Governors Camp

a cluster of historic related camps

Governors Camp is located in the Mara Governors sector of the Maasai Mara of southwest Kenya.

There are four camps under the Governors umbrella in this location, the first of which, this camp, was first founded by the Grammaticas family way back in 1972, which makes it really old in safari terms.

From the nearby Musiara Airstrip, we first cross plains dotted with animals, before entering the stretch of riverine forest that contains the camp. After a few hundred metres we pull into a large car park, where up to twenty vehicles are parked in advance of the afternoon safari.

The first building we encounter contains the reception and an unusually large and well-stocked gift shop.

From there a pathway leads to the central lawn, with a large outside kitchen where the chefs often prepared the meals. Straight ahead is a large canvas structure containing a simple bar and lounge, beyond that is a very pleasant outside seating area with tables laid out above the river. To the left another rather cavernous canvas structure which can serve as an extra dining area during inclement weather.

One of the nicest aspects of the camp is the amount of wildlife that has grown accustomed to people and ranges freely amongst the tents, most notably a large mob of dwarf mongooses. There is also a big bull elephant with one tusk who entertains guests on a regular basis.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Governors Camp is in a total of 37 rooms, which take the form of conventional Meru tents, rather small by modern standards, each equipped with modest furniture and with a conventional indoor bathroom …

• Plains View Tent : x9 : Set further off to the left, the views from which are rather special, especially when there are lots of animals to be seen.
• River View Tents : x28 : Around to the right and set in thick woodland above the high riverbank. Guests on this side are often serenaded by hippos at night.

Activities

Governors Camp provides the following guided activities, not all of which are necessarily included in the room rate …

• Vehicle safari
• Balloon safari
• Bush meals

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.

Traffic avoidance

In common with the other public access areas of the Maasai Mara, this part of the reserve does suffer from considerable traffic flows.

For subtle reasons the main flow of traffic in and out of the reserve tends to contribute relatively little to the numbers of vehicles in this particular area. Instead the traffic mainly originates from the handful of properties in this area, which put out over fifty safari vehicles between them.

At least the vast majority of these vehicles are from the same operator, Governors Camps, which goes a long way to ensuring a better level of sightings management and is much less offensive than the bun fights that can take place in other areas.

We fear that the only way to reliably avoid other vehicles in this area is to visit during quieter parts of the year.

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).

Getting around

You’re most likely to arrive into the Maasai Mara area via the regular light aircraft services that operate from Nairobi, which means that you will travel around the area with a guide and vehicle from the camp in which you are staying.

It is also possible to travel down to the Maasai Mara by road, which is quite a long and tiresome journey, but not without interest. The trouble is that the better lodges in the Mara will offer you no discount for having your own guide and vehicle along, so you end up paying for both, which works out more expensive than flying down.

vehicle traffic generated by the lodges themselves