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 Lake Elementaita Lodge was formerly Kekopey Ranch, built by English settler Lord Galbraith Cole in 1916. It still retains the features and atmosphere of an early colonial home - a red brick building with shady terraces, an internal courtyard, paneled walls and a sitting room with a library and log fire. The original building houses the hotel's social areas - dining and sitting rooms, bar and conference room - while the 33 twin and double bedrooms, each with private bathroom, are in newer cottages nestled away in the lush flowered garden behind the house.
In front of the hotel, a large terrace overlooks Lake Elementaita. This has been denominated a Ramsar Site (Wetland of International Importance). The hotel's huge private estate, now a Wildlife Reserve, stretches away to the hills. The Lake is an important stop-over for migrating birds - over 350 species have been counted by the lodge's two resident naturalists who are ex-Kenya Wildlife service experts. They accompany guests on bird-watching walks and ox-wagon safaris - an original and less intrusive way of seeing the wildlife from the type of wagon used by early Rift Valley settlers like Karen Blixen, Lord Cole and Lord Delamere. Lord Cole's Memorial, built on a rocky outcrop, is an enchanting spot for a sundowner after a safari or for a champagne breakfast while watching the wildlife in the plain below. Other activities include horse-back riding within the Reserve and visits to the natural warm water spa which flows into the lake, or to the Kariadusi pre-historic site where anthropologist Dr. Lewis Leakey found some of the oldest remains of mankind known to man.
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