Nephew to the late Lord Mountbatten, Michael Cunningham-Reid arrived in Kenya in 1948. His mother, Mary Ashley, daughter to Sir Wilfred Ashley, later Lord Mount Temple, had married Lord Delamere in a second marriage. After his mother second marriage, Michael decided to give Kenya a try. He was 20 years old and fresh out of the army. Life in an African colony had certainly more appeal to a twenty years old than a predictable social life back in England.

After independence in 1963 and after hunting was banned in Kenya the highlights and struggles of colonial life slowly but surely started dissolving into a safe, photographic tourism industry whose main offer was the remaining wildlife.

Michael's views were pretty down to earth: the only way to save the remaining wildlife is to buy land in Kenya. As if destiny heard him Nderit estate, locally known as Hippo Point, came up for sale. Michael was thrilled to be back in Naivasha and in full view of the Ndabibi plains where as a twenty year old he had farmed and lived.

The passion to protect the remaining wildlife took hold of them. The first step into this direction was to create a house that would befit the surroundings and not disturb the game. That's how the Tower was born, a homage to Africa. The wooden Tower is harmoniously integrated into the surrounding fever tree woodland and offers one an eagle-eye, a stunning view over the lake, the resident family of hippo, flamingo, pelican and fish eagles.

Four years down the road when the Tower was finished, Dodo took on a new challenge: the restoration of the original colonial house on the estate's grounds. Today, thanks to her determination, Hippo Point House offers all the comforts of a lovingly and beautifully restored ancestral home and is the perfect place for guests to get close to wildlife that the estate naturally hosts.

The wildlife sanctuary hosts a large number of zebras, kongoni, giraffe, impala, Thompson gazelle, waterbuck, baboons, colobus monkey, vervet monkey, dik-dik, buffalo, ardvak, as well as more than 600 bird species that have made lake Naivasha one of the world's most famous lakes for bird watching. But the ultimate attraction are the hippos whose amphibian nature and prehistoric body mass attracts the imagination of many young and old visitors. Hippo Point boasts of having one of the densest population of hippos in Africa. At present six families of hippos are being studied and a research project on the lakeside fringe of papyrus is also underway funded by the Centre for Earth and Environmental Science of New York State University.

Hippo Point is also member of the Nakuru Wildlife Forum, an independent body of private stakeholders in the Nakuru/Naivasha area whose aim is to conserve and protect the remaining flora and fauna of the Rift Valley basin.

Hippo Point has recently been granted a Conservancy status. The formal registration of the Conservancy will significantly strengthen its capacity to support conservation in the area in partnership with the now internationally recognised Lake Naivasha Riparian Association.