The Maasai Mara
in the quiet season
Private, interpretive safaris at special season rates.
Trips starting 5 January – 31 March 2027
This season has ended. The Maasai Mara safari runs all year at our regular rates.
See the Maasai Mara safariWhy January to March
One of the Mara’s most underrated seasons
The short rains are over, the grass is short and the plains are wide open. The cats are easy to find and follow, many of the antelope have their young, and the predators are busy.
The Christmas crowds have gone and the long rains haven’t begun, so you will often have a sighting entirely to yourselves.
And the Mara isn’t a seasonal park. The lion prides, cheetah, leopard and elephant live here all year round. They don’t arrive in July and leave in October. That resident population is what you come for, and it is here every month.
We’ve never believed a safari should be a once-in-a-lifetime trip. The more time people spend in the bush, the more it begins to make sense to them, and that is what our guiding is about.
So for trips starting between 5 January and 31 March 2027, we’ve set special season rates. We simply want more people to come out with us and see it.
Nothing about the safari changes: the same vehicles, the same guiding team, the same full days in the field and the same camp.
The residents, every month of the year
Lion prides, cheetah, leopard and elephant live in the Mara all year round. With the grass short, they are easy to find and follow.
How we do it
Guiding first. Everything else follows.
Interpretive guiding
Our depth is guiding, not camps. Our guides have spent decades reading tracks and behaviour, and know the resident prides individually. We help you understand what you are watching: why a lioness waits, why the herd moves, what happens next.
Always private
The vehicle and the guiding team of two are yours alone. We never put separate parties together, so you stay with a sighting as long as it takes, at the pace that suits you.
Full days in the field
We carry breakfast and lunch with us rather than returning to camp at midday. Sightings develop over hours, not minutes, and a full day reaches parts of the reserve a morning drive never gets to.
End to end
From the moment we receive you at the airport until we drop you back, everything is taken care of: transfers, meals, camp, park fees and guiding. You won’t spend a penny unless you choose to.
Where you stay
Enchipai Mara, on the Oloololo Escarpment
The Mara has no fences. What matters is not whether you sleep “inside the park”, but which part of the Mara you drive in.
The budget camps sit out in the greater Mara, on the eastern side, where twenty or thirty vehicles can gather at a single sighting.
We work the Mara Triangle, the western third of the reserve under the Oloololo Escarpment. It is separately administered and vehicle numbers are controlled, so you will often have a sighting to yourselves.
Only two camps sit physically inside the Triangle, and both come at a price that has nothing to do with the guiding. So we made a deliberate choice: Enchipai Mara, on the escarpment, ten to fifteen minutes from the Oloololo gate. We’re in the Triangle from first light.
Expansive views over the plains, sunrise from your bed, warm hospitality, good food and a hot shower at the end of a long day.
Your safari
Four nights, five days, day by day
Three nights, four days follows the same shape with two full days in the field. We recommend four nights if you have the time: the third full day is where you begin to read the country.
- Day1Arrive
Nairobi, breakfast in Ngong, and on to the Mara
We receive you at the airport in Nairobi and bring you to the WBB house in Ngong for breakfast. Then we drive to the Mara, with meals on the way taken care of. Arrive, settle into camp and rest. In the evening, meet your guides and plan the days ahead together.
- Days2 – 4Full days
Full days in the field
Each day is shaped by what the bush is doing, the weather and the stories unfolding, not by a fixed schedule. A typical day:
- First lightLeave camp as the animals are most active
- MorningBush breakfast out on the plains
- MiddayStay with sightings as they develop
- AfternoonLunch under a tree, then further afield
- EveningBack to camp for dinner and stories
- Day5Return
The boma, and back to Nairobi
After breakfast, visit a Maasai boma nearby, a chance to meet the community that has lived alongside these animals for generations. Then we drive you back to Nairobi and drop you at your hotel, or straight at the airport for your flight.
Flying home the same day? Book a flight leaving Nairobi after 9 pm. Prefer to fly to the Mara instead of driving? We can arrange it at extra cost.
Special season rates
For trips starting 5 January – 31 March 2027. Per person, in US dollars, sharing a tent. Three travellers pay the two-person rate.
| Length | 2 travellers | 4 or more |
|---|---|---|
| 4 nights, 5 daysRecommended · three full days | ||
| 3 nights, 4 daysTwo full days |
Children under 5 travel free, 5 to 11 are charged at half, and from 12 it’s the adult rate. That isn’t our choice: the camps charge by bed and the park authority charges entry by age, so we pass those on as they are.
All-inclusive, end to end
- Reception at Nairobi airport and road transfers to the Mara and back
- Breakfast at the WBB house in Ngong, and all meals in transit
- Your tent at Enchipai Mara, with all meals at camp
- Your own game viewer and a guiding team of two throughout
- Full days in the field with bush breakfast and lunch
- Park and conservation fees
- The Maasai boma visit
- Drop at your Nairobi hotel or the airport
Not included
- Your air tickets
- Kenya eTA
- Kenya travel insurance, now mandatory
Beyond these, you won’t spend a penny unless you choose to: drinks at camp, shopping, or a Nairobi hotel night if your flight is the next day.
Booking, simply
Four steps to the Mara
- 01Pick your datesTell us your dates and whether you’d like three or four nights. We check the camp straight away.
- 02Send your detailsThe names as they appear on your passports, and an address for the invoice.
- 03Pay 25% to confirmA 25% advance holds your dates. The balance is due 30 days before you travel. Travelling within 30 days? Full payment at booking.
- 04You’re confirmedWe send your confirmation, then ask for flight times and anything we should know, such as food preferences.
Invoiced in US dollars. Bank transfer preferred; a card payment link is available with a 3.5% card fee.
Questions people ask first.
What does all-inclusive mean?
Everything from the moment we receive you until we drop you back: transfers, camps, all meals, park fees, your private vehicle and guiding team. You won’t spend a penny unless you choose to, on drinks at camp or shopping. The only things outside the price are your flights, visas (including the Kenya eTA) and travel insurance, which is now mandatory for Kenya. We can process visas for you if you’d like.
Is the safari private?
Always. The vehicle and the guiding team are yours alone, and we never put separate parties together. That is what lets us stay with a sighting for as long as it takes.
Who are the guides?
Every safari has a guiding team of at least two: a senior guide and one or two guides working alongside. Our guides know the resident prides individually, and they read the land as well as the animals: the soil, the grass, the water, and why the animals are where they are.
Kenya, Tanzania, or both?
Kenya is the concentrated safari for fewer days: the Mara is compact, rich in resident cats, and easy to reach from Nairobi. Tanzania is the bigger, wilder one, where the guiding matters most and the ecological story is fuller. Together they make one ecosystem, and our Kenya & Tanzania journey covers the whole of it.
When is the best time to come?
Every month has something happening. The lion prides, cheetah, leopard and elephant of the Mara live there all year. The herds are always somewhere on their long loop through the Serengeti and the Mara, so we plan around where they will be. See When to come for the year, month by month.
Can I drive?
In the Serengeti, yes. We run two of our own Land Cruisers there, linked by radio, and you’re welcome to drive one with a guide beside you. Hand it back whenever you’d rather sit back and watch. In the Maasai Mara our guides drive the open game viewer, so everyone’s eyes are free for the bush.
Can we bring children?
Yes, children of every age come on safari with us, and it is a lovely time to introduce them to animals and their worlds. Children under 5 travel free, 5 to 11 are charged at half, and from 12 it’s the adult rate. That isn’t our choice: the camps charge by bed and the park authorities charge entry by age on the passport, so we pass those on as they are.
What about food?
Vegetarian and Jain meals are catered for regularly, and our camp in the Mara uses only halal meat. Our camps are chosen for where the animals are, not for their kitchens: they’ll happily attempt Indian dishes, but the flavours may not taste quite the way they do at home.
How do I book?
Tell us your dates and who is travelling. We check the camp and the guiding roster, then send you the itinerary and exact costing. To confirm, we need the names as they appear on your passports and an address for the invoice. A 25% advance holds your dates and the balance is due 30 days before you travel; within 30 days, full payment confirms. We invoice in US dollars. Bank transfer is preferred, and a card payment link is available with a 3.5% card fee.