Into the
Wild Mara

A driver-guide meets you at the strip, and the road to camp is your first look at the conservancy. After a morning flight you lunch in camp, rest through the middle of the day, then head out on the grass. Pack binoculars and a hat within easy reach. The afternoon flight leaves less daylight, so expect a short drive or a quiet first evening.

A wake-up call and a hot drink start the day, and you are in the vehicle by first light. Return for breakfast, then take the long break: shade, a book, the view from camp. The second drive begins as the heat eases and finishes at camp in the early evening. For a full day out, order a packed lunch the night before.

Take either the walk or the night drive on a given day, not both. A guided walk, within age limits, usually replaces the dawn drive and ends in time for breakfast; wear closed shoes and muted colours. A night drive makes a longer day, so rest well at midday. The reserve offers neither, so nights there mean giving them up.

If you take the optional move, you leave your conservancy camp after breakfast and drive across to the reserve, settling in before the afternoon drive. Seatbelts stay fastened on the way. River days are patient days: your guide picks a vantage point and you wait in the vehicle, picnic lunch to hand. A crossing may not come, and your guide will say when to move on.

What you do on the last morning depends on your departure flight. The 11:00 flight usually leaves time for a last drive at dawn, then breakfast and the transfer to the strip; the earliest flight means a packed breakfast and going straight to the plane. Repack the night before, because the aircraft’s luggage limit is strict and excess travels only if there is room.