Serian Mara North

private vehicles and a two-guide team

Serian Mara North Camp is located in the Mara North Conservancy area of the Maasai Mara in southwest Kenya.

Set in a prime secluded position on this conservancy, this gorgeous small camp has great views over the Mara River and the nearby Oloololo Escarpment.

After arriving at the vehicle turnaround, we follow a path down to the main building where we are met with welcome drinks and hand towels.

The mess is a modest stone and thatch affair containing very comfortable lounge and dining areas, fronted by a verandah from where hippos can usually be seen in the river below. To the right there is a large open deck where outside lounge and dining areas are arranged during the day, a lovely shady spot with a uniquely relaxed atmosphere.

A little further on another small building contains some interesting information about various local conservation and animal tracking projects, as well as serving as a hub for camera charging (although there are also charging points in the rooms).

It might be worth noting that just across the river from the camp, a little further upstream, is the smaller and even more upmarket Serian Mara Ngare.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Serian Mara North is in seven very large and luxurious tented suites, which are very widely spaced across the hillside above the river and accessed along a network of small tracks.

Each room is set on a very large deck area and is centred on a large tented structure containing lounge and sleeping areas. To one side there is a large outdoor bathroom.

All the rooms are within sight and earshot of the river, so guests can drift off to sleep to the gentle sound of the rapids and the rather less gentle serenade of the local hippos.

Activities

Serian Mara North provides the following guided activities, not all of which are necessarily included in the room rate …

• Vehicle safari
• Walking safari
• Bush meals
• Cultural interaction
• Night vehicle safari

At this and all related properties under the Serian name, all groups of guests are provided with a private vehicle and a two person driver and guide team, usually both from the local Maasai villages, which is very cool. It is hard to overstate how much this upgrades the overall safari experience.

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 is generally considered to be the Jul-Oct dry season, when the weather should be reliably good and the wildlife concentrated around the permanent water sources.

The Nov-Jun green season may be much less dependable for weather, but remains really strong for wildlife viewing.

Visitor traffic is less of an issue in this private area, but you can expect the camps to be fully booked during the Jul-Oct and Dec-Jan high seasons. So there can be slight advantages to visiting during quieter periods.

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.

If you’re staying in more than one camp in the greater Maasai Mara then inter-camp transfers are usually operated by the departing camp and generally pass through wildlife areas for most if not all of their routes.

It’s also possible to travel down from Nairobi 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.

one of the three best private concessions in the Mara