Golden rolling hills studded with a thousand oak trees. Ponds, waterfalls, creeks. Alpacas and zebras moving through open grass. Even a jeep in animal-print paint, winding among curved roads and sweeping land. You could be in the Serengeti. But this is the Gold Country foothills of Northern California, 45 miles outside of Sacramento, where businessman Brian Kraft spent two decades building a 137-acre gated preserve inspired by his travels to Africa.
Now on the market for $5.1 million, co-listed by Sacramento-based Cheryl Nightingale of House Real Estate and Monterey Bay area-based Tim Allen, a Coldwell Banker Global Luxury Specialist, Oak Hill Preserve is the kind of property that requires a story to understand. Allen, consistently ranked among the top Coldwell Banker producers in North America, considers the regional market strong and undervalued relative to California's coastal luxury corridors.
Kraft's relationship with Africa began in the 1980s and never faded. He proposed to his wife, Bernadette, in a hot-air balloon above Serengeti National Park; they married in Nairobi in 1988. Two decades later, after taking his sons to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, the conviction settled in: "Can I re-create a mini Africa that's a short distance away from our house?" he recently told The Wall Street Journal. He began acquiring land.
He assembled the preserve from three separate parcels between 2007 and 2012, transforming a former cattle ranch from the ground up: underground utilities, no-climb fencing, three miles of drivable trail.
More than a thousand mature oaks shade the terrain. Five ponds punctuate the landscape. A spring-fed waterfall runs along Sutter Creek and seasonal Jackass Creek. A creekside village with a "cafe" for dining, a cigar bar and a cold-water jacuzzi gives it an escape feel. From a hilltop overlook, the valley opens to a 180-degree panorama: the lights of the Antioch Bridge and the Sacramento skyline visible after dark, Mount Diablo on clear days.
Approximately 15 animals are included in the sale: East African plains zebras, Ankole-Watusi cattle, alpacas, and tortoises that roam the grounds freely. Kraft keeps a vintage pickup truck fitted with bench seating and lights, front and rear, for evening drives; a jeep painted in animal print (a gift from friends) is also on site. "The idea is to go looking for animals like you would on safari," he said.
At the center of the preserve, the Lodge at Oak Hill was completed around 2018. Approximately 4,200 livable square feet unfold across a single story, with five bedrooms and full ADA compliance. The 1,600-square-foot great room rises to 30-foot ceilings held by king trusses, with a custom kitchen and living spaces oriented to the panoramic views. West-facing windows and sliding glass doors in each bedroom provide direct outdoor access and sunset views that change with the season.
Multiple guest structures, a private helipad, and a recreational campus — golf driving range with a 100-yard pond and island green, archery and shooting ranges, 18-hole disc golf, bocce, shuffleboard, basketball — make the property function, in every material sense, as a private resort. Somewhere on the grounds, a covered century-old gold mine shaft sits undisturbed, found by one of Kraft's friends and left exactly as discovered.
Kraft promised his wife he would list the preserve when he turned 70. "It came up a lot quicker than I ever expected," he said. His oldest son was married on the property. The animals will stay with whoever is next.
