Eight canvas tents are strung along the rim of Saddle Valley, on the north-eastern edge of Kenya’s Maasai Mara, in the Maasai-owned conservancy of Mara Naboisho. A lion pride here draws a few vehicles, not a crowd. The lion density is something guides talk about unprompted.
A lion pride here draws a few vehicles, not a crowd.
Mara Naboisho was formed in 2010, when more than 500 Maasai landowning families pooled their grazing land into a single wildlife area and took lease income in return. That agreement still sets the rules. Bed and vehicle numbers are capped, and guests may drive after dark and walk on foot, neither of which the neighbouring national reserve allows.
Seven guest tents and a family tent are spaced along the rim, each with a deck angled at the plains below. Refurbished in 2024, they hold to an older idea of safari: canvas walls, white linen and duvets, a separate bathroom tent behind, solar lighting and hot water for the shower. The family tent takes four in two wings at opposite ends of a shared wooden deck.
Antelope graze below the decks while the sun comes up.
Each tent has its own seating area outside, set apart from its neighbours. Mornings begin with coffee on the deck, facing the plains. Antelope graze below the decks while the sun comes up. Meals arrive in a dining tent of leather chairs, under the trees through the day, or outside beneath the stars. The evening ends at the communal fire, with Maasai song and storytelling.
Game drives run morning and afternoon and again after dark, shared with other guests and led by guides drawn from the Maasai communities around the camp. Night driving and off-road tracking are permitted in Mara Naboisho and prohibited in the national reserve, which changes what a sighting can be: a cheetah followed across open grass in the afternoon, a spotlight finding something nocturnal after dinner. Vehicles keep a set distance from the animals, and the pace at a sighting stays unhurried.
Guided walking safaris run through acacia grassland alongside the drives, and on foot the tracks and the droppings do much of the talking. Meals follow you out into the conservancy, whether that is a bush breakfast laid out early, a picnic lunch in the shade or sundowners at the end of the afternoon. Children have the Young Explorers Club, tracking and bush skills learned from Maasai mentors, and the family tent makes three generations workable in one camp.
After dark their calls carry up the valley, and hyenas whoop below the rim.
Lions are what the conservancy is known for, but cheetahs, elephants, giraffes and zebras range across the same grass. After dark their calls carry up the valley, and hyenas whoop below the rim. A full day in the national reserve can be arranged during the months of the Mara River crossings. A balloon flight over the plains can be arranged, or a morning at a nearby Maasai homestead, though most days need nothing beyond the valley itself.
Lease payments reach the landowning families every month, which is what keeps this ground open to wildlife rather than fenced for cattle. Most of the people working at the camp come from those same communities, guiding, tracking, cooking and running the place day to day. Access is a light-aircraft flight from Nairobi to the Naboisho airstrip, also called Ol Seki, and a short drive on from there, and the camp stays open all year. Little about it is elaborate: canvas, a fire, a valley full of grazing animals and guides who read it fluently.
accommodation
Seven guest tents and one family tent, all canvas, set along the rim of Saddle Valley with a private deck facing the plains. Beds are made up king or twin under white linen and duvets, with a separate bathroom tent behind. The family tent sleeps four in two wings at either end of a shared wooden deck. Solar power throughout.
activities
Shared day and night game drives and guided bush walks are included; night drives and walks are permitted in Mara Naboisho but not in the national reserve. Bush breakfasts, picnics and sundowners run alongside them, with the Young Explorers Club for children. A balloon flight, a Maasai homestead visit or a day in the reserve for the river crossings can be added.
conservation
Mara Naboisho Conservancy formed in 2010, when more than 500 Maasai landowning families agreed to lease their land for wildlife and tourism, in exchange for guaranteed monthly income. Basecamp Wilderness draws its guides, trackers and staff from those same communities.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
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By scheduled light aircraft from Nairobi's Wilson airport to the Naboisho airstrip, also known as Ol Seki, which serves the camps in the conservancy. There are daily flights taking about forty-five minutes to an hour, but the Mara services are circuits that call at several strips, so the time in the air depends on the routing that day.
The camp meets the aircraft for a short drive to the tents on the rim of Saddle Valley, and the airstrip transfers both ways are part of the stay. The aircraft take soft bags only, fifteen kilograms a person including hand luggage.
If you would rather fly on your own timings, we can arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, straight into the Naboisho strip. The drive from Nairobi runs through Narok and takes five to seven hours, the last stretch on dirt roads that need a four-wheel-drive vehicle, so we suggest it only when the road trip is part of the plan.
Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates Kenya as high risk for malaria and recommends antimalarial tablets for it, setting apart only the city of Nairobi and the highlands above 2,500 metres, where it rates the risk as very low.
The American CDC draws the same line, listing every part of Kenya below 2,500 metres and naming the game parks among them. The Mara and its conservancies, Naboisho included, lie well below that height, and neither source makes a seasonal distinction, so the advice is the same in the dry months as in the rains.
We are travel planners, not medical professionals, so we do not make recommendations about tablets. Which ones suit you, how they sit with anything else you take and what is right for a child are questions for your own doctor or a travel clinic, best asked with your travel dates in front of you and checked again a few weeks before you fly.
The non-medical part we can speak to: evenings are spent outdoors around the fire, so cover arms and legs from late afternoon and keep repellent to hand.
Yes. Children of all ages are welcome, and alongside the seven standard tents the camp keeps one family tent: a raised wooden platform with two wings, each with its own bedroom, bathroom and veranda, opening onto a shared deck, sleeping up to four. Children under five stay free when they share with adults.
The Young Explorers Club runs family activities, included in the stay but booked ahead, and a childminder can be arranged if you ask before arrival. The guided bush walks carry a minimum age, which we confirm with the camp for your dates, so younger children spend that time on the game drives or with the club. Tell us their ages at enquiry and we will shape the days around them.
Most of what a stay involves. The rate covers all meals, soft drinks, house wines, selected beers and house spirits, tea and coffee brought to the tent, a selected laundry service and the return transfers from the airstrip. The activities are included too: shared day and night game drives in open-sided vehicles, guided bush walks, bush meals, picnics and sundowners, and the Young Explorers Club for families, arranged on request.
Outside the rate are the daily conservation fee charged by the conservancy, premium wines, spirits and Champagne, and tips for the staff and guides.
So are three extras worth knowing about: a hot-air balloon flight over the Mara, a visit to a Maasai village, and a day trip into the national reserve, which carries its own entry fee. We set all of these out in the quote, so nothing arrives as a surprise at the end.
Go out after dark and on foot. Naboisho is a community conservancy on the border of the Maasai Mara National Reserve, formed in 2010 by more than 500 Maasai landowning families who still own the land, and its rules are not the reserve's.
The game drives at Basecamp Wilderness run at night as well as by day, and guided walks head out through the conservancy on foot, neither of which the reserve allows. The guides may also leave the track to follow big cats.
The other difference is numbers. The conservancy holds a small number of camps with a cap on beds, and far fewer vehicles than the reserve, so a sighting seldom draws a crowd.
Naboisho is well known for its lions, and the tourism that keeps the land wild benefits the landowning families and employs Maasai people at the camp. Both the night drives and the walks are included in a stay, so trying each costs nothing extra.
Any month, because the camp is open all year and Naboisho's resident game, its lions above all, stays through the seasons. July to September and the Christmas and New Year fortnight are the high season, when the drier country around the conservancy sends game in towards it.
January, February, June, October and early December are the shoulder months, and March to May and November are the rains, heaviest in April and May, with the short rains in November sometimes running into December.
The green months bring flowers across the plains, migrant birds and the lowest rates of the year. From July to October the wildebeest migration is in the wider Mara, and its river crossings are a full day out in the national reserve.
Days run warm, up to about thirty degrees, while early mornings can drop to around twelve, and an open vehicle at dawn or on a night drive feels colder still.
Pack warm layers and a windproof for the drives, neutral colours, a hat and strong sun protection, closed shoes for the walks and a light waterproof in the rainy months, all in a soft bag of no more than fifteen kilograms for the flight.
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our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
