The Maasai Mara

The 1500 square kilometres of the Maasai Mara lie in the southwest corner of Kenya, bordering its Tanzanian neighbour, the Serengeti. Both these areas combine to provide an ecosystem that supports a staggeringly large and diverse array of wildlife. The world famous annual migration of the wildebeest ignores man-made boundaries with over one and a half million animals making their way across the grass plains in a continuous search for fresh grazing.

As home to the “Big Five”, elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard, it is not surprising that film-makers choose to use it as a base for making documentaries including the BBC with their Big Cat series and, more recently Dynasties. The Mara is an awesome place, where the Maasai people and their herds share the stunning landscape with vast herds of antelope and accompanying predators, and wildlife still exists in unimaginably vast numbers. This all makes the Mara an extremely popular tourist destination particularly around migration time and it can be difficult to escape the tourist crowds. Despite this, the wildlife spectacle is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

We stay at a John's Camp in a hidden and secret location, on the banks of the Talek River, in the heart of the Maasai Mara. Our good connections with the local Maasai and the park authorities means we have been given special permission to stay here, in a fabulous spot, just below a busy hippo pool where the hippo and crocodiles are always visible. There is a great view across the river and the area immediately around the camp is famous for its big cat population meaning that we don't normally have to go far to find them.

Glamping nights are spent in the comfort of large safari tents with camp beds, sheets, blankets and pillows. Hot showers are always available on request from the camp staff. This is the classic safari style of the past, when the great and the good, from all over the world made their way to Kenya for its fantastic wildlife. It is a unique and intimate experience of the wild that is very different from staying in one of the normal tourist camps or lodges. We can use alternative, permanent camps if people wish, or when the group is too big for our camp, which is normally limited to 6 people.

At the end of your amazing adventure you can take up the option of a mid-morning flight back to Nairobi instead of the 6-7 hour drive.