Sweetwaters Serena Camp is now Gold Eco rated (as of November 2013) - thanks to the continuous assessment it has undergone over the years courtesy Ecotourism Kenya. The camp becomes the first of the nine Serena properties in Kenya and the 10th countrywide.

The assessment follows a set rigorous criterion that encompasses all areas of sustainable tourism, and organizations are challenged and encouraged to continuously improve on products, activities and services to effectively participate.

Some of the areas of interest include environmental policies, environmental conservation, waste water management, solid water management, pollution, resource use- including water and energy, visitor education, purchasing and supplies, chemical use, health & safety, social cultural criteria and the benefits to the communities in which Sweetwaters Serena Camp operates.

More information- Ecotourism Kenya:

Ecotourism Kenya promotes responsible tourism practices within the tourism industry. This entails encouraging the adoption of best practices in the use of tourism resources, working with local communities and managing wastes and emissions. The organization's policy is to ensure incorporation of sound environmental and social practices in new and existing tourism enterprises.

The Eco-rating Scheme is a voluntary certification scheme that recognizes hotels, lodges, camps, bandas and bush homes for best practices (high quality, excellent or superior practices) in environmental conservation, sustainable resource utilization and socio-economic investment.

Eco-rating refers to a systematic approach for verifying a tourism organisations environmental, economic and socio-cultural performance when evaluated against an agreed set if criteria. The evaluation is meant to determine how responsible the operations of the facility are. The Scheme has three progressive levels of certification namely Bronze, Silver and Gold.

v  Bronze Eco-rating is the entry level and demonstrates a facility's awareness and commitment to environmental conservation, responsible resource use and socio-economic investment. 

v  Silver Eco-rating demonstrates a move towards excellence; awarded to facilities that have shown innovation in responsible resource use, environmental conservation and socio-economic investment.

v  Gold Eco-rating is an indicator that a facility has achieved superior and replicable levels of excellence in responsible resource use, environmental conservation and socio-economic investment.

For more information on the Eco-rating Scheme, visit www.ecotourismkenya.org

About Sweetwaters Serena Camp A private conservancy with a higher wildlife-to-area ratio than any of Kenya's national parks

A sheltered oasis, clustered around a water hole and set in the pristine calm of the private Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Sweetwaters Serena Camp offers a charming blend of under-canvas ambiance and safari luxury.

Located on the plains of Mount Kenya, the camp features thirty-nine luxury tents, each with its own private veranda overlooking the water hole. The central Rhino Restaurant is housed in the former manager's house of this once colonial farm, and offers both regional and international cuisine. Also within the house is the Kashoggi Bar and lounge, which centres on a blazing log fire. The Waterhole Bar, built in the style of a game-viewing hide, overlooks the waterhole and offers unrivalled wildlife-watching.

Host to all the members of the 'Big Five' (elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo and leopard), the conservancy has a higher wildlife-to-area ratio than any Kenyan national park and is one of only four private game conservancies to have been founded in Kenya. At the forefront of the Kenyan conservancy programme, the conservancy boasts the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa, hosts the only chimpanzee sanctuary in Kenya, and shelters large numbers of rare and endangered species.