Safari to Mara Northeast

rather removed from the main conservation areas

Mara Northeast is a large private conservancy area that lies to the northeast of the main Maasai Mara reserve in southwest Kenya.

This conservancy is really in its infancy and in reality remains something of a patchwork of small private safari areas, village and pastoral land.

The landscapes are less open here, with large sections of leleshwa scrub and acacia forest backing up against the eastern escarpment.

Being a private conservancy means that vehicle traffic is strictly limited. Other than vehicles on the main transit road from Nairobi, only guests in the handful of small camps are permitted to explore this significant tract of prime land. Vehicle clusters are rare.

The conservancy status also means that operators are free to offer off-road driving, walking safari, bush meals and some limited night vehicle safari, which helps to produce a much more rounded experience.

There are also significant opportunities for cultural interaction with the local Maasai people, who are shareholders in the conservancy and therefore tend to be very welcoming. Hiking up into the hills can be particularly good.

Although we have not spent a great deal of time in this area, we understand that the wildlife viewing is not particularly reliable. We understand that an American investor who bought into one of the camps here actually considered suing the vendor when it became clear to him how sparse the wildlife turned out to be.

Although this is almost certainly too far north for the main migration herds, we would anticipate that the Loita migration should pass through in May-Jun and Nov-Dec. There should also be a good deal of resident wildlife, but we would expect the animals to be a lot less habituated to vehicles and more elusive, especially the predators.

We also understand that this area suffers from encroachment by local Maasai and their domestic stock, which is to be expected on a conservancy which, to date, has failed to deliver significant revenues from tourism.

The Maasai Mara tends to feature in almost all safari trips to Kenya. As well as being the best known reserve, it is also the most productive for wildlife.

The usual stay duration is 4-8 nights split between two camps, less frequently 3-4 nights in just one camp.

Seasonality

The best time of year to visit the Maasai Mara is generally considered to be the Jul-Oct dry season, when the weather should be reliably good and the migration herds are likely to be around.

The Nov-Jun green season may be much less dependable for weather, but remains really strong for wildlife viewing and benefits from dramatically lower visitor numbers (except for the busy Dec-Jan holiday fortnight of course).

Where to stay

The good news is that there’s one really good property out here, Leleshwa Camp, which is operated by some proper bush people, who try to turn the negatives of this area into positives, by explaining to guests the conservation challenges that the area faces and also delivering some excellent cultural interaction. They have a satellite camp down in the core wildlife areas of the main reserve, so the combination can provide a really broad and interesting experience.

one notable accommodation option