Wild Hill

Scheduled flights leave Nairobi's Wilson airport for the northern Mara airstrips, Ngerende or Mara North, about forty-five minutes to an hour in the air, and the house team brings you up the hill from there by private transfer. A private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, can land instead on the Naretoi estate's own strip below the hill, and a helicopter can be arranged right to the property, an arrival the setting rather deserves.

Whichever way you fly, the light aircraft take soft bags only, about fifteen kilograms per person including hand luggage, so duffels rather than hard cases.

Not quite, so treat it as a malaria area. The house stands at around 2,100 metres and the cool nights keep mosquitoes scarcer than on the plains, but the threshold both the CDC and the UK's official travel health advice use for very low risk is 2,500 metres, so antimalarial tablets are still usually recommended, and your game drives drop into warmer country below the hill in any case.

Check the current guidance with a travel clinic or your doctor before travelling, and keep the usual evening precautions going.

Noticeably cooler than the plains. At 2,100 metres the mornings and evenings carry a real bite, the wind finds the hilltop, and the fires get lit most nights, so pack proper warm layers alongside the usual neutral daytime kit. The long rains come around March to May, short rains near November, with dry, clear months between.

Sun protection matters even more at altitude, and add swimwear for the pool and shoes with grip for the paths cut into the hillside. Everything should travel in soft bags for the flights.

July to October puts the migration into the wider ecosystem, with the reserve's crossings within reach on a full day out, but the case for Wild Hill holds in any month, because the Enonkishu, Ol Chorro and Lemek conservancies keep their resident game year round and a whole private house absorbs a wet afternoon far more easily than a tent.

The green months, November and March to May, bring the emerald version of that famous view and even fewer vehicles at the sightings below.

The house is only ever let whole, with a three night minimum stay and a base rate covering six guests, then per person additions up to ten adults and four children. The staff come with it: a host, a private chef, housekeepers, a wellness specialist and your own guide and vehicle.

The rate runs close to fully inclusive, covering all meals, soft drinks, local beers, premium spirits and cellar wines, unlimited game drives, bush breakfasts, some complimentary wellness treatments, laundry and the airstrip transfers. Champagne, balloon flights, helicopter excursions and the nightly conservation fee for each guest sit outside it, and we build those into your quote from the start.

Yes, and more comfortably than most of the Mara. The house takes up to ten adults and four children, children pay their own lower rate rather than adult prices, and for under fives it is worth bringing a nanny, which the house is set up to accommodate.

Because no other guests share the schedule, meals, drives and rest days bend to the children rather than to a camp timetable. Tell us the ages and we will plan the mix, from the gentler estate activities to full days out.