“Our home is a humble one and all are welcome to come and share this piece of paradise with us.”
From South Lake Road to the family table
The Mai Mahiu road, then South Lake Road
From Nairobi, take the old road through Mai Mahiu — the escarpment views are worth it. Just before Naivasha town, turn onto South Lake Road. The house is exactly two kilometres on, on the right, at the end of a long wall.
A Swiss barn and two rondavels
Dea is from Tanzania; her husband Hans was from Switzerland. They built the family home as a Bernese barn house, and the guest cottages later in the form of Swahili rondavels — the two cultures side by side.
Ten acres, and Dea’s pride
The gardens are Dea’s pride and joy, and she spends hours in them every day. Herbs, vegetables and salads are grown organically in the vegetable patch. The lake is a short walk away.
Dinner at seven, at one table
Breakfast is from 7 to 10. Dinner is at about seven in the dining room, around the large family table; children eat at six unless you arrange otherwise.
Two cottages by the pool.
Three rooms in the house.
The cottages and the Family Room each have their own bathroom; the Double and the Twin share a large one on the landing. Every room has mosquito nets and electric repellents, and an extra bed can be added to any of them.
See the rooms →
The Poolside Cottages
Two cottages on the pool lawn, each with its own shower room and a veranda. One sleeps four, the other three.
The Family Room
Upstairs in the main house: a double and two singles, a bathroom of its own and a large picture window. Sleeps 4.
The Double & Twin Rooms
Two rooms in the main house — a double with a child’s bed, and a twin — sharing one large bathroom on the landing.
A home, not a hotel
Dea turned the family home into a guest house in 2010, two years after she was widowed. You stay in it, eat at its table and borrow its books.
Made for children
Her grandson Gael shares his trampoline, sandpit and playhouse, and if the pool is too big a baby pool comes out. Older children can have the Twin Room to themselves.
Cooked at home
Half board is breakfast and dinner, with drinks other than alcohol included. Most herbs, vegetables and salads come from the organic patch, and the kitchen cooks for any diet you mention in advance.
Close to the lake and the parks
The lake is a short walk away — hippos in the shallows and more than 400 kinds of bird. Hell’s Gate, Crescent Island and Crater Lake are close by; Lake Nakuru is about an hour.
Slow days, with the lake close by
At the house: the pool, the garden and a library to borrow from. Walk down to the lake for hippos and birds, or go further — Hell’s Gate by bicycle, Crescent Island on foot, Lake Nakuru in about an hour.
Dea is from Tanzania. Hans was from Switzerland.
“We’ve stayed with Dea several times now, and she never disappoints!”
They met in Tanzania, moved to Kenya, and after eight years bought ten acres on the shore of Lake Naivasha. Dea was widowed in 2008; in 2010 she closed the farm and opened the house to guests. Her daughter Lisa and grandson Gael live in Nairobi and are often here at weekends.
More about the family →“We had a lovely stay at Dea’s Gardens and thoroughly enjoyed our time at Lake Naivasha.”
Before you come
The KIMWA sign, a long wall and three red barrels
Hell’s Gate by bicycle, Crescent Island on foot
The vegetable patch, and a kitchen you can join
News from the garden, now and then
Leave your email for the occasional note from Dea’s Gardens.