It’s official!
We are changing our name from Lilac Campers to Kambu Campers. We had to make this change yesterday.
While we see this as a setback in terms of branding our new entity, we are taking it positively and are excited to start with a fresh name with virtually no or limited presence on the internet.
Below is a snapshot of what you get when you enter ‘Kambu Campers’ on Google’s Search Console;
We will have to start afresh and expect to have search results similar to the ones for Lilac Campers below;
From the search results, the word ‘campervan for hire in Kenya’ has been driving some traffic to the old site. We indeed recognize the gap that exists in the Kenyan market with no commercial camper cans to hire.
The registrar of Companies Informed us to Use another Name as Lilac Campers was Already Registered
On Tuesday, right after the long Jamhuri Holiday weekend, we got notified by the Registrar of companies that we could not use the name Lilac Campers as another company with a similar name is already registered.
Since we had already gone ahead and registered a domain name, lilaccampers.com, and even set up the site, I thought I could convince the lady charged with approving proposed company names to allow us. I previously managed to get a company name approved after getting a suggestion to combine the first two words into one to avoid it being similar to another registered company.
Here is the email I sent to Elizabeth requesting if there were any variations of Lilac Campers we could use including Lilaccampers as one word;
Elizabeth got back to us saying that we could use the name.
The search for a new company name began..
As we searched for the perfect name, I made several strange suggestions that Sarah quickly shot down. In retrospect, she was right. Couldn’t have managed to live with Puma Campers or Elf Campers myself.
Sarah suggested we use the Swahili name for Lilac Breasted Roller. Lilac Breasted Roller is the National bird of Kenya and after some searching, we found that it’s called Kambu in Swahili.
After discussing it as a team, we unanimously decided that Kambu was an excellent name for our company because it sounded catchy. Plus, we live in Kiambu County, and thus, it has a strong local connection.
Kambu Campers Limited Approved!
We immediately informed the Registrar of Companies, who were very quick to approve the name. We are now officially Kambu Campers Ltd!
We’ve been rebranding ever since – replacing the old logo with one featuring our new name, changing all social media handles, and redirecting the old website, https://lilaccampers.com to our new one, https://kambucampers.com.
Lilac Campers (https://lilaccampers.com) Content will be similar in new site
The site structure remains the same with key categories being camping, car rental and safari.
- The camping category will have all the camping-related guides in different safari destinations including info on camping with our campervans, camping safari guides, camping equipment, and services.
- In the car rental category, you’ll find very helpful info on our car rental services – mostly campervan rentals and safari van rentals. All our cars are 4WD and have pop-up roofs.
- On the safari category, you’ll find a comprehensive guide to planning a Kenyan safari with details of safari packages, types of safaris, top safari destinations, when to visit Kenya, and tips for travel and packing, among other guides. For those wanting to explore Kenya on their own with our self-drive rental campervans or non-converted vehicles, we also share our recommended routes with camping sites in different safari destinations.
In addition, our camp finder map will remain with details of over 200 camping sites situated in different areas outside or within Kenya’s national parks.
We are excited and can’t wait to get started!
We are really excited about our rebranding journey and look forward to showing you the many amazing outdoor experiences our campervans and cars can offer. Welcome aboard Kambu Campers Ltd!
We are quite excited about this change as it will give us an opportunity to have a fresh start with a name that really reflects who we are, what we do, and where we come from. Plus, it has given us the chance to update our look and feel, which is something we had been meaning to do for a while.
We are grateful for the opportunity to have a new name and the chance to start fresh. We look forward to seeing what Kambu Campers Ltd has in store!
Thanks,
Kambu Campers Team.