Why Spectacular? A chance to sleep out under the African night sky, hosted and guarded by a team of Samburu warriors.
Accommodation Summary: Two double bed sleeping platforms and one twin bed platform each with an attached bathroom with camp style showers. An open area below the platforms provides a place to eat and relax.
Maximum number of guests: Six, but exclusively yours with your booking.
Where: Laikipia (North Laikipia, Loisaba Private Ranch and Game Sanctuary)
Price Guide: £365 p.p.p.n. 
Overview: Kiboko Star Bed’s reputation is led by the fact that you can literally roll your bed out onto your verandah and sleep under the African night sky. The number of properties that now offer something similar is testament to just how spectacular an experience this is. However it would be unfair to focus only on this as there are others key factors that define it as an exciting, original place; namely the superbly basic wooden structure, the remoteness of the site and the hosting by Samburu warriors.
One of the real joys of being in the African wilderness is the feeling of being close to nature and a part of such beautiful, expansive surroundings. So if you’re fortunate enough to be in the bush, for us there are times when the fewer barriers there are against it the better. If you feel the same way then this place might well be for you. Yes, you get hot and cold drinks; waited on; cooked for; have somewhere comfortable to sit and sleep; but apart from that the goal of Kiboko is to keep it as simple as possible. And that’s where the beauty of this place lies because the simplicity translates to feeling a part of what’s going on around you. Staying here is a bit like going back in time; no doors, windows or electricity but instead; camp fires, beautiful scenery, the sounds of Africa and stories.
Add to that the fact that you get looked after by Samburu warriors in traditional dress, who are all from the local indigenous community, and hopefully you get a feeling for how authentic and exciting this place is.
The structure itself is a dramatically designed, handcrafted wooden raised platform with a partially covered thatched roof. We felt it reminiscent of the sort of place Tarzan would have built if he weren’t in the jungle. There are two double sleeping platforms and one twin platform, all en-suite. Each double platform is designed for one or two people and is set a good 12 feet off the ground ensuring a safe nights sleep. Come bedtime your "Mukokoteni", which is a uniquely designed bed on wheels, can be rolled out from under the shelter of the roof and onto the open platforms. This very comfortable four-post bed with soft sheets and pillows is completely enclosed in insect netting and it is from here that you will gaze up into the stars, listen to the sounds of the African night, and slowly drift off to sleep.
Below the sleeping platforms there’s a generous space for dining and relaxing in deck chairs from which you can observe game wandering to and from the watering hole, chat with your hosts or friends or just enjoy the silence. Meals are prepared in a traditional camp kitchen, barbeque style.
Kiboko Star Bed is located in the 61,000 acre Loisaba Private Ranch and Game Sanctuary, among a kopje of rocks in one of the eastern valleys overlooking the "Kiboko" waterhole. Loisaba Lodge oversees the whole operation, which is half an hour away by car.
We suggest linking Star Beds into a stay at Ol Malo, which is not so far away and can be reached either by car, horse or camel.
This is not for those looking for luxury but for something exciting, original and close to nature.
Sustainable Rating: 
Since 2000, the Loisaba Community Trust has championed enterprise by helping to set-up the community-owned Starbeds tourism facility, women’s craft-making and a cultural manyatta. It has also sponsored many similar projects as well as livestock husbandry courses. They aim to assist the area surrounding Loisaba by encouraging community-driven enterprises and fostering the development of philanthropic based community initiatives. Loisaba has provided the labour, skills and equipment necessary for the Starbeds. The local people did their part with a sizable community contribution including the plot of regenerated land around the Starbeds which they have decreed a reserved area off limits to stock grazing. The importance of a project such as this is multi-dimensional. Foremost, amongst the objectives is community development. The project has the potential to entrench a new means of earning, helping progress in such areas as Health Care and Education. At the same time its values will help to sustain traditions of the Laikipia Maasai. Meshed with this idea of alternative earning is the second important goal: Wildlife Conservations. Their aim is to work along side the local community and wildlife to preserve the environment in which they all live.
