Mara Triangle Conservancy Accommodation

Location: Maasai Mara National Reserve, Narok County, Kenya

Area: 510 km² (126,000 sq. miles)

Overview

Located in the southwestern part of the Maasai Mara National Reserve, just 5 hr. 16 min (275.4 km/171.1miles) from Nairobi City. With two natural borders and one political to the southwest of the Tanzania/Serengeti border, to the east is the Mara River and to the northwest is the Oldoinyio Escarpment (also known as Oloololo or Siria Escarpment).

The landscape of the Mara Triangle includes a riverine forest, red oat grasslands, volcanic hills, and the 400-meter-high Oloololo Escarpment.  Established in 2000 a group of local leaders banded together to make a difference in promoting the conservation of the Mara Triangle, leading to the establishment of the non-profit Mara Conservancy which contains a number of anti-poaching units.

Managed by the not-for-profit organization, the Mara Conservancy on behalf of Trans-Mara County Council. Being one of the areas where herds of the Great Migration enter and exit the Maasai Mara National Reserve from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Making this area a prime viewing location for this wildlife spectacle.

This Conservancy is divided from the Maasai Mara National reserve by the Mara River, less visited and less crowded, a good concentration of wildlife all year-round including the Big Five namely Lion Leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino, and diverse plains ‘game such as cheetah, hyena, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, waterbuck and many other species.

Crossing the Mara River “the Great Migration” is world-renowned for being particularly dramatic with its ever-moving circular migration of over a million animals across the Serengeti- Mara ecosystem. Defined by the constant movement of columns of wildebeest, joined by a host of companions, follow an age-old route in search of grazing and water.

After calving in the southern part of Tanzania’s Serengeti near the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the animals journey through the Serengeti up and around in a clockwise direction towards the Maasai Mara in Kenya, before returning once again near the end of the year.  Featured in many wildlife documentaries such as Wild Africa and Big Cat Diary.

There are two permanent lodges inside the Mara Triangle, Mara Serena Lodge, and Little Governors Camp with other few camps on the Reserves periphery offering game drives inside the Reserve namely: Angama Mara, Bateleur Camp, Kichwa Tembo, Kilima Camp, Mara Engai Wilderness Lodge, Mara Siria, and Mpata Safari Club.

Other options of camping, are at one of the public or private campsites and a number of seasonal mobile camps set to coincide with the arrival of medaherds of the Great Migration each year. This conservancy is accessible by air to Angama Mara Airstrip, Kichwa Tembo, Mara North, Musiara, and Serena airstrips, where both scheduled and charter flights connect with other parks and reserves.  Also by road transport 5 hr. 16 min (275.4 km/171.1miles) from Nairobi City.

The Uniqueness of this Park

• • This area is the entry and exit point for the endless herds of wildebeest and zebra trekking from the Serengeti to the Masai Mara.

• • One of the best locations to visit for a front-row view of the Mara River crossing during the Great Migration.

• • Less crowded, found across the Mara River that forms a natural boundary making it isolated from other parts of the Masai Mara National Reserve.

Accommodation Options

• • Little Governor Camp with 17 luxury en-suite tents.

• • Mara Serena Lodge with 74 guest rooms and one suite.

Activities at the Destination

Game drives, bush walks, village visits, Hot- Air ballooning trips, bush breakfast, Night game drives must return to camp by 10.00 pm, private game drives, cultural visits, bird watching, and guided walks in an adjacent private concession.