The concession that Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp holds on the western edge of Kenya’s Maasai Mara begins where the reserve’s rules end, at the foot of the Oloololo Escarpment. Here the guides leave the track, spotlighting for leopard and honey badger long after dark, and walk guests through riverine forest towards the Mara River. None of that is permitted inside the reserve itself.
Elephants and giraffes file behind the rim-flow pool.
Between July and October the herds come past the tents, pushing up from the Serengeti and spreading across the plains below the escarpment, with the river crossing points a short drive away. The rest of the year belongs to the residents. Elephants and giraffes file behind the rim-flow pool. Blue monkeys work the fig canopy overhead and warthogs crop the lawns.
Geoffrey Kent found this escarpment overlook in 1978 and built a private house on it. Kichwa Tembo means head of the elephant in Kiswahili. The name came from elephant skulls scattered through the bush. He sold the camp in 1994, and it has stood since on Maasai-owned land leased from the surrounding group ranches.
The name came from elephant skulls scattered through the bush.
A rebuild completed in 2026 replaced the oldest tents. The canvas rooms now stand on raised steel platforms, designed by Michaelis Boyd with Nicholas Plewman Architects and dressed by Fox Browne Creative in stained cypress and leather. The kitchen opens onto the dining room, and dinner follows the camp’s shamba, the vegetable garden that decides much of what arrives at the table.
Coffee arrives through a hatch in the tent wall most mornings, ahead of a drive down onto the plains while the escarpment behind camp turns from grey to green. Guiding is where the camp puts its weight, and among the guides are Maasai women trained and employed here, still uncommon in a profession long dominated by men. They take walks along the escarpment or down into the riverine forest on the Saparingo River, reading spoor and birdsong rather than covering distance. The vehicles are open-sided, and the drives go out twice a day.
Black rhinos shelter in the thickets and leopards hunt the wooded margins, while the Mara River holds hippos and crocodiles year-round, whatever the plains are doing that season. Cheetahs and topi work the open grass by day. Balloon flights lift off before sunrise and land to breakfast laid out in the grass. Around 450 bird species have been recorded across the Maasai Mara, and the mix of forest, grassland and escarpment slope inside this one concession accounts for much of that range. Sundowners are set up wherever the light is best that evening.
Balloon flights lift off before sunrise and land to breakfast laid out in the grass.
The tents face two ways, out over the open plains or into the forest canopy along the river. Both have screened decks with built-in daybeds, and the plains-facing tents look uninterrupted to the horizon. The rim-flow pool sits on the same edge, level with animals grazing a short distance out. Children are welcome, and the WILDchild programme covers tracking and fire-making, beadwork with Maasai women and football with the camp staff, though guided walks beyond camp are reserved for guests aged sixteen and over.
Community visits are guided by someone from the village itself, and the craft centre there returns its proceeds to the households that made the work. Tours run to the schools and clinics the camp has helped fund, so the arrangement is visible on the ground: leased land, local wages, finished classrooms. Aircraft land at the Kichwa Tembo airstrip in the Mara Triangle, a short drive from camp. Evenings end at the fire pit on the terrace, with hippos grunting somewhere below in the dark.
accommodation
Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp has thirty-four canvas tents in three forms. Superior tents sit along the forest edge or face the escarpment, superior view tents are positioned for the open plains, and family tents join two units by a corridor around a shared veranda. All have en-suite bathrooms, double vanities and walk-in showers.
activities
Game drives from Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp run twice daily, in the Mara Triangle by day and on the private concession after dark, where spotlighting and off-road driving are permitted. Guided walks follow the Oloololo Escarpment and the forest down to the Mara River. Balloon flights and community visits are arranged locally.
conservation
Wild Impact, formerly the Africa Foundation, runs community programmes tied to the camp, including bursaries through the Community Leaders Education Fund. The Nyekweri Forest project raises indigenous seedlings in a community-run nursery nearby.
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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The camp has its own airstrip, which is the simplest way in. Scheduled light aircraft from Nairobi's Wilson airport take about an hour, and a short game-viewing drive brings you to camp. We can also arrange a private charter, a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, timed to an international arrival.
Mara flights usually touch down at another strip along the way, so allow a little more than the quoted hour. Soft bags only, around fifteen kilograms a person including hand luggage.
Yes. The camp sits below the Oloololo Escarpment at around 1,500 metres, and both TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, and the CDC class Kenya below 2,500 metres as malaria country, game areas included. Both recommend antimalarial tablets for it.
We are travel planners, not medical people, so settle it with your doctor or a travel clinic and check again nearer the time. Cover up after sunset and use repellent whatever you decide, particularly along the forest edge where the tents sit.
All ages are accepted, with family tents that join two units by a corridor around a shared veranda, but the activities carry age rules. Children under six do not join the regular game drives, and six to eleven year olds go at the manager's discretion, usually on a privately booked vehicle. Walking has its own minimum.
In practice a family with young children books a private vehicle and guide, which takes the timing pressure off entirely. Tell us the ages at enquiry and we will price that in rather than let you discover the restriction on arrival.
Warm days, cool mornings, and more green underfoot than the eastern Mara because the escarpment pulls down extra rain. The long rains fall roughly March to May, the short rains around November, and the months between are dry and dusty.
Pack neutral colours, a fleece or jacket for dawn drives, a hat and strong sun protection, and a light waterproof outside the dry months. Closed shoes with grip are worth having for the escarpment and forest walks.
It changes what is allowed after dark and off the track. The camp sits on private ground rather than reserve land, so night drives with a spotlight and off-road driving to a sighting are permitted here, neither of which the national reserve allows. Guided walking is possible for the same reason.
By day the vehicles cross into the Mara Triangle, the quieter western third of the reserve, so a stay gives you both: reserve game viewing when the light is good, and the private concession's freedoms in the early morning and after sunset.
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our approach
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