Maasai Mara Safari 2 Kenya   Life on the topside, a Japanese resort with private jacuzzis on the ridge overlooking the Maasai Mara. We tried different accommodation in the Maasai Mara, including a boutique hotel up on the escarpment (above) and a tented camp in the wild down below. While the hotel was fantastically comfortable, aesthetically stunning and a delight to be in it was a long way from the Mara action so game drives took ages to reach anything interesting and an equally long time to get home, time better spent watching animals. More importantly the thrilling night sounds of the Mara were missing from the hotel, the frisson of grunts and shuffles and roars and thumps nearby as you lie in your tent and hope a hippo doesn't stumble over it. So, it was lovely but no more thanks, we'll stick within tents. Kenya Travel Guide | Uganda Safaris | Tanzania Safaris | DRC Mountain Gorillas | Kenya Map | Africa Map

A less luxurious but more centrally located tented camp with fenced compound.
Photo by Jim

There are 3 public and 5 private campsites available in the Maasai Mara.
The public ones are Oloololo Campsite at the gate, Iseiya Campsite near the main station and Eluai Camp near the Mara Serena airstrip. Oloololo and Iseiya campsites have longdrop toilets and there are showers at Oloololo. Otherwise, bring your own water and carry all rubbish with you. The public campsites are on a first come first served basis.

The private campsites are located along the river and have a special booking fee. For full details of costs and space availability go to the Mara Triangle camping. None of the camps are fenced so it's recommended to hire rangers for security during the night.

Breakfast in Little Governors' tented camp, without fence but with many friends. No wandering about at night though!

Trivia: Warthogs feed mainly on short grass but have an unfortunately short neck so to get to the grass the animal has to kneel - for which purpose they have knee pads. On returning home the young enter the family tunnel/den in the usual way but the last adult stuffs himself in backwards so any intruder is faced with a very ugly set of tusks.

Governor's Camp, Maasai Mara.

An early morning flight prepares for take off.

Little known fact by groundlings! Hot air balloons are not at all quiet! They are, in fact, incredibly noisy when you're in the basket, due to the huge propane burner just overhead that gets fired up by the pilot every 10 seconds or so, depending on the number of passengers and the altitude. Hot too, which is why balloon pilots usually wear hats.

And another bites the dust. Ooops.
Photo by Jim

But a nice breakfast whichever way you land.

Sorry Jim, not impressed with that juvenile Maasai chorus line.
Photo by Jim

That's marginally more convincing. Well, at least they're adults!

Other great National Parks in Kenya

• Lake Nakuru (photo below), for massed flamingoes, leopards and possibly white rhino sightings. Also home a couple of fine budget camping locations: the Backpacker's Campsite, an excellent public camp ground just inside the main gate; Wildlife of Kenya Youth Hostel; Wildlife Club of Kenya Guesthouse.

• Amboseli, the place to go to get photos of elephants backed by magnificent Mount Kilimanjaro.

• Hell's Gate, the only park where unguided cycling and hiking is permitted. The park also offers spectacular rock scenery and fine rock climbing, particularly Fischer's Tower in a gorge. Camping around Lake Naivasha is recommended and cycle/car hire possible there.

• Tsavo, the biggest NP in Kenya is divided into two regions, West and East. They have less visitors than other parks, probably because wildlife is less abumdant. Tsavo West has the best public camp sites but both have luxury tented camps too.

Lake Nakuru gets aroused.

Flamigoes are naturally white but turn pink due to their diet which is heavy in tiny pink shellfish. Furthermore baboons near Lake Bogoria in Kenya have taken to eating flamingoes that die near the shore and this high keratin diet is changing their fur colour from grey to brown.

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