly funds the 24/7 care these rhinos require. The keepers, the veterinary support, the research into potential breeding — it all depends on conservancy revenue. When you visit, you're not just witnessing history. You're participating in the effort to rewrite it.
Many guests tell us this particular experience changed their safari experience from "seeing wildlife" to "understanding conservation."
Notes: The Northern White Rhino Encounter must be booked in advance, is available 6 days a week (not on Tuesdays) and is available to children older than five.
2. Behind the Scenes With the Chimpanzees
A unique opportunity to learn about Chimpanzee conservation.
Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary sits on Ol Pejeta land. It's home to rescued chimpanzees who can't survive in the wild — victims of habitat loss, orphaned by hunting, removed from places where they can't safely live. Their stories are of suffering and heartbreak and Ol Pejeta has provided a safe landing space for them after a life of difficulty.
What Actually Happens
It’s important to note that this is a hands-off experience. You see the chimpanzees during their feeding time and morning activity period from behind a safety barrier. Then an Ol Pejeta veterinarian walks you through the enclosure and explains each chimp's background — where they came from, how they arrived, their personality, their relationship with the group.
Chimpanzees are individuals with complex social dynamics, preferences, fears, and connections. Watching them, you realize how much they're like us. The way they interact. The way they protect younger group members. The way they navigate social hierarchies.
The vet will point out behaviors you'd probably miss otherwise, explain the difference between how chimpanzees naturally live and what's required to keep them safely in a conservancy setting. You’ll learn so much about chimpanzees and about the ongoing threat of the bush meat trade and habitat loss.
Notes: Behind The Scenes with the Chimpanzees must be booked in advance and is available to children older than twelve.
Why This Experience Matters
Chimpanzees are not native to Kenya, but they're present at Ol Pejeta with thanks to Dr Jane Goodall, because habitat loss across Africa has made their situation dire. Their existence at the sanctuary speaks to a broader conservation challenge.
Visiting helps fund that care. Every guest who books this activity supports the keepers, the veterinary care, and the ongoing work to create conditions where these animals can live with dignity.
Who Should Book This
If you want to understand wildlife beyond the iconic Big Five. If you're interested in rehabilitation and sanctuary work. If seeing chimpanzees matters to you personally. It’s important to understand that this is an educational experience and some people can find the chimpanzees stories very emotional.
3. K9 Dog Tracking Demonstration
One for the the dog lovers.
Ol Pejeta's bloodhound unit is legendary. They are trained to track human scent across 20–30 kilometers of bush. Originally deployed for anti-poaching work — when a suspected poacher is spotted, the bloodhounds are released and track their scent with accuracy that's almost supernatural.
The K9 demo inverts that: you run and hide, the bloodhounds find you.
What Actually Happens
You’ll meet the dogs behind the scenes with their handlers. First, they’ll show you how their ammunitions expect (a cocker spaniel) works by finding bullets that you have hidden with ease! Then it’s the blood hounds turn. You'll walk with an armed ranger into the bush to hide. Then the dogs are released and they sniff you out.
After the demo, the handler explains what you just witnessed — how the dogs actually locate you (scent, not sight), why they're so effective in anti-poaching work, what it takes to train them. You'll pet them, talk to them, understand that they're not weapons — they're partners in conservation work.
Why This Matters
Anti-poaching efforts at Ol Pejeta require all available tools. Rangers on patrol. Technology and monitoring. And the bloodhound unit. Seeing the dogs in action, understanding their capabilities, realizing how crucial they are — it changes your perspective on what "conservation" involves.
Your booking fee supports the dogs' care and training. It sounds like a small thing, but those five dogs are worth thousands of dollars annually in veterinary care, training, and maintenance. Guests who book this activity are directly funding that critical work.
Who Should Book This
If you want the energy and adrenaline of something different from a game drive. If you're interested in anti-poaching efforts and conservation work. If you want a genuinely fun, interactive experience that's unique to Ol Pejeta. If you want to understand conservation beyond the animals to the people and tools doing the protecting.
This is the one that families often regret not booking more than any other activity. Kids absolutely love it. Adults love it. Everyone is breathless and grinning when the dogs find them.
Notes: The Anti-poaching demonstration must be booked in advance and is available to children older than twelve. Reasonable fitness levels are required for walking short distances and closed shoes must be worn.
Yoga For The Wild and the K9 anti-poaching unit after a demonstration from the blood hounds
How to Decide Which Activities to Book
Book all three if you have time. They're each different enough that they don't feel redundant, and together they tell the complete Ol Pejeta story.
If you have to choose: Start with the Northern white rhino visit. It's the shortest and the most emotionally impactful. You'll understand why Ol Pejeta exists, what their dreams are for wildlife conservation at large and how they’re playing their part.
Then book the K9 demo because it's physically engaging and genuinely fun. It's the experience you'll tell stories about at home.
Add the chimpanzees if you have flexibility in your schedule. It's less dramatically exciting than the other two, but it's the deepest and most thought-provoking.
A final note
Your standard safari will really fill your cup - Ol Pejeta has so much to see and so much to offer without additional experiences. But what these experiences do is put everything you see in the wild into context; they show you that the animals here are not thriving because of luck, but because of passion and hard work. These three activities are conservation education. They show you what Ol Pejeta actually does, who does it, and why it matters.
The Northern white rhino visit tells you about species preservation. The chimpanzee encounter teaches you about habitat loss and sanctuary care. The K9 demo shows you anti-poaching in action. Together, they transform your safari from “enjoying the results of conservation" to "understand the work behind conservation."
Ready to Book?
When you book your stay at Ol Pejeta Safari Cottages, ask about adding these experiences. Your guide can help you schedule them around your game drives, or you can arrange them in advance.
A safari is memorable. These three activities make it meaningful.
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Your safari at Ol Pejeta is extraordinary on its own, but three additional conservation activities transform it from wildlife viewing to understanding real conservation work. Meet the world's last two Northern white rhinos, visit rescued chimpanzees in the Sweetwaters Sanctuary, and witness the K9 anti-poaching unit track suspects (you!) through the bush. These are the experiences that change what your safari means.