Angama Mara

an incredible view from the top of the escarpment

Angama Mara is located in the Mara Triangle sector of the Maasai Mara of southwest Kenya.

This substantial lodge is famed for the enormous views out over the main reserve from the top of the Oloololo Escarpment, which really is quite remarkable.

The property is subdivided into two halves, each centred on extensive public areas, with gorgeous lounge and dining areas, leading out to broad decks overlooking those views.

The two camps have further shared facilities including a modest swimming pool, a gym and an extraordinarily expensive gift-shop, where you can treat yourself to a six hundred dollar handbag should you be so inclined.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Angama Mara is in a total of thirty tents, fifteen to each half of the lodge.

The tented rooms are lavish and equipped with everything that you would expect of a camp at this level, notably including heated blankets on the beds for cooler nights. There is no air-conditioning though, it is not generally considered to be necessary in this location.

The bathrooms have free-standing baths and huge showers with more of those enormous views.

Each room comes with a private butler, who will bring your tea and coffee in the morning, run errands of all sorts, fetch your laundry and clean your shoes, all with a refreshing eagerness, enough to make you feel rather guilty from time to time.

Activities

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

• Vehicle safari
• Walking safari
• Balloon safari
• Bush meals
• Cultural interaction
• Advanced photography courses
• Running
• Spa treatments

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 area 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.

one of the three best private concessions in the Mara